Modern Language Association

MLA
Who uses MLA and Why?
Humanities
Used in writing on Language and Literature
(Modern Language Association).

Why use the MLA style:
o Avoid plagiarism
o Builds credibility for the writer by providing
sources.
o It is simple to use and organizes your paper
coherently.

Basic Format
Times New Roman or Arial and a 12pt. font.
The alignment is left.
Margins are one inch from all sides. (Already
provided by Word)
Indentation is half an inch from the margin. (Tab
button)
Page numbers are written plain and placed in the
upper left corner after the last name (Gomez 1)
First Page
MLA doesnt use a cover page.
The information that would be presented in a cover
page are placed in the left corner of the first page:
Your Name (Juan Lopez)
Professor and their last name (Professor Gomez)
Full course name and number (INGL 3202)
Day Month year (8 May 2010)
The title is in the center and it is in plain text. ( not
italicized, underlined or bold)



Example
Parenthetical Citation
These are used to attribute the original writing
when you summarize, paraphrase and or
quote. 1
In MLA these consist of a open parenthesis [ ( ], the
authors last name [Eliot] the page number, line
number, or act [1] and closed parenthesis [)]
o "In a minute there is time for decisions and revisions which a minute will
reverse." (Eliot 1)
Other Parenthetical In-text
Citation
o Poetry: Authors last name and line number
I have been happy- and I love the theme: / Dreams! in
their vivid coloring of life (Poe 28-29).
o Plays: Authors last name, act number, scene
number and line number (if its written in verse) or
page number (if its written in prose)
O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
(Shakespeare 2.2.35)
Block quotations
Block
o Are when the text is more than four lines. These are set apart from the
paragraph and indented one inch from the left margin. They are not put in
quotation marks.
Example:
The narrator of The Tell-Tale Heart confesses that:
It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my
brain, but, once conceived, it haunted me day and night.
Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved
the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never
given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it
was his eye!(Poe 303)



Quotation Marks vs.
Italics
Songs
Short Stories
Essays
Short Poems
One Act Plays

From longer
works
Articles in
newspapers,
magazines, or
journals

Quotation marks are used in titles of short or
minor works:
Italics are use for long works that consist of
smaller sections
Novel
Multi-act Play
CDs
T.V. Series
Movies
Newspapers
Magazines or
journals
Works Cited Page
Basic Rules:
o Separate page at the end of the paper.
o Entries must be of texts cited and/or referenced
in your main text.
o Label the page Works Cited
o List Alphabetically
o Double space, but do not skip spaces between
entries.
o Indent, half an inch, the second and fallowing
lines of citations creating a hanging indent.
Works Cited Page
o The Medium of Publication, form, must be provided.
Example: Print, Web and etc.
o URLs for Web entries are optional and depend on the
professors preference.
o Most months are abbreviated:

January - Jan.
February - Feb.
March - Mar.
April - Apr.
May - May
June - June
July - July
August - Aug.
September - Sept.
October - Oct.
November - Nov.
December - Dec.

Common Works Cited
Book:
o Authors last name, First name. Title of Book. Place of Publication:
Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication.



Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. New York; Penguin, 2005.
Print.
Publications on the Web:
Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name
of Webpage (if applicable). Name of Site. Version
number. Name of institution/organization affiliated
with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource
creation (if available). Medium of publication (Web).
Date of access.
Example of a Webpage on a Website:
Russell, Tony, Allen Brizee, and Elizabeth Angeli. "MLA
Formatting and Style Guide." ThePurdue OWL.
Purdue U Writing Lab, 4 Apr. 2010. Web. 8 Mar.
2011.
Note: If the date of publication is not available use n.d.
If a publisher or sponsor is not available use n.p.

Movies
Title. Dir. Name of director. Perf. Name of main
performers. the distributor, the release year.
Medium.(DVD, VHS.)

Inception. Dir. Christopher Nolan. Perf. Leonardo
DiCaprio, Kent Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-
Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Tom Hardy, Ellen
Page and Michael Caine. Warner Bros.,
2010. DVD.

Online Articles
For your reading responses!!

Last Name, First Name. Title of the article. Web Page
in Italics. Publisher., date of publication. Medium
of publication. Date of access.

Santiago, Luis. The Art of Life. Cnn.com. CNN., 12
Aug. 2012. Web. 30 Sep. 2012.
Additional Reference
For more information on Summarizing, Paraphrasing
and/or Quoting view the Quoting, Paraphrasing,
and Summarizing (Driscoll and Brizee) at OWL
Purdue.

owl.english.purdue.edu

Reading Responses
Search for an interesting topic or something that is
recent.
Find an article of your choice.
Summarize the article in one paragraph.
The summary must include:
o Topic sentence
o Answer: What, When, Where, Who, How, or Why.
o Transition words
o Concluding sentence
Brief interpretation or opinion on the article
10 possible points
MLA format
Typed!!