MLA Style

Dr. Nicole Beveridge

Eng 12/24
 In-Text Citation

What is in-text citation?

Documentation inside the paper

 Citations Reasons
What are the five reasons for in-text
citation?
1. Quoting
2. Summarizing
3. Paraphrasing
4. Statistics, percentage
5. Visual aid (graphs, illustrations, images)
 Criteria to quote
What are the five criteria to use a quote?
1. Vivid, expressive language
2. Credibility
3. Present the author in his/her own voice
4. Jargon (technical language)
5. Translation (originally written in a foreign
language)
 Paraphrase vs Summarize
What is the main difference between
summarizing and paraphrasing?
Paraphrasing is when you put the author's words in
your own words; however, you follow very closely
the sentence structure. Hence, if the passage you
are paraphrasing is four lines, then your
paraphrase is approximately four lines.
Summarizing is condensing the passage in
your own words. You can use as many or
as little words as you need.
 Ellipsis
What is an ellipsis? And what does it look
like?
Ellipsis is used to shorten a quote passage.
To use an ellipsis, you put three periods with
a space between. It looks like this: . . .
 Use of Ellipsis
What should you be aware of when using an
ellipsis?
You must not distort the quote. Also you
must make sure that the quote remains
grammatically and logically coherent.
 Use of Ellipsis Contd
Do you ever use an ellipsis at the beginning
of a quote? Explain why or why not
You never use an ellipsis at the beginning of the
quote (though you do use it in the middle and at
the end if you are omitting words in that
sentence) because the reader assumes that you
are merging your words with the author you are
quoting. Example: Poverty is indeed a
devastating and debilitating disease . . .
(Emerson19).
 Use of Ellipsis Contd
If you are omitting an entire sentence or
sentences from the quote, how many periods
should you have?
Four: one period to indicate that the sentence
ended and three periods for the ellipsis
Example. Ramona claims that men and women
live in different spheres. . . . In the female sphere,
women communicate openly about their
emotions, and in the male sphere, men
communicate through silence (12).
 Brackets
What are brackets? What do they look like?
Brackets look like this: [ ]Brackets are used for
you to add in your own words inside a quote
to help clarify a word or concept
Example:
Feminist writer Mary Daly contends, Minoan
society [matriarchal culture] celebrated and
worshipped nature and the female body
(345).
 Brackets Contd
What do you put in brackets when the
passage you are quoting from is grammatically
incorrect?
[sic] or [the correct answer]
Example
Ramona disputes that U.S. is not ready to
elect their [sic] first female president
(219).
Or
Ramona disputes that U.S. is not ready to
elect their [its] first female president (219).
 Signal Phrase
What is a Signal Phrase?

A signal phrase introduces the source.

Example
Writer Peter Patterson contends, ( ).
, writer Peter Patterson contends. ( ).
, contends writer Peter Patterson.
 Introduction of an Author
What do you provide the very first time you
Introduce the author to the reader?
The full name (first and last name) and a
description of the person pertaining to his/her
scholarship.
Example: Movie critic David Edelstein argues
 Author Contd
Once you introduced the author to the
reader, how then do you refer to the Author
in the rest of your paper?
By the author's last name only. Do not use
Dr., Ms. or Mr.
Example: Edelstein asserts
 Parenthetical Citations
If you have a signal phrase, what goes in the
parenthetical citation?
According to feminist scholar Pat Campbell,
Motherhood is a powerful act ( ).
 Parenthetical Citation Contd
The page number only. If the page number
is not given, then provide the paragraph
number or section number
According to feminist scholar Pat Campbell,
Motherhood is a powerful act (35).
 Page Numbers
Do you ever write out p. or pg. or page in the
parenthetical citation?
(p. 12)
(pg. 12)
(page 12)
 Page Numbers Contd
NO! Only the page number
Example(12)
If it is a paragraph number, you write (par. 12)
If it is a section number, you write (sec. 12)
 MLA documentation
If you do not have a signal phrase and you
do know that name of the author, what do
you put in your parenthetical citation?
MLA documentation drives students nuts! ( ).
 MLA documentation
The authors last name and page number (or
paragraph or section number if the page number
is not provided)
Example:
MLA documentation drives students
nuts! (McKinney, par. 3).
Notice that there is a comma after the authors
name when you use par. or sec.
But for a page number, there is no comma:
(Mckinney 34).
 Parenthetical Citation
What do you put in the parenthetical citation
when you do not have a signal phrase and
the author is unknown?
MLA documentation is tedious ( ).
This quote is from the article Should
Students Learn MLA?
 Parenthetical Citation
The first main word of the title and page
number (or par. / sec.)
MLA documentation is tedious (Should 2).
Notice that because the first main word
comes from an article that is in quotation
marks, you must keep the quotation mark
Intact.
 Indirect Quote
What does (qtd. in Harrelson, par. 2) mean?
Singer Brittany Spears asserts, I am getting
an unfair treatment from the media who is
treating me as a crazy woman (qtd. in
Harrelson, par. 2).
 Indirect Quote
qtd. is an abbreviation that means quoted
from. It is used when the source quoted was
mentioned in the text you read.
Singer Brittany Spears asserts, I am getting
an unfair treatment from the media who is
treating me as a crazy woman (qtd. in
Harrelson, par. 2).
So Brittany Spears was quoted in Harrelsons
article, which you read.
 Punctuation
What punctuation mark must always come
after the parenthetical citation for a small
quote?
. (period)
Parker contends, New York is the best
place to live in (12).
 Long Quotes
What must you do for long quotes?
1. Drop the quotation marks
2. Indent two tabs (an inch)
3. Keep in double space
4. Period goes before the parenthetical
citation
5. Right margin remains at an inch
 Example of a Long Quote
Example of a long quote
Education specialist Barb Walker writes:
Student feel left out of the system.
They do not understand why they must
endlessly take exams. They are always
bored and feel that they are not being
challenged. This is a real crisis that
educators must be aware of. (12)
 Minor Works
What are minor works and what do you do
to minor works?
Minor works are the following:
Titles of articles, songs, essays, short stories,
chapters, poems, radio segment, and TV episode
All minor works are put in quotation marks.
Example
In Harrelsons essay The Tribulations of
Eskimos
 Major Works
What are major works and what do you do to major works?
Major works are the following:
Name of books, journals, magazines, long poems,
databases, TV and Radio programs, plays, films, web sites, pamphlets
All major works are either italicized or
underlined, but not both. You must be
consistent. So if you decide to underline your
first major source, then throughout your paper all
your major works are underlined.
Example,
In Kate Chopins novel Awakenings,