What Is MLA Style? MLA Stands for “Modern Language Association” The MLA makes rules for the writers of research papers in English and the Humanities so that everyone who is doing research is following the same set of rules and we can all understand each other.

What kinds of things do I need to do to have correct MLA Style? Part of MLA style is format. Margins Heading Font, etc. Please see the formatting example that is on our website under the “SUPPLEMENTAL READING & PROMPTS" tab for my expectations on formatting. Part of MLA style is citation. This means giving credit to your sources and avoiding plagiarism. Citation is also meant to make is easy for your reader find your sources if he or she wishes to read them.

MLA Citation has two main parts: Parenthetical citations. Ex: (Anderson 3) Are in the body (main text) of your essay. Come after each paraphrase or quote that you did not write or think of yourself, you must indicate which source you are using in order to avoid plagiarism. Consult your textbook for more detail. A Works Cited page: On its own page at the end of your essay Lists every source you used in alphabetical order by the last name of the author. Each works cited entry must contain specific information in a specific order. Consult your textbook for more details.

Four Basic Rules for Avoiding Plagiarism Make sure all word-for-word quotes have quote marks showing where they begin and end. Make sure to make the difference between your ideas and your sources’ ideas clear when paraphrasing. Identify where each quote OR paraphrased idea came from in the body of your paper using in-text citations. Make sure that each source you quote OR paraphrase in your paper is correctly listed on your Works Cited page. Look at the Incorporating Sources Handout on Weebly

Some Myths about Plagiarism: Myth 1: As long as I have a source on my works cited page, I don’t have to mention it in the body of my paper. WRONG! Any time you use ideas or words from a source, you must include an in-text citation. Myth 2: As long as I change one or two words in a quote, I don’t have to put quote marks around it or do a citation. WRONG! Changing one or two words in a quote and replacing them with synonyms is STILL PLAGIARISM if you keep the original ideas and/or sentence structure. Myth 3: As long as I paraphrase correctly, using my own words and sentence structure to express an idea or give information, I don’t need an in-text citation. WRONG! Even if you use your own words, if the specific idea/information originally came from somewhere else, you must cite it.

More Myths about Plagiarism: Myth 4: I don’t need to cite exact words, ideas or information I find on the internet. WRONG! Treat your internet sources with the same respect you have for your print or online database sources. Myth 5: It is appropriate to use an old essay from a friend, buy an essay, or have someone help me write an essay using his or her wording instead of mine. WRONG! All of these are called collusion, and they are all plagiarism. Myth 6: I won’t get caught if I plagiarize. WRONG! Plagiarism is quite obvious to most professors, and many of them use plagiarism detecting software.

Resources to Help you Avoid Plagiarism Online plagiarism tutorial and quizzes from Simon Fraser University http://www.lib.sfu.ca/node/10442 Plagiarism Self Test from Western Carolina University http://www.wcu.edu/12083.asp University of Southern Mississippi’s Plagiarism Tutorial http://www.lib.usm.edu/legacy/plag/plagiarismtutorial.php

Key differences in MLA 8th Edition One standard citation format that applies to every source type In previous editions of the MLA Handbook, researchers were required to locate the citation format for the source that they used. For example, if a magazine was used, researchers needed to locate the specific citation format for periodicals. Due to the various ways that information is now received, in books, websites, lectures, tweets, Facebook posts, etc, it has become unrealistic for MLA to create citation formats for every source type. Now, there is one standard, universal format that researchers can use to create their citations. Can you find this format in your book? What is it?

Key differences in MLA 8th Edition 2. Inclusion of “containers” in citations. Containers are the elements that “hold” the source. For example, if a television episode is watched on Netflix, Netflix is the container. Both the title of the source and its container are included in a citation.

Key differences in MLA 8th Edition 3. The ability to use pseudonyms for author names It is now acceptable to use online handles or screen names in place of authors’ names. Example: @WSJ. “Generation X went from the most successful in terms of homeownership rates in 2004 to the least successful by 2015.” Twitter, 8 Apr. 2016, 4:30 p.m., twitter.com/WSJ/status/718532887830753280

Key differences in MLA 8th Edition 4. Adding the abbreviations vol. and no. to magazine and journal article citations. In MLA 7, there was no indication that the numbers in periodical citations referred to the volume and issue numbers. Example of a journal article citation in MLA 7: DelGuidice, Margaux. “When a Leadership Opportunity Knocks, Answer!” Library Media Connection 30.2 (2011): 48-49. Print An example of a journal article citation in MLA 8: DelGuidice, Margaux. “When a Leadership Opportunity Knocks, Answer!” Library Media Connection, vol. 30, no. 2, 2011, pp. 48-49.

Key differences in MLA 8th Edition 5. Inclusion of URLS In previous versions of the MLA handbook, it was up to the discretion of the instructor whether URLs should be included in a citation. In MLA 8, it is highly recommended to include a URL in the works cited. Even if it becomes outdated, it is still possible to trace the information online from an older URL. Omit “http://” or “https://” from the URL when including it in the citation.

Key differences in MLA 8th Edition 6. Omitting the publisher from some source types It is not necessary to include the publisher for periodicals or for a web site when the name of the site matches the name of the publisher. For periodicals, the name of the publisher is generally insignificant.

Key differences in MLA 8th Edition 7. Omitting the city of publication In previous versions of the MLA handbook, researchers included the city where the publisher was located. Today, this information generally serves little purpose and the city of publication can often be omitted. Only include the city of publication if the version of the source differs when published in a different country (Example: British editions of books versus versions printed in the United States).

Features that have not changed from MLA 7: The overall principles of citing and plagiarism The use of in-text citations and works cited pages