Documentation Style - MLA

Introduction There is no universally accepted format for formatting and documenting citations in academic writing. Indeed an important part of scholarly training is learning what the rules are in one's particular field, so one can display the right kind of learning and professionalization. Four common documentation styles: MLA, which is widely used in the humanities; APA, widely used in the social sciences; Chicago, also common in those two areas (and the format for those who favor footnotes); and CBE, widely used in the natural sciences. 2

MLA Document Format In the humanities the most influential writing and documentation style is that of the Modern Language Association of America (MLA), one of the largest academic organizations in the world. MLA documentation style is common in English, foreign languages, comparative literature, and other humanities courses. 3

MLA Document Format Margins, line spacing, and paragraphs Except for page numbers, use margins of one inch on all sides. The essay or report should be double-spaced throughout (including quotations, notes, and the list of works cited), with no blank lines between paragraphs. The first line of each new paragraph is indented a half-inch on the left (or five spaces if you use a typewriter). Set-off quotations are indented one inch on the left. Printing and fonts Type or print; don't turn in handwritten formal work. Print on only one side of the page, in black ink. Use a plain serif or sans-serif font—no cursive fonts, for instance. Good serif choices are Times Roman and Palatino; good non-serif choices are Arial and Helvetica. Traditional MLA style prefers underlining to italics, but this is gradually changing as high-quality printers become the norm. Use italics for emphasis if your teacher allows. 4

MLA Document Style Page numbers Starting with the first page, put page numbers a half-inch from the top edge of the paper, flush with the right margin. Type your last name before the page number (Harvey 1), in case the page comes loose. Word processors automate this process, so make sure you know how to use the pagination command. Spaces between sentences In the old days of typewriters and nonproportional fonts (in which every letter, from i to w, takes up the same space), the rule was to put two spaces between sentences to improve readability. But if you print from a computer, you should put just one space between sentences. Heading At the top of the first page of the essay (below the top margin, of course, and flush with the left margin), place your name, your professor's name, the course name or number (including section number if the course has multiple sections), and the date you're turning in the paper, each on a separate line with double-spacing throughout. 5

MLA Document Style Title Research papers don't need title pages. Instead, place a centered title on the first page of the essay, separated from the heading by a blank line. If the title extends to a second line, double space between the lines and again to the first line of the essay (with no blank line). Don't italicize or underline the title (though if you use a book title in your paper's title, you should italicize or underline it). Make sure your essay has a meaningful title that is more than a bare-bones identifier (not Essay #1 or Essay on Management). It should signal to the reader what your essay is about (like Deming's Total Quality Management Perspective or Jefferson on Slavery). A common academic device to create a bit of elegance is to use a title and subtitle, separating them with a colon. Typically the titles are balanced so that one is broad and the other more focused, or one uses a key term and the other starts to delimit and explain it: Mysteries of State: An Absolute Concept and its Late Medieval Origins Often you'll see a pithy quoted fragment before the colon: "Hell Strives With Grace": Reflections on the Theme of Providence in Marlowe 6

MLA Document Style Here's an example of the first page of a paper, MLA-style: 7

MLA Document Style Late corrections Sometimes you will discover mistakes in what you thought was a final draft, when you no longer have time to print out a corrected version. In such cases, you should hand-correct the printed version (that's one reason to double-space essays). It's usually okay to turn in an essay with one or two such corrections. How to do it: Cross out the mistake with a single horizontal line. Mark the insertion point with a caret (^). Neatly write in the correction above the printed line. Don't write below the line or in the margin. If you need to make a more substantial correction, make a clean printout. 8

MLA Document Style The basic MLA citation style consists of a brief in-text citation keyed to a reference in an alphabetical list of works included at the end of the paper. A complete citation thus has two parts: (1) an in-text citation in the body of the paper, and (2) a bibliographic reference in the list of works cited. The point is to improve readability by minimizing interruptions in the body of the paper. (1) In-text citation The novel opens evocatively, with a beginning that sounds almost like an ending: "So the beginning of this was a woman and she had come back from burying the dead" (Hurston 9). (2) Reference in the list of works cited Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Urbana: U of Illinois P, A pointer to the specific passage quoted, denoted usually by a page number, is included in the in-text citation, along with an identifier (generally the author's name) that points to a specific reference. The reference includes the full bibliographic information one would need to find the book in a library. Let's look first at how in-text citations work, then at the list of works cited and its references, and then turn to detailed formats for citing and referencing different kinds of sources. 9

MLA Document Style A typical in-text citation is simple: an author and usually a page reference (with no addition like page or pg. or p.): (Colleran 99). In- text citations are often referred to as parenthetical citations, but this term can be misleading because some citations don't require a parenthetical element: Allen, for instance, believes that the dialogue is ironic. And some need only a parenthetical: On the other hand, the dialogue can be understood as ironic (Allen). The author's last name is sufficient to point the reader to a unique reference in the list of works cited (this reference is to the whole work, which is why a specific page reference is not included. If a specific passage were being referred to, it should be denoted by a page reference). 10

MLA Document Style Most often in-text citations comprise two elements: a signal phrase or pointer in the body of the paper, and a parenthetical: The signal phrase and parenthetical should divide up, not duplicate, the citation data: WRONG Harry Berger argues that "Mowbray serves as the medium in which are condensed Bolingbroke's darker purposes" (Berger 226). RIGHT Harry Berger argues that "Mowbray serves as the medium in which are condensed Bolingbroke's darker purposes" (226). It's okay to repeat information if additional material between the signal phrase and the parenthetical might make for ambiguity: Berger alerts us to Mowbray's role in the scene, suggesting an alternative to Booth's perspective (Berger 226). 11

MLA Document Style MLA style requires you to list your sources with full bibliographic information at the end of the paper. The usual title is "Works Cited." The list begins on a new page and continues the paper's page numbers. Like other page numbers, the page number appears in the upper-right hand corner, half an inch from the top and flush with the right margin (all margins are one inch). The title is centered, an inch from the top of the page. Double-space between title and the first entry. Each entry begins flush with the left margin, and is then indented half an inch. The whole list is double-spaced with no blank line between entries. 12

MLA Document Style 13

MLA Document Style The point of a bibliographic reference is to allow your readers to track down your sources. As the examples in the list of works cited above show, you need to include standard bibliographic information: author, title, place of publication, publisher, and year of publication. Titles Get the title from the title page, not the cover or another source. Give spelled-out equivalents of symbols like &. When a title consists of two phrases on separate lines, join them with a colon. For example, this title page would be listed as Shakespeare Reread: The Texts in New Contexts. SHAKESPEARE REREAD The texts in new contexts 14

MLA Document Style Alphabetization Alphabetize the list by author, or for any anonymous works by title (ignoring but not deleting A, An, and The). Capitalization Capitalize all significant words, regardless of how the original source is capitalized. Capitalize most words except articles (a, an, the), prepositions (of, to, in, against), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet), and the to infinitives. But if any of these occurs as the first or last word of a title or subtitle, capitalize it. Underlining/italics and quotation marks The titles of works published independently (not within another volume) are typically formatted with underlining (or, increasingly often, italics). These include books, plays, long poems published as books, pamphlets, newspapers, magazines, journals, films... The titles of works published within other works are typically placed in quotation marks. These include articles, essays, stories, short poems, chapters, encyclopedia entries, sections of online documents, songs, and individual episodes of broadcast programs. 15

MLA Document Style Titles in titles Underlined (or italicized) titles in quoted titles. Retain the underlining: "Death in Death in Venice." Quoted titles in quoted title. Switch to single quotation marks for the inner title: "Ironic reversal in Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit.'“ Underlined titles in underlined titles. Don't underline or use quotation marks: Stowe's Trumpet: Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Civil War. Quoted title in underlined title. Keep the quotation marks: "Sailing to Byzantium" and Modern Memory If a quotation-mark title ends a sentence, put the period (but not other punctuation marks like question marks) inside the quotation mark. Exceptions Titles of sacred writings like the Koran or Bible are not underlined or italicized: "The story of Moses is told mainly in Exodus and Deuteronomy.“ Neither are the names of laws or other political documents (the U.S. Constitution), musical compositions like symphonies or concertos (Beethoven's Symphony no. 3), series, societies, buildings, conferences, and courses. 16