1. In-Text Citations
MLA Formatting Guide

2. When and Why to Cite
When? You cite a source whenever you are directly quoting or paraphrasing the words or ideas of someone else.
Why? This enables your audience, teacher, professor, to know that you are being academically honest. It prevents you of plagiarizing. Plagiarism is a serious offense that can result in serious consequences, including failing a course and removal from college. Citations also promote and allow individuals in the academic community to share resources.

3. How do you cite your sources?
You must provide information that leads your reader directly to the source as it appears in your Works Cited page. This information can be provided in the actual sentence itself or at the end of the sentence in what is called a parenthetical citation.
In a parenthetical citation, you provide the first piece of information that appears in the Works Cited page, typically the author’s last name or the first two or three words of the title of the source (when no author is given). A page number is also included when available.

4. How do you cite your sources?
To determine if I have cited correctly, check the Works Cited page. Can you quickly and easily find the sources used in each of the above statements?
 To help his daughter get along better with her new teacher Miss Caroline, Atticus tells Scout that she needs to learn how “to climb into the skin of another” (Lee 33).
Here is the Works Cited entry for this source. It is a perfect match.
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Print.

5. How do you cite your sources?
To determine if I have cited correctly, check the Works Cited page. Can you quickly and easily find the sources used in each of the above statements?
Award-winning children’s author Tanya Landman argues that although To Kill a Mockingbird is a “masterpiece” it is, in her opinion, a racist text.
Here is the entry for this source. It is also a match:
Landman, Tanya. "Is To Kill a Mockingbird a Racist Book?" Editorial. The Guaridan. The Guardian, 20 Oct Web. 3 Mar

6. How do you cite your sources?
If you provide the information that will directly lead your reader to the correct source as it is listed in your Works Cited, then there is no need to include a parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence.
The only time it really gets tricky is when you are quoting someone who is not listed as the author of the source. This is true for the documentary and the individual essays written by those individuals featured in the documentary. See the next slide for an example of how to handle this in your paper.

7. When do you use “qtd. in”?
For example, if you read James McBride’s essay, then you would cite his words as follows.
Author James McBride argues, “I think the challenge she laid out for us, the writers who follow in her wake, is to make sure that the various dimensions of these stories are told properly, and that we stand up in our own time to talk about issues that count now”(qtd. in Scout and Atticus 81.).

8. Introducing a Quotation
Do not float a quote.
In other words, always introduce the speaker or writer first.
Indicate who or what is important about the speaker/writer.

9. Longer Quotations Use long quotations sparingly.
Partial quotations are helpful. You can embed them into your own sentence.
But if you do have a quotation longer than 3 lines of text, you need to format it differently from other quotations. See the next two slides for more about block formatting.

10. Longer Quotations
For quotations that are more than four lines of prose or three lines of verse:
Place quotations in a free-standing block of text and omit quotation marks.
Start the quotation on a new line, with the entire quote indented one inch from the left margin; maintain double-spacing.
Only indent the first line of the quotation by an additional quarter inch if you are citing multiple paragraphs.
Your parenthetical citation should come after the period.

11. Example of Block Formatting:
Nelly Dean treats Heathcliff poorly and dehumanizes him throughout her narration: They entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even in their room, and I had no more sense, so, I put it on the landing of the stairs, hoping it would be gone on the morrow. By chance, or else attracted by hearing his voice, it crept to Mr. Earnshaw's door, and there he found it on quitting his chamber. Inquiries were made as to how it got there; I was obliged to confess, and in recompense for my cowardice and inhumanity was sent out of the house. (Bronte 78)