1. Cross-referencing: Using MLA Format
Rationale: Welcome to “Cross-referencing: Using MLA Format.” This presentation is designed to introduce your students to the purposes of documentation, as well as methods for effectively using parenthetical citations and a Works Cited page. The twenty-two slides presented here are designed to aid the facilitator in an interactive presentation of strategies for using MLA style. This presentation is ideal for the beginning of a research unit in a humanities course or any assignment that requires MLA documentation.
This presentation may be supplemented with OWL handouts, including “Using MLA Format.” ( “Paraphrase: Write It in Your Own Words” ( “Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing” ( and “Avoiding Plagiarism” (
Directions: Each slide is activated by a single mouse click, unless otherwise noted in bold at the bottom of each notes page.
Writer and Designer: Jennifer Liethen Kunka
Contributors: Muriel Harris, Karen Bishop, Bryan Kopp, Matthew Mooney, David Neyhart, and Andrew Kunka
Developed with resources courtesy of the Purdue University Writing Lab
Grant funding courtesy of the Multimedia Instructional Development Center at Purdue University
© Copyright Purdue University, 2000.
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2. Why Use MLA Format? Allows readers to check your sources easily
Gives you credibility as a writer
Protects you from plagiarism
Key Concepts: This slide allows the facilitator to explain the purposes for using MLA documentation. MLA format provides writers with a system for cross-referencing their sources—from their parenthetical references to their works cited page. This cross-referencing system allows readers to locate the publication information of source material. This is of great value for researchers who may want to locate your sources for their own research projects. The proper use of MLA style also shows the credibility of writers; such writers show accountability to their source material. Most importantly, the use of MLA style can protect writers from accusations of plagiarism—the purposeful or accidental use of source material by other writers without giving appropriate credit. The next slide provides additional information on plagiarism.
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3. Avoiding Plagiarism
Proper citation of your sources in MLA style can help you avoid plagiarism, which is a serious offense. It may result in anything from failure of the assignment to expulsion from school.
Key Concepts: Plagiarism is a serious offense in the university system, and may result in punishments ranging from failure of the assignment, failure of the course, or expulsion from school.
There is a handout on OWL about plagiarism and can be found at
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4. Parenthetical Citations
MLA Style: Two Parts
Works Cited Page
Parenthetical Citations
Rationale: This slide establishes the two areas of MLA documentation, the Works Cited page and parenthetical citations.
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5. Works Cited Page
A complete list of every source that you use to in your paper
Provides the information necessary for a reader to locate and retrieve any sources used in your paper.
Key Concepts: This slide explains the purpose of a works cited page. Students may also understand this to be called the “bibliography” page. The facilitator may stress that each source referenced within the paper should also appear on the works cited page. The works cited page appears at the end of the paper.
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6. A Sample Works Cited Page
Smith 12
Works Cited
Dickens, Charles. Bleak House New York: Penguin,
1985.
---. David Copperfield New York: Houghton Mifflin
Company, 1958.
Miller, J. Hillis. Charles Dickens: The World and His Novels.
Bloomington: U of Indiana P, 1958.
Zwerdling, Alex. “Esther Summerson Rehabilitated.” PMLA 88 (May
1973):
Key Concepts: This slide offers students a sample of what a Works Cited page looks like.* For this particular paper, four sources were used. The first and second sources are reprints of earlier published novels, hence the use of the two dates. The second source has three dashed lines in place of the author, Charles Dickens. This is to indicate that the same author wrote both concurrently listed works. The third source is a book published in Note the abbreviations for “University” and “Press.” The fourth source is an article from a continually paginated journal.
The facilitator may choose to explain the form of this page. Note that “Works Cited” is centered at the top. All sources are double spaced and alphabetized according to author. All lines after the first line of an entry should be indented five spaces. The facilitator may also choose to reference students to the final pages on the Writing Lab MLA handout, which also offers a sample Works Cited.
* From “’I am Born:’ The Birth of Identity in David Copperfield and Bleak House” by Jennifer L. Kunka, Purdue University (unpublished manuscript).
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7. Works Cited
Most citations should contain the following basic information:
Author’s name
Title of work
Publication information
Rationale: This slide shows the basic information needed for entries on the works cited page.
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8. Works Cited: Some Examples
Book
Byatt, A. S. Babel Tower. New York: Random House, 1996.
Article in a Magazine
Klein, Joe. “Dizzy Days.” The New Yorker 5 Oct. 1998:
Web page
Poland, Dave. “The Hot Button.” Roughcut. 26 Oct Turner Network Television. 28 Oct <
Examples: This slide provides examples of a few commonly used citation formats. The web page example will prove to be the most confusing for students (particularly because MLA just released information on citing web pages). The web page example lists the author’s name (if available), the title of the article in quotation marks, the title of the web site underlined or italicized, the date of publication, the publisher, the date information was accessed by the user, and the web address in brackets. Students may not find all of this information when they look at a web page, particularly the author’s name, the date, and the publisher. The facilitator should remind students that they should list in order the information that they do have.
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9. When Should You Use Parenthetical Citations? ( …….. )
When quoting any words that are not your own
1.) Quoting means to repeat another source word for word, using quotation marks
Key Concepts: The next two slides explain the occasions in which MLA citations will be necessary, as well as explains the differences between quoting, summarizing, and paraphrasing. Students will be most familiar with the need to site for quotations, but the facilitator should stress that if the idea comes from someone else, the source material should be cited.
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10. When Should You Use Parenthetical Citations?
2.) When summarizing facts and ideas from a source
Summarizing means to take ideas from a large passage of another book/source and make it shorter, using your own words
3.) When paraphrasing a source
Paraphrasing means to use the ideas from another person/book but put it into your own words.
Key Concepts: This slide explains explains the differences between summarizing and paraphrasing. The facilitator may stress that if the idea comes from someone else, the source material should be cited.
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11. Keys to Parenthetical Citations
Readability
Keep references brief
Do not repeat unnecessary information
Key Concepts: This slide emphasizes the need to keep parenthetical citations within a paper brief. The information provided in the body of the paper should be just enough so that a reader could easily cross-reference the citation with its matching entry on the Works Cited page. The following slides give examples of how to use parenthetical references.
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12. Handling Quotes in Your Text
Author’s last name and page number(s) of quote must appear in the text
Romantic poetry is characterized by the “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (Wordsworth 263). OR
Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (263).
Examples: The two examples in this slide illustrate methods for including parenthetical citations in the text. If the author’s name is listed in the preceding sentence, only the page number of the quotation should appear in the parenthetical citation following the sentence. If the author’s name does not appear within the sentence, the parenthetical citation should include the author’s last name and the page number. In either case, a reader should be able to cross-reference back to the Works Cited page and locate all of the publication information needed to find Wordsworth’s work, in this case an excerpt in an anthology:
Wordsworth, William. Preface to Lyrical Ballads Romanticism: An Anthology. Ed. Duncan
Wu. Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell Ltd.,
The facilitator may also note that the parenthetical reference is located before the period.
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13. Handling Parenthetical Citations
Sometimes more information is necessary
More than one author with the same last name
(W. Wordsworth 23); (D. Wordsworth 224)
More than one work by the same author
(Joyce, Portrait 121); (Joyce, Ulysses 556)
Examples: This slide demonstrates variations on the parenthetical reference. The first example distinguishes a work by William Wordsworth from a book by Dorothy Wordsworth by including the first initial. The second example distinguishes passages from James Joyce’s Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man from his later book, Ulysses. If a work has more than one volume, as in the third example, the citation should include a volume number followed by a colon and the page number. Finally, if the quotation used is quoted within another author’s work, both writers need to be listed in the citation. In the fourth example, the writer used a quote by Samuel Johnson from Boswell’s book (the second volume). Johnson was quoted (qtd.) in Boswell in Volume 2, page 450.
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14. Handling Parenthetical Citations
If the source has no known author, then use an abbreviated version of the title:
Full Title: “California Cigarette Tax Deters Smokers”
Citation: (“California” A14)
If the source is only one page in length or is a web page with no apparent pagination:
Source: Dave Poland’s “Baby Name Express” web page
Citation: (Poland)
Examples: This slide provides information about additional variations on the parenthetical reference. The first example demonstrates how to handle sources with no author. In this case, the newspaper article title is listed in quotation marks. If this was the title of a book, however, California would be italicized within the parenthetical reference.
The second example illustrates a citation for a one-page article or a web page. Because the size and number of printed web pages varies greatly from computer to computer, a page number is not a stable reference. Therefore, page numbers are omitted from the reference. The facilitator may also wish to note that the URL/web address should NOT be listed within the body of the paper--only on the Works Cited page.
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15. Handling Quotes in Your Text
There are many different combinations and variations within MLA citation format.
If you run into something unusual, look it up!
Rationale: This slide reminds participants that MLA reference guides should be consulted to answer questions about parenthetical references or Works Cited page entries. At this point, the facilitator may choose to field questions regarding MLA documentation.
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16. Where can you go for additional help with MLA documentation?
The Library
The QAA webpage
Miss Yule!
Rationale: As the presentation concludes, the facilitator can remind students that they can come to the Writing Lab for extra help with MLA style.
Click mouse after the title question.
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