This document provides instruction on using MLA (Modern Language Association) citation style. It discusses the sandwich technique for integrating quotes, using parenthetical citations, formatting the Works Cited page, citing multiple authors, indirect quotes, and electronic sources. Examples are given for in-text citations and Works Cited entries for various source types like books, websites, and interviews. Peer revision of rough drafts is also mentioned.
1. WEEK EIGHT-EN102
MLA– How it is Used
“Sandwich” Technique
Rough Drafts
Peer Revision
2. MLA (Modern Language Association) is a style of “foot-
note” for specifically English academic assignments.
Instead of the “number” system to track
footnotes, MLA uses parentheses, and a Works Cited
page (rather than a bibliography) to track where the
information is coming from.
Besides the GRCC Library, there are numerous
resources available : OWL link…
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
3. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/2/
FOR Basic Formatting.
Remember: Only the author / page are put into the
parentheses, at the end of the citation, or paragraph.
Also, the period comes AFTER the period.
Example: Dave Davies says his time in the Kinks was really
his life calling: up until the age of 16, he thought he was
going to be a dentist, (65).
4. Another Example:
Human beings have been described by Kenneth Burke as
"symbol-using animals" (3). Human beings have been
described as "symbol-using animals" (Burke 3).
The Works Cited page entry should look like this:
Burke, Kenneth. Language as Symbolic Action: Essays on
Life, Literature, and Method. Berkeley: U of
California Press, 1966. Print.
This is for a KNOWN author. For an unknown author:
We see so many global warming hotspots in North America
likely because this region has "more readily accessible
climatic data and more comprehensive programs to
monitor and study environmental change . . ." ("Impact of
Global Warming" 6).
5. The citation for this is as follows:
"The Impact of Global Warming in North America." GLOBAL
WARMING: Early Signs. 1999. Web. 23 Mar. 2009.
For Multiple Authors, a couple of ways to do this:
Smith, Yang, and Moore argue that tougher gun control is
not needed in the United States (76).
The authors state "Tighter gun control in the United States
erodes Second Amendment rights" (Smith, Yang, and
Moore 76).
6. This is a citation of an indirect quote (a source quoted
by the source you are using).
Ravitch argues that high schools are pressured to act as
"social service centers, and they don't do that well" (qtd.
in Weisman 259).
For electronic sources (online, DVD ROM, CD)
7. • Author and/or editor names (if available)
• Article name in quotation marks (if applicable)
• Title of the Website, project, or book in italics.
(Remember that some Print publications have Web
publications with slightly different names. They may, for
example, include the additional information or otherwise
modified information, like domain names [e.g. .com or
.net].)
• Any version numbers available, including
revisions, posting dates, volumes, or issue numbers.
• Publisher information, including the publisher name and
publishing date.
• Take note of any page numbers (if available).
Medium of publication.
Date you accessed the material.
URL (if required, or for your own personal reference; MLA
does not require a URL).
8. Editor, author, or compiler name (if
available). Name of Site. Version
number. Name of
institution/organization affiliated with
the site (sponsor or publisher), date
of resource creation (if available).
Medium of publication. Date of
access.
The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The
Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and
Purdue U, 2008. Web. 23 Apr. 2008.
Felluga, Dino. Guide to Literary and
Critical Theory. Purdue U, 28 Nov.
2003. Web. 10 May 2006.
NOTE: These are NOT formatted, for
the example.
9. The “Sandwich” Technique: a way of integrating
information into your sentences, and paragraphs.
FOR EXAMPLE:
Harpo Marx enjoyed a rather happy marriage, and adopted
several children. Harpo was quoted as saying “I wanted to
adopt as many children as possible, so when my wife and I
left the house, we would have a child in every
window, waving goodbye,” (IMDB).
