Guidelines for in-text citations and works cited list, MLA (consistent with MLA 2009 guidelines)

1. Some Very General Citation
Guidelines

2. The Bottom Line: The following will lose you
marks.
 No citations? Fail (see plagiarism)
 Citations in anything other than MLA, or consistent failure
to format correctly:? Automatic 10% deduction.
 Quotes not integrated or formatted incorrectly (long quote
not set off with hanging indent), treated as “serious error,”
three will lose you 10%
 Titles incorrectly formatted: automatic 5% deduction.
 Incorrect punctuation, treated as punctuation error. Five
will lose you 10%

3. Take Good Notes!
Always keep track of…
 Date you accessed material on web
 Author
 Title
 Publisher, and publishing details (place, date)
 Name of web page
 URL Address (no longer needed for MLA, but good
practice)
 Date of material
 Page numbers beginning and end
 Page you got material from
 In your notes, use quotation marks on all exact
quotes

4. Recommended Sites
 Zotero
 Diane Hacker (google “Hacker MLA”)

5. Part One: In Text

6. Titles
 Books (Perspectives on Contemporary Issues, Pride
and Prejudice) and sometimes plays are in italics.
 Poems, essays (“The Game”) and other works within
works (sometimes plays) are in quotation marks.

7. Formatting Quotes
 Integrate grammatically whenever possible into your
own sentence.
 As a rule, quote as little as possible; paraphrase or
put in your own words (but don’t forget to cite)

8. Integrate quotes grammatically
Miss Lucy mentions the “terrible accidents” (71) that
happen sometimes because of electric fences.
Tommy agrees with Kathy that he is in some way
different; he tells her “Maybe I did know, somewhere
deep down. Something the rest of you didn’t” (252).
The period goes AFTER the parentheses when the
quote is in your sentence.

9. Block Quote
Use when quoting passage of more than two sentences,
or for dialogue, which should be reproduced as on
original page.
Madame tells Kathy that there was a different reason
why she was crying:
When I watched you dancing that day, I
saw something else. I saw a new world
coming rapidly. More scientific, efficient,
yes. (248)
Note: the parenthetical entry goes AFTER the period in
this case.

10. Parenthetical Citations 1: What
 ANYTHING, either exact quote, fact or opinion, that you
read in your research
 Page of text you are using – cite author’s name once at
the beginning but unless you cite something other than
your main work there is no need to keep repeating it.
 If no author, use ABBREVIATED title – this applies to
journal articles and web page articles as well.
 Have as many citations per paragraph as there are
different sources. Don’t worry about having too many.

11. Your Basic Parenthetical Citation: MLA
 First quotation or reference: “Quote quote quote”
(Author 25).
 All subsequent quotes or references by same author,
or where author is mentioned by name in sentence:
“quote quote quote” (26).
 NOTE: NO “p” for page, NO comma between
author and number

12. Parenthetical Citations 2: Where
 The parentheses go after the quote but before the
period except in the case of indented quotes when it
goes at the end.
 Milton echoes Marlowe when he writes that a mind
“in itself / Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of
Heav’n” (234-5).
 Elizabeth Barrett Browning suggests that women
“are paid / The worth of our work, perhaps” (464).

13. More Punctuation
 Reproduce internal punctuation (and capitalization)
exactly as written except for a closing period (which
goes after the parentheses). Retain closing
exclamation and question marks.
 Dorothea Brook responds: “What a wonderful little
almanac you are, Celia!” (7).

14. Part Two: List of References

15. What it’s Called
 In MLA, it’s a “Works Cited” list
 It’s not a bibliography

16. Items Must be in Alphabetical Order
 The order is by Author’s last name.
 If you have no Author, use title, and integrate that
alphabetically.
 NOTE: do not number entries

17. Sample Entry 1: Book
MLA
 Ishiguro, Kazuo. Never Let Me Go. Toronto:Vintage
Canada, 2006.

18. Sample Works Cited Entry 2
 Simple Journal Entry MLA
Koepke Brown, Carole. “Episodic Patterns and The
Perpetrator: The Structure and Meaning of Chaucer’s
Wife of Bath’s Tale.” The Chaucer Review 31:01 (1996) :
19-34.

19. Sample Works Cited Entry 3
Journal Entry from EBSCO (MLA)
Neman, Beth S. "A Modest Proposal for Testing 'A Voyage to
the Country of the Houynhnm's' For Dramatic Irony." English
Language Notes. 24:2 (Dec 86). p37. 7p. Retrieved Academic
Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 20 Nov 2009.

20. Sample Works Cited Entry 3
 Online Article MLA
Vaught, Jennifer C. “Spenser’s Dialogic Voice in Book
I of The Faerie Queene.” 2001. 23 Web. 15 Nov
2009.

21. Citing Wikipedia
“Dystopia." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 10 April
2007.
In text, use (“Dystopia”) only.