MLA Style and Documentation

Page Construction by Tod E. Jones.

For further inquiry, please consult the Modern Language Association. My own research and teaching responsibilities prevent me from responding to individual requests for additional information. Comments may be sent to dogmatist@hotmail.com.

Sources Consulted

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 5th ed.

New York: Modern Language Association, 1999.

Lunsford, Andrea, and Robert Connors. Documenting Sources: 1998 MLA

Guidelines. Boston: Bedford / St. Martin's, 1998.

CONTENTS

First Page Format

Presenting Quotations

Citing Sources

Documenting Books in a List of Works Cited

Documenting Articles in a List of Works Cited

Documenting a World Wide Web Site in a List of Works Cited

Documenting Nonprint Sources in a List of Works Cited

For information on the use of punctuation with citations, please see Common Problems in English Grammar and Punctuation.

First Page Format

(Last Name and Pagination :) Antoninus 1

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (: Student's Full Name)

Professor Epictetus (: Professor's Name)

English 101 (: Department and Course Number)

10 Sept. 134 (: The date that the paper is given to the professor)

Meditations on My Summer Vacation

Thanks to Diognetus I learnt not to be

absorbed in trivial pursuits, to be sceptical of

wizards and wonder-workers with their tales . . . .

Notes on Page Format

Use a one-inch margin.
Paginate every page, including the Works Cited, at the top right corner.
Without exception, double space throughout the text.
Center the title.
Indent the first line of every paragraph approximately five spaces. (Word processing programs may vary slightly with pre-set tabs.)
Your text should be flush at the left margin only.

Presenting Quotations

If a quotation is no longer than four complete lines, place it within quotation marks and include it within your paragraph. Example:

The ability of England to survive the Sphinx's question is the ability it has to recognize Justice. Carlyle issues this warning at the conclusion of the chapter: "As many men as there are in a Nation who can withal see Heaven's invisible Justice, and know it to be on Earth also omnipotent, so many men are there who stand between a Nation and perdition" (19).

If a prose quotation is longer than four lines, or if a verse quotation is longer than three lines, set it apart from the paragraph by beginning the quotation on the next line and by double indenting from the left margin. Use quotation marks only as they are used by the author. Note that the terminal punctuation comes before, rather than after, the parenthetical citation. Example:

Robert Browning, in "Bishop Blougram's Apology,"

has the narrator recommend a questioning faith:

"Leave it in peace" advise the

simple folk--

Make it aware of peace by

itching-fits

Say I--let doubt occasion still

more faith!(673-75)

If you are quoting more than one line and fewer than three lines of verse, show the division between lines by using a slash ( / ). Example:

As the narrator desires to remain in the protective seclusion of the Carthusian abbey, he senses accusatory "whispers" from the modernist intellectuals by whom he has been trained: "Even now their whispers pierce the gloom: / What dost thou in this living tomb?" (71-72).

Citing Sources

The Basics

Your in-text citations should accomplish three things. First, they should clearly announce to your readers that you are presenting material from a source other than yourself. In accomplishing this, you avoid the charge of plagiarism. Second, they should properly direct your readers to the full documentation provided in your Works Cited page. Therefore, as you create your citations, it is important that you consider the manner in which your sources are documented, as there must be an agreement between the citations and the documentation. Third, they should provide reference to the specific location of the quotation or information being cited. Example:

In evaluating Professor Dryasdust's overall effectiveness as a teacher, we might conclude, to borrow a line from Dickens, "If he had only learned a little less, how infinitely better he might have taught much more!" (15; bk. 1, ch. 2).

Dickens, Charles. Hard Times. 1854. New York:

Penguin Classics, 1995.

In this example above, the in-text citation accomplishes all three purposes. First, by identifying the author of the quotation and by using quotation marks, this citation effectively announces to the readers that the line "If he had only learned . . . " is not original with the author of the paper. Second, by providing the source's name, Dickens, this citation properly directs the reader to the full documentation in the Works Cited, wherein this particular work is documented under the name "Dickens." Third, the parenthetical citation provides specific reference to the page in the Penguin Classics edition from which this quotation is taken. (Because Hard Times is a literary work, the more general reference to bk. 1, ch. 2 is also provided.)

Citing the Author

Whenever possible, the author's name should be cited. There are two methods to citing the name of the author. The name may be given in what is called a "signal phrase." The first time that an author's name is given in a signal phrase, both the first and last names should be given. Example:

Graham Storey observes, "What Dickens shared with Carlyle was a hatred of Bentham's doctrine of utility and its social and economic consequences" (12).

The other method is to include the author's name within the parenthetical citation. Use no punctuation between the author's name and the page reference. Example:

Dickens shared Carlyle's "hatred" of Benthamite Utilitarianism (Storey 12).

Additional Rules:

If there are two or three authors, provide all of the authors' names in your citation. If there are more than three authors, you may either provide only the first author's name followed by "et al." ("and others"), or you may list all of the authors' names. This rule also applies to documentation.
If the author is unknown, give the title of the work instead. If the title is long, provide an abbreviated version. In abbreviating a title, omit words from the ending, never from the beginning, with the exception of articles (i.e., "a," "an," "the"). For example, when citing Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, an acceptable abbreviation is Sir Gawain, whereas Gawain is unacceptable. Keep in mind that the citation must properly direct your readers to the full documentation provided in alphabetical order in the Works Cited.
If there are two or more authors with the same last name, include the authors' first names in your citations.

Works that Require Special Citation

A work that is one volume in a multi-volume set:

Oliver Elton describes Trollope's novels as "a rest-cure after over-sexed fiction and priggish satire" (2: 282).

A literary work:

According to Disraeli, William III's reign resulted in "a mortgaged aristocracy" and "a degraded people" (45; bk. 1, ch. 3).

Verse plays:

Lear eulogizes with patriarchal nostalgia, "Her voice was ever soft, / Gentle, and low, an excellent thing in woman" (5.3.247b-48).

Bible: Identify quotations or references by book, chapter, and verse (e.g., Phil. 4:16). In parenthetical citations, use an abbreviation for books with titles of five or more letters. If you are citing the King James (or Authorized) Version, you do not need to include documentation in your Works Cited.

One-page texts: Do not cite the page reference. This will appear in your documentation in the Works Cited.

Documenting Books in a List of Works Cited

List all entries in alphabetical order. Basic documentation for books will include the author, title, and publication information. However, full documentation may include any or all of the following in this order:

Author. (Give the last name first.)

Title. (Underline the full title. Use a colon to separate the main title from the subtitle. Capitalize the first word in the title and all words that follow except preposition, conjunctions, and articles [i.e., "a," "an," "the"].)

Editor, Translator, or Compiler. (Example: "Trans. Richard Howard.")

Edition. (Example: "6th ed.")

Volume number. (Example: "Vol. 3.")

Series name.

Place of publication, name of the publisher, and date of publication. (Abbreviate the publisher by omitting end words such as "Press," "Publications," and "Inc." Represent "University Press" as "UP," without any period, space, or quotation marks.)

Inclusive page numbers (for an essay or chapter within a book).

One author:

Roe, Frederick William. The Social

Philosophy of Carlyle and Ruskin.

London: Kennikat, 1921.

Two or more authors:

McCoy, Kathleen, and Judith Harlan.

English Literature from 1785.

New York: HarperCollins, 1992.

Unknown author: List the entry alphabetically by title. If the title begins with an article (i.e., "a," "an," "the"), list the entry by the second word in the title.

Two or more books by the same author:

C. S. Lewis. The Allegory of Love: A Study

in Medieval Tradition. New York:

Oxford UP, 1936.

---. The Discarded Image: An Introduction

to Medieval and Renaissance

Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge

UP, 1964.

Edited books: Edited books by a single author should be listed by the name of the author, not the editor.

Carlyle, Thomas. Past and Present. 1843.

Ed. Richard D. Altick. New York:

New York UP, 1965.

Todd, Margo, ed. Reformation to

Revolution: Politics and

Religion in Early Modern

England. New York: Routledge,

1995.

An essay or chapter in an anthology: If the essay or chapter is reprinted in the anthology, your documentation should include information of the original publication first. "Reprinted" should be abbreviated as "Rpt." Document the inclusive pages.

Lovejoy, Arthur O. "On the Discrimination

of Romanticisms." Essays in the

History of Ideas. Baltimore: John

Hopkins UP, 1948. 228-53. Rpt. in

English Romantic Poets. Ed. M. H.

Abrams. New York: Oxford UP,

1975. 3-24.

Two or more works from a single anthology: Document the anthology itself within your Works Cited. Then, document each selection from the anthology by author and title, and include a cross-reference to the anthology.

Chase, Cynthia, ed. Romanticism. New York:

Longman, 1993.

De Man, Paul. "Time and History in

Wordsworth." Chase 55-77.

Hartman, Geoffrey. "Romanticism and Anti-

Self-Consciousness." Chase 43-54.

Preface, Foreword, Introduction, or Afterword:

Peterson, William S. Introduction. The

Autobiography of Mark Rutherford.

By William Hale White. New York:

Oxford UP, 1990. vii-xviii.

Article in a reference work: List the author first, if known. For a well-known reference work, document only the edition and date.

"Milton, John." Oxford Companion to

English Literature. 5th ed. 1985.

A book that is part of a series: Give the series name and number within the series after the book title.

Pollard, Arthur, ed. The Victorians. The

Penguin History of Literature 6.

New York: Penguin, 1993.

A republication: Give the date of original publication after the title.

Gaskell, Elizabeth. North and South. 1855.

New York: Penguin Classics, 1986.

A book title within a book title:

Knoepflmacher, U. C. Wuthering Heights: A

Study. Athens, Ohio: Ohio UP,

1989.

Documenting Articles in a List of Works Cited

List all entries in alphabetical order. Basic documentation for articles includes the following items in this order:

Author: (Give the last name first.)

Article Title: (Enclose in quotation marks the full title. Use a colon to separate the main title from the subtitle. Capitalize the first word in the title and all words that follow except preposition, conjunctions, and articles [i.e., "a," "an," "the"].)

Publication Information: (Underline the periodical title, and capitalize major words. Include the volume number and, if appropriate, the issue number. Include the date of publication. Include the inclusive page reference.)

Article in a journal paginated by volume:

Loesberg, Jonathan. "Dickensian Deformed

Children and the Hegelian

Sublime." Victorian Studies 40

(1997): 625-54.

Article in a journal paginated by issue: Follow the volume number with a period and the issue number (e.g., "40.4"). If an issue number is not given, give the month or season of publication.

Jones, Tod E. "Matthew Arnold's

'Philistinism' and Charles

Kingsley." Victorian Newsletter

94 (Fall 1998): 1-10.

Article in a monthly magazine:

Bethell, Tom, and Irvin Matus. "Looking

for Shakespeare." The Atlantic

Oct. 1991: 43-82.

Article in a weekly magazine: Document in the same manner as an article in a monthly magazine, but include the day of the month before the month (e.g., "7 Oct. 1991").
Article in a newspaper: Underline the name of the newspaper; omit initial articles (i.e., "a," "an," "the"); add the name of the city in brackets after the name of the title, if it does not appear within the title. After the date, note if the paper if a particular edition (e.g., "late ed." or "eastern ed."). If the article appears on discontinous pages, give the first page, followed by a plus sign.

Thomas, Craig, and Susan Nedza. "Drunk

Driving: Should Emergency

Physicians Report Blood Alcohol

Levels of Crash Victims?"

Washington Post 14 Dec. 1998,

local ed.: B1+.

Unsigned article: List the entry alphabetically by title. If the title begins with an article (i.e., "a," "an," "the"), list the entry by the second word in the title.
Editorial or Letter to the Editor: After the title, write "Editorial." or "Letter." If there is no title, write this after the author. If there is neither title nor author, list the work alphabetically under "Editorial." or "Letter."

Documenting a WWW Site in a List of Works Cited

Basic documentation of a World Wide Web site will include the following items in this order: author, title (underlined), institution or organization associated with the site, date of access, and the URL (in angle brackets). If no title exists, include a description, such as "Home page" (neither underlined nor enclosed in quotation marks).

World Wide Web site:

Jones, Tod E. Matthew Arnold and the Jesus

Seminar. 25 Apr. 1999. <http://

www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/6354/

ma2.html>.

Documenting Nonprint Sources in a List of Works Cited

A Film or Video Recording

When documenting a film or video recording, begin with the title, which is underlined, then include the name of the director, the distributor, and the year in which the film was released. Other pertinent information, such as the names of the writer, performers, and producer--if added--should be included between the title and the name of the distributor.

Example:

The Wolf Man. Perf. Claude Rains, Bela

Lugosi, and Lon Chaney Jr. Dir.

George Waggner. Universal

Pictures, 1941.

An Interview

Not all interviews are non-print media. Some appear in periodicals or books. If this is the case, present the title of the interview in quotation marks, after the name of the person interviewed, and follow the bibliographical guidelines provided on this website. For non-print sources, follow the examples below.

Example of an interview on a television program:

Jay Lennow. Interview with Rudolphus

Juliano. The Jay Lennow Show.

MBC. WXYZ, New York. 15 Apr.

2000.

Example of an interview on a radio program:

Lush Rimbaugh. Interview with Jeff

Clinton. The Lush Rimbaugh Hour.

WMAD, Washington D.C. 24 Nov.

1997.

When documenting an interview that you, the author, conducted, begin with the name of the person interviewed rather than the name of the interviewer. Examples:

Talker, Bea A. Personal interview. 10 Oct.

2000.

Faraway, Johnny. Telephone interview. 4

June 1998.