1. MLA Format
In-text Citations
&
Works Cited

2. What’s MLA and why do we need it?
• MLA stands for “Modern Language
Association,” an organization supporting
Association
the teaching and study of language and
literature. With more than 30,000 members
in 100 countries, the MLA sets standards
for publishing in the humanities.

3. What’s MLA and why do we need it?
• The Modern Language Association
devised a logical system for
documenting outside sources. You will
sources
use this system, MLA documentation,
for giving credit to outside sources in
the CARP and future college papers in
the humanities.

4. What’s MLA and why do we need it?
• If you use any information or ideas
from an outside source, you must
source
either “Quote” the source exactly or
rewrite the information in 100% your
own words and sentence structure.

5. What’s MLA and why do we need it?
• Following ALL instances of
paraphrasing and/or quoting from
sources, you must include information
about where the information came from
—in other words, the source.

6. MLA formatting has 2 main functions
• #1: In-text citations • #2: Works Cited
 Found in the body of ◙ Found at the end of the
the paper itself paper.
 Appears in the paper ◙ Lists all sources that
every time an outside have been used and
source is either cited in the paper.
quoted or ◙ .Alphabetized by
paraphrased. author’s last name.
 Parenthesis ◙ Author’s names
containing the appearing in the paper
author’s last name should also appear on
and page number of the works cited.
cited
source ◙ All publication
information must be
 Citations look like recorded in correct
this: (Smith 25). MLA format.
format

7. In-text citations
Original Passage from book: Student Paraphrase:
“In 2040, The Universal Replicator, based Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001: A
Space Odyssey, a 1968 novel that
on nanotechnology, is perfected: any introduced the concept of artificial
object, however complex, can be createdintelligence to general audiences,
- given the necessary raw material and predicts that in a mere thirty-six years,
the appropriate information matrix. people will no longer have to work.
He predicts that a device called the
Diamonds or gourmet meals can, “Universal Replicator” will use
literally, be made from dirt. As a result,
nanotechnology to change matter
agriculture and industry are phased out,
from one form to another. With the
ending that recent invention in human ability to create all necessities from
common substances, by 2040, people
history - work!” will not need to work in order to
Source: survive (Clark 73).
Author Arthur Clarke Note the paraphrased information in blue and
the in-text citation at the end. Only the
Title Optimism for Tomorrow (book)
author’s last name and page number are
Quote found on page 73. included in the in-text citation. The rest of
Published by Penguin Putnam, New York the information will be included in the
works cited.
Year 2003

8. In-text citations important term P
s: araphrase
• Paraphrasing: explaining
the source’s ideas in 100%
your own words.
words

9. In-text citations important term P
: araphrase
• Paraphrasing means that you READ
the source first and understand what it
says.
– Then, after putting the source out of sight
(closing the book, switching screens etc...) recall the
source’s ideas and write them in your
own words.

10. In-text citations important term P
: araphrase
• Simply plugging in different words or
writing a “patchwork” paraphrase ( ½
your words & ½ source’s words) is
plagiarism.

11. In-text citations important term Quote
:
• Direct Quote: A direct quote is...
• the source’s exact words,
• copied accurately,
• word for word,
• and surrounded with “quotation marks.”
After using a direct quote from a source, you
must include an in-text citation immediately
after the end of the quote .

12. In-text citations – No Author
• When you have a source with no author listed
(remember that you should always apply the evaluation criteria to all sources; assume the
use the TITLE (or an
examples here come from valid sources),
abbreviated title) in the in-text citation.
• For example
(paraphrasing information from an “article” --note the quotation marks that indicate “article”):
“article”
Several Wordsworth critics once encouraged people to cover
their ears when Wordsworth poems were read, because they
believed listeners would become depressed and whiny, just
like Wordsworth himself ("Wordsworth Is a Loser" 100).

13. In-text citations – No Author cont’d
(Quoting information from a website--note the underlining that indicates website):
website website
• A recently published cartoon responded to the debate
about genetically altered foods. It depicts the Garden
of Eden, with Eve saying to the Serpent, “ I won’t
take a bite if it’s been genetically altered” as he
tries to tempt her (Cartoon Stock).
• Note that websites do not have page
numbers, as pages are numbered by the printer—
numbers
if we had giant paper, we may have one page; if we used tiny
paper, we may have 100.

14. In-text citations: Some Don’ts for “Authorless” sources...
Do not ever, ever, ever use
www.addressofwebsite.com in an in-text citation!
Do not use something weird such as (no author listed) or
(anonymous) or (unknown) in your in-text citation.
Do not use the name of the publication (Newsweek or Harvard
Business Journal or Expanded Academic ASAP) in your in-text
citation.
• USE THE TITLE if you do not
have an author!

15. Note : the works Cited page
Works Cited
should be double-spaced;
it’s single spaced here to
save room.
Works Cited
Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel & Dimed, On (Not)
Getting By in America. New York: Holt Barb
ar a
Publishing, 2001. http
Ehre
nrei
://ww ch’s
w.ba Hom
rbar e Pa
---. Home Page. 2006. July 22, 2006. aeh ge
renr
<http://www.barbaraehrenreich.com/>. er Lowd
own eich
Hightow .com
e
/
websit
tower
Hightower, James. “How Wal-Mart is Remaking Jim High
l-Mart is
Our World.” Hightower Lowdown. April 26, How Wa our World
g
Remakin
2002. July 23, 2006<www.hightowrlowdown.com>. bout W a
l-Mart Exp
Article a a
April 200
2 ASA nded A
PD c
wdown.c
o Artic atab ademic
htowerlo le ase
Smith, John. . “Trying to Survive on Minimum www.hig m Smi
t
Sur h, Joh
Wage...can it be done?” New York Times 3 Wa
vive n.
on M “Tryin
g g
Oct. 2002: A20. Expanded Academic NY e...can inimum to
Tim
200 es, it be do
5 C n
ASAP. Tidewater Community College Aca ) Expa 7+ (Ma e?”
dem nde y
Gro ic A d
Library, Portsmouth VA. 20 July, 2006 Info
up. SAP
. Ga
le
<http://www.gale.com>. poo
r
abo
ut th
sou from a e work
rc s in
TCC e foun cholar g
LRC d on ly
web the
site
.....

16. Works Cited: Necessary Information
• Works Cited entries vary depending upon the
type of source, but they follow a general pattern:
• Author—Last Name, First Name. (Smith, John.)
Author
• Title—either “In Quotation Marks” or Underlined.
Title
• Publication Information —where/how the source
was published:
– City of Publication: Publisher (New York: Random House)
– Database Name, Company publishing database (Opposing Viewpoints, Gale Group)
– Magazine/Journal name--underlined (Newsweek) (Journal of Emergency Nurses)
– Main website’s name -underlined (UCLA History Department) (NIH)
• Date of publication —when the source was
published or accessed (23 July 2006) or 2004.

17. Works Cited: Citing Database
Sources
Whenever you use a database source, you cannot pretend as if you read
the original source. For example, if you find an article from the Journal
of the American Medical Association on one of the TCC databases and
you use it in your paper, you cannot simply list the article
without the Name of the Database Used, Name of the Service that
publishes the Database, Library information.
Please use the
» It is easy to distinguish database articles from other sources.
following format when citing database sources:
Author's name. "Title of the Article." Original Source of Article Date of original
source: page numbers. Name of the Database Used. Name of the Service that
publishes the Database. Name of Library or Library System, City, State
Abbreviation. Date of access <URL of service's homepage>.
See next slide for
examples...

18. Works Cited: Citing Database
Sources Don’t forget to include the
highlighted information:
Gray, Geoffrey. "An echo in the boxing ring." Columbia Journalism Review 42.6 (March-
April 2004): 64(1). Expanded Academic ASAP. Thomson Gale. Tidewater Community
College Library, Portsmouth, VA. 26 2006 July <http://.galegroup.com.>
Rossi, John P. "The enduring relevance of George Orwell." Contemporary
Review 283.1652 (Sept 2003): 172(5). InfoTrac OneFile. Thomson Gale. Tidewater
Community College Library, Portsmouth VA. 24 July 2006 <http://find.galegroup.com>.
Sowell, Thomas. "Increasing the Minimum Wage Is Counterproductive." Poverty. Ed. Karen
Balkin. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2004. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center.
Thomson Gale. Tidewater Community College Library, Portsmouth VA. 26 July 2006
<http://find.galegroup.com>.
"U.S. EPA environmental justice plan falls short." World Watch. 18:6 (8). Nov-Dec 2005.
Science Resource Center. Thomson Gale. Tidewater Community College Library,
Portsmouth VA. 20 July 2006 <http://galenet.galegroup.com. >
You do not need to include the entire HUGE web
address. You may stop at the “.com”

19. Works Cited: Special Circumstances
UNKNOWN AUTHOR
 When the author of a work is unknown, begin with the work's title.
title
Titles of articles and other short works, such as brief documents from
Web sites, are put in quotation marks.
Your works cited entry would look like this:
 “The Rich and the Rest.” Futurist 39: 4 (July/Aug. 2005): 38-43. SIRS Knowledge
Source. SIRS, Inc. Tidewater Community Coll. Lib., Portsmouth, VA. 22 Jul. 2006
<http://sksl4.sirs.com>.
Titles of books and other whole/long works, such as entire Web sites, are
underlined.
Your works cited entry would look like this:
 Atlas of the World. New York: Macmillan Publishing, 2005.
From: http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/p04_c08_o.html

20. Great Sources for HELP...
• Here is a TCC page about documenting
sources...it has many great links:
– http://www.tcc.edu/lrc/guides/research.htm
• Diana Hacker’s page at Bedford/St.
Martins (the publisher of Patterns for College
Writing) is great!
– Click on “Humanities” when you arrive:
– http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/

21. End of Presentation.
•Be sure to read the document on “Plagiarism” for this
week.
•Also, don’t forget to check out the MLA section
(complete with a sample research paper) in your
HANDBOOK!