MLA Refresher Course

1
MLA Refresher Course

• Presenters
• Emily Heady
• Jim Nutter

2
The Basics

• Parenthetical documentation is used (Smith 100).
• The bibliography is called a Works Cited page
• No title page unless the professor requests it

3
Chapter 4 The Format of the Paper
4
Short Quotes vs. Long Quotes

• Short Quotes
• No more than 4 lines (prose)
• No more than 3 lines (poetry)

• Long Quotes
• More than 4 lines (prose)
• More than 3 lines (poetry)

5
Chapter 3Formatting Long Quotes

• Indent 10 spaces (2 tabs) from left margin
• Double space
• Remove quotation marks
• Period goes before parenthetical citation
• Introduce with a complete sentence followed by a
  colon (109)

6
Chapter 7 AbbreviationsPublishers Names
(248-49)
7
Chapter 5 DocumentationPreparing a List of
Works Cited

• BOOK
• Authors name. Title of Book. Publication
  information. Medium.
• Fukuyama, Francis. Our Posthuman Future
  Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution.
  New York Farrer, 2002. Print.

8
Chapter 5 DocumentationPreparing a List of
Works Cited

• Citing the editor of an anthology
• McMichael, George, ed. Anthology of American
• Literature. 9th ed. Vol. 1. New York
  MacMillan, 2007. Print.
• Citing a work in the anthology
• Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Toms Cabin.
  Anthology of American Literature. Ed. George
  McMichael. 9th ed. Vol. 1. New York MacMillan,
  2007. 1894-1958. Print.

9
Chapter 5 DocumentationPreparing a List of
Works Cited

• JOURNAL
• Authors name. Title of the article.
  Publication information. Medium.
• Trumpener, Katie. Memories Carved in Granite
  Great War Memorials and Everyday Life. PMLA
  115 (2000) 1096-103. Print.

10
Chapter 5 DocumentationPreparing a List of
Works Cited

• LECTURE
• Railton, Stephen. Christ Figures in Uncle Toms
  Cabin. The University of Virginia.
  Charlottesville, VA.
• 11 June 2007. Lecture.

11
Chapter 3 The Mechanics of Writing

• Italicized Titles
• Books
• Plays
• Long Poems
• Pamphlets
• Periodicals
• Ships
• Films TV shows

• Titles in Quotation Marks
• Short stories
• Short poems
• Chapters
• Songs
• TV episodes
• Lectures
• Articles in newspapers, magazines, encyclopedias

12
Chapter 3 The Mechanics of Writing

• Citing Scripture
• Abbreviate books of the Bible (276-77)
• Use a period, not a colon, between chapter and
  verse John 3.16

13
Chapter 3 The Mechanics of Writing

• Ellipsis
• Old format sentence . . . sentence
• 7th edition format sentence . . . sentence

14
Paperclip vs. Staple

• Many prefer that a paper be secured with a
  simple paperclip, which may be easily removed and
  restored (138).

15
Citing Electronic PublicationsEmily Heady
16
General Information

• When citing an electronic source, try to keep
  your formatting as much like a print citation as
  possible.
• There are a few rules for citing electronic
  sources, but you may have to make judgment calls.
• You will often have inadequate information just
  use what you have.
• The goal is always clarity use whatever means
  necessary (within reason) to make it possible for
  someone reading your work to find the source you
  cite.

17
Work on the Web with Print Publication Data

• Author. Title of Selection. Title of Print
  Publication
• and volume.issue (date) pages. Title of Web
  Page.
• Editor and/or sponsor of site, if given. Medium
  (Web). Date of access.
• Smith, John. A Book Review. Im a Print
  Publication 8
• (1992) 4-10. Reviews of Philip Roths Work.
  Ed. Hieronymus Bosch. The Philip Roth Society.
  Web. 6 Aug. 2007.

18
Some Other Examples

• A home page
• Spears, Britney. Home Page. 19 July 2007. Web. 1
  Aug. 2007. ltwww.britneyspears.comgt.
• (The 7th edition handbook recommends including
  the URL only when the other information is
  probably insufficient to guide your reader to the
  correct location.)
• A whole web page
• Seaman, David, ed. Electronic Text Center.
  Alderman Lib., U of Virginia, 2002. Web. 19 June
  2002.

19
E-Books

• Author or editor/translator (if no author).
  Title.
• Ed./Trans. name. City Press, date of
  publication. Online Source. Editor and/or
  sponsor (if available). Medium (Web). Date of
  access.
• Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Ed. Henry
  Churchyard.
• 1996. Jane Austen Information Page. Web. 6
  Sept. 2002
• Ovid. Metamorphoses. Trans. Arthur Golding.
  London,
• 1567. The Perseus Digital Library. Ed. Gregory
  Crane. Tufts U. Web. 16 May 2002.

20
Online Periodicals

• A scholarly article
• Teeshirt, Random. Do Be Do Be Do Sinatra and
  Socrates. The Journal of Clever Apparel 10
  (2007) 1-10. Web. 3 Aug. 2007.
• A news story
• Spears Accused of Making Death Threats.
  CNN.com. The Associated Press, 2007. Web. 1 Aug.
  2007.

21
Library Subscription Services

• Some Rules
• For items that originally appeared in print,
  preserve the print entry as much as possible,
  omitting information not provided in the online
  version.
• The 7th edition does not recommend including the
  library subscription information or the URL. The
  tendency in this new handbook is toward less
  information.

22
A Subscription/Database Example

• This Is an Amazing Workshop! Thoughts from LU
• Faculty. The Secret Journal of Liberty Faculty
  35 (2007) 1-2. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1
  Aug. 2007.

23
Personal Communications

• An e-mail
• Heady, Emily. Your paper is late! E-mail to I.
  M. Slothful. 10 May 2006. E-mail.
• Slothful, I.M. Message to the author. 13 May
  2006. E-mail.
• An online posting
• Bishop, Andrew. "Upcoming Event Mark Your
  Calendars!" Online posting. 16 February 2007. Dr.
  Prior's Book Clique. Web. 7 March 2007.
  ltwww.facebook.comgt.

24
MLA FormatFrequently Asked Questions

• http//www.mla.org/style_faq

25
Citing Your ResearchUseful Links

• http//www.liberty.edu/academics/graduate/writing/
  index.cfm?PID11859
• Graduate Writing Center
• MLA
• APA
• Turabian
• Chicago