Intro to MLA Citations

English III
Mrs. Oualline Coach Svien

MLA
Modern Language Association
English, Liberal Arts courses

APA and Chicago Style

Math, Science, Psychology

Why Are We Doing This?

Applicable
Learn the basics
Apply to other citation formats

Online Citation Machines

If you dont know what its supposed to look like, then you

dont know if the citation is incorrect!

The Basics
Double Spaced

Times New Roman, 12 pt. font

Indent every line after the first
Major Publications italicized if typed or underlined if written
Novels, Anthologies, Textbooks, Magazines, Webpages

Minor Works in quotation marks

Short Stories, Poems, Chapters, Articles

Punctuation inside of quotation marks

Periods after ever item in the citations

MLA 8th Edition

Uses the container concept

Author.

Title.

Container 1:
Title of container, contributors,
version/edition, volume/issue,
publisher, date, location (pages,
DOI, URL, etc.).

Container 2
(if needed):
Title of the container
(such as database), same
elements as in Container 1
(if available).

Class Binders
Flip to the section titled ENGLISH III RESEARCH
MOST COMMON SOURCES

Citing Books

Last Name, First Name. Title of the Book (in italics or underlined).
Publisher, Year.

Citing Books

Citing Books
Title of the Book
(italicized)

Authors Name
(Last, First)

Lamott, Ann. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and

Indented

Life. Anchor Books, 1995.

Year of Publication

Name of Publisher
(followed by a comma)

Your Turn
A book published by the University Press of Virginia entitled

Cosmopolitan Criticism: OscarWildes Philosophy of Art, by Julia

Prewitt Brown, an associate professor of English at Boston
University. The book, 137 pages, was published in Boston in
1998.

Check Your Answer

Prewitt Brown, Julia. Cosmopolitan Criticism: Oscar Wildes Philosophy

of Art. University Press of Virginia, 1998.

Citing E-Mails

Last Name, First Name. Subject of the E-mail. Message to Name of person
who received the e-mail, use phrase Received by. Date sent.

Citing E-Mails
Senders Name
(Last, First)

Subject of the
email (in quotation
marks)

Received by

Kunka, Andrew. Re: Modernist Literature. Received by

Indented

Joe Schmoe. 15 November 2000.

Date that the

email was sent.

Your Turn
A personal interview that you have conducted via E-mail

with one of your teachers. Your teachers name is Charles

Tuna, Jr. The subject of the email is RE: College Research
Interview. The email was sent by Mr. Tuna on March 1,
2014.

Check Your Answer

Tuna, Charles, Jr. RE: College Research Interview. Received by
(your name). 1 March 2014.

Citing Webpages

Course or Department Name. Name of University, Date of Publication,

URL address. Accessed MLA Date.

Citing Webpages
Name of the
department
(italicized)

Name of the
University that
published the site.

Publication date in MLA

format (remember to put
n.d. if no date can be found
on the website

English Department. Purdue U, 20 April 2009,

Indented

www.cla.purdue.edu/english/.

Accessed 14 May 2009.

Date of Access
in MLA format

URL Address

Your Turn
The webpage for the department of Agricultural

Communications at Texas A&M University. The department

page was published in May of 2011. You accessed this page
on January 15, 2012. The URL address for this website is
http://alec.tamu.edu/academics/undergraduate/1059-2/

Check Your Answer

Agricultural Communications Department. Texas A&M

University, May 2011, alec.tamu.edu/academics/
undergraduate/1059-2/. Accessed 15 Jan. 2012.

Group Practice
Complete the four practice citations on the back page in

small groups.
Use the Citation Guide provided to make sure you cite each

source correctly.
Page on a Website
Article in a Web Magazine

Check Your Answers

4.

Marshall, JoJo. On the Books: Anne Rice Stands Up to Haters.

Entertainment Weekly. Entertainment Weekly, Inc.,
4 March 2014, ew.com/article/2014/03/04/on-the-

books-anne-rice-amazon-haters/. Accessed on 5 March

2014.

Check Your Answers

5.

Zdanowicz, Christina. Every day is grammar day when youve

got this job. CNN.com. Turner Broadcasting System,
Inc., 3 March 2014, www.cnn.com/2014/03/03/

living/grammar-day-irpt/. Accessed on 5 March 2014.

Check Your Answers

6.

Jones, Susan and Jonathan Pratt. A Universal Guide to College

Life. Howard, Little, and Young, 2006.

Check Your Answers

7.

History and Traditions. New York University. Office of Web

Communications, 2012, www.nyu.edu/faculty/governancepolicies-and-procedures/faculty-handbook/the-

university/history-and-traditions-of-new-yorkuniversity.html. Accessed on 9 April 2013.

Only the Beginning

There are many other types of sources, and they all have specific rules

for citations.
Learn to use a Style Manual to check your sources!
Use The Owl at Purdue when citing sources!
DO NOT TRUST ONLINE CITATION MACHINES TO DO ALL

THE WORK FOR YOU!