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MLA Style

The Modern Language Association has created a handbook for high school students.

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th ed. New York: MLA, 2003.

Why do I have to follow a style guide?

In high school you learn to do research and write in a scholarly style.

The purpose of scholarly writing is to document as much about a subject as possible.

A style guide is a set of rules that guide you in this documentation process.

When you have a problem with your paper it is good to have a helpful guide.

The documentation process You have chosen your topic. You have searched for books on the topic. You have searched for articles on the topic. As you search you need to document the

source from which each item came. When you search in an electronic database

for a book or article you need to record everything that MLA style requires.

What is style

Style can be understood as something distinctive.

We notice different styles in cars, music, fashion, and architecture, to name just a few areas in which we can define style. What is in

style is constantly changing.In academic writing, such as your Research

Class papers, you are required to use MLA Style.

MLA Style

Copies of the official handbook on MLA Style

are available in the Lehman College Library:

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th ed. New York: MLA, 2003.

Using a style guide Style guides contain rules for creating scholarly products: term

papers, journal articles, theses, and dissertations. They govern the form these documents take.

A student who writes a research paper must document the sources s/he uses. In the process of writing the student has combined many facts from many different authors. As the materials are collected the student carefully records the citation for each source. The style guide explains how to make citations.

These citations are put into a “List of Works Cited” at the end of the paper. Different types of documents (articles, reviews, government documents, etc.) have different citation requirements.

Style guides set out rules for how a term paper looks physically: margins, spacing between lines, where the footnote references are placed, where the author’s name is placed, even where the page numbers are typed.

The Integrity of Research Scholarship always relies on information that is available,

authoritative, and accurate. Your “Reference List” at the back of your term paper shows that you did the work, you sorted through everything and chose what you felt was best to develop your topic.

You cited the words of other scholars and when you used their ideas you also cited the pages from which the ideas came. As a scholar, you know how to find information, evaluate it, and consider about how different views might fit together to make a new whole.

As a scholar you cross check your sources for accuracy. You chose the most authoritative source.

You are accountable. You chose the best sources with the best information concerning your topic. You synthesized it all and write about the topic with both fact and imagination.

Ideally, your paper is better than any of those that came before. You searched, found, summarized, quoted, and analyzed the materials you collected using critical thinking to decide what would develop your topic. When you are finished you can be proud.

The changing outline

You outline your topic as you gather more information. You keep changing your outline until it accurately reflects what you plan to write.

As you do research, finding books, journal articles, and original sources (interviews, letters, e-mails, etc.) you will become more and more knowledgeable about your topic. You will probably change your outline as you gain

expertise.

How Is the MLA Handbook Organized?

The MLA Handbook is organized using a decimal system. For instance, if you want to learn whether to underline or italicize the title of a book in your citation, you would turn to the index and look up: “Titles” and under that: You would find: Italics (Underlining) 3.3, 3.3.1, 3.3.2, 3.3.3. These decimals refer you to first chapter 3, then the part of the chapter. It works very well. The actual chapter numbers are in red so they stand out.

How do I use MLA Handbook? Open the book. Find the “Contents” page. Read the “Preface.” Check out the chapter titles. Look at one or two chapters. Check out the appendices. There is a back-of-the-book index. Navigation from the index to the pages is

by decimal notation, not by page number.

Forward by Phyllis Franklin xv

Chapter 1: Research and Writing 1

Chapter 2: Plagiarism 66

Chapter 3: The Mechanics of Writing 79

Chapter 4: The Format of the Research Paper 132

Chapter 5: Documentation: Preparing the List of Works Cited 142

Chapter 6: Documentation: Citing Sources in the Text 238

Chapter 7: Abbreviations 262

Appendix A: Selected Reference Works by Field 284

Appendix B: Other Systems of Documentation 298

Sample Pages of a Research Paper in MLA style 319

Index 295

Contents

Your audience Who will read your paper? Your first audience will be

your teacher and the other students in your class. When your “Reference List” is complete anyone

reading your paper will have access to the information on which you based your conclusions.

The “List of Works Cited” What is the “List of Works Cited”? You can also call it the “Reference

List”? How do I know what goes in it? When do I create it? Why have a “List of Works Cited”? Who will use the “List of Works Cited”? What order is it in?

Creating Citations

MLA style for booksby personal authors one author:Wilson, Frank R. The Hand: How its Use Shapes

the Brain, Language, and Human Culture. New York:

Pantheon, 1998. Two or more authorsMarquart, James W. Sheldon Ekland Olson, and

Johathan R. Sorensen. The Rope, the Chair, and the Needle: Capital Punishment in Texas. 1923-1990. Austin: U of Texas P, 1994.

MLA Style for books by corporate authors Public Agenda Foundation. The Health

Care Crisis: Containing Costs, Expanding Coverage. New York: McGraw, 1992.

American Psychological Association. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 4th edition. Washington: APA, 1994.

MLA Style when a book has no author A Guide to Our Federal Lands.

Washington: Natl. Geographic Soc., 1984.

MLA Style for citing a television or radio program “Death and Society.” Narr. Joanne Silberner. Weekend Edition Sunday. Natl. Public Radio. WUWM, Milwaukee. 25 Jan.

1998. “Yes . . . But Is It Art?” Narr. Morley Safer. Sixty Minutes. CBS. WCBS. New York. 19 Sept. 1993.

If you are citing a transcript add the word transcript at the end:

“Death and Society.” Narr. Joanne Silberner. Weekend Edition Sunday. Natl. Public Radio. WUWM, Milwaukee. 25 Jan. 1998. Transcript.

MLA Style for citing a book review

Updike, John. “Fine Points.” Rev. of The New Fowler’s new Modern English Usage, ed. R. W. Burchfield. New Yorker 23-30 Dec. 1996: 142-149.

MLA Style for citing a scholarly article In journal using continuous pagination:

Most, Andrea. “’We Know We Belong to the Land”: The Theatricality of Assimilation in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!,” PMLA 112 (1998): 77-89.

In journal that pages each issue separately:

Frederick Barthelme, “Architecture,” Kansas Quarterly 13.3-4 (1981): 77-78.

MLA Style for article in a reference book (dictionary, encyclopedia, etc.) “Azimuthal Equidistant Projection.” Merriam-

Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. 10th ed. 1993. “Ginsburg, Ruth Bader.” Who’s Who in America.

52nd ed. 1998. Mohanty, Jitendra M. “Indian Philosopohy.” The New

Encyclopaedia Britannica: Macropaedia. 15th ed. 1987.

“Noon.” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989

For a specific meaning in a dictionary insert the definition number:

“Noon.” Def. 4b. The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989.

Internet and electronic itemsGenerally you cite the same elements that

you use to cite hardcopy publications: Name of creator (author, editor, compiler, etc.) Title (of poem, article, review, etc.) Title (of book or journal) Publication information for any print version Version number of the source or, for a journal, the volume

number, issue number, or other identifying number internet address in angle brackets < > followed by the

database name, library name (if applicable), and date of search.

For full details refer to the MLA Handbook.