MLA 8.0 QUICK

[Pages:27]MLA 8.0 QUICK STYLE GUIDE

Cover Graphic Source: Plagiarism Wordle. Piedmont Virginia Community College. 8 Dec. 2015. . Accessed 6 June 2016.

Alexander College Writing & Learning Centres, Summer 2018.

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Welcome to MLA ~ MLA Basics Formatting Rules Sample Page 1 What to Cite, Where to Cite Figures and Tables

In-Text Citations ? THE BASICS Basic Formatting Rules for In-text citations INDIRECT SOURCES: VERY IMPORTANT FOR RESEARCH PAPERS Consecutive Citations Block Quote

Works Cited ? THE BASICS Works Cited: the Basics

How to Cite: ONLINE RESOURCES Journal Articles from Online Databases (EBSCO, Google Scholar, etc.) Article: Online Newspaper or Magazine with an Author Article: Online Newspaper or Magazine without an Author (editorial) E-Books Articles from Websites Online Dictionary or Encyclopedia

How to Cite: PRINT SOURCES Books Republished Books Anthology (Collection) Books by Organisations Print Newspaper, Journal or Magazine Class Notes

How to Cite: RECORDED MEDIA (FILMS, ETC.) Movies TV Series YouTube Videos

How to Cite: PLAYS Print Copies of Plays Live Performances of Plays

SAMPLE WORKS CITED

2-5 3 4 5 5-6

7-8 7 7 7-8 8

8-9 8

10-14 10 10-11 11 12 12-13 14

14-20 15-16 16 17 17-18 18-19 20

21-23 21 22-23 23

24 24 24

25-26

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Citations are an important part of successful academic writing They let readers know that your arguments and claims are backed by reliable research sources. They also provide your readers information that may be useful for their own research When writing citations and references, the goal is to provide enough information so that your readers can find the same sources.

For all English courses and some humanities courses at Alexander College, instructors will ask you to use MLA (Modern Language Association) style for paper writing and citations. This is a Quick Guide to MLA citations and references

It contains information on the basic formatting elements for MLA Style papers It contains sample in-text citations and references entries for the resources most

commonly used by students in the sciences and social sciences at Alexander College.

Failure to correctly cite your sources will result in a `0' for your papers and an academic alert.

Additional resources:

These web links may also be helpful for you with writing your paper. You may also access these on the Citation Style Guides page of the WLC website.

See sample MLA formatted papers on our Citation Style Guides page:

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This is a Quick Guide to MLA citations and references. It contains information on the basic formatting elements for MLA Style papers It contains sample in-text citations and references entries for the resources most commonly used by students.

If your Instructor gives specific instructions for format or citations, follow his or her guidelines.

Paper Formatting

The Oxford English Dictionary or the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary are the standard spelling references for MLA journals and books.

Use an easy to read typeface in 12 point font size. Paper should be "Letter" (8.5"x11"), NOT A4 Margins should be set at 1 inch (2.54 cm) on all sides. Paragraphs should be indented .5 inches (1.27 cm). To set this on MS Word, click on paragraph settings

Under "special", select `first line' and set the indent for .5 inches (1.27 cm). NOTE: Everything is double spaced! Leave only one space after periods or other punctuation marks.

Running Head:

This appears at the top of every page There is no title page unless your instructor asks you for one.

Under the `Insert' tab in MS word, select "header". In the top, right margin, insert the page number, type your last name (see below)

Page One Formatting

Page one must have the running head, like all pages in your essay. In the left corner below the page header, above the title of your essay, type

Your name Your instructor`s name The name of your course The date you hand in your paper Centre your title directly above your essay

See a sample Page one on the next page.

Running Head: Family Name and page number in the header of the page

Alexander College 4 Wong 1

John Wong Prof. Garrett Peck English 101

Your full name Instructor's Name Course Name and # Date handed in

Letter-sized paper; 1" or 2.54 cm margins on all 4 sides.

25 July 2014

Title centred above your essay

Paragraphs indented ?" or 1.27 cm.

Morality in the Harry Potter Series

To most young readers the fantastic tales of Harry Potter and his friends

are about witches, wizards and magic, but the book series is really an extended

morality tale ? a battle between good and evil. As you read through the stories,

each major character appears to be an archetype for a major philosophical theory.

Harry represents the Aristotelian virtuous agent, Voldemort a poor interpretation

of Nietzschean ethics, and Dumbledore is the quintessential Humean who is ruled

by his passions as much as his intellect.

Voldemort arises as a Hitler-like character in the series who is obsessed

with the racial purity of wizards and witches. His belief in the superiority of his

"race" over ordinary humans is ...

Use the Paragraph settings drop down menu on the "PAGE LAYOUT" tab in MS Word to format your paper correctly.

If you do not know how to do this, book an appointment with a Writing and Humanities specialist. "Help With MSWord" is one of the options listed under `courses' on the appointment booking form.

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What to Cite

You must include citations for: Specific words -- these should be in"quotation marks". Summarizing or paraphrasing the ideas of another writer in your own words General ideas, concepts, or a particular line of argument, of another writer.

Where to Cite

You must put your citations in two places in your paper: First, cite your source in the body of your essay. This is called an `in-text citation' (in-text) Second, all of your sources are listed alphabetically, according to the authors` last names, in the Works Cited list at the end of your paper.

MLA requires page numbers for ALL in-text citations when they are available. When using articles from online databases, we recommend using the pdf version because they have page numbers

Websites do not have page numbers Do NOT create page numbers for web articles.

For sources that typically are expected to have page numbers, but don`t, use the abbreviation "n.pag".

Capitalisation: The first word of the title and any word 4-letters or longer is capitalised. The first word after a dash or colon in the title is also capitalised. If there is an edition number, include that information. The word "edition" is abbreviated. E.g.: 2nd ed. If the edition number also includes a description, include that information. E.g.: 2nd Cdn. ed. for the second Canadian edition of a book.

Figures and Tables

Figures are graphs, charts, diagrams, illustrations or photographs. Information for figures appears directly below the photograph or chart.

Tables present data in rows and columns. They must be referred to in the body of your essay and placed near the paragraph in which they are mentioned.

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The titles of Tables are capitalized and placed above the table, flush to the left margin. If the source of your figure or table is a person or persons, do NOT invert their names. E.g.: Source: John Smith and David Walker, 2017.

All entries must be numbered in order, with separate numbers for tables and figures. (Table 1, 2, 3 etc., Figure 1, 2, 3 etc.) Example: Despite the benefits of having an academic alert removed from their student records, the number of students taking the remediation workshop has declined during the past two school terms (see table 1). Note: the word "table" is not capitalized inside the bracket.

If you provide source information with all of your figures and tables, you do not need to list them on the Works Cited page.

Sample Table & Figure

Table 1: Remediation Statistics 2013-2014

School Term Referred Completed Percentage

Remediation

Summer 2013

20

14

70%

Fall 2013

18

13

72%

Winter 2014

26

15

54%

Spring 2014

32

18

56%

Summer 2014

13

7

54%

Source: WLC Mid-Year Report, June 2014. Alexander College Writing & Learning Centre, Vancouver, BC.

Figure 1: Alexander College Graduating Class, Fall 2015. Source: Alexander College, September 2015.

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Basic Format for In-Text Citations:

In-text citations appear in the body of your essay, inside brackets, before the period at the end of the sentence.

The basic format is (author's LAST name_page #). Use this format for direct quotes, paraphrases and summaries, from all sources.

Indirect Quotes

Sometimes you may quote an author who is quoting someone else. We call this an "indirect citation."

When using an indirect citation in your essays, Cite YOUR SOURCE ONLY in-text. Cite the material using "qtd. in" and your source Cite YOUR SOURCE ONLY on your Works Cited page.

Example: Fran?ois Olivier said, "The higher the monkey climbs, the more he shows his ass" (qtd. in Saul 2).

In-text Citations Basic Format for ALL Sources

With page numbers (print sources & pdfs)

Without page numbers (website articles)

One Author

(Gilbert 133).

(Teitel).

Two Authors

(Groarke and Tindale 33). (Smith and Saison).

Three + Authors (Belch et al. 99).

(Smith et al.).

No Author

(Go Ask Alice 44).

("Around").

Indirect Source

(qtd. in Saul 2).

(qtd. in Teitel).

(qtd. in "Around").

Consecutive Citations

The first time you cite a source, include the author(s) and page number in the bracket For consecutive citations from the same source, you only need to enter the page number

Example:

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

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