MLA Format for Research Papers

Format for the Paper

Your name, the course number, instructor’s name, and the date of the paper are double spaced in 12-point, Times New Roman font.

**Dates in MLA are written in this order: day, month, and year.

1” margins, all sides of the paper

Times New Roman font, 12 pt.

Indent all paragraphs one-half inch. (Tab key recommended)

Create a header that numbers all pages consecutively in the upper right-hand corner, one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin.

MLA requires double spacing throughout the document.

Works Cited on a separate page.

Works Cited Format

Font: Times New Roman, 12 Point Font

Centered, top of page: Works Cited (use ‘Works” rather than ‘Work’ because you have used more than one source).

Sources are alphabetized by the first letter in the citation.

in order to set up the correct spacing for the citations, right-click & select paragraph. Select Indentation, Special. Under the ‘Special’ drop-down box, select hanging.

Select ‘Spacing’ & under the drop box for line spacing select double spacing.

Citing Online Resources

*THIS SECTION HAS BEEN UPDATED TO REFLECT CHANGES IN MLA FORMAT 8TH EDITION

INFORMATION FOR THIS SECTION CAN BE SEEN ONLINE @ PURDUE OWL

https\://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

CITING ELECTRONIC RESOURCES

*MLA now requires the www. address; eliminate all https\:// when citing URLs.

Internet sites – such as information databases, scholarly projects, etc. vary significantly in the publication information they provide.  Below is the suggested order for documentation.  If you cannot find some of this information, cite what is available in the following order:

  1. Author’s last name, first name.  Place a period after the author’s first name.
  2. Article name in quotation marks ” “
  3. Title of the website, project, or book,  Italicized.
  4. Version or edition (ed.), revisions, posting dates, volumes (vol.), or issue numbers (no.).
  5. Publisher information, including the publisher name and publishing date.
  6. Take note of any page numbers (p. or pp.) or paragraph numbers (par. or pars.).
  7. URL (without the https\://)  DOI or permalink.
  8. Date of access—the date you looked at the material (day, month, year).

Example:

Burrell, Allison. “Even in the IPhone Age, School Librarians Are a Vital Link to Learning:”PennLive.com, PA Media Group,                /www.pennlive.com/opinion/2016/10/even_in_the_iphone_age_school.html. Accessed 7 March 2017.

  • It is a good idea to list the date of access, because web pages are often updated.
  • If the publisher is the same as the website name, list it only once.
  • To cite articles from online databases (e.g. LexisNexis, ProQuest, JSTOR, ScienceDirect), provide the title of the database italicized before the DOI or URL. If a DOI is not provided, use the URL instead. Provide the date of access if you wish.
  • Many scholarly journal articles found in databases include a DOI (digital object identifier). If a DOI is available, cite the DOI number instead of the URL.
Paranthetical Citations

*THIS SECTION HAS BEEN UPDATED TO REFLECT CHANGES IN MLA FORMAT 8TH EDITION

INFORMATION FOR THIS SECTION CAN BE SEEN ONLINE @ PURDUE OWL

https\://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

GENERAL RULES:

  • Any information that you provide in your parenthetical citation must correspond to the source information on the Works Cited page. Whatever word or phrase you use in the citation must be the first thing that appears in the corresponding entry in the Works Cited List.
  • The author’s last name and the page number(s) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear in the citation; a complete reference should appear on your Works Cited page.
  • The author’s name should appear in either the citation or the paraphrase.  The page number always appears in the paraphrase.

EXAMPLE:

(Smith 23)

CITING NON-PRINT SOURCES OR SOURCES FROM THE INTERNET:

  • Include in the text the first item that appears in the Work Cited entry that corresponds to the citation (e.g. author name, article name, website name, film name).
  • Unless you must list the Web site name in order to get the reader to the appropriate entry, do not include URLs in-text. Only provide partial URLs such as when the name of the site includes, for example, a domain name, like*CNN.com*.
Citing Print Materials

*THIS SECTION HAS BEEN UPDATED TO REFLECT CHANGES IN MLA FORMAT 8TH EDITION

INFORMATION FOR THIS SECTION CAN BE SEEN ONLINE @ PURDUE OWL

https\://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

BASIC BOOK FORMAT

The author’s name or a book with a single author’s name appears in last name, first name format. The basic form for a book citation is:

Last Name, First Name.Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date.

  1. Author’s name: Last name, First name.
  2. Note: If the middle name is used, it goes after the first name with no punctuation separating it. ( ex: Harris, Maria Anne.)
  3. Title of book in italics. If you are hand-writing this section,*underline*the book title.
  4. Publisher. Omit articles (a, an, the), business abbreviations (Co., Corp., Inc.) and descriptive words (House, Press, Publishers).
  5. Year of publication. If the year is not recorded, use the latest copyright date.

Example:

Sachar, Louis. Holes. Scholastic,1998.

BOOK WITH AN EDITOR

Cite the book as you normally would, but add the editor after the title with the label, “Edited by”

Example:

The American Revolution. Edited by Charles W. Carey. Greenhaven, 2004.

BOOK WITH MORE THAN ONE AUTHOR

Give the authors’ names in the same order as they appear on the title page, which may not be in alphabetical order. Reverse only the name of the first author, type a comma, and give the other name or names in normal form. Place a period after the last author’s name.

Example:

Hansen, Joyce and Gary McGowan.*Freedom Road:Searching the Underground Railroad.*Crickett, 2003.

ARTICLE IN A REFERENCE BOOK

  1. If the article is signed, list the author’s name first. (You can usually find the author at the end of the article.)
  2. If the article is unsigned, list the title of the article first. The article should be in quotation marks. ” “
  3. Title of encyclopedia, italicized. (If hand-writing this section, underline the title of the encyclopedia. The title is followed by volume used.
  4. Publication date, followed by a period.

* If the reference book is organized alphabetically, do not list the volume or the page number of the article or item.

Examples:

Vehrencamp, Sandra L. “Junco.” World Book, 2005.

“University of King’s College.” World Book, 2005.

CITING A MULTI-VOLUME WORK

When citing only one volume of a multi-volume work, include the volume number after the work’s title, or after the work’s Editor

Examples:

“Douglas Adams.” Lives and Works: Young Adult Authors. Vol. 1. Grolier, 1999.

“Laurie Halse Anderson.” Biography Today: Author Series. Edited by Cherie D. Abbey. Vol. 15. Omnigraphics, 2002.

Websites for Citation Help

*These sites will assist with the research process. Be sure to check with your teacher regarding specific information

and format requirements regarding your paper.  Your instructor can require additional details.

Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab)

The Purdue website provides specific instruction for writing research papers.  It offers writing resources for both MLA and APA formats.  The Shikellamy school district uses MLA format for the research process.

OWL @ Purdue-YouTube

For visual learners, there are instructional videos covering all steps of the research process.  You can see how to format your paper in Microsoft Word, create your Works Cited, and even learn about grammar and the mechanics of writing.

EasyBib

EasyBib has an extension for the Google Chrome toolbar; you can find it in the App store.  You cannot download this app on your school Chromebook, but you can use it a home.  This app allows you to cite a webpage as you are working.  It will save your citation.  And it even has tools for you to evaluate the website you are using.