MLA Style Guide (OWL) (Online Writing Lab) from Purdue University-this is one of the most comprehensive resources you will find on citation and paper formatting.
MLA Formatting in MS Word Tutorial |
Basics of MLA Formatting and Citations Quick Guide from MLA |
MLA Works Cited FORMATS FOR DIFFERENT SOURCES
MARGINS
TEXT FORMATTING
Times New Roman, 12 pt. is the traditional font, but MLA 9th edition allows for other easily-readable fonts as well.
Double-space your entire paper.
Do not right-justify your text.
Indent the first line of each paragraph 1/2 inch from the left margin.
Leave only one space after a period.
HEADING
TITLE Page
PAGE NUMBERS
SAMPLE FIRST PAGE
For more information, see the MLA Style Center's guide to Formatting a Research Paper.
Citing your work is an important part of the research and writing process. While your voice and thoughts definitely needs to be in your paper it is important to acknowledge the ideas, research and thoughts of others as they appear in your work.
Imagine a conversation with a friend or family member--you might say I heard or I read or I saw...and you would probably say where you go that information. For example "I read this article in the New York Times but Kate Murphy on COVID..." just as we already do in everyday life we also need to put that in our papers. These are in-text citations. Below are two examples of what these often look like-
In-text citations give a brief amount of information that ultimately leads your reader to your Works Cited.
MLA style uses parenthetical notations to identify the source (author's last name) and the specific location (page reference) from which you borrowed material.
According to John Wiltshire, Jane Austen's novels have a "narrative confidence" that makes them appealing to many readers (16).
Jane Austen's novels have a "narrative confidence" that makes them appealing to many readers (Wiltshire 16).
Material Type | Works Cited |
---|---|
Book with one author | Austen, Jane. Persuasion. Oxford University Press, 2004. |
eBook, with login required | Wiltshire, John. Recreating Jane Austen. Cambridge University Press, 2004. eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost). |
Essay or Chapter from an Anthology | Poovey, Mary. "Jane Austen's Literary English." A Companion to the History of the English Language, edited by Haruko Momma and Michael Matto, Blackwell Publishing, 2008, pp. 464-470. |
Article from a Scholarly Journal in a Database | Hopkins, Robert. "Moral Luck and Judgment in Jane Austen's Persuasion." Nineteenth-Century Literature, vol. 42, no. 2, Sep. 1987, pp. 143-158. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3045204. |
One Page of a Website or One Blog Post | Vic. "Jane Austen's Descriptions of a House and a Home." Jane Austen's World, December 3, 2008, janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/2008/12/03/jane-austens-descriptions-of-a-home-an-a-house/. |