MLA Formatting

1. MLA Formatting English Language Arts Mr. Wilson - LMAC

2. What is the MLA? (Don’t write this down…) • MLA stands for the Modern Language Association. • It was founded in 1883, and for over one hundred years, the Association has been working towards strengthening the study and teaching of literature. • It is made up of over 30 000 members across 100 different countries.

3. What is the MLA? (This either…) • The executive members are elected. • They publish not only books, but articles related to the study of literature and language. • And, or course, they give out awards.

4. So…What does this have to do with us? • Like any organization (Academic = American Psychological Association; Recreational = Association de Ultimate de Montreal; entertainment = The Academy Awards) - their goal is to set STANDARDS. • As a group or a community, we accept these standards and then, over time, they start to become what we EXPECT.

5. The MLA Standard - Format • What do I mean by FORMAT? • “Format” refers to how you ORGANIZE and PRESENT your paper(s). • And guess what…There is a whole friggin BOOK about this stuff.

6. General Guidelines • Only use standard, white 8.5 x 11-inch paper. • Double-space the text of your paper, and use a legible font (e.g. Times New Roman, Georgia, or Arial). • Font size =12 pt. • Margins = 1 inch on all sides. • Indent the first line of paragraphs one half-inch from the left margin (do NOT use the spacebar).

7. General Guidelines • 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. • Use italics throughout your essay for the titles of longer works (books, short stories, poems and movies, NOT articles!) • All of your sources will be fully cited in your Works Cited page, on a separate page at the end of your essay.

9. Cover Page (optional) • You can make a cover page – but it is not required. • What info do we need? • Your name • My name • Class name and number • Due date • Title (you’d be amazed how many students omit this!) • Center your title. Do not underline, italicize, or place your title in quotation marks; write the title in Title Case (standard capitalization), not in all capital letters.

10. Basic In-Text Citations • The source information required in a parenthetical citation depends on: • (1.) upon the source medium (e.g. Print, Web, DVD) and • (2.) upon the source’s entry on the Works Cited page. • Any source information that you provide in-text must correspond to the source information on the Works Cited page. • More specifically, whatever signal word or phrase you provide to your readers in the text, must be the first thing that appears on the left-hand margin of the corresponding entry in the Works Cited list.

11. In-Text Citations: The Author-Page Style • Examples: Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263). Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Wordsworth 263). Wordsworth extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (263).

12. Different types of Citations? • Web = (Author Par. Number) • Poem = (Author Line Number) • What do you do if it is more then one line or more then one paragraph?

13. How would this citation appear in on the Works Cited page? • From our Wordsworth example on the previous slide: Wordsworth, William. Lyrical Ballads. London: Oxford U.P., 1967. Print. • What do you see?

14. Sample Works Cited page Works Cited "Blueprint Lays Out Clear Path for Climate Action." Environmental Defense Fund. Environmental Defense Fund, 8 May 2007. Web. 24 May 2009. Clinton, Bill. Interview by Andrew C. Revkin. “Clinton on Climate Change.” New York Times. New York Times, May 2007. Web. 25 May 2009. Leroux, Marcel. Global Warming: Myth Or Reality?: The Erring Ways of Climatology. New York: Springer, 2005. Print. Dean, Cornelia. "Executive on a Mission: Saving the Planet." New York Times. New York Times, 22 May 2007. Web. 25 May 2009. Ebert, Roger. "An Inconvenient Truth." Rev. of An Inconvenient Truth, dir. Davis Guggenheim. Rogerebert.com. Sun-Times News Group, 2 June 2006. Web. 24 May 2009. GlobalWarming.org. Cooler Heads Coalition, 2007. Web. 24 May 2009. An Inconvenient Truth. Dir. Davis Guggenheim. Perf. Al Gore, Billy West. Paramount, 2006. DVD.

15. Short Quotations: Examples(less then four lines…) According to some, dreams express "profound aspects of personality" (Foulkes 184), though others disagree. According to Foulkes's study, dreams may express "profound aspects of personality" (184). Is it possible that dreams may express "profound aspects of personality" (Foulkes 184)?

16. Long Quotations(More then four lines…) • Indent is 2 inches from the left, 1 ½ on the right, maintain double spacing, no quotation marks, with your citation at the end. • Do not indent the next line of your text – why? • Because you are not starting a new paragraph!

17. Long Quotations: Example

18. Quotations: Varia • If you skip a few words during your quotation = use an ellipses… • If you change a word, use square brackets = “[Tom] went to the store” (Smith 76). • Slashes indicate line breaks for poems = “Bread of bitterness, / And sinks” (McKay 1-2).

19. Questions? “there are those who have grey hairs – and there are those who GIVE grey hairs.”