MLA IN-TEXT AND WORKS CITED FORMATTING

Taken from OWL Purdue Online Writing Lab (

*Citing sources within a text is necessary to give credit to an author for his/her ideas and to avoid plagiarism. The goals of citing within a text should be 1) to help your reader easily identify the source(s) in case s/he would like to refer to them and 2) to do so with as little interruption to your essay’s fluency as possible.

IN YOUR PARAGRAPHS (LITERATURE):

Usually, two pieces of information are required for in-paragraph citations:

  1. Author’s name
  2. Where to find the citation in the text (in parenthesis)
  1. NOVEL: page #
  2. PLAY: Act, Scene, and Line # (use Roman Numerals for Act and Scene)
  3. POEM: Line #
  4. SHORT STORY / ESSAY: Paragraph #
  1. Be careful to distinguish between the author/ poetand the characters / speaker when citing. The author / poet generally does not speak in a work of literature. However, sometimes the author / poet needs to be mentioned in a more general statement.
  1. When first citing a novel or a play, use a FATt sentence. All other citations after the first do not require you to mention the author’s name again, only the page # (to minimize interruption).
  1. Use TIES to vary the way you embed your quotes into your sentences.
  1. Use Literary Present Tense when citing.

Examples for citing the two necessary pieces of information:

Novel

Character’s namestates that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263).

Author’s nameextensively explores the role of emotion in the creative process (263).

Play

Character’s name states that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (V.II.13-14).

Author’s name extensively exploresthe role of emotion in the creative process (V.II).

Poem

Speaker’s name states that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (13-14).

Poet’s name explores the role of emotion in the creative process (13-14).

Short Story

Character’s name states that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Par. 10).

Author’s name explores the role of emotion in the creative process (Par. 10).

Essay

Character’s / Narrator’s / Author’s name states that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Par. 10).

Author’s name explores the role of emotion in the creative process (Par. 10).

WORKS CITED PAGE:

General Guidelines:

  1. Begin the list on a new page following the last page of the text with the centered title: Works Cited
  1. Organize the list alphabetically by author’s last name. If the entry does not have author’s name, alphabetize the first major word of the title.
  1. Double-Space within and between entries.
  1. Begin each entry at the left margin. If the entry is longer than one line, INDENT the second and subsequent lines five spaces (Ctrl Tab/Command Tab)
  1. Do not number entries
  1. End each entry with a period.

FOR BOOKS / NOVELS / PLAYS:

Author’s Last name, First name. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Year of

Publication. Medium of Publication.

EX:

Gleick, James. Chaos: Making a New Science. New York: Penguin, 1987. Print.

FOR POEMS:

Poet’s Last name, First name. “Title of Poem”.[Collection / Anthology Title. Publisher, Year of

Publication,pages].

[ ] = If you found poem in a collection / anthology

EX:

Whitman, Walt. "I Sing the Body Electric." [Selected Poems. Dover, 1991, pp. 12-19].

FOR SHORT STORIES / ESSAYS:

Author’s Last name, First name. “Title of Story / Essay.”[Collection / Anthology Title.

Publisher, Year of Publication, pages].

[ ] = If you found poem in a collection / anthology

EX:

Carter, Angela. "The Tiger's Bride." [Burning Your Boats: The Collected Stories. Penguin, 1995,

pp. 154-69].

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