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Writing • Reading • Speech

www.valenciacc.edu/east/academicsuccess/writing

Building 4, room 120

(407) 582-2795

MLA GuidelinesThe Communications Center

Valencia Community College, East Campus

Format of the paperMLA Handbook 4.1-4.4

• Type or print in a standard typeface and type size.

• Top, bottom, and side margins should be one inch.

• Papers should be double-spaced throughout.

Title and page numbersMLA Handbook 4.5-4.6

• On the first page, type your name, the instructor’s name, the course number, and the date on separate lines flush with the left margin.

• Center the title of the paper.• Double-space between all of these elements.• Pages (including the first page) should be

numbered in the upper right-hand corner, one-half inch from the top of the page, and flush with the right margin.

Citing Your Sources

The Works Cited listMLA Handbook 5.3-5.9

• Begin the list on a new page; continue page numbers from the text of the paper.

• Center the title “Works Cited” one inch from the top of the page.

• Each entry should begin flush with the left margin. If an entry extends to more than one line, the additional lines are indented one-half inch.

• Entries are alphabetized by author’s last name.• All sources in a Works Cited list must be cited in the

paper. If sources not cited are included, the list should be titled “Works Consulted.”

Sample entries: Books

• Book by a single author:Descharnes, Robert. Dali. New York:

Abrams, 1985.• Book by multiple authors:

Ryan, Leigh, and Lisa Zimmerelli. The Bedford Guide for Writing Tutors. 4th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006.

Sample entries: Anthologies

• Anthology :Fuller, John, ed. The Oxford Book

of Sonnets. New York: Oxford UP, 2000.

• Work in an anthology:Dumas, Henry. “The Marchers.” Short

Stories of the Civil Rights Movement: An Anthology. Ed. Margaret Earley Whitt. Athens: U of Georgia P, 2006.

Sample entries: Articles• In a scholarly journal :

Mates, Lewis. “Durham and South Wales Miners and the Spanish Civil War.” Twentieth Century British History 17 (2006): 373-395.

• In a magazine:Will, George F. “Electronic Morphine.”

Newsweek 25 Nov. 2002: 92.• In a newspaper:

Lowry, Bryan. “Tom Cruise’s PR Firm Seeks Extensive TV Restrictions.” Los Angeles Times 14 July 1999: F2+.

Sample entries: Internet sites

• An entire Internet site:The Burlington Magazine. 2009. 13 Jan.

2009 <http://www.burlington.org.uk/>.• An article :

Ceaser, James W. “Relativism as Political Absolutism.” The New Criterion Jan. 2009. 13 Jan. 2009 <http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Relativism-as-political-absolutism-3980>.

References within the textMLA Handbook 6.1-6.4

• Use parenthetical references in the text to indicate the source from which you have taken specific material (quotation, paraphrase, fact, or idea).

• These references should be very specific; use page numbers whenever you can.

• References should be as concise as possible.

Format of references

• Most references will include the author’s name and page number, without punctuation between them.

• If the author’s name appears in your text, indicate only the page number(s) in the reference.

• References should ordinarily be placed at the end of the sentence, before the period.

• References after direct quotations are placed immediately after the closing quotation mark.

Sample references• Single author, name in text:

Harrison argues that this relationship is more complex (247).

•Single author:The protagonist’s anxiety may derive from childhood trauma (Beckwith 35).

•Multiple authors:Recent research has identified this to be a previously unknown early work by Rubens (Thompson and Bartley 142).

•Direct quotation:In 1972, Farrington argued that The Searchers “exhibits intolerable racism and cruelty” (79); however, the film is highly regarded today.