MLA Format

MLA Format Resources:

OWL Purdue Writing Lab: the online version of the MLA Book

Do not use easybib.com

If you are completely lost on the category of a particular document, email Diaz through the contact page please!
​Works Cited: 
Formatting my citations within my Works Cited page:
  • The first line of your last page should be center justified title that says: Works Cited.  This title should not be bolded, underlined, italicized, or within quotations, and it should be in plural form (nobody will be using just one "Work" to cite).

  • The very next line (remember that Word will automatically double-space for you now) should be your first citation, left justified and with a hanging indent.

  • Once you've dropped in all of your citations, select them (not including your Works Cited title) and within HOME find the PARAGRAPH section and click on the pop-out box so that you are looking at the options INDENTS AND SPACING.  Under the SPECIAL drop-down menu, select the "Hanging" indent option.  This will cause the second line of each citation to automatically tab for you.

  • Your citations should show up in alphabetical order.  Do not use the A to Z tool because it can create errors.  Citations that begin with numbers go first in numerical order.

​​Citing my sources within my essay:
  • ​When citing sources within your text, we know we're going to play around with concrete textual evidence, paraphrasing, and summarizing.  All of three types of evidence require internal documentation.  This will show up in one of two flavors:
​
  1. ​A piece of evidence that has a specific author, artist, or editor.: ​Internal documentation will include the author/artist/editor's last name and page number (if relevant) For example:  In 1930 alone the unemployment rate rose from "3 million" in March to "4.38 million" people by December of the same year (Spielvogel 755).
  2. A piece of evidence with simply a title.  ​​Internal documentation will include a key word from the title and the page number (if relevant) For example:  From 1919 to 1923, the German Mark hyper-inflated from "4.2 Marks to the dollar" to "4.2 trillion Marks to the dollar" ("Inflated").
​
Citing one piece of evidence at a time: 

The Weimar Republic was plagued with complex economic challenges.  From the year 1919 to 1923, German currency devalued from “4.2” marks to the dollar to “4.2 trillion” marks to the dollar (“Inflated”).

Citing multiple pieces of evidence within one sentence:

The Weimar Republic was plagued with complex economic challenges.  From the year 1919 to 1923, German currency devalued from “4.2” marks to the dollar to “4.2 trillion” marks to the dollar (“Currency”) making currency so worthless that parents willingly gave it to their children as toys (Children).

Citing one piece of evidence for an entire paragraph:

The Weimar Republic was plagued with complex economic challenges.  From the year 1919 to 1923, German currency devalued from “4.2” marks to the dollar to “4.2 trillion” marks to the dollar.  This hyperinflation was detrimental to families because it made the process of moving currency inefficient.  These wild fluctuations induced feelings of desperation, as citizens felt little security in what the value of their money would be day-to-day.  These insecure feelings become present in several art movements. (“Inflated”).
Format of the Paper:
  • Margins: go to PAGE LAYOUT and in MARGINS select the "Normal" setting of 1" margins all around

  • Heading:
    • on the first line of your document, make sure you are "Left Justified" (in HOME under PARAGRAPH) write:

First and Last Name
Teacher's Name (Ms. Diaz)
Class (English II or English II Pre-AP) "II" are Roman Numerals 
Day Month Year (9 December 2015)

  • Title: ​
    • Press enter once, write your title (or simply the word, Title, for now), and "Center Justify" (in HOME under PARAGRAPH)
    • Titles should not be bolded, underlined, italicized, or within quotations unless you are incorporating a piece of art or literature within your title.
​
  • Body:
    • Press enter once, make sure you are "Left Justified" (in HOME under PARAGRAPH), and TAB (on your keyboard above Caps Lock) over once.  Drop in your first sentence.  Do this again for each paragraph , as they should all have a tab space before the first word.
    • Once you've thrown in some meat, select all by hitting CTRL + "A" on your keyboard. 
    • In HOME within FONT select "Times New Roman" and "12 pts" 
    • In HOME within PARAGRAPH click the pull down button "Line and Paragraph Spacing" and select 2.0 spacing.
    • In HOME within PARAGRAPH click the pull down button "Line and Paragraph Spacing" and select "Remove Space After Paragraph" in order to turn-off that tricky little Default. (This means there should be no extra spaces between your paragraphs, but only a smooth double-spaced draft from top-to-bottom
​​
  • Header: 
    • Go to INSERT and find PAGE NUMBER drop-down menu.  Select "Top of Page" and then "Plain Number 3"
    • Click your cursor to the left of the number 1 and type your Last Name, leaving a space between your surname, so it looks like: Anderson 1
    • Select the text and number and change the font to "Times New Roman" and "12 pts"