Name ______________________________________________

Period _____

MLA Formatting: A How-to Guide

Setting up your paper: 1. Set margins to 1 on all sides Page Layout MarginsNormal - 1 on all sides 2. Change font to 12 pt Times New Roman 3. Double space the text (Do NOT do this manually by hitting enter between each line!) Home Line Spacing icon (4 lines with arrows above Paragraph) 2.0 Remove Space After Paragraph 4. Create a header with your last name and the page number InsertHeaderBlankHit tab two timesType your last nameClick Page NumberCurrent Position Plain 5. Exit the header box and type an MLA heading on the left-hand side of the page: It should look like this: Your Name Ms. Kern English III 7th 9 December 2013 6. After the heading, hit enter and type a title for your essay and center it on the page. Do NOT use bold, underline, italics, or WordArt. The title should just be 12 pt Times New Roman. 7. Hit enter and change back to left-align. Then hit the tab key to indent and begin typing the first paragraph. Including Outside Research: 1. Decide what information you need to add details or supporting evidence to your essay. 2. Find TWO reliable sources online using the school databases and/or other search engines. 3. Save the links to these sources and copy down any information that you might use for your essay. Select a couple short quotations (1-2 sentences each) from the text OR paraphrase (summarize) longer passages in your own words. REMEMBER: Any phrases or sentences that you copy directly from the source MUST be put in quotation marks. If you do not do this, you are plagiarizing! 4. After typing the essay you wrote in class, try to find the appropriate places within your original paragraphs to incorporate your new outside information. EX: After introducing a example in your own words, use a quote from your research to provide additional details or expert opinions that would back up your idea. 5. Take the appropriate quote or idea from your research and embed it in a sentence of your own writing. EX1: Many people believe that family traditions are an essential part of any holiday celebration EX2: According to one study, 87% of American families prepare turkeys for Thanksgiving Notice that you do NOT need to use the entire sentence from the source, just the most important piece of it. 6. After the quote or paraphrase, include a parenthetical citation indicating which source this information came from. EX1: Many people believe that family traditions are an essential part of any holiday celebration (Williams). EX2: According to one study, 87% of American families prepare turkeys for Thanksgiving (National Holiday Research Society). NOTE: See the section below to determine what information to put in the parenthesis. It should NEVER be the URL of the website you used. 7. Be sure to explain each quote or piece of outside information in your own words. It is your essay, so do NOT let quotes from other sources take up most of your paper. The research should support your ideas, not replace them. 8. After your essay is complete, create a separate Works Cited page that lists the full MLA citations for the TWO outside sources you used. If you are using an article from one of the library databases, this citation is at the bottom of the page. If you are not using a library resource, see the section below for a Works Cited formatting guide. NOTE: Every source referenced in your essay MUST be included on the Works Cited page, AND every source on the Works Cited page MUST be quoted or paraphrased and cited in the body of your essay.

Formatting Citations: Type of Source an article in a reference book (e.g. encyclopedias or dictionaries) a government publication In-Text Citation (Title of Article Page#) EX: (Ideology 641). Works Cited Page Entry Title of Article. Title of Reference Book. Edition #. Year of Publication. Medium of Publication. "Ideology." The American Heritage Dictionary. 3rd ed. 1997. Print. Name of country. Name of govt agency. Title of Publication. Place of publication: Publishing Group, Year. Medium of Pub. EX: United States. Government Accountability Office. Climate Change: EPA and DOE Should Do More to Encourage Progress Under Two Voluntary Programs. Washington: GPO, 2006. Print. Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Magazine Day Month Year: pages. Medium of publication. EX: Poniewozik, James. "TV Makes a Too-Close Call." Time 20 Nov. 2000: 70-71. Print. SAME AS ABOVE, though date and/or page numbers may look different SAME AS ABOVE, but instead of starting with the authors name, begin with the article title and finish out the citation from there EX: "Business: Global Warming's Boom Town; Tourism in Greenland." The Economist 26 May 2007: 82. Web. Authors name (if given). Title of Page. Name of Site. Sponsor or Publisher, Date created (if available). Medium. Date of access. EX: "How to Make Vegetarian Chili." eHow. Demand Media. Web. 24 Feb. 2009. Citation should already be provided, but if not, locate the entry above that corresponds to the type of publication (i.e. newspaper article or encyclopedia) and just change Print to Web. EX: Junge, Wolfgang, and Nathan Nelson. Nature's Rotary Electromotors. Science 29 Apr. 2005: 642-44. Science Online. Web. 5 Mar. 2009.

(Name of Country Page#) EX: (United States 13)

article in a magazine

(LastName Page#) EX: (Poniewozik 76) If no author is given: (Title of Article 76) (LastName Page#) EX: (Brubaker LZ01) (Article Title) EX: (Business: Global Warmings Boom Town) NOTE: As in example, if title of article is long, shorten it to the first few words.

article in a newspaper anonymous article

a page on a website

(LastName of author/editor) EX: (VanHuessen) If no author/editor name is given: (Title of Page) May need to be shortened EX: (How to Make Vegetarian Chili) (LastName of author(s)) EX: (Junge and Nelson) If no author/editor name is given: (Title of Article) May need to be shortened EX: (Natures Rotary Electromotors)

article from an online database

NOTE: If sources are online only, there will NOT be any page numbers.

Separate sources on the Works Cited page using a hanging indent o o o o o Highlight and right-click Click Paragraph Under Indentation, look for Special Select Hanging Click OK