Transcript MLA Documentation for Research Papers--Purpose

MLA Documentation for Research
Papers--Purpose
A reader who is interested in exploring a subject wants
to read not only your paper but also the material you
used in your paper.
Why?
Readers want to examine your sources to see if you
missed anything, to see if they interpret the material the
same way you do, or to see if your sources help them
to come up with more new ideas.
This is the way knowledge gets built on. This is the
reason we need computers to store all the new
knowledge we create.
MLA Documentation for Research
Papers—Two Main Features
The MLA (Modern Language Association)
format for showing where information in a
paper came from is one of many methods. It
uses two features: a citation in the body of
the paper linked by a signal phrase and/or a
parenthetical in-text citation to a reference
on the Works Cited page at the end of the
paper.
Citation in the Body of the Paper
Citation in the body of the paper must be
done whenever you are taking words from
another source (quoting) and also
whenever you are taking ideas from
another source and putting them into your
own words (paraphrasing).
Signal Phrase
A signal phrase lets readers know that you are
about to use words or ideas that are not your
own – often by naming the author or the title of
the source:
David Rosenwasser and Jill Stephen insist that “no
writing is strictly personal” (14).
David Rosenwasser and Jill Stephen believe
beginning writers rely ineffectively on personal
responses instead of analysis (14).
Parenthetical in-text citation
If the author or the title is not announced in a
signal phrase, then more information than
a page number needs to be put in the
parentheses following the quote or
paraphrase:
Beginning writers rely ineffectively on
personal experience instead of analysis
(Rosenwasser 14).
Works Cited Page
The Works Cited page contains references
to all the sources quoted or paraphrased
in the paper.
The sources are listed in alphabetical order
according to the author’s last name or to
the first significant word of the
parenthetical in-text citation.
Works Cited Page—Rosenwasser
example
Works Cited
Rosenwasser, David and Jill Stephen.
Writing Analytically. Boston:Thomson,
2003. Print.
Works Cited Page--features
The Works Cited entries are written
differently depending on whether they are
books, newspapers, magazines, scholarly
journals, interviews, films, television
programs, Internet sites, electronic
databases, or whatever.
Students can use the De Anza library web
page, the WRC reference books, or their
own English texts to check details.
Works Cited Page—more text
examples
Works Cited
Cornford, Dan. “A Turbulent End to a Brilliant
Life.” San Francisco Chronicle
19 Feb 2006: M1+. Print,
Hodge, Roger D. “Blood and Time.” Harper’s
February 2006: 65-72. Print.
Taylor, Tim N. “The Research Paper as an
Act of Citizenship.” Teaching English in the
Two-Year College 33.1(2005) 50-61. Print.
Works Cited Page—Internet
Internet citations provide all of the
information needed to find the print source
(if there is one) as well as the author’s
name (if there is one) the title of the web
page, the publisher of the web page, the
date of publication, the date of access to
the site, the name of the database, and
Web. You may enclose the URL in angle
brackets if needed.
Works Cited Page—Internet
Examples—De Anza Databases.
“There has long been a strong pastoral tradition in
American literature” (Rothenburg).
Works Cited
Rothenburg, David. “The Ecocriticism Reader:
Landmarks in Literary Ecology.” The Ecologist
28.1(1998). Infotrac. 1-26-2006. Web.
Works Cited Page—Internet
Example
Ibsen had an extraordinary effect upon other
playwrights: “his offerings, medicinal and
bitter, have changed the history of the
stage” (Belllinger).
Works Cited
Bellinger, Martha Fletcher. “Henrik Ibsen.”
TheaterDatabase 2-20-06. 8-31-10. Web.
MLA Documentation—what else?
Dropped quotations: don’t do it. Always lead up to and
follow your quote or paraphrase with your own ideas in
your own words.
Ellipses: use three dots to show you have taken out some
words or four dots to show you have taken out more than
a sentence.
Brackets: use brackets [ ] to add any words of your own
to a quote.
(qtd in): Sometimes you will want to quote a writer that was
quoted in another writer’s work: James Wood believes
Cormac McCarthy’s latest novel No Country for Old Men
is “rubbing our noses in death’s horror” (qtd in Hodge
65).
MLA Documentation—What Else?
Double quotes become single quotes: When a
quote contains a quote, change the double
quote mark to a single:
One of McCarthy’s ex-wives reports that despite
extreme poverty McCarthy “firmly rejected the
seductions of the lecture and workshop circuit.
‘Someone would call up and offer him $2000 to
come speak at a university about his
books…and he would tell them that everything
he had to say was there on the page’” (Hodge
66).
Need More Help?
Wallis Leslie’s Faculty website: http://faculty.deanza.edu/lesliewallis
De Anza College Library: http://deanza.edu/library
MLA Citation Style: http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/citmla.htm
Duke University: http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/cite/works_cited.htm