Why Use MLA?

General Format
MLA style specifies guidelines for
formatting manuscripts and using the
English language in writing. MLA
style also provides writers with a
system for referencing their sources
through parenthetical citation in their
essays and Works Cited pages.

Document Settings
Your word processor comes with
default settings (margin, line height,
paragraph spacing, and typeface)
that will likely need adjustment. For
MLA style, you need:
1-inch margins all around
2.0 line height (double-spaced)
no extra spacing after paragraphs
12-point typeface (usually Times New
Roman)

In-text citations
Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry
was marked by a "spontaneous overflow
of powerful feelings" (263). Authors
name appears in the sentence itself.
Romantic poetry is characterized by the
"spontaneous overflow of powerful
feelings" (Wordsworth 263). Authors
name does NOT appear in sentence.

Where there is no known

author
We see so many global warming
hotspots in North America likely
because this region has "more
readily accessible climatic data and
more comprehensive programs to
monitor and study environmental
change . . ." ("Impact of Global
Warming" 6). Use the TITLE and
PAGE NUMBER in your citation

Citing more than one work by the

same author
Murray states that writing is "a
process" that "varies with our thinking
style" (Write to Learn 6).
Additionally, Murray argues that the
purpose of writing is to "carry ideas
and information from the mind of one
person into the mind of another" (A
Writer Teaches Writing 3).

When the work has two

authors:
Psychologists state that no two children are alike (Gesell and Ing
68)
If a source has three authors, use the last name of all:
(Murphy, Beamish and Porter 22)
If there are more than three authors you may list them all:
(Stark, Banner, Rodgers and Fury 33)

OR
Use the name if the FIRST author followed by et al.
(Stark et al 30)

Give title of the work in your reference

OR
Use a shortened version as long as it directs the
reader to the correct page

EXAMPLE:
The Longman Guide to the Web would be (Longman
guide 137)