MLA CITATION CHEAT SHEET

Tips on incorporating research and providing citations: 1. Do not put quotation marks around paraphrases. 2. If there is no author listed, use the title of the article not the title of the magazine. Never use the title of the magazine itself in a citation. 3. The period goes outside the citation. No punctuation inside the end quote unless it is a ? or a !. Lets get rowdy! (Bradshaw 12) The way I dress is sometimes to referred to as homeless-chic (Bradshaw 13). 4. The first time you use a direct quote, introduce the speaker/writer using their credentials. Dean Bradshaw, an expert on shoe-tying, said, Velcro will be the death of the shoe lace industry (14). 5. See #4. If the author of the source is the same as the speaker of the quote, the citation only includes the page number. 6. Dean Bradshaw, author of the Cruel and Insane Research Paper, advises the following: If the direct quote is more than 4 typed lines, set it off with an extra inch margin on the left. It should be double spaced like the rest of the paper. Be sure to introduce the long quote properly. Also, you do not need quotation marks when a quote is set off. You do need a citation at the end. The period comes before the citation. (83) 7. Use an ellipse when you are leaving out part of the quote. I do so love a chocolate shakevanilla seems utterly tasteless in comparison (Bradshaw 34). 8. Use [sic] to acknowledge an error in quoted material. These rap lyrics seem ludacriss [sic] (Bradshaw 54). 9. Spell out acronyms the first time you use them. After that you can just use the letters. Dean Bradshaw, president of the Humane Activists for Temporary Eating Restraints (HATER), says that muzzles are an effective way to stop binge eating (208). 10. Paragraphs should not begin with researched materials. The writer must introduce it first. 11. Paragraphs should also not end with researched materials. The writer must analyze and connect it. 12. The introduction and conclusion should not include researched material unless it is a special quote used as a springboard or to provoke thought. 13. Do not put citations (Bradshaw 786) in the middle of a sentence. 14. Do not identify the source information in the text of the paper; the Works Cited page will do that for you. 15. Every citation needs a page number, unless it is from a personal interview. General Formatting Rules
Page numbers are required on every page. The page header is the author's last name. These go inside the margin space, one-half inch from the top of the page, next to the right margin. 2. Margins. One inch margins are required on all four sides of a page. This applies to all pages, and the contents of all pages, but excludes the page number/header. 3. Justification. "Do not justify the lines of text at the right margin; turn off your word processor's automatic hyphenation feature" (MLA 116). Hyphens introduced to break words and wrap lines can confuse a reader. 4. Typeface (fonts). Use a legible font (e.g. Times New Roman). MLA recommends that the regular and italics type styles contrast enough that they are recognizable one from another. The font size should be 12 pt. 5. Double-space lines throughout the text! Space once after punctuation. 6. Dates may follow US format (e.g., April 1, 2009) or universal format (1 April 2009). The Handbook gives you the choice, but be consistent, including references. The preference is for the universal format. 7. Title. The title is centered on the page and formatted in heading caps (see Section 3.5 for the rule). 8. Indents. Indent paragraphs one-half inch, except block quotes. Indent block quotes one inch. There are special rules for indenting block quotes that run beyond a single paragraph (see Section 3.4). 9. Title page ID block. This is an essential feature of MLA style do not improvise!

The research paper in MLA style begins with a distinctive title page, an MLA trademark. Text pages follow the same general form.

Information taken from: MLA (Style) Lite for Research Papers. Copyright 2009 by Dr Abel Scribe PhD., MLA CITATION CHEAT SHEET Bradshaw 2007 and The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 2010. Web. 10 August 2010.