InfoGuides: NENG 231 Bridge to College English: MLA Citations

Last Updated: Oct 25, 2024 3:38 PM

MLA Citation Style

The MLA (Modern Language Association) Style (9th edition) is used in the humanities area. The free companion site to the MLA Handbook is now available. It gives guidance on formatting, plagiarism and academic dishonesty, and their ‘work cited: a quick guide’ section nicely illustrates visually what needs to be cited

Purdue Owl also has extensive resources explaining some of the new rules. Some professors may ask you to submit your papers to Turnitin, a plagiarism checking database.

You must have both the in-text citations and the Works Cited page which is a list of all sources you used for your paper. There is an online citation builder, NoodleTools, which you can use to create citations. You must log on through the library website in order to get free access.

Why Should We Use Citations?

If you need a NoodleTools online citation builder tutorial, check out this guide.

Why Do We Need to Cite Sources for Papers or Presentations?

We need to acknowledge another person's work and ideas and give him credit.
You have more credibility because your paper shows you reviewed, evaluated, and selected sources during the research process
You avoid plagiarism.
Your sources are easier to find. Readers can find the sources you used.

How Do You Incorporate Sources Within Your Paper or Presentation?

Quoting-Copy a short passage word for word, set off by quotation marks.
Summarizing--Restate the main ideas in your own words which is shorter than the origiinal
Paraphrasing--Take an idea and put it in your own words.