InfoGuides: UWRT 150 Writing Seminar (Mazique): MLA Citations

Last Updated: Oct 24, 2024 2:24 PM

MLA Citation Style

The MLA (Modern Language Association) Style (9th edition) is used in humanities. The free companion site to the MLA Handbook is now available. It gives guidance on formatting, plagiarism, and academic dishonesty, and its ‘works cited: a quick guide’ section nicely illustrates visually what needs to be cited. If you are interested in an online citation generator, BibGuru is linked below.

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 lists all sources you used for your paper.

BibGuru InfoGuide

Why Should We Use Citations?

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.