Post on 01-Sep-2021
MLA Stylebook
INDERKUM H IGH SCHOOL
MLA STYLEBOOK
Purpose of this Handbook
We expect that all students attending Inderkum High School are preparing for college. In light of this,
we want all of our students to be practiced in the skill of following a style sheet. Though there are many (MLA,
APA, Chicago, etc.), we have chosen MLA (Modern Language Association) because most of the instruction for
writing papers will happen in the language arts classroom where MLA is the traditional expectation. Once a
student has mastered one style of writing (MLA in this case), making adaptations when using a different style is
almost easy. You will use this same handbook in ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade. By twelfth grade,
you will be an expert at MLA style and will find the transition to college writing quite manageable.
Happy Writing!!!
The English Department
Inderkum High School
Table of Contents
MLA Sample- Handwritten
MLA Sample- Typed with Explanatory Notes
Sample Research Paper
MLA Style- In-text Citations
MLA Style- List of Works Cited
Guidelines for Using Quotations
25 Most Common Errors in Writing with Sample Corrections
25 Most Common Errors- Grading Reference Sheet with Holt Handbook Numbers
All content in this booklet, except the “Quotation Guidelines” is copyrighted material of Andrea Lunsford of
Stanford University and St. Martin’s Press, and is used with permission. This content is available online at
http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/smhandbook6e/Player/index.aspx
A pdf version of this handbook as printed here is available on the Inderkum High School homepage:
http://www.natomas.k12.ca.us/ihs/site/default.asp
Inderkum High School
2500 New Market Drive
Sacramento, CA 95835
Phone 916.567.5640
To see the entire sample paper, visit
http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/easy
writer3e/docsource/pdf/CraigMLAR
esearchEssay.pdf
MLA Style: In-Text Citations
MLA style requires documentation in the text for every quote, paraphrase, or summary,
or for other material that must be cited. In-text citations document material from other
sources with both signal phrases and parenthetical references. Signal phrases introduce
the m
aterial, often including the author's name.
Keep your parenthetical references short, but include enough inform
ation in the parentheses
to allow readers to locate the full citation in the list of works cited. Place the parenthetical
citation as near the relevant material as possible without disrupting the sentence. Note in
the following examples where punctuation is placed in relation to the parentheses.
Directory to MLA Style for In-Text Citations
1. Author named in a signal phrase
2. Author named in parentheses
3. Two or three authors
4. Four or more authors
5. Organization as author
6. Unknown author
7. Author of two or more works
8. Authors with the same last name
9. Multivolume work
10. Literary work
11. Work in an anthology
12. Sacred text
13. Indirect source
14. Two or more sources in one citation
15. Entire work or one-page article
16. Work without page numbers
17. Electronic or nonprint source
1. Author named in a signal phrase
Ordinarily, you can use the author's name in a signal phrase—to introduce the
material—
and cite the page number(s) in parentheses.
Herrera indicates that Kahlo believed in a "vitalistic form
of pantheism
" (328).
To quote a long passage (more than four typed lines), place the page reference
in parentheses one space after the final punctuation of the block quotation.
2. Author named in parentheses
When you do not mention the author in a signal phrase, include the author's last name
before the page number(s) in the parentheses. Use no punctuation between the author's
name and the page number(s).
3. Two or three authors
Use all the authors' last names.
Gortner, Hebrun, and Nicolson maintain that "opinion leaders" influence other people in an
organization because they are respected, not because they hold high positions (175).
4. Four or m
ore authors
Use the first author's name and et al. ("and others"), or name all the authors.
As Belenky et al. assert, examining the lives of women expands our understanding of human
development (7).
5. Organization as author
Give the group's full name if it is brief or a shortened form if it is long.
Any study of social welfare involves a close analysis of "the impacts, the benefits, and the costs" of
its policies (Social Research Corporation iii).
6. Unknown author
Use the full title if it is brief or a shortened form if it is long.
"Hype," by one analysis, is "an artificially engendered atmosphere of hysteria" ("Today's
Marketplace" 51).
7. Author of tw
o or m
ore works
If your list of works cited has more than one work by the same author, include the title (if it is brief)
or a shortened form of the title.
Gardner shows readers their own silliness in his description of a "pointless, ridiculous monster,
crouched in the shadows, stinking of dead men, murdered children, and martyred cows" (Grendel 2).
8. Authors with the same last name
Include the author's first and last names in a signal phrase or first initial and last name in a
parenthetical reference.
Children will learn to write if they are allowed to choose their own subjects, James Britton asserts,
citing the Schools Council study of the 1960s (37–42).
In places, Beauvoir "sees Marxists as believing in subjectivity" (Whitmarsh 63).
9. Multivolume work
Note the volume number first and then the page number(s), with a colon and one space
between them.
Modernist writers prized experimen
tation and gradually even sought to blur the line
between poetry and prose, according to Forster (3: 150).
If you name only one volume of the work in your list of works cited, include only the page
number in the parentheses.
10. Literary work
Because literary works are often available in m
any different editions, cite the page number(s)
from the edition you used followed by a semicolon, and then give other identifying inform
ation
that will lead readers to the passage in any edition. Indicate the act and/or scene in a play (37;
sc. 1). For a novel, indicate the part or chapter (175; ch. 4).
Dostoyevsky's character M
itya wonders aloud about the "terrible traged
ies realism
inflicts on people" (376; bk. 8, ch
. 2).
For a poem, cite the part (if there is one) and line(s), separated by a period. If you are citing
only line numbers, use the word line(s) in the first reference (lines 33–34).
On dying, Whitman specu
lates, "All goes onward and outw
ard, nothing collapses, /
And to die is different from what anyone supposed, and luckier" (6.129–30).
For a verse play, give only the act, scene, and line numbers, separated by periods.
As Macbeth begins, the witch
es greet Banquo as "Lesser than M
acbeth, and greater"
(1.3.65).
11. Work in an anthology
Use the name of the author of the work, not the editor of the anthology, but use the page
number(s) from the anthology.
Narratives of captivity play a m
ajor role in early writing by women
in the United
States, as dem
onstrated by Silko (219).
12. Sacred text
Give the title of the edition you used followed by locator inform
ation such as the book,
chapter, or verse separated by a period. In your text, spell out the names of books. In
parenthetical references, use abbreviations for books with names of five or more letters.
He ignored the admonition "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit
before a fall" (N
ew Oxford Annotated Bible, Prov. 16.18).
13. Indirect source
Use the abbreviation qtd. in to indicate that you are quoting from someone else's report of a
conversation, an interview, a letter, or the like.
Arthur Miller says, "When
someb
ody is destroyed
everybody finally contributes to
it, but in W
illy's case, the end product would be virtually the same" (qtd. in M
artin
and M
eyer 375).
14. Two or more sources in one citation
Separate the inform
ation with semicolons.
Economists recommen
d that employmen
t be redefined
to include unpaid domestic
labor (Clark 148; Nevins 39).
15. Entire work or one-page article
Include the reference in the text without any page numbers or parentheses.
Michael Ondaatje's poetic sen
sibility transfers beautifully to prose in The English
Patien
t.
16. Work without page numbers
If a work has no page numbers or is only one page long, you m
ay omit the page number. If a
work uses paragraph numbers instead, use the abbreviation par. (or pars.).
Whitman considered their speech "a source of a native grand opera," in the words
of Ellison (par. 13).
PERIODICALS
21. Article in a journal paginated by volume
22. Article in a journal paginated by issue
23. Article in a m
agazine
24. Article in a newspaper
25. Editorial or letter to the editor
26. Review
27. Unsigned article
ELECTRONIC SOURCES
28. Article from an online database or a subscription service
29. Work from a W
eb site
30. Entire W
eb site
31. Online book
32. Part of an online book
33. Article in an online journal, m
agazine, or newspaper
34. Online editorial or letter to the editor
35. Online review
36. Posting to a discussion group
37. Email
38. Real-time communication
39. CD-ROM
OTHER SOURCES (INCLUDING ONLINE VERSIONS)
40. Report or pamphlet
41. Dissertation
42. Dissertation abstract
43. Unpublished or personal interview
44. Published interview
45. Broadcast interview
46. Unpublished letter
47. Legal source
48. Film, video, or DVD
49. Television or radio program
50. Sound recording
51. Musical composition
52. Lecture or speech
53. Live perform
ance
54. Work of art or photograph
55. Map or chart
56. Advertisement
57. Cartoon or comic strip
17. Electronic or nonprint source
Give enough inform
ation for readers to locate the source in the list of works cited.
Usually use the author or title under which you list the source. Specify a source's page,
section, paragraph, or screen numbers, if numbered, in parentheses.
Describing children's language acquisition, Pinker explains that "w
hat's innate
about language is just a way of paying atten
tion to parental speech
" (Johnson,
sec. 1).
The St. Martin's Handbook Resources / Documenting Sources /
MLA Style: List of Works Cited
A list of works cited is an alphabetical list of the sources you have referred to in your
essay. (If your instructor asks you to list everything you have read as background, call
the list Works Consulted.)
For the basic form
at for a works-cited entry in MLA style, download these PDFs:
Citing books using MLA style
Citing articles from periodicals using MLA style
Citing articles from databases using MLA style
Citing works from W
eb sites using MLA style
List of Works Cited Index
BOOKS:
1. One author
2. More than one author
3. Organization as author
4. Unknown author
5. Two or more books by the same author
6. Editor
7. Author and editor
8. Work in an anthology
9. Two or more items from an anthology
10. Translation
11. Edition other than the first
12. Multivolume work
13. Preface, foreward, introduction, or afterw
ord
14. Entry in a reference work
15. Book that is part of a series
16. Republication
17. Publisher's imprint
18. Title within a title
19. Government publication
20. Sacred text
BOOKS
1. One author
Winch
ester, Sim
on. The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford
English Dictionary. New
York: Oxford UP, 2003.
2. More than one author
For the first two or three authors, list all the names. For more authors, either list all the
names or give the first author listed on the title page, followed by a comma and et al.
("and others").
Martineau, Jane, Desmond Shawe-Taylor, and Jonathan Bate. Shakespeare in
Art. London: Merrell, 2003.
3. Organization as author
Getty Trust Publications. Seeing the Getty Center/Seeing the Getty Garden
s.
Los Angeles: Getty Trust Publications, 2000.
4. Unknown author
New
Concise W
orld Atlas. New York: Oxford UP, 2003.
5. Two or more books by the same author
Lorde, Audre. A Burst of Light. Ithaca: Fireb
rand, 1988.
- - -. Sister Outsider. Trumansburg: Crossing, 1984.
6. Editor
Wall, Cheryl A., ed. Changing Our Own W
ords: Essays on Criticism
, Theory,
and W
riting by Black W
Women. New
Brunsw
ick: Rutgers UP, 1989.
7. Author and editor
James, Hen
ry. Portrait of a Lady. Ed. Leon Edel. Boston: Houghton, 1963.
8. Work in an anthology
Komunyakaa, Yusef. "Facing It." The Seagull Reader. Ed. Joseph Kelly. New
York:
Norton, 2000. 126–27.
9. Two or more items from an anthology
Estleman, Loren D. "B
ig Tim
Magoon and the Wild W
est." W
alker 391–
404.
Salzer, Susan K. "M
iss Libbie Tells All." W
alker 199–212.
Walker, Dale L., ed. Westw
ard: A Fictional History of the American W
est . New
York: Forge, 2003.
10. Translation
Hietamies, Laila. Red
Moon over W
hite Sea. Trans. Borje Vahamaki. Beaverton,
ON: Aspasia, 2000.
11. Edition other than the first
Walker, John A. Art in the Age of Mass M
edia. 3rd ed. London: Pluto, 2001.
12. Multivolume work
Ch'oe, Yong-H
o, Peter Lee, and W
illiam Theodore De Barry, ed
s. Sources of Korean
Tradition. Vol. 2. New
York: Columbia UP, 2000. 2 vols.
12. Multivolume work, cont.
If you cite m
ore than one volume, give the total number of volumes after the title.
Ch'oe, Yong-H
o, Peter Lee, and W
illiam Theodore De Barry, ed
s. Sources of
Korean Tradition. 2 vols. New York: Columbia UP, 2000.
13. Preface, foreword, introduction, or afterw
ord
Atw
an, Robert. Foreword. The Best American Essays 2002. Ed. Stephen
Jay
Gould. Boston: Houghton, 2002. viii–xii.
14. Entry in a reference work
Kettering, Alison M
cNeil. "Art N
ouveau." W
orld Book Encycloped
ia. 2002 ed.
"Traquair, Sir John Stewart." Encycloped
ia Brittanica. 11th ed. 1911.
15. Book that is part of a series
Nichanian, Marc, and Vartan M
atiossian, ed
s. Yeghishe Charents: Poet of the
Revolution. Arm
enian Studies Ser. 5. Costa M
esa: Mazda, 2003.
16. Republication
Scott, Walter. Ken
ilworth. 18
21. New
York: Dodd, 1956.
17. Publisher's imprint
Gilligan, Carol. The Birth of Pleasure: A New
Map of Love. N
ew York:
18. Title within a title
Mullaney, Julie. Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things: A Reader's Guide.
New
York: Continuum, 2002.
19. Government publication
Kinsella, Kevin, and Victoria Velkoff. An Aging W
orld: 2001. US Bureau of the
Cen
sus. W
ashington: GPO, 2001.
United
States. Natl. Council on Disability. Reconstructing Fair H
ousing.
Washington: Natl. Council on Disability, 2001.
20. Sacred text
If the version is not part of the title, list the version after the title. If you are not citing a
particular edition, do not include sacred texts in the works-cited list.
Quran: The Final Testament (A
uthorized English Version) with Arabic Text. Trans.
Rashad Khalifa. Fremont: Universal Unity, 2000.
PERIODICALS
21. Article in a journal paginated by volume
Gigante, Den
ise. "The Monster in the Rainbow: Keats and the Scien
ce of Life."
PMLA 117 (2002): 433–48.
22. Article in a journal paginated by issue
Zivley, Sherry Lutz. "Sylvia Plath's Transform
ations of Modernist Paintings."
College Literature 29.3 (2002): 35–56.
23. Article in a magazine
Give the m
onth if published m
onthly or date (if weekly) of publication. Abbreviate the names
of months except for May, June, and July.
Fonda, Daren. "Saving the Dead." Life Apr. 2000: 69–72.
Gilgoff, Dan. "U
nusual Suspects." US New
s and W
orld Rep
ort 26 Nov. 2001: 51.
24. Article in a newspaper
Vogel, Carol. "With H
uge Gift, the Whitney Is No Longer a Poor Cousin."New York
Times 3 Aug. 2002, late ed.: A1+
. Print.
25. Editorial or letter to the editor
Magee, Doug. "Soldier's Home." Editorial. Nation 26 M
ar. 1988: 400–01.
26. Review
Den
by, David. "H
igh Roller." Rev. of The Aviator, dir. Martin Scorsese.
New
Yorker 20 Dec. 2004: 18
6–87.
27. Unsigned article
"Perform
ance of the Week." Tim
e 6 Oct. 2003: 18
. ELECTRONIC SOURCES
The entry for most electronic sources m
ay include up to five basic elements, as in
the following list, but must always include the last two.
•
Author. List the last name first, followed by a comma and the first name,
and end with a period. If no author is given, begin the entry with the title.
•
Title. Enclose the title of the document in quotation m
arks and end with a
period inside the closing quotation m
ark. If you are citing an entire site or
an online book, the title should be underlined (or italicized). Capitalize all
major words.
•
Print publication inform
ation. Give any inform
ation the document provides
about any previous or simultaneous publication in print.
•
Electronic publication inform
ation. List all of the following items that you
can find, with a period after each one: the title of the site, underlined (or
italicized), with all m
ajor words capitalized; the editor(s) of the site,
preceded by Ed.; the version number of the site, if given, preceded by
Vers.; the date of electronic publication or of the latest update; and the
name of the sponsoring institution or organization.
•
Access inform
ation. Give the m
ost recent date you accessed the source,
with the name of the m
onth abbreviated (except for May, June, and July);
the URL enclosed in angle brackets; and a period after the closing
bracket. If the URL is very long, substitute the URL of the site's search
page. If the site does not provide a usable URL for individual documents
and citing the search page is inappropriate, give the URL of the site's
homepage. To give readers instructions for finding the document through
links on the homepage, cite its URL, give the word Path followed by a
colon, and then list the sequence of links. Use semicolons between the
links and a period at the end. Whenever a URL will not fit on one line,
break it only after a slash, and do not add a hyphen at the break.
Further guidelines for citing electronic sources can be found in the MLA Handbook
for Writers of Research Papers and online at www.m
la.org.
28. Article from an online database or a subscription service
For a work from an online database, provide all of the following elements that are
available: the author's name; the title of the work (in quotation m
arks); any print
publication inform
ation; the name of the online database (underlined or italicized); the
name of its editor (if any) preceded by Ed.; the date of the m
ost recent revision; the name
of any organization or institution with which the database is affiliated; the date of access;
and the URL.
"Bolivia: Elecciones Presiden
ciales de 2002." Political Database of the Americas.
1999. Georgetown U and Organization of Amer. States. 12 Nov. 2003
<http://w
ww.georgetown.edu/p
dba/E
lecd
ata/B
olivia/p
res0
2B.htm
l>.
For a work from a library subscription service, include the name of the database (if you
know it), the name of the service, the library, the date of access, and the URL of the
service's homepage (if you know it).
Gordon, Andrew. "It's Not Such
a W
onderful Life: The Neu
rotic George Bailey."
American Journal of Psych
oanalysis 54.3 (1994): 219–33. PsycINFO.
EBSCOhost. Center Lib. City U of New
York, Graduate 26 Oct. 2003
<http://w
ww.epnet.com>.
For a personal online subscription service such as America Online, follow the guidelines for
the appropriate type of work. End the entry with the URL of the specific work or, if it is
long, the URL of the service's search page. If the service supplies no URL or one that is not
accessible to other subscribers, provide other access inform
ation after the date. Depending
on the service's retrieval system, give either the word Keyword and the keyword you used
or the word Path and the sequence of links you followed, separated with semicolons.
"Steps in Reading a Poem." AOL's Academ
ic Assistance Cen
ter. 11 Feb
. 2004.
Path: Reading & Learning; Poetry; Analysis and Interpreting Poetry.
To cite a personal Web site, include the name of the person who created the site and the
title or (if there is no title) a description, such as Home page.
29. Work from a W
eb site
Include all of the following elements that are available: the author, the title of the
document, the name of the W
eb site, the editor, the date of publication or latest update,
the name of the institution or organization associated with the site, the date of access,
and the document's URL.
"Hands Off Public Broadcasting." M
edia M
atters for America. 24 M
ay 2005. 31
May 2005 <http://w
ww.m
ediamatters.org/items/200505340001>
.
Stauder, Ellen Keck. "D
arkness Audible: Negative Capability and M
ark Doty's
'Nocturne in Black and Gold.'" Romantic Circles Praxis Series . Ed. Orrin
Wang. 2003. 28 Sep
t. 2003
<http://w
ww.rc.umd.edu/p
raxis/p
oetics/stauder/stauder.htm
l>.
Cite an entry from a blog as you would any document from a W
eb site, including the
title of the blog, followed by the date of the posting.
Parker, Randall. "G
rowth Rate for Electronic H
ybrid Veh
icle M
arket Deb
ate."
Future Pundit. 20 M
ay 2005. 24 M
ay 2005
<http://w
ww.futurepundit.com/archives/0
02783.htm
l>.
30. Entire W
eb site
Follow the guidelines for a specific work from the W
eb, but begin with the title of the
entire site and name the editor(s), if any.
Electronic Poetry Cen
ter. Ed. Charles Bernstein, Kenneth Goldsm
ith, Martin
Spinelli, and Patrick Durgin. 2003. Poetics Program/D
ept. of Med
ia
Study, SUNY Buffalo. 26 Sep
t. 2003 <http://w
ings.buffalo.edu/epc/>.
Weather.com. 2003. Weather Channel Interactive. 13 M
ar. 2003
<http://w
ww.weather.com>.
To cite a personal Web site, include the name of the person who created the site and the title
or (if there is no title) a description, such as Home page.
Lunsford, Andrea A. Home page. 15 M
ar. 2003. 17 M
ay 2004
<http://w
ww.stanford.edu/~
lunsfor1/>
.
For the site of an academic course, include the name of the instructor, the title of the course,
a description such as Course home page, the dates of the course, the name of the
department, and the name of the institution.
Lunsford, Andrea A. Mem
ory and M
edia. Course home page. Sep
t.-D
ec. 2002.
Dep
t. of English, Stanford U. 13 M
ar. 2003
<http://w
ww.stanford.edu/class/english12sc>.
For the site of an academic department, give the name of the department, a description such
as Dept. home page, and the name of the institution.
English. Dep
t. home page. Amherst Coll. 5 Apr. 2005
<http://w
ww.amherst.edu/˜english/>
.
31. Online book
Cite an online book as you would a print book. After the print publication inform
ation, if any,
give the date of access and the URL.
Euripides. The Trojan W
omen
. Trans. Gilbert Murray. New
York: Oxford UP, 1915.
12 Oct. 2003 <http://w
ww.sacred
-texts.com/cla/eurip/trojan.htm
>.
32. Part of an online book
Include the title of the part.
"France." Encyclopaed
ia Britannica Online. 2003. Encyclopaed
ia Britannica. 13
Mar. 2003 <http://search.eb.com>.
Riis, Jacob. "T
he Gen
esis of the Gang." The Battle with the Slum. New
York:
Macm
illan, 1902. Bartleby.com: Great Books Online. 2000. 31 March 2005
<http://w
ww.bartleby.com/175/9
.htm
l>.
33. Article in an online journal, magazine, or newspaper
Cite the article as you would an article from a print periodical. Include the range or total
number of pages, paragraphs, parts, or other sections, if numbered, before the date of
access.
Burt, Stephen
. "T
he True Legacy of Marianne Moore, Modernist Monument."
Slate 11 Nov. 2003. 12 Nov. 2003 <http://slate.m
sn.com/id/2
0910
81/>.
Gallagher, Brian. "G
reta Garbo Is Sad: Some Historical Reflections on the
Paradoxes of Stardom in the American Film Industry, 1910
-1960." Images:
A Journal of Film and Popular Culture 3 (1997): 7 pts. 7 Aug. 2002
<http://imagesjournal.com/issue0
3/infocu
s.htm
>.
34. Online editorial or letter to the editor
Include the word Editorial or Letter after the author (if given) and title (if any). Include the
name of the W
eb site, the date of electronic publication, and the access inform
ation.
Piccato, Pablo. Letter. New
York Tim
es on the Web
9 Nov. 2003. 9 Nov. 2003
<http://w
ww.nytimes.com/2
003/11/09/opinion/L
09IM
MI.htm
l>.
35. Online review
Begin with the author's name and the title of the review (if any), followed by Rev. of; the
title of the reviewed work; and the name of the work's author, editor, or director. Then add
the name of the W
eb site, the date of electronic publication, and the access inform
ation.
O'H
ehir, Andrew. "T
he Nightm
are in Iraq." Rev. of Gunner Palace, dir. Michael
Tucker and Petra Epperlein. Salon 4 M
ar. 2005. 24 M
ay 2005
<http://w
ww.salon.com/ent/movies/review/2
005/0
3/0
4/gunner/index.ht
ml>.
36. Posting to a discussion group
Include the author's name and the title of the posting (in quotation m
arks), the description
Online posting, and the date of posting. For a listserv posting, give the name of the
listserv; the date of access; and the URL of the listserv, the email address of its
moderator, or (preferably) the URL of an archival version of the posting.
Daly, Catherine. "Poetry Slams." Online posting. 29 Aug. 2003. SUNY Buffalo
Poetics Discu
ssion List. 1 Oct. 2003
<http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/archives/p
oetics.htm
l>.
For a newsgroup posting, end with the date of access and the name of the newsgroup in
angle brackets, with the prefix news.
Stoneh
ouse, Robert. "Rep
eated W
ords in Shakespeare's Sonnets." Online
posting. 27 July 2003. 24 Sep
t. 2003
<new
s:humanities.lit.authors.shakespeare>.
37. Email
Include the writer's name, the subject line of the m
essage, a description that mentions the
recipient, and the date of the m
essage. Note that MLA style hyphenates e-m
ail.
Harris, J. "T
houghts on Impromptu Stage Productions." E-m
ail to Sarah Eitzel.
16 July 2003.
38. Real-time communication
In citing a posting in a forum such as a MUD or MOO, include all of the following
inform
ation that is available: the name(s) of any specific speaker(s) you are citing; a
description of the event; its date; the name of the forum; the date of access; and the URL.
Always cite an archival version of the posting if one is available.
Hong, Billy. Billy's Final Draft: Homeless Essay. 14 Oct. 2003. LinguaMOO. 12
Nov. 2003 <http://lingua.utdallas.ed
u:7000/2
5871/>.
39. CD-ROM
For a periodically revised CD-ROM, after the publication inform
ation for the text's print
version, if any, include the term
CD-ROM, the name of the company or group producing it,
and the electronic publication date.
Ashen
felter, Orley, and Kathryn Graddy. "A
uctions and the Price of Art." Journal
of Economic Literature 41.3 (2003): 763–87. CD-R
OM. Amer. Economic
Assn. Sep
t. 2003.
If the CD-ROM is not regularly updated, cite it much like a book. Add the term
CD-ROM
and, if appropriate, the number of the electronic edition, release, or version. If you are citing
only a part of the source, indicate which part and end with the numbers of the part (pp. 78–
83, 8 screens) if provided.
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary. CD-R
OM. Cambridge: Cambridge
UP, 2003.
If the CD-ROM includes m
ore than one disc, include the term
CD-ROM and either the total
number of discs (3 discs) or, if you used m
aterial from only one, the number of that disc.
IRIS: Im
migration Research Inform
ation Service, LawDesk. CD-R
OM. Disc 2.
Eagan, MN: West, 2003.
OTHER SOURCES (INCLUDING ONLINE VERSIONS)
40. Report or pamphlet
Allen
, Katherine, and Lee Rainie. Parents Online Washington: Pew
Internet and
Amer. Life Project, 2002.
41. Dissertation
Yau, Rittchell Ann. The Portrayal of Im
migration in a Selection of Picture Books
Published
since 1970. Diss. U of San Francisco, 2003. Ann Arbor: UMI,
2003. 310
3491.
42. Dissertation abstract
Huang-Tiller, Gillian C. "T
he Power of the Meta-G
enre: Cultural, Sexual, and
Racial Politics of the American M
odernist Sonnet." Diss. U of Notre Dame,
2000. DAI 61 (2000): 1401.
43. Unpublished or personal interview
Freed
man, Sasha. Personal interview. 10
Nov. 2003.
44. Published interview
Include the name of the interviewer after the label Interview, if relevant.
Ebert, Roger. Interview with M
atthew
Rothschild. Progressive. Aug. 2003. 5 Oct.
2003 <http://w
ww.progressive.org/aug03/intv0803.htm
l>.
Taylor, M
ax. "M
ax Taylor on W
inning." Tim
e 13 Nov. 2000: 66.
45. Broadcast interview
Gyllenhaal, M
aggie. Interview. Fresh Air. Natl. Public Radio. WBUR, Boston. 30
Sep
t. 2003.
46. Unpublished letter
Lanois, Sophia. Letter to the author. 25 Aug. 2003.
47. Legal source
For a legal case, give the name followed by the case number, the name of the court, and
the date of the decision.
Eldred v. Ashcroft. No. 01-618
. Supreme Ct. of the US. 15 Jan. 2003.
For an act, followed by the Public Law number of the act, the date it was enacted, and the
Statutes at Large cataloging number of the act.
48. Film, video, or DVD
Moore, Michael, dir. Bowling for Columbine. 2002. BowlingforC
olumbine.com.
30 Sep
t. 2003
<http://w
ww.bowlingforcolumbine.com/m
edia/clips/index.php>.
Sidew
ays. Dir. Alexander Payne. Perf. Paul Giamatti, Virginia M
adsen, Thomas
Haden
Church, and Sandra Oh. 2004. DVD. Fox Searchlight, 2005.
49. Television or radio program
Komando, Kim
. "E
-mail H
acking and the Law." W
CBS Radio. WCBS, New
York.
28 Oct. 2003. 11 Nov. 2003 <http://w
cbs8
80.com/komando/
local_story_309135535.htm
l>.
"Los Angeles: Silen
ced Partner." City Confiden
tial . Narr. Paul Winfield. Arts and
Entertainmen
t Network. 25 Sept. 2003.
50. Sound recording
Bach
, Johann Seb
astian. Bach
: Violin Concertos. Perf. Itzhak Perlm
an and
Pinch
as Zukerman. English Chamber Orchestra. EMI, 2002.
Fountains of Wayne. "Bright Future in Sales." Welcome Interstate M
anagers. S-
Curve, 2003.
51. Musical composition
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeu
s. Symphony no. 41 in C m
ajor, K551.
52. Lecture or speech
Eugen
ides, Jeffrey. Lecture. Portland Arts and Lectures. Arlen
e Sch
nitzer
53. Live perform
ance
Anything Goes. By Cole Porter. Perf. Klea Blackhurst. Shubert Theater, New
Haven
. 7 Oct. 2003.
54. Work of art or photograph
Chagall, Marc. The Poet with the Birds. 1911. Minneapolis Inst. of Arts. 6 Oct.
2003 <http://w
ww.artsm
ia.org/collection/search/art.cfm
?id=1427>.
Kahlo, Frida. Self-Portrait with Cropped
Hair. 1940. Museum of Mod. Art, New
York.
55. Map or chart
Australia. Map. Perry-Castañed
a Library M
ap Collection. 4 N
ov. 2003
<http://w
ww.lib.utexas.ed
u/m
aps/australia/australia_rel99.jpg>.
California. Map. Chicago: Rand, 2002.
56. Advertisement
Microsoft. Advertisemen
t. H
arper's Oct. 2003: 2–3.
Microsoft. Advertisemen
t. New York Tim
es on the Web
11 Nov. 2003. 11 Nov.
2003 <http://w
ww.nytimes.com>.
57. Cartoon or comic strip
Lew
is, Eric. "The Unpublished
Freud." Cartoon. New Yorker 11 Mar. 2002: 80.
Reference G
uide for Using Q
uotations or
Everything you ever needed to know about quotations and their
punctuation.
When to use direct quotations:
1) When the original is striking or memorable.
2) When the original phrasing is so well known that a
paraphrase would be a distortion.
3) When the quotation is used to typify a writer or character
in a work of literature.
4) When you want to retain the special feeling or style of the
original.
What to cite sources for:
1) Direct quotations
2) Statistics
3) Ideas or opinions
4) Examples
5) Someone else’s evidence or testimony.
Marks with other punctuation:
Quote is a verb, and quotation, a noun.
1) To introduce a quoted sentence with a phrase, use a
comma:
Accord
ing to G
.B Shaw, “Eco
nomy is the art of making
the most of life.”
2) To introduce a quoted statement with a clause, use a
comma or colon:
The ca
ptain said, “I need a volunteer”
The ord
er rea
d: “Attack at dawn.”
3) To introduce a quoted word or phrase, use quotation
marks alone:
The co
ach
said she was “dismayed” by the loss.
4) To end a quoted statement followed by a tag, use a
comma: “I’m leaving,” said Nora.
5) To set off an interruptive tag, use a pair of commas:
“In the first place,” said Sally, “I need a job.”
6) A closing comma or period goes inside the closing
quotation mark:
“High school,” wrote Ellen Willis, “permanently damaged
my self-esteem.”
The exception to the mark’s placement inside quotation
marks occurs in the MLA parenthetical system wherein
page numbers are enclosed in parentheses after the closing
quotation marks:
Gwendolen explains to Jack, whom she believed to be
Ernest, that “Whatever influence I ever had over mama, I
lost at the age of three” (17).
7) A closing semicolon or colon goes outside the closing
quotation mark:
She said she felt “vindicated”; then she left.
The company offered what it called “benefits”; free
parking, free coffee, and free uniforms.
8) A question mark or exclamation point that belongs to the
quotation goes inside the closing quotation mark:
Who wrote, “What’s in a name?”
Suddenly he screamed, “Get out!”
9) A question mark or exclamation point that does not belong
to the quotation goes outside the closing quotation mark:
Just how freely given is a gift that is called “free?”
Examples courtesy of Heffernan and Lincoln’s 3
rd
edition of the Norton handbook.
10) To introduce a quotation with that, use quotation marks
alone and no capital unless the quotation begins with a
proper name:
Sara
h Jones notes that “Thomas Jefferso
n w
anted to defea
t
tyra
nny.”
Rufus Jo
nes notes that “tyra
nny appalled
Jefferson.”
The “Reference G
uide for Using Q
uotations” is a compilation from the files of the composition department of North Carolina State University, Raleigh.
11) Long quotations (four or more typewritten lines) should
be indented and double-spaced; they should not be put in
quotation marks. The first line of such a quotation should
be set in five spaces only when it appears that way in
your source (when it is the first line of a new paragraph).
12) To quote a phrase or a sentence that originally does not
have quotation marks, use quotation marks:
Lewis makes it clear that “Of love there was no talk
between them” (12).
13) To quote a phrase that originally contains quotation
marks, use single quotation marks (apostrophes):
Babbitt knew that one should not “think about her that
way at all ’unless one was going to marry her’” (12).
14) To use the beginning of a quoted sentence in the middle
of your sentence, begin with a capital letter:
Lewis makes it clear that “Of love there was no talk
between them.” (12).
15) You don’t want to quote the beginning of a sentence, and
the phrase you want begins with a small letter:
Babbitt was concerned with the “inexactitudes of popular
thought which we would correct” (11).
16) You don’t want to quote the beginning of a sentence, and
the phrase you want begins with a capital letter:
Babbitt knew ”…Myra was distinctly a Nice Girl…”(10).
17) You are quoting more than one sentence, but you want to
omit the end of a sentence or an entire sentence:
Then once “when he was weary and soft-minded, he saw
that she had been weeping….Somehow her head was on
his shoulder and he was kissing away the tears…”(9).
18) You want to omit the middle of a sentence:
Babbitt knew she “was distinctly a Nice Girl—one didn’t
kiss her…unless one was going to marry her” (10).
19) If the first part of your sentence uses material from a
source, but the second part does not, place a parenthetical
reference after the first part:
Babbitt “was weary and soft minded” when he became
engaged (9). And he was in the same condition when he
began his affair.
20) Ellipses are not required for a brief phrase (three or fewer
words):
He planned to fight “the Unjust Rich” (3).
21) Use brackets to mark additional information:
Myra w
as crying bec
ause “She had been left out of a
party given
by Zilla [her cousin’s girlfrien
d]”
(25).
22) If something is in italics in your source, you must
underline it.
Mr. Eric Moody has taken Ms. Andrea Lunsford’s work on the most
common errors in student writing, compiled them into a list, and
reorganized them by type. Here is his reorganization along with Ms.
Lunsford’s examples on correcting them.
910
11
12
1193-94
164-66
148-149
162-68
2374-385
391-98
375-384410-418,425
328-31
24-25
20-22
23-25
4135-40
130-36
111-117
160-170
5 6280-81
305-307
309-310
342-343
7442,457
301
303-304
579
8276-77
302-04
306-308
338-339
9276-277
302-04
315
338-339
10
272-73
298-99
301-303
333-334
11
156-62
172-77
96-108
198-210
12
121-33
110-127
96-108
106-120
13
156-62,534188-96
182-193
198-210
14
327-34
356-59
345-348
374-377
15
244-259
264-85
270-287
296-320
16
344-347
365-67
352-354
380-382
17
441
454-55
451
579-580
18
441
454
451
483
19
434-40
446-53
446-450
480-482
20
213-14
224
230-233
250-251
21
109-110
90-103
74-90
95
22
314-320
341-347
333-345
365-369
23
314-347
341-347
333-345
550-556
MLA
24
493-499
507-514
509-516
550-556
Spelling25
359-372
377-383
360-386
395-410
Spelling (including homonyms)
Fused/run-on sentence
Misplaced/dangling modifier
Faulty sentence structure
Unnecessary shift in verb tense
Mechanical error with a quotation
Poorly integrated quotation
Incomplete or missing documentation
Quotes
Error Type
Holt Handbook Pages
Pronoun-antecedent agreement
Missing word
Possessive apostrophe - missing or misplaced
Capitalization - unnecessary or missing
Hyphen - unnecessary or missing
Comma splice
Missing comma in a series
Word
Choice
Commas
25 M
ost Common W
riting Errors
Vague pronoun reference
Wrong word
Preposition - wrong or missing
Verbs
Mechanics
Sentence fragment
Missing comma after an introductory element
Missing comma in a compound sentence
Missing comma(s) with a non-restrictive element
Unnecessary comma(s) with a restrictive element
Sentence
Structure
Wrong or missing verb ending
Subject-verb agreement