Overview
At Montgomery Bell Academy students are expected to follow the format of the
Modern Language Association (MLA) when they are writing research papers or
formal English papers. If you have a question that is not answered on this
web page, stop by the Patrick Wilson Library and consult The MLS Handbook for
Writers of Research Papers (6th ed.).
Purpose of Using MLA Format
As stated on the web page of Purdue University's Online Writing Lab, "MLA
format provides writers with a system for cross-referencing their sources --
from their parenthetical references to their works cited page. This cross-referencing
system allows readers to locate the publication information of source material.
This is of great value for researchers who may want to locate your sources for
their own research projects. The proper use of MLA style also shows the credibility
of writers; such writers show accountability to their source material. Most importantly,
the use of MLA style can protect writers from accusations of plagiarism -- the
purposeful or accidental use of source material by other writers without giving
appropriate credit."
General Information About Works Cited Page
Your works cited list should begin on a separate page from the text of the essay under the label Works Cited (with no quotation marks, underlining, etc.), centered at the top of the page. Double space all entries, with no skipped spaces between entries. Keep in mind that underlining and italics are equivalent; you should select one or the other to use throughout your essay.
This list, alphabetized by the first word in each entry (usually the author's last name), should appear at the end of your essay. It provides the information necessary for a reader to locate and be able to read any sources you cite in the essay. Each source you cite in the essay must appear in your works-cited list; likewise, each entry in the works-cited list must be cited in your text.
Basic Rules
Authors' names are inverted (last name first); if a work has more than one author, invert only the first author's name, follow it with a comma, then continue listing the rest of the authors. If you have cited more than one work by a particular author, order them alphabetically by title, and use three hyphens in place of the author's name for every entry after the first. When an author appears both as the sole author of a text and as the first author of a group, list solo-author entries first.
- If no author is given for a particular work, alphabetize by the title of the piece and use a shortened version of the title for parenthetical citations.
- The first line of each entry in your list should be flush left. Subsequent lines should be indented one-half inch. This is known as a hanging indent.
- All references should be double-spaced.
- Capitalize each word in the titles of articles, books, etc. This rule does not apply to articles, short prepositions, or conjunctions unless one is the first word of the title or subtitle.
- Underline or italicize titles of books, journals, magazines, newspapers, and films.
- Use quotation marks around the titles of articles in journals, magazines, and newspapers. Also use quotation marks for the titles of short stories, book chapters, poems, and songs.
- List page numbers efficiently, when needed. If you refer to journal article that appeared on pages 225-250, list the page numbers on your Works Cited page as 225-50.
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