Citing Sources & Style Elements of a Research
Paper Using The Appropriate Formatting Style.
Data Assembled by Ms. Huggins
 MLA stands for the Modern Language
Association. Each year they publish
two publications, the MLA Handbook for
Writers of Research Papers (for high
school and undergraduate students)
and the MLA Style Manual and Guide to
Scholarly Publishing (for graduate
students, scholars, and professional
writers).
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All fields of research agree on the need to
document scholarly borrowings
But documentation conventions vary because of
the different needs of scholarly disciplines.
MLA style for documentation is widely used in the
humanities.
Generally simpler and more concise than other
styles, MLA style features brief parenthetical
citations in the text keyed to an alphabetical list of
works cited that appears at the end of the work.
For purposes of this paper you will need to follow the
following stylistic guidelines:
 1” margins
12 point Times New Roman font
Your Last Name and page number in the
header
 ½” indention for each new paragraph
 Parenthetical Citation to include author last
name and page number (Huggins, 45)
 Works Cited Page
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Depending on your teachers preferences you
will need one of the following:
 Cover Page or a heading on the first page—both
would include your name, class subject, teacher’s
name, the period you have that Teacher, and the
date of the paper.
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You will also need a title for your paper that is
centered but not bold, not underlined, and not
in a larger font than anything else.
Last Name,
Page #
½“
Indent
Title
1” Margins
Name
Teacher
Course
Date
Go to the Page
Layout page to set
margins, adjust
indents, and remove
the built in spacing.
You will set the lines
setting to double in a
later step.
If you need to adjust
the header go to
Insert tab and then
the drop down box for
the header.
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Whenever you are using another persons words,
ideas, or thoughts you must give them credit.
Listing them in the works cited page is important
but it is not the only place you need to
acknowledge the originator of the material you
are using.
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Always cite the source, otherwise it is plagiarism
which is intellectual property theft.
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Here is an example of parenthetical citation within
the paper. How is the citation punctuated?
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Because this particular source came from a database that did not
provide page numbers, no page number is listed at the end of the
quote and the author has been acknowledged.
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Ellipsis simply means to leave out and can be very
effective in getting what you need from a quote
without over doing it. See the example below.
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Here is the key element in setting up your
work cited page.
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Follow these steps when setting up your work
cited page in Microsoft Word.
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Here is an example of a source entry on a works
cited page. What do you notice about the way it
is indented? Does anything else stand out to you?
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There are numerous places of reference on the
internet. These include but are not limited to:
 Purdue OWL:MLA Formatting and Style Guide
 MLA Style Page Format—California State University
 EasyBib: Free Bibliography Generator-MLA,APA, …
 MLA Citation Style | Cornell University Library
 Citation Machine : Format & Generate Citations APA,
MLA, …
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If you have further questions, see me and I will
assist you. Happy writing.