Modern Language Association referencing style is a technique for documenting sources in humanities scholarly writing, especially in linguistics and literature. For over fifty years, the system has been used for classroom instruction and adopted throughout the world by journal publishers, scholars, commercial and academic presses. MLA manual of style recommends universal guidelines for the writers to apply to any source type. Entries in the works cited list consist of the MLA core elements – facts common to most works. The authors note the works with concise parenthetical citations in the text, which direct readers to the works-cited list entries. The last MLA style update was in 2016 to meet the challenges facing scholars today. The following material will provide a brief overview of the updated in-text and works cited page references. For a detailed description of formatting introduction, main body paragraphs, conclusion, and MLA sample paper, visit wr1ter.com.
MLA Sample Paper Formatting Guidelines
According to the MLA manual of style, the authors should place in-text references in parentheses behind the quote or sentence, but the reference’s content may vary depending on the type of the used source. As for the works cited page, the scholars must list the used sources in alphabetical order.
For example, when citing the materials in a paper record, one should use the author-page number style. The text references in brackets indicate the author of the publication or article and the page number used without a comma. For example:
One can characterize the romantic age’s poetry as a spontaneous outburst of powerful feelings (Wordsworth 263).
If you decide to mention the author in the text, only the page number will remain in brackets. For example:
Wordsworth characterized the poetry of the romantic age as a spontaneous outburst of powerful feelings (263).
If the author is an organization, you should indicate its name (or an abbreviation) and the page number in brackets. For instance: (TLÜ 24).
If the work has no author, you must use the first words of the title in quotation marks, then add the page number. For example:
Many climate changes affected locations in North America do a lot of research on the subject. (“Impact of Global Warming” 6).
If several authors have the same surname, the writer should add the name’s initials. E.g., (R. Miller 12).
If there are multiple authors, there are two options:
– the scholars indicate the names of both authors and the page number in brackets. For instance:
The authors argue that cursory reading (Best and Markus 9)
– the scholars indicate the names of both authors in the text and the page number in brackets. For instance:
Best and Markus claim that (9)
If the works has more than two authors, one should indicate the first author’s name, and for others, add the Latin abbreviation et al., e.g., (Franck et al. 327)
As for the electronic sources, the scholar should not indicate the links in brackets. The writer should include the author’s name or the title of the source directly in the text. However, it is crucial to indicate all used sources at the end of the material on the works cited page.
In the case of animation, video, and audio recordings, the scholar must indicate the exact time location of the material in brackets. E.g., (00:02:15 – 00:02:35).
However, references to electronic periodicals and books are analogous to paper documents, i.e., indicate the author and page number or the title and page number in brackets.
To summarize, MLA style referencing is more flexible and not as strict as APA, giving the author several options for citing the source. The author can decide what is essential to indicate in brackets and the text.