MLA Format

It is extremely important to know how to write papers in MLA format. Not only is it the most widely-accepted style guide for papers (especially when you get to college), but it is required for my class! Of course I always suggest you go to the OWL at Purdue, but I know the site can be confusing at times. Get used to it because my site won't be here forever, but if you need a little better explanation, check out the information below.
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Paper Format

All papers should have:

- Times New Roman
- 12 pt font
- double-spaced
- a proper heading (name, teacher, class, date)
- a title (resist the urge to make this 28 pt, Comic Sans font in rainbow colors. The ONLY thing you do is center it.)

Look at the image to the left. If your paper does not look like this, it is wrong (except the page # in the upper right corner, I don't always require that). Common errors are hitting "enter" more than once in between the heading, title, and body and not double-spacing the heading.

Works Cited

Below is the format for citing a book, website, and webpage. The difference between a site and a page is that the site is the entire thing. For instance, this is Mr. Spiro's Website, and if I cited it, it would encompass every piece of information on it. If I only used information on one page - like this one about MLA, for example - then I would just cite that page.

FOLLOW THIS FORMAT TO THE TEE!!!
Every year I have students who do not understand this. If my notes say there should be a comma instead of a period, put a comma. If you put a period, it would be wrong. If I capitalize something, it should be capitalized. If I don't capitalize something, it should not be capitalized. The biggest thing is notice how only IF I have to drop down a line I will indent it. Think of it as a reverse paragraph, the first line is normal and every other line is indented. Notice how the dates are written day first in order to eliminate the need for a comma. For each source I will provide what should go where and then an example or two.

Book:

Author's last name, Author's first name. Title. Where it was published: Publisher, Date published. Print.

Spiro, Brian. How to be Awesome. Cincinnati: Glen Este Publishing, 2010. Print.

Website:

Author or editor's last name, first name (if available! If it isn't, move on). Title of Site. Who runs the site, copyright/updated date. Web.
           Date you visited it.

Spiro, Brian. Mr. Spiro's Website. Weebly, 2010. Web. 25 May 2010.

ESPN. ESPN, 2010. Web. 25 May 2010.

Webpage:

Author or editor's last name, first name (if available! If it isn't, move on).
"Title of Page." Title of Site. Who runs it, copyright/updated date.
          Web. Date you visited it.

Spiro, Brian. "MLA Format." Mr. Spiro's Website. Weebly, 2010. Web. 25 May 2010.

"NCAA College Football Rankings and Polls for Week 1." ESPN. ESPN, 2010. Web. 25 May 2010.

Note: First, notice how sometimes the company that runs the site and the name of the site can be the same thing. Do not be afraid that you are wrong here. The best way to check for who runs the site and the date is to scroll to the very bottom of the website; there may be small print or a link that will have a copyright date and to whom the site is copyrighted. This is not unlike the copyright section of a book; this is who runs the site. If for some reason you can't find a date or publisher for a site, then:

a) the site is probably not reliable, so don't use it, or
b) use "n.p." for the publisher and "n.d." for the date.

Example:

Spiro, Brian. "Essay Writing." Mr. Spiro's Website. n.p., 2010. Web. 25 May 2010.

"NCAA College Football Rankings and Polls for Week 1. ESPN. ESPN, n.d. Web. 25 May 2010.

Annotated Bibliography

Click below for an example of an annotated bibliography. Remember to use MLA citations, double space, and indent every line after the first line for EACH citation. Also notice that the citations are not numbered nor are there extra spaces in between each one; this is why we indent every line except the first line. Put the citations in alphabetical order by author's name or title (whichever come first in your citation)

Sample is adapted from:

Duran, Karin. "Sample Annotated Bibliography in MLA Style." California State University Northridge. CSU Northridge, 21 Sept 2010.                     Web. 27 Oct 2010.
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