Research Papers and MLA Formatting
Research papers, in a broad sense, would be any form of writing (usually expository or
persuasive) that makes use of outside sources of information to enhance its effectiveness.
These works are characterized by the presence of source citations for all information
referenced or discussed in the paper that is not common knowledge. In a true research
based document, students must verify all facts that are not common knowledge or not
easily verified using a variety of reliable sources.
Example:
Common Knowledge/Easily Verified: The Earth is one of nine planets in the solar system
known as the Milky Way.
Needs Research to Verify: The Earth will likely be able to sustain life for another 500
million years (Cain).
When discussing the citation of sources within a paper, we’re really talking about two
things: citing sources within the body of your paper (sometimes referred to as “in-text
citations”) and citing sources at the end of your paper in a works cited page. Both of these
need to be present in your paper.
In-text citations
To cite sources within your paper, use a combination of signal phrases and parenthetical
citations. A signal phrase is used to lead into information taken from a source. It lets the
reader know that they are about to be presented with some information from one of your
sources:
According to Fabre, in order to be shown in America, the New York Board of Censors
demanded extensive cutting of the film, especially of the trial scene (348).
Always use an author’s last name if available. Often times, especially on internet sources,
there is no author given. In these cases, use the title of the article/webpage you are looking
at (not the name of the overall website). Because it may sound awkward to say, “According
to “Cancer Statistics,” it is permissible to simply include the name of the webpage (or
author) at the end of the information you cited:
The movie did reasonably well in Argentina, but problems continued to mount as
Wright and Chenal looked to distribute the film in the United States (Scripps).
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Note: if page numbers are given, include them after the author’s name in parentheses. Most
internet sources will not have page numbers (do not use the ones the printer puts on the
pages), but magazine articles and books will.
Citing long quotations (5 lines or more)
According to Purdue’s on-line writing lab, place quotations that are more than four lines in
a free-standing block of text and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line,
with the entire quote indented one inch from the left margin; maintain double-spacing.
Only indent the first line of the quotation by an additional quarter inch if you are citing
multiple paragraphs. Your parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation
mark. (You should maintain double-spacing throughout your essay.)
Nelly Dean treats Heathcliff poorly and dehumanizes him throughout her narration:
They entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even in their room, and I
had no more sense, so, I put it on the landing of the stairs, hoping it would
be gone on the morrow. By chance, or else attracted by hearing his voice, it
crept to Mr. Earnshaw's door, and there he found it on quitting his chamber.
Inquiries were made as to how it got there; I was obliged to confess, and in
recompense for my cowardice and inhumanity was sent out of the house. (Bronte
78)
How do you know where to put the parentheses in the paragraph? Simple-- whenever
you are done borrowing from the outside source and intend to go back to your own ideas
or switch sources, you end the citation by putting the author/webpage name/page number
in parentheses. The parenthetical citation is actually a clue to the reader that you’re done
borrowing from the outside source. Some writers think they are simplifying things by
saving the parenthetical citation for the end of a paragraph or other large chunk of writing.
The danger in this is that you are basically saying to the reader that everything in that
paragraph, then, is borrowed material. Generally, this is not considered good writing form.
The main point is that the reader should never be confused as to what information is yours
and what information is from an outside source. If you’re ever in doubt as to whether you
should cite something or not, cite it. If what you quote from your source is more than four
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typed lines, it should be set off from the rest of the writing by indenting each line 10 spaces
and double-spacing the material.
Be aware that however you cite a source within the body of your paper is how it needs to
appear in the left-hand margin of your works cited page. If you refer to it as “Fabre,” then
your works cited entry would start out something like, “Fabre, Michael P.” If you refer to it
as “Cancer Statistics,” then “Cancer Statistics” would come first in your works cited entry
then the website.
Works Cited Page
The following information on works cited lists is found on Purdue University’s excellent
Online Writing Lab (OWL): www.owl.english.purdue.edu. This is a great site to bookmark
because it is also updated regularly as new technology forces writers to have to cite
information in new ways.
A list of works cited should appear at the end of your paper on a separate page. It
provides the information necessary for a reader to locate and be able to read any sources
you cite in the paper. Each source you cite in your paper must appear in your works
cited list; likewise, each entry in the works cited list must be cited in the text of your
paper. Here are some guidelines for preparing your works cited list.
Format:
• Begin your works cited list on a separate page from the text of the essay under the label
Works Cited (with no quotation marks, underlining, etc.), which should be centered at the
top of the page.
• Make the first line of each entry in your list flush with the left margin. Subsequent lines in
each entry should be indented one-half inch. This is known as a hanging indent.
• 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 consistently throughout your paper.
• Alphabetize the list of works cited by the first word in each entry (usually the author’s
last name but sometimes the first word of the title).
Basic Rules for Citations:
• Authors’ names are inverted (last name first)
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• If no author is given for a particular work, alphabetize by the title of the piece and used a
shortened version of the title for parenthetical citations.
• Underline or italicize titles of books, journals, magazines, newspapers, and films.
• Use quotation marks around the titles of articles in journals, magazine articles, and
newspaper articles. Also use quotation marks for the titles of short stories, books, chapters,
poems, and songs.
Basic Forms for Sources in Print
The MLA Style Manual, the Purdue University Website, and the Writer’s Inc. books provide
extensive examples covering a wide variety of potential sources. What follows are
examples from only the most popularly used sources. Consult these manuals in their print
or online versions if your particular case is not covered. The following examples come
from Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL).
Books
Author(s). Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication.
Sample book (with one author) entry:
Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House. Denver: MacMurray, 1999.
An article in a periodical (such as a newspaper or magazine)
Author(s). “Title of Article.” Title of Source. Day Month Year: pages.
Sample magazine or newspaper article entry:
Poniewozik, James. “TV Makes a Too-Close Call.” Time 20 Nov. 2000: 70-71.
Electronic Sources
A website:
Author(s). “Name of webpage/article.” Name of website. (what is the name of
institution/organization affiliated with the site), Date of last
posting/revision. Web. Date of Access.
Sample website entry with an author:
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Felluga, Dino. “What You Need to Know to Get into College.” Purdue University. 17
Dec. 1999. Web. 5 Nov. 2000.
Sample website entry without an author:
“A Test Can Save Your Life.” North Memorial. 22 March 2015. Web. 14 May 2015.
An article from an online database (SIRS, ProQuest, EBSCO, etc.)
Author(s). “Name of article.” Name of journal or newspaper Volume.Issue (Year):
Pages Name of database. Web. Date of access.
Sample article from an online database with an author:
Langhamer, Claire. “Love and Courtship in Mid-Twentieth-Century
England.” Historical Journal 50.1 (2007): 173-96. ProQuest. Web. 27 May
2009.
E-mail (including E-mail Interviews)
Give the author of the message, followed by the subject line in quotation marks. State to
whom to message was sent, the date the message was sent, and the medium of publication.
Samples of interviews:
Kunka, Andrew. "Re: Modernist Literature." Message to the author. 15 Nov. 2000. Email.
Neyhart, David. "Re: Online Tutoring." Message to Joe Barbato. 1 Dec. 2000. E-mail.
A Listserv, Discussion Group, or Blog Posting
Cite Web postings as you would a standard Web entry. Provide the author of the work, the
title of the posting in quotation marks, the Web site name in italics, the publisher, and the
posting date. Follow with the medium of publication and the date of access. Include screen
names as author names when author name is not known. If both names are known, place
the author’s name in brackets. Remember if the publisher of the site is unknown, use the
abbreviation n.p.
Editor, screen name, author, or compiler name (if available). “Posting Title.”
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Name of Site. Version number (if available). Name of
institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher).
Medium of publication. Date of access.
Sample:
Salmar1515 [Sal Hernandez]. “Re: Best Strategy: Fenced Pastures vs. Max Number of
Rooms?” BoardGameGeek. BoardGameGeek, 29 Sept. 2008. Web. 5 Apr. 2009.
A Tweet
MLA posted guidelines on their website for how to cite a tweet on a Works Cited page.
Begin with the user's name (Last Name, First Name) followed by his/her Twitter username
in parentheses. Insert a period outside the parentheses. Next, place the tweet in its entirety
in quotations, inserting a period after the tweet within the quotations. Include the date and
time of posting, using the reader's time zone; separate the date and time with a comma and
end with a period. Include the word "Tweet" afterwards and end with a period.
Brokaw, Tom (tombrokaw). "SC demonstrated why all the debates are the engines
of this campaign." 22 Jan. 2012, 3:06 a.m. Tweet.
Purdue Writing Lab (PurdueWLab). "Spring break is around the corner, and all our
locations will be open next week." 5 Mar. 2012, 12:58 p.m. Tweet.
YouTube Videos
The MLA does not currently prescribe a citation style for YouTube videos. Based on MLA
standards for other media formats, we feel that the following format is the most acceptable
for citing YouTube videos:
Author’s Name or Poster’s Username. “Title of Image or Video.” Media Type
Text. Name of Website. Name of Website’s Publisher, date of posting. Medium.
date retrieved.
Here is an example of what that looks like:
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Shimabukuro, Jake. "Ukulele Weeps by Jake Shimabukuro." Online video clip.
YouTube. YouTube, 22 Apr. 2006. Web. 9 Sept. 2010.
Plagiarism
What is plagiarism? Plagiarism is the intentional or unintentional use of another person’s
words or ideas without giving proper credit to that person. In other words, without citing
your sources, you are plagiarizing.
Why is plagiarism wrong?
Plagiarism is wrong because it is a form of stealing, whether intentional or not. By using
another’s words or ideas without giving them credit, you are not only stealing their
information (much like an unauthorized copying of a CD), you are also deceiving the reader
into believing that the ideas you are presenting are your own. Both of these are dishonest.
Obviously it is more serious if it is intentional, but even if it is unintentional it is stealing. A
fitting analogy might be a situation where while checking out at a grocery store, you forget
that you have a case of pop underneath your cart. You don’t discover the error until you get
out to the parking lot. Even though it was unintentional, it is still a form of stealing and the
honest person would go back into the store and pay for the pop.
Forms of plagiarism
Plagiarism can take many different forms. It can be as blatant as the wholesale
downloading of a paper from an internet website. Plagiarism also takes place when you
read an outside source, change the needed information into your own words and put it in
your paper. Even if you change another’s words into your own (this is called
paraphrasing), you still must give credit to the source to avoid plagiarism.
Plagiarism also occurs when you use another’s words but fail to put quotation marks
around those words. Even if you give credit to the source, you still must remember to put
quotation marks around passages that you have taken directly from that source. Finally, it
is a form of plagiarism when you hand in the same paper as a classmate or former student
(or a paper that is remarkably similar).
How do I give credit to a source to avoid plagiarism?
Simple--follow the directions above. If you make an honest attempt to give credit to your
sources, even if you make some mistakes, your teacher will give you the benefit of the
doubt. When in doubt, cite.
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What happens if I get caught plagiarizing?
Many universities either expel students who get caught plagiarizing or automatically fail
them for that course. Plagiarized papers are not hard to detect. Just as there are many
websites available to help students download papers when they are in pinch, there are also
many effective programs available to help teachers find the original papers that were
copied from. If your teacher suspects plagiarism, he or she will first try to ascertain if the
plagiarism is intentional or unintentional. If it is found to be unintentional, the teacher will
require you to rewrite the paper to remove the unintentional plagiarism. If it is found to be
intentional, you will receive a zero for the paper but be given the chance to rewrite the
paper for a failing grade. Although this may seem harsh, remember that a failing grade is
much better than a zero. It still gives you the opportunity to pass the course if you work
hard. You should be aware that most cases of plagiarism are found to be intentional. By
receiving and reviewing this policy with your teacher, the excuse of “I didn’t know,” doesn’t
go very far. Now you know. When in doubt, give credit to your source and you will remove
almost all instances of plagiarism.
Turnitin.com
All major papers need to be submitted to turnitin.com. Teachers will assign a class ID# and
a password for each paper as well as a due date. It is your responsibility to submit your
paper by this date. Teachers will deduct points for failure to submit the paper to
turnitin.com by the due date. Be aware, however, that all teachers in the English
department require that a paper be submitted to turnitin.com. In other words, a paper will
not receive any credit until it has been submitted.
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