The very citation systems in that sense, represent different ways to understand,
develop, document, and disseminate knowledge in particular ways.
As I mentioned, MLA is the system I'll be focusing on in this video.
It's by far the most common system for the study of English language
and literature, as well as other languages and
literatures. It's also common to literary criticism,
comparative literature, and the most recent related discipline—cultural studies.
So, some basic elements we'll be dealing
with: Like any other system, MLA citation
provides a standardized way for readers and writers to navigate academic texts.
Once we become familiar with a citation system, it can become very efficient,
comfortable even, as a way to exchange information.
In general, consistency and attention to detail are some of the primary goals when
you're employing any citation system. So let's cover some of the basics of the
MLA system. First, formatting and page layout, some
stylistic details, and ways to use citation of sources.
First, the document format. We begin with an eight and a half by eleven inch
white sheet of paper, one inch margins on all sides.
And for each paragraph, a half inch indentation at the very first line,
typically double spaced, so equal space between every line of text.
And we want to use a standard font: Times New Roman is, I think, the most common.
After each punctuation mark, so a full stop: a period, a comma, or a
quotation mark, we want one space, not two before the next letter.
And we always want a header in MLA format, with the last name of the author and
consecutive page numbers for every page. In MLA format, like some of the others, we
have longer works being specified by italics.
So a book will be italicized, a book title that is.
An album of music will also be italicized.
Whereas shorter works like an article, a poem, or a song,
will have quotation marks around it.
Continuing with the formatting and sections of the document.
The first page should begin with the name of the author.
If it's for a course, the name of the professor or the instructor, the course
name, and the date. Following that, centered, you'll have
your title. That should be capitalized using title
case, like the title of a book or an album of music—
not all capital letters, though. Section headings, if you use them, should
be organized with Arabic numerals followed by a period and a space.
And at the end of the document, you'll have notes, that is, endnotes and a list of works cited.
Endnotes and footnotes offer information
outside of the body text. As their name suggests, endnotes are placed
at the end of a document, while footnotes are placed at the bottom of pages.
Both endnotes and footnotes are indicated in text by superscript Arabic numerals
after the punctuation of the phrase or clause to which the note refers.
So, in this example, like so. In MLA, footnotes are a bit less common
than other systems and more complicated than endnotes.
In fact, their use, that is—footnotes, is not even specified in the most recent
edition of the MLA style guide. So, you should probably consult with your
instructor for specific guidelines if you're using footnotes.
Another note is that in current word processing software, like Microsoft Word,
endnotes and footnotes can be formatted and ordered with a variety of special
functions. They are basically automated,
so these can be quite convenient, and they're probably worth investigating.
Short quotations—fewer than four typed lines of prose or fewer than three lines
of verse—should be enclosed within double quotation marks, such as these.
The quotation is followed by parentheses that enclose the author's
name and the page number on which the quote appears.
So here we have our author and the page number from the book it’s citing.
If the author is mentioned in the sentence, there's no need to
include their name in the parentheses, just the page number.
So here in this example, I'm already specifying the name of the author,
and so, the only thing left to cite in the parentheses is the page number.
This applies not just to complete sentences, but also as in this final
example, two phrases that are direct quotes from a source.
For quotations consisting of three or more lines of prose or four or more lines
of verse, that is—poetry, we place quotations in a free-standing block of
text. It's generally referred to as “block
quotations.” We start the quotation on a new line,
and the entire block quotation is indented one inch from the left margin, maintaining
double spacing throughout it. The parenthetical citation here should
come after the final punctuation in marking the quotation itself.
There are two additional details that I'd like to point out in this example:
The first is here with these brackets—if you add a word in a quotation, usually
to provide some sort of context or fit a particular sentence structure, you put
brackets around it to indicate that it's not part of the original text.
So in this case, the words, “in school,” were added by me, to the example.
Also, if you omit a word or words from a quotation, you should indicate that words
were deleted with an ellipsis, which is this space period space period
space period. This is done, again, to point out a change
to the original quotation. Now, the last section of most documents
is going to be works cited. This is always beginning with flush left,
and every line after the first is indented a half inch.
Really, the work cited section tends to be the most difficult aspect of any style of
citation, in any format. It's difficult to master these, and
they vary widely. There's a lot of detail involved here in
citing secondary sources accurately. Just some notes though: The medium of the
work cited is really fundamentally important.
So, whether you are using a book as a source, an article, a periodical, a
compact disc, or a website, this is really very important in formatting the citation
in the works cited. Some details here to pay attention to:
The general format for the book is last name, comma, first name.
The title of the book, just like within the text, is italicized.
We provide the city of publication, followed by a colon.
The publisher, comma, and the year of publication.
And then, the period and the medium. Again, the medium is of primary
importance in the works cited section of the MLA system.
Here's an example that I cited earlier, and just one out of any number of
examples we could use. Here is an example of a work that was republished,
so an edition of a work already published in 1990, and then reprinted in 1999.
Some other examples of different types of
works cited: An entry from a dictionary.
