This is concise and humorous presentation that helps explain MLA citation style to grades 5-8. The presentation was created at Kodaikanal International School by Zai Whitaker and Sarah Jones.

1. Citation What is it? Why does it matter? Sarah Jones Zai Whitaker

2. Who said it? “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Neil Armstrong

3. Who Painted it? Leonardo da Vinci

4. Using someone else’s words thoughts or ideas WITHOUT telling others where it came from is not just confusing… It is Wrong

6. Fail the class

7. Get kicked out of school or college

9. If you want to get credit for the brilliant things YOU say, you must first give credit to other people for the brilliant things THEY say

10. ? SO… WHAT DO we do?

11. Our hero come to save the day MLA Modern Language Association

12. MLA lets us Cite Sources What does this mean? Cite = tell Sources = where you found your information So to cite sources means to give credit where credit is due… to tell others where you found your information

13. KIS has decided to use MLA citation for all student work. You’ll be using this until you graduate, and probably in college too. SO IT’S WORTH KNOWING HOW TO DO IT WELL. Let’s take a look at how to cite sources with MLA…

14. Step 1: Find the quote you want to use in your paper.

15. Step 2: Copy the quote in your paper exactly as it appears in the book, using quotation marks. “His ideas and actions know no political boundaries.”

16. Step 3: Find 3 things about your source: Title 2. Author 3. Page Number The 14th Dalai Lama Whitney Stewart 114

17. Step 4: Put the quote into a sentence for your paper that includes both the title and the author. In The 14th Dalai Lama, Whitney Stewart suggests that the Dalai Lama impacts many different people, saying, “His ideas and actions know no political boundaries.” Note: make sure you italicize the title!

18. Step 5: Put the page number that you found the quote on in parentheses at the very end of the sentence. In The 14th Dalai Lama, Whitney Stewart suggests that the Dalai Lama impacts many different people, saying, “His ideas and actions know no political boundaries” (114). Notice: The full stop has now moved from the end of the quote to after the parentheses, at the end of the sentence.

19. Step 6: Create a Works Cited page as the last page of your entire paper. Works Cited

20. Step 6: Find the following information about your source: Author Title Publishing Company Place of Publication Year of Publication Whitney Stewart The 14th Dalai Lama Learner Publications Minneapolis 1996

21. Step 7: Record this information on your Works Cited Page Use the following format: Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication. Works Cited Stewart, Whitney. The 14th Dalai Lama. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1996. Print. Notice: There is specific punctuation used at specific places. You must be careful to do this correctly!

22. So there you have the basics of MLA Citation But one more thing…

23. What if you take an idea from a source and use it in your paper, BUT you don’t use the exact quote? Do you still have to Cite it?

24. YES! Here’s an example…

25. I want to include the IDEA that the what the Dalai Lama does impacts people of all political backgrounds. I did not come up with this IDEA myself; I read it in Whitney Stewart’s book. So, I need to say so in my paper. Here’s one way I could do that: According to Whitney Stewart in The 14th Dalai Lama, what the Dalai Lama does impacts people from all political backgrounds (114). Even though I didn’t use a direct quote, I cited the information just the same, since I got this idea from someone else.

26. Any time you use someone else’s words, thoughts, or ideas, you must give them credit in your paper!

27. Now, there’s a whole lot moreto citing sources with the MLA style. We can’t cover everything now. You’ll learn as you go – with the help of your teachers!

28. You can find all you ever wanted to know about MLA at the Purdue OWL website: www.owl.english.purdue.edu