The document provides an overview of the fundamentals of MLA style for citing sources and formatting academic papers. It discusses why citing sources is important to avoid plagiarism and describes the MLA paper format, including the header, pagination, and margins. It also outlines how to use in-text citations with signal phrases or parenthetical references, and how to format a works cited page in MLA style. Specific guidelines and examples from the Hacker manual are referenced throughout.

1. The Fundamentals of MLA
Modern Language Association

2. Why are you required to use MLA?
 Citing your sources correctly is extremely important to prevent plagiarism.
 Not all acts of plagiarism are intentional
 If you are not sure whether an idea is your own, CITE IT!
 The Hacker manual describes plagiarism as, “(1) failing to cite quotations and borrowed ideas, (2)
failing to enclose borrowed language in quotation marks, and (3) failing to put summaries and
paraphrases in your own words” (107).

3. MLA format of a paper/assignment: Header
Raymie Bess ( Your Name)
Professor Read (Professor’s Name)
English 102, 10 am (Class Title, Time)
9 September 2015 (Date)
*Hacker manual p. 156 gives the exact guidelines for formatting your entire paper such as:
 Pagination
 Margins, spacing, and indents

4. Example first page

5. Points of View
 1st Person-
 I, Me, My, We, Us, Our…
 Discredits your argument, opinionated
 2nd Person-
 You, Your…
 Accusatory
 3rd Person-
 He, She, Them, They
 Projects expertise
 Academic papers should be in 3rd person ONLY
 DO not shift point of views (Hacker 8)

6. In-text citations
 You must always introduce your quotations or ideas, whether by signal phrasing or parenthetical
references.
 Complete sentence introductions require a colon ( : ) before the quotation
 Incomplete sentence introductions require a comma ( , )
 Exception of the word “that”

7. In-text citations cont.
 Signal Phrasing
 Signal phrases include the author’s last name
 Example from Hacker manual p. 123-
 Kwon points out that the fourth amendment does not give employees any protections from employers’ “unreasonable
searches and seizures” (6).
 Parenthetical References
 References include the author’s last name in parentheses
 Example from Hacker manual p.124-
 Companies can monitor employees’ keystrokes without legal penalty, but they may have to combat low morale as a result
(Lane 129).
* Hacker manual pages 122-129 list the multiple exceptions that may arise while using in-text citations

8. Examples of in-text citations
 Ruma questions her identity when she realizes what may have been undesirable in the past might
now be acceptable: “Growing up, her mother’s example—moving to a foreign place for the sake of
marriage, caring exclusively for children and a household—had served as a warning, a path to
avoid. Yet this was Ruma’s life now” (Lahiri 12).
 After her death however, “he asked (Ruma) if it would be all right for him to reserve the tour in his
own name” (Lahiri 20).
 Lahiri’s characterization is most prevalent when Ruma tries to diagnose her father’s reasoning for
staying at home in Seattle: “Though it upset her to admit it, if anything, he seemed happier now;
her mother’s death had lightened him, the opposite of what it had done to her” (33).

9. Formatting a works cited page
 The works cited page includes every source that you have used in researching and writing your
paper.
 Guidelines-
 Same format as your paper (double-spacing, margins)
 New page attached to your paper
 Center “Works Cited”
 If the entry is longer than one line, use a hanging indent
 Alphabetize by last name
* Hacker manual pages 130-154 list how to cite any source! Use this to format each entry.

10. Example Works Cited Page

11. Powerpoint Sources
Hacker, Diana, and Nancy Sommers. A Pocket Style Manual. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford, 2012. Print.