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MLA Referencing

MLA (Modern Language Association) referencing style is most commonly used to write papers and reference sources within the arts and humanities. MLA referencing style uses a special format for English language use in writing and MLA referencing also indicates a method for citing sources through parentheses within the body of an essay and a format for a bibliography page. MLA referencing has guidelines for how you format the general style of your essay layout, quotations, endnotes, footnotes and bibliography / works cited page

MLA referencing style has some general rules about layout and format listed below:

In MLA referencing style, referring to other works in your text is done by using parentheses. Immediately following a quotation or a paraphrase of a source, you need to write the author's name, followed by the relevant page number. For example:
Lions have been described as 'ferocious but kindly creatures' (Harker 3).

Multiple authors should be separated by a semi-colon within the parentheses. If the source has no author, MLA referencing style requires that you use a shortened title of the work instead of an author name. The title of the source should be placed in quotation marks if it is a short work, or it should be italicized or underlined if it is a longer work. These in-text citations will correspond with a full reference at the end of your work in your bibliography or works cited page
Quotations in MLA referencing style are cited within the text if it is a short quotation; the text should just run on with no interruption and suitable referencing follows the format described above. MLA says that if the quotation is long, however, the quotation should be indented in a paragraph of its own, and then referenced as before. Lines of poetry also need to be indented in a paragraph of their own. MLA referencing dictates that if words are omitted within a quotation, you show the omission by using a row of three full stops (called ellipsis marks); if words are added in the middle of a quotation, which are your own and not part of the quotation itself, these words are enclosed in square brackets.

The use of endnotes or footnotes is limited in MLA referencing style, however, MLA does encourage the use of endnotes or footnotes for comments on bibliographic details, such as where else you can find references to this point in the author's catalogue. Useful digressions are also acceptable reasons for footnotes or endnotes. In MLA referencing, footnotes are indicated by superscript Arabic numbers in the main text, listed after punctuation. If listing footnotes at the bottom of the same page as the quotation in the text, the footnotes should be laid out two double spaced lines below the main text. MLA recommends, however, that you list your footnotes / endnotes in a separate section before the bibliography page, titled Notes. This page should be formatted by listing the consecutive superscript Arabic numbers, using a new paragraph for each note, and double spacing the text.

MLA referencing style demands that you include a bibliography page at the end of your document. The bibliography should be written on a separate page at the end of your essay; it should have the same margins and name/page number details as the rest of your essay and is titled the Works Cited page. All citations should be double spaced. To use MLA referencing for your Works Cited page, each word in a source title should be capitalized, however this does not include articles, short prepositions, or conjunctions, unless they are the first word of the title or subtitle. Use italics or underlining for titles of large works such as books, and quotation marks for titles of shorter works such as poems. Entries using MLA referencing style are ordered by author surname in the following format:

•    Author surname and forename/initials followed by a full stop
•    Title of text underlined or italicised followed by a full stop
•    Place of publication followed by a colon
•    Publisher followed by a comma
•    Year of publication.

For example:

Harker, Ned. The Kindly Roar: Lions in Their Families. London: Penguin Press, 1982
When using MLA referencing, if you accessed an article online, even if it is also available in print form, you need to give the following details as well as the printed publication details:

In MLA referencing, if one author has more than one work cited, you should order the entries alphabetically by title, and use three hyphens in place of the author's name for every entry after the first one. Works with no known author should be listed alphabetically by their title, by MLA guidelines.
For a periodical or journal, the referencing is slightly different. In MLA referencing you would cite a periodical article: the author's surname, author's first name or initial, the title of the article in quotation marks, periodical title (underlined or italicized), the date (abbreviated month and year), page numbers:
Author surname, initial. "Title of Article." Title of Periodical Day Month Year: page numbers.