Documentation Style: MLA 8th Edition Formatting

MLA 8th Edition Formatting - Quick Guide

MLA 8th Edition Formatting - Quick Guide

MLA 8th Edition Sample Paper

Formatting

1’’ margins
An easily readable font (most professors prefer Times New Roman; however, Arial is often accepted. Do not use any other font besides Time or Arial, though.)
Size 12 font [this includes what is directly within the margins of the paper as well as what is outside the margins: in the Header section of the document.]
Double-spaced: [use your tool bar in M.O. Word to set the 2.0 parameter for all content of your essay before you begin writing, or you can select all of the content--after you are done writing--and use the toolbar to arrange all of the paper content into 2.0 spacing.]

Style

·         Use active voice

·         [For ENGL101 and ENGL102 papers, use only 3rd person voice. Do not use 1st person (I, me, my, etc.) or 2nd person voice (you, us, we, etc.).]

·         Use present tense when referring to events that happen within the literature

·         Remain consistent with tense (especially important to keep in mind when writing about historic non-fiction)

·         [Eliminate ALL contractions from your academic writing

·         Eliminate ALL questions from your body-paragraphs, and only use questions where permitted in the INTRODUCTION or CONCLUSION paragraphs.]

Title Page

All papers at Liberty University require a title page—even if it is to be documented and formatted in MLA style. Therefore, you will need to create a title page that follows this layout:

First Page

Create a running header with your last name and page number in the upper right-hand corner (with only one space between name and number) one half inch from the top

In the upper left-hand corner, type your name, professor’s name, course name, and date. [This is your HEADING section on the first page.]

Center the title of your paper just below following standard capitalization rules for titles.

Main Body

Your paper should include a thesis statement, “a single sentence the formulates both your topic and your point of view...your answer to the central question or problem you have raised” [in the INTRODUCTION paragraph.]

Use only one space after a period unless professor prefers two
Indent the first line of each paragraph ½ of an inch
Use block quotes sparingly and only when the prose quotation exceeds four lines [after all, quotes do not count toward your overall word count since they are not written in your voice. For best usage, you need to summarize or paraphrase source content into your own words so that 1) you are providing the bulk of the writing, and 2) so that you are fully integrating outside sources while arguing your thesis points in the body-paragraphs].
Include parenthetical citations in your paper whenever you use another person's words or ideas. Usually this will include the author's last name and a page reference with no punctuation: (Smith 10). [Any content that comes from an outside source—even if it is paraphrased or summarized—needs to have a parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence where outside content was used, but the period for the sentence comes after the in-text citation.]
When referencing plays and poetry, use the line number (not the page number)

Works Cited Examples

Your works cited page should have the words “Works Cited” center at the top [unless you have only used one source, and then it would be labeled Work Cited]. Your entries should begin right after the title Works Cited and should be left-aligned with hanging indents. Eighth edition MLA citations operate on model. The model is a one-size-fits-all approach that asks for nine different elements and takes whatever are available; [however, if your source choice does include at least half of these items, then you should consider the source a poor representation of a reliable and credible source since it is not properly labeled, and therefore, you should not use it at all in your paper for support].

These are the elements and the proper punctuation in a citation if they were all present in a source:

Generic example for all citations:

Author. “Title of Source.” Title of Container, Other Contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication Date, Location.

Book:

Model: Last name, First name. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date.

Example: Smith, John. Hunting for Peace. Mifflin Publishing, 2004.

Work in an anthology:

Model: Last name, First name. "Title of Source." Title of Container, Other Contributors, Publisher, Publication Date. Location.

Example: Smith, Joanna. “The Squirrel Poem.” Poems about Wildlife, edited by John Smith, Harvard UP, 2016, pp. 122-23.

Journal article retrieved from database:

Model: Author. “Title of Source.” Title of Container, Number, Publication Date, Location.

Example: Smith, Sara. “Squirrel Habitat Reduction.” The Journal of the Environment, vol. 30, no. 2, 2009, pp. 127-56. JSTOR, jstor.org/stable/10/1086/000001

Website:

Model: Author (if available). “Title of Source.” Title of Container, Other Contributors, Publisher, Publication Date, Location.

Example: “Human and Animal Relations.” Wildlife Details, edited by John Smith, Turtles Inc., 26 May 2011, www.turtlelist.com/squirrels.

The sample information and formatting content above was provided courtesy of MLA 7th edition and MLA 8th edition handbooks. Be sure to note the content in [ bracket marks] since these have been added in by me—your instructor—for clarification.

Content above provided by the Liberty Online Writing Center. Content can be located at https://www.liberty.edu/academics/casas/academicsuccess/index.cfm?PID=24015