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ENC 1101 - Prof. Hofman: Citing In-text and Formatting

Formatting Your MLA Paper Using Microsoft Word 2013

MLA In-Text Citations

Paraphrasing

Whenever you use another's words, facts, or ideas for your paper you must provide a parenthetical reference.This will usually be the author's last name and page number. Below is an example:

      In order for a machine to think, it must execute the tasks in a fashion similar to a human's thought process (Nilsson 47).

This form of shortened in-texting citing is called parenthetical. The full citation will appear in the works cited page at the end of your paper.

For this book, it will look like this:

Nilsson, Nils J. The Quest for Artificial Intelligence: A History of Ideas and Achievements. New York:

    Cambridge University Press, 2010. Print.

Direct Quotes

When citing verbatim, or word for word, then you must use quotation marks. See the following example.

If machines are to think, they must "at the very least be able to do thinking-related things humans can do" (Nilsson 47).

Tips on Paraphrasing

When you paraphrase or quote a source:

Cite only the last name of the author.

Cite the page number(s) of the paraphrased information.

Page numbers might not be possible if:

• the source is only a page long
• the source is a website
• the source is an article from an online database
• you wish to cite the entire source

Within a paragraph, the second (or third, etc.) time you site a source, list only the page number. No page number? Then you can write "(ibid.)"

Use the present tense to explain what an author wrote.

If your quote contains a quote, use single quotation marks (' ') around the inside original quote.

Tips on Block Quoting

When your quote is longer than four lines:

• Start the quote on a new line.

• Indent the entire quote by ten spaces (two tabs).

• Don't use quotation marks.

• Double-space the entire quote (just like the rest of the paper).

• If your quote contains a quote, use double quotation marks (" ") around the original quote.