MLA referencing style

MLA also known as modern language association referencing style is commonly used to write and cite sources within liberal arts and humanities. When writing in MLA format the paper should be 8.5× 11 inch with a margin of 1 inch in all sides.  The main sections are the title page, main body and referencing page. Further, all the text should be typed in New Times Roman with a 12pt font and also double line spacing should be used.

The title

The first thing in the title page is creating a header, in this case, the surname of the author appears on the right hand header and page number is inserted at the right corner of the title page.

The name of the writer, the name of the instructor the course and the date are respectively written on the left hand corner using double spacing. At the center of the page the title is written and centered however it should not either be italicized, bolded or underlined.

The main body

The first sentence of all paragraphs should be indented. In text citations should be used after quoting, paraphrasing or after quoting.  In this case, the last name of the author and the page number are stated in the parentheses without a comma. If the author is stated in the text, only the page number is cited in bracket. The way to do it is as follows (the author page number). Only the sources used should be stated in the text citations. When citing references from indirect source the name of the original author is used and listed as quoted from (  qtd from the author page number)

Referencing page

This is the section that gives full details of all the sources used. The bibliographies should be arranged in alphabetical order.

Book by a single author

Last name of the author, first name of the author. The Title of the Book. Place of publication: publisher, year.

Book by two or more authors

Last name, First name and last name, first name. Title of the book. Place of publication: Publisher, year.

Article from a book

Last name, first name and last name, first name.  title of the article title of the book. Place of publication: publisher, year. Pages

Article in a magazine

Last name, First name ‘’ article title” magazine title Day month year: pages

Article in a journal

Last name, First name. ‘’ Article Title’’ journal Title volume number (year): pages.

Article in a newspaper

Last name, First Name ‘’Article title’’ newspaper title Day Month Year, Edition Information: pages

Person Interview or communication

Last Name, First Name (person being interviewed). Interview type( personal, Telephone, E-mail). Day Month Year.

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