Quick Reference Guide to MLA

Quick Reference Guide to MLA MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities. MLA style specifies guidelines for formatting papers and for referencing sources through parenthetical citation and pages. The rules and guidelines for MLA style are set forth in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (6th edition) and the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (2nd edition).This article will discuss the most commonly referenced MLA rules and serve as a quick reference guide for students.1. General Guidelines for Formatting Your PaperDouble: Kinsella, Sophie. If the book has no author, you can list and alphabetize by the title of the book.5. : BooksBooks with One Author Basic Format: Last name, First name. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication.Example: Kinsella, Sophie. Shopaholic Baby. New York: Bantam Press, 2007.Book with More Than One AuthorFirst author name is written last name first; subsequent author names are written first name, last name. If there are more than three authors, you may list only the first author followed by the phrase et al. in place of the other authors names, or you may list all the authors in the order in which their names appear on the title page.6. : PeriodicalsArticle in a MagazineBasic Format: Author(s). Title of Article. Title of Periodical Day Month Year: pages.Example: Smith, James. The Iraq War. Time 20 Nov. 2000: 70: How to Make Eggs. eHow.com. 10 May 2006 .