ENGL 280: Kuzmenkov, T. (Spring 2025) - Russian Literature: MLA style

What is MLA style?

The Modern Language Association (MLA) publishes a style guide used by authors who publish in the humanities. 

• MLA style refers to both the physical appearance of your paper (type size, margins, running headers, etc.) and to the way you cite your sources, both in text and in your bibliography
• Ensures consistency
• Includes elements such as:
  • selection of headings, tone, and length;
  • punctuation and abbreviations;
  • presentation of numbers and statistics;
  • construction of tables and figures,
  • citation of sources both in-text and in a Works Cited page;
  • and many other elements that are a part of a manuscript.
• You will collect the same information you would for an APA style bibliography (author, title, title of journal, date, etc.), but arrange it in a slightly different manner.
• Remember than many of the Library's databases will provide an MLA citation that you can cut and paste.

What Does Citing Mean?

After you gather information from outside resources to add to your own ideas about a topic, you will quote, paraphrase, or summarize those sources within the body of your paper.

Citing allows you to share with your readers where you got your information so that they can verify what you've written or follow up on an interesting idea, and it protects you from any charges of plagiarism.

There are two parts to an MLA citation:

1. The in-text citation lets your reader know, briefly, where the source information in your paper came from. Usually, this includes the author(s) and page number.
2. The separate Works Cited page lets your reader know, in detail, where that same information came from.

(click on image to enlarge)

MLA Style Handouts 

Here are some handouts (in both .docx and .pdf formats) featuring examples of citations for sources you might find through TCC's Library and the Web. This first handout is for the full works cited page. 

Works Cited

In-Text Citations

Citing Social Media

Get More Help with MLA

Try these helpful sites that provide examples of citations for common sources, like books, e-books, and articles.

How to Create In-Text MLA citations 

The following short video (3:35 mins) provides detailed instructions on citing in text in MLA style. One term you will hear in the video is "signal phrase." Here is a brief definition if you are unfamiliar with this term:

A signal phrase:

• Is used when citing a source within the body of your text.
• It introduces a source and "signals" to your reader that the material to follow comes from someone other than yourself.

For example: 

James Fenimore Cooper states that "he who has travelled far and seen much is apt to fancy that he has lived long" (1).

• In the example above, "James Fenimore Cooper states" is the  signal phrase (note the page number in parentheses, where the quoted material came from in the source.