MLA Formatting & Style Guide

Printable Version

Section 1: Getting Started

• Introduction
• Thesis
• Body
• Conclusion
• Revision
• To Assist the Reader

Section 2: The Basics

• How Should Your Paper Look?
• Paragraph Length

Section 3: Style

• Abbreviations
• Acronyms
• Capitalization
• Tense
• Verb Tenses within a Paragraph
• Subject and Verb Agreement
• Pronoun Antecedent Agreement
• That & Which
• Active/Passive Voice
• Word Splurge
• Use of Person in Writing

Section 4: Citations

• Works Cited List
• Citing
• In-text Citations
• Quotes Within Quotes
• Signal Phase

• In-Text Citations for Quotes

Section 5: Works Cited

• Book
• Scholarly Publication
• Newspaper or Magazine Article
• Book Article or Chapter
• Encyclopedia Article (well-known reference books)
• Encyclopedia Article (less familiar reference books)
• Literature Resource Center
• Gale Reference Book (and other books featuring reprinted articles)
• Online Periodical
• Online Database or Scholarly Journal Article
• ERIC Document
• Website
• Newspaper or Magazine Article on the Internet
• No Author on a Webpage

Sect. 6: Online Resources