Modern Language Association (MLA) provides rules to cite information from different sources. Basically, the MLA citation example requires parenthetical citation when referring to the works of others in the text. Also, people need to understand some basic rules to write high-quality papers and avoid plagiarism. In particular, the MLA style requires one to mention relevant authors’ details and exact location of information for books and journal articles, websites, and electronic sources.
Books and Journal Articles
The MLA format citation for books and journal articles must include the relevant source evidence in the MLA citation example. Basically, citations for printed sources with the one author should contain surname and page providing cited information. In turn, this format is different for sources with two or more than three authors. For instance, sources with two authors should have their surnames separated with the phrase “and.” Also, the MLA in-text citation for sources with more than three authors should have the last name of the first author followed by the words “et al.” and pagination. However, for books and scholar articles with no authors, the MLA format in text citation should contain the corporate author of the sources. Besides, the quotes for all sources should not have a comma between the author and pagination.
Examples:
- In the MLA citation example with sources with a single author and quoted information contained on page 7, an in-text citation should appear as (Turner 7).
- For sources with two authors and quoted information provided on page 8, an in-text citation should appear as (Turner and White 8).
- In references with more than three authors and quoted evidence contained on page 11, a citation should appear as (Turner et al. 11).
- In sources with corporate authors and cited information provided on page 15, a quote should appear as (Modern Language Association of America 15).
Websites in the MLA Citation Example
The MLA citation example for websites should follow name-paragraph format. For instance, when citing a website MLA, one should include the name of the site and the paragraph. In this case, the phrase “par.” followed by a period should identify the section. Besides, the format applies to government, corporate, and other types of websites in the MLA website citation. Therefore, the MLA website in text citation for all sites should include the name and paragraph, containing cited information.
Example:
- The MLA citation example of information obtained from paragraph 5 of a website should appear as (Purdue Writing Lab par. 5).
Electronic Sources
Electronic sources include films and songs. For media sources, one must include the title or director’s surname and the time for the quoted information in the MLA citation example. Along these lines, citations for these sources with directors should resemble those for books with single authors. Otherwise, one should use the title of the references in quotation marks for the in-text citation in the MLA format paper. Thus, citation for electronic sources should use name-time format.
Example:
- The citation example for information found at 1 minute and 50 seconds of a video should appear as (“MLA Citation Example” 1:50)
Conclusion on the MLA Citation Example
The MLA style requires one to cite relevant authors’ details and location of information. For printed sources, one should include the authors’ details and the page number in the MLA citation example. When citing information found on websites, one should consist of the authors’ details and paragraph with the quoted evidence. Finally, citations for media sources should include the title and time of the quoted scene. Also, people should know about the rules of the MLA textbook citation.