MLA citation guide has unique rules that one must use to acknowledge information obtained from different sources. Basically, citation rules help one to avoid plagiarism. In particular, the proper use of citation rules improves the authenticity of scholarly work. Hence, MLA emphasizes on accurate author-page or -paragraph text citations and Works Cited with full bibliography details.
MLA Author-Page Text Citations
The MLA citation guide covers the rules for the MLA in-text citation. For instance, the evidence must have the surname of the author and the page containing the cited information. Basically, one should place the surname of the author and page number in brackets at the end of the quoted information. Also, the information in the bracket should complement, not repeat, the details in the sentence. Hence, if one includes the author’s name in a sentence, the parenthetical citation should contain the relevant page number. Unfortunately, repeating the information in a sentence and in-text citation makes an academic paper vague. Thus, people should use precise in-text citations to avoid ambiguity.
Citation Guide on Direct Quotes
The MLA citation guide stresses on author-page citations for direct quotes to avoid plagiarism. For instance, a parenthetical citation in the MLA style paper must appear after the punctuation marks. In this case, one must place the parenthetical citation at the end of the punctuation marks even when it appears in the middle of the sentence. Also, the parenthetical citation with the surname of the author and page number must mark the end of a direct quote. Therefore, people should place the parenthetical citation at the end of a quote.
Online Sources
The MLA citation guide needs one to use author-paragraph text citations for online sources. For instance, some online and electronic sources lack page numbers. In this case, one should use the relevant section numbers for the MLA style citation. Along these lines, the person should include paragraph number containing the cited information. Thus, the evidence should consist of the paragraph number in the in-text citations for online or electronic sources.
Works Cited
The MLA citation guide should have the MLA Works Cited. For instance, the MLA format Works Cited should have all the sources used in in-text references. Basically, one must list all the sources in alphabetical order of the author’s last name. For sources authored by the same person, the person should arrange them chronologically based on their year of publication. In turn, the MLA format Works Cited page must have full bibliographic details of sources. Also, each entry in the Works Cited should have the names of the authors, the title of the references, and the year of publication. Besides, people should include a range of pages, publishers, city, Digital Object Identifiers, volume and issue numbers, and Internet links where possible. In this case, they must include sufficient but relevant bibliographic details for all sources. Thus, MLA stresses on works cited page with the full bibliographic information for references.
Conclusion on the MLA Citation Guide
In conclusion, the MLA citation guide emphasizes accurate author-page or -paragraph in-text citations. Basically, the author-page method applies to printed sources. In turn, the author-paragraph approach is applicable for sources online and electronic sources without page numbers. Also, the Works Cited page must have full bibliography details. In this case, people must provide sufficient and relevant bibliographic information for all cited sources.