• LINK to OWL @ Purdue Writing LAB:

    OWL at Purdue Writing LAB

     

    QUICK OVERVIEW of Common Guidelines:

    MLA-8 Standard for English Basic Paper Formatting Guidelines:

    • blank white paper
    • NO TITLE PAGE
    • Double-spaced, remove the extra lines between paragraphs, entries and sections
    • 1" margins, 1/2" margin on the top to the header line
    • Times New Roman font, 12 point
    • TAB paragraphs, remove extra lines between paragraphs
    • HEADING in upper left corner (4 lines, double-spaced): Full name, date, period, assignment
    • HEADER in upper right corner (1/2" margin from the top): last name page number [EX:  Miller 2]
    • HEADER required for page one through last page, including Works Cited page (if required) for all assignments more than one page in length
    • If the assignment is titled, place the title in plain text and centered above the document
    • IN-TEXT CITATIONS
      • At the very minimum the title of a work cited should be embedded into the writing.  
      • The standard encourages writers to embed information about citations into the writing as context and explanation.  Required information that is embedded does not need to be reiterated in the end-text citation.
      • BOOKS: author's last name page number(s) EX: (Steinbeck 43). *End punctuation
      • POEMS/BALLADS/SONGS: poet's last name line number(s) EX: (Dickinson 3-7).
      • PLAYS: playwright's last name part scene line numbers(s) EX: (Shakespeare I:v:4-9). or (Wilde 1:2:12-19).
      • Film Media: Director/creator year released minutes played EX: (Nolan 2012 54:00-56:34).
      • ELECTRONIC SOURCES: please refer to the Electronic Sources section on OWL at Purdue university.
    • WORKS CITED PAGE - REFER TO OWL AT PURDUE UNIVERSITY for entry specifics
      • All formatting above applies
      • title as Works Cited in plain text above the entries
      • Entries are placed in alphabetical order and constructed per MLA-8 guidelines (refer to OWL at Purdue University)
      • Entries are reverse-indent and should look like a hanging file; first line at the 1" margin, all subsequent lines reverse tab indent
      • Entries have end punctuation (a period)
      • Delete "<http:>" and remove hyperlink from URL
      • Books, films, TV shows, art, plays, etc... should be cited as such - DO NOT CITE A WEBSITE for a non-electronic source
      • Remove extra lines between entries
    • CITING FILM MEDIA IN THIS CLASS
      • The information required to cite a quote or details from a TV show or film is:
        • Title of film/series and scene/episode the director or creator and year released - some, if not all, of this information can be embedded into the writing.  Whatever information is not embedded in the writing needs to be placed in parenthetical end-text citation in this order (director/creator, title, scene/episode title, year released).  
        • NOTE: the new standard for film/TV citations is to embed most of the descriptive information (titles, director/creator, year) into the writing and end-text cite the actual minutes played for the citation from the original source.  EX: (1:21-1:27)  STUDENTS WHO CITE FILM MEDIA TO THIS STANDARD WILL RECEIVE EXTRA CREDIT.
    • OBSERVE RULES FOR TITLES
      • For long works, titles are italicized only (underlined if handwritten) EX: books, films, TV shows, paintings, albums, journals, websites
      • For short works, titles are put in quotation marks (same for handwritten) EX: chapter titles, scenes, episodes, poems, song, articles, pages from a website
      • Refrain from using quotation marks for emphasis.  IF emphasis is absolutely necessary, use italics (sparingly).  NO AIR QUOTES.