COMM 202: Oral Communication

How to format your paper using MLA guidelines

• double-spaced
• use a legible 12 pt. font
• use 1 inch margins on all sides of your document
• leave only one space after periods or other punctuation marks
• create a header that includes the page number in the upper right-hand corner

For more information visit the Excelsior Online Writing Lab or Long Island University Citation Guide.

• Include the author's name with the page number in parentheses, e.g., (MacCannel 145)
• If there is no author, use one or two words of the title, e.g., ("Freedom" 69)
• If you are using a source with no page numbers, omit that information, e.g., (Showalter)
• If there are multiple works by one author, include a short title with the name, e.g., (Bloom, "Afro-American" 10)
• If there are multiple authors with the same last name, include the first initial, e.g., (C. Neubauer 120)
• Biblical in-text citations: identify the version you used, in the first in-text citation; for example: (New International Version, Gen. 3.15)

Many of the humanities and English use MLA citation style.

The final authority for MLA is the Modern Language Association, specifically the MLA Handbook (9th ed., 2021). The final authority for the bibliographic form used in your paper is your professor.

E-Book:

Weaver-Zercher, Valerie. Thrill of the Chaste : The Allure of Amish Romance
   Novels. E-book ed., Johns Hopkins UP, 2013. EBSCOhost,
   https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.goshen.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=601154&site=ehost-   
   live
Full text journal article from a database:

Kasdorf, Julia Spicher. “To Pasture: ‘Amish Forgiveness,’ Silence, and the West
   Nickel Mines School Shooting.” Cross Currents, vol. 57, no. 3, Fall 2007,
   pp. 328–347. Academic Search Premier,
   http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.goshen.edu/login.aspx?
   direct=true&db=aph&AN=28559057&site=ehost-live.

Online encyclopedia article, without an author:

“De Kooning, Willem.” Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, 2014,
   https://search-credoreference-com.ezproxy.goshen.edu/content/entry/ebconcise/de_kooning_willem/0

Website (Known publication date):

“Amish Population Profile 2016.” Amish Studies, 5 Aug. 2015,
   https://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/statistics/amish-population-profile-20
   15/.

Website (Unknown publication date):

“De Kooning, Willem.” Getty Union List of Artist Names Online,
   http://www.getty.edu/vow/ULANFullDisplay?find=&role=&nation=&prev_page=1&
   subjectid=500000974. Accessed 8 Sept. 2016.

Online newspaper article:

Eckholm, Erik. “Prison Terms Are Reduced for Amish in Beard-Cutting Attacks.”
   The New York Times, 2 Mar. 2015,
   http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/03/us/prison-terms-reduced-for-amish-convicted-
   in-beard-cuttings.html.

Book:

Nietz, Kerry. Amish Vampires in Space. Freeheads, 2014.

Book with more than one author:

Soldatov, Andreĭ, and Irina Borogan. The Red Web: The Struggle between Russia’s
   Digital Dictators and the New Online Revolutionaries. PublicAffairs, 2015.

DVD or video:

Life of Pi. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2013.

Print journal article:

Salami, Gitti. “The Materiality of Cement in the Cultural Matrix of the Middle
   Cross River Region.” African Arts, vol. 49, no. 3, Sept. 2016, pp. 32–47.

Print newspaper article:

Eckholm, Erik. “Prison Terms Are Reduced For Amish In Attacks.” The New York Times,
   3 Mar. 2015, pp. A17–A17.

Specialized reference book article:

Fitzpatrick, Raymond. “Patient Satisfaction.” Cambridge Handbook of Psychology,
   Health and Medicine, edited by Susan Ayers et al., Cambridge UP, 2007,
   http://search.credoreference.com.ezproxy.goshen.edu/content/entry/cupphm
   /patient_satisfaction/0?relatedClick=80d0daa4-a98c-49fc-8868-818c1d07f240.

Biblical citation:

The English Standard Version Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments
   with Apocrypha. Oxford UP, 2009.