MLA Works Cited and In text Citations tutorial

Summary

Professor Morgan's video offers a detailed guide on MLA formatting, emphasizing the correct use of 'Works Cited' and in-text citations. It clarifies that 'Works Cited' should be alphabetized without bold or underline, and must include the required number of sources. The video also explains the proper placement of the 'Works Cited' page and the necessity of matching in-text citations with listed sources. Examples of common MLA mistakes are provided for educational purposes, aiming to help students avoid them.

Takeaways

• 📚 MLA citations use a 'Works Cited' page, not 'References', and it should not be in bold or underlined.
• 🔠 All entries on the Works Cited page should be in alphabetical order and use a hanging indent format.
• 📄 The Works Cited page does not count towards the required page count of your paper and starts on a new page.
• 🔗 Any source cited in the text must also appear on the Works Cited page, and vice versa.
• ✍️ In-text citations can be done in two ways: by introducing the source within the text (narrative citation) or by placing the citation at the end in parentheses (parenthetical citation).
• 📝 If quoting directly, the period comes after the parenthetical citation, not before.
• 🖥️ If a source doesn't have a page number (like online sources), you can omit the page number from the in-text citation.
• ❗ In-text citations are necessary for both direct quotes and paraphrased information that isn't common knowledge.
• ⚠️ Avoid using first-person narration or personal opinions in academic writing, as it weakens the argument and lacks proof.
• 🚫 Do not introduce new information in the conclusion, and avoid ending with phrases like 'That's just my opinion'; instead, reinforce your argument with key points discussed in the paper.

Q & A

What is the correct term for the list of sources in MLA formatting?

The correct term for the list of sources in MLA formatting is 'Works Cited'. It is not 'References' and it should not be in bold or underlined.

How should the 'Works Cited' page be formatted according to the script?

The 'Works Cited' page should be in alphabetical order and use a hanging indent. It should start on its own page and not count towards the total page number of the paper.

What is the minimum number of outside sources required if specified by an instructor?

If an instructor specifies a minimum number of outside sources, the 'Works Cited' page should list at least that number of sources.

How does the script suggest ensuring that the 'Works Cited' page starts on its own page?

The script suggests using a trick shown in other videos by Professor Morgan to ensure the 'Works Cited' page always starts on its own page.

What is the relationship between in-text citations and the 'Works Cited' page in MLA formatting?

Every in-text citation must correspond to an entry on the 'Works Cited' page, and vice versa. They are connected and must be consistent.

How should a direct quote be cited within the text in MLA format?

A direct quote should be introduced with the author's name and followed by the quote in quotation marks. The page number where the quote is found should be included in parentheses after the quote, with the period coming after the closing parenthesis.

What should be done if a source does not have a page number?

If a source does not have a page number, such as an online source, the page number is omitted from the in-text citation.

How does the script describe the two different ways to do in-text citations in MLA?

The script describes two ways to do in-text citations: one where the author's name is introduced before the quote, and another where the author's name is given in parentheses after the quote.

What is the significance of the period placement in MLA in-text citations?

The period in MLA in-text citations should come after the closing parenthesis of the citation, not after the quote itself or before the parenthesis.

What mistake does the script highlight about using first-person in research papers?

Using first-person and personal experiences weakens the strength of a research paper and is not considered proof. It is advised to avoid first-person narratives in research papers.

How should conclusions be written in MLA formatted papers according to the script?

Conclusions should summarize the main points made in the paper without introducing new information or reverting to first-person narratives. They should not undermine the points made in the paper.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to MLA Citations

Professor Morgan introduces the video by explaining the purpose of the tutorial, which is to clarify the use of MLA work cited and Intex citations. The video is recorded on November 4th, 2023, and is based on the latest edition of MLA formatting. The professor highlights the importance of correct citation practices, noting that many students struggle with this aspect of research papers. The main points covered include the correct title for the works cited page ('Works Cited' and not 'References'), the formatting style (not bold or underlined), and the requirement for at least four outside sources if specified by the instructor. The professor also mentions that the works cited page starts on its own page and does not count towards the total page number of the paper.

05:01

🔍 Correcting MLA Citation Mistakes

In this paragraph, Professor Morgan focuses on common mistakes made with MLA citations and how to correct them. The professor emphasizes that Intex citations must correspond to the works cited page and vice versa. The examples provided illustrate incorrect citations, such as a lack of source attribution for a quote or a study mentioned. The professor explains that any information that is not common knowledge must be cited and that paraphrasing also requires citation. The examples are used to demonstrate how to properly attribute sources in the text and on the works cited page, including the correct placement of periods in relation to parenthetical citations.

10:01

📈 Conclusions in Research Papers

The final paragraph addresses how to write effective conclusions for research papers. Professor Morgan warns against using first-person opinions or personal experiences as evidence in research papers, as it weakens the argument. The paragraph provides an example of an improper conclusion that includes personal opinion and contrasts it with a better approach. The improved conclusion summarizes the main points made in the paper without introducing new information or reverting to personal opinion. The professor concludes the video by reiterating the importance of proper MLA formatting and Intex citations for clarity and academic integrity.

Keywords

💡Works Cited

The 'Works Cited' is a list of all the sources referenced in an MLA-formatted paper. This page appears at the end of the document, on its own page, and lists sources in alphabetical order using a hanging indent. The video emphasizes the importance of having all cited sources on the 'Works Cited' page and following MLA formatting rules, such as not counting this page towards the paper's required page count.

💡In-text citation

An 'in-text citation' is a brief reference within the body of the paper that points to the full citation on the 'Works Cited' page. It allows the reader to know the source of information or a quote. The video explains two methods for in-text citations in MLA format: one that includes the author's name within the prose and another that uses parenthetical citations at the end of a quote. Both methods are important for ensuring that the source material is properly attributed.

💡Hanging indent

A 'hanging indent' is a formatting style where the first line of a citation is flush with the left margin, and subsequent lines are indented. In MLA style, the 'Works Cited' page requires a hanging indent for each citation. The video briefly mentions this formatting requirement, though it does not delve deeply into how to create it.

💡Alphabetical order

'Alphabetical order' refers to the requirement in MLA formatting that entries on the 'Works Cited' page must be organized alphabetically by the author's last name. This ensures clarity and ease of use for readers when cross-referencing in-text citations. The video underscores this as a fundamental rule of MLA format.

💡Page number

In MLA format, the 'page number' is often included in in-text citations when referring to a direct quote from a source that has page numbers. The video highlights the placement of page numbers in citations and explains that if a source does not have page numbers, this part can be omitted from the citation.

💡Parenthetical information

'Parenthetical information' refers to the use of parentheses in MLA in-text citations to include necessary details like the author’s name and page number. The video explains that parenthetical citations follow a specific format, with the period placed after the parentheses, not before, to ensure the punctuation and citation are correctly formatted.

💡Narrative citation

'Narrative citation' involves introducing the author’s name in the body of the text before providing a direct quote. This type of citation integrates the source seamlessly into the prose. In the video, the instructor demonstrates this technique using a quote from Roger Ebert, emphasizing that if the author’s name is mentioned in the sentence, only the page number needs to be included in parentheses.

💡Common knowledge

'Common knowledge' refers to facts that are widely known and do not need to be cited. For example, in the video, the instructor uses the example 'the Earth revolves around the Sun' as a statement of common knowledge, which would not require citation. This is contrasted with specific data or studies that do require proper sourcing.

💡Quotation marks

'Quotation marks' are used in MLA formatting to denote a direct quote from a source. The video stresses the importance of properly using quotation marks to distinguish the author’s words from the student's, ensuring that credit is given where it is due. The period should always be placed after the parenthetical citation, not inside the quotation marks.

💡First person

The 'first person' is a narrative perspective using pronouns like 'I' and 'we.' The video explains that MLA research papers should avoid first-person writing, as it weakens the academic strength of the argument. Instead, the focus should be on evidence-based claims, rather than personal opinions or experiences.

Highlights

Introduction to MLA formatting, focusing on common issues students face with in-text citations and works cited pages.

Emphasizes that the 'Works Cited' page is not titled 'References' and should not be bolded or underlined.

The 'Works Cited' page must be organized in alphabetical order and use a hanging indent.

All sources cited in the text must be listed on the 'Works Cited' page, and all entries on the 'Works Cited' page must be cited in the text.

The 'Works Cited' page starts on its own page and does not count toward the overall page count of the paper.

Two types of in-text citations in MLA: narrative citations and parenthetical citations.

When using narrative citations, the author’s name is introduced before the quote, followed by the page number in parentheses.

In parenthetical citations, the author's last name and page number are placed in parentheses after the quote, with the period after the citation.

Online sources without page numbers do not require a page number in in-text citations.

Emphasizes the importance of ensuring that every in-text citation corresponds with an entry on the 'Works Cited' page, and vice versa.

Incorrect citation examples are provided to show common mistakes, such as failing to cite statistics or studies properly.

Encourages students to avoid using personal experiences or first-person language in research papers to strengthen the argument.

Warns against weak conclusions that undermine the argument by adding personal opinion; instead, restate key points and evidence.

Correct formatting of article titles in citations: when no author is present, the article title should be in quotation marks in the citation.

Summary of proper conclusion techniques: avoid introducing new information and instead summarize the main points made throughout the paper.

Transcripts

hello Professor Morgan here showing you

some cool

little tricks and tips when it comes to

using MLA work cited and Intex citations

I am recording this on November 4th 2023

so this is based on the latest edition

of MLA formatting all right so uh I'm

doing this because as I teach courses it

seems like a lot of folks just can't uh

seem to quite get this right so I'm

going to going to give you some

highlights of this kind of important

things all right so if you are assigned

to write a research paper and it needs

to be an MLA formatted first of all note

it's works cited it's not references

it's not this again this is not in bold

it's not in underlined whatever and I

have VI other videos that show you how

to set up a work seted page in different

ways so you can uh look for those on uh

on YouTube as well now a couple things I

want you to note on the works seted page

uh first of all again everything is in

an alphabetical order okay and it uses

the hanging indent again that's all part

of the formatting thing that I'm not

going to go into a lot of detail here

what I want to focus on is the fact that

if your instructor says hey you need to

have at least four outside sources then

your work side of page should have oh

one two three four at least four outside

sources so if you um don't have the

sources listed uh yeah that's a problem

because because often that'll be a part

of the assignment is like how many

outside sources are required for this

paper you need to make sure that all all

of those are listed and they're listed

in proper formatting with an

alphabetical order okay now moving on

remember that the work side of page

starts on its own page the top of its

own page and it does not count towards

the page number of the paper so if you

have to write a five-page paper the work

side of page does not count towards that

page number I did not make MLA don't

shoot the messenger okay I'm just

sharing the information okay so again in

my uh the the videos that I have that

show you how to format a work side the

page um I show you a cool little trick

that make sure that will help you so you

can always make sure that your work page

starts on its own page so we're doing

that okay now when it comes to Intex

citations this is okay listen carefully

listen to the words that are coming out

of my mouth if you're going to site

something inside the text it also needs

to be on the work side of page if you

site some if you put something on the

work side of page it needs to be in the

text now there's two different ways that

we can do Intex citations from MLA okay

first one is kind of where we do it

through a narrative process or through

the pros so in this case um the quote

itself is this part right here so it's

open quotation mark closed quotation

mark here and we've introduced where the

quote is coming from in this case it's

Roger eert okay so Roger Ebert said this

now we are we are putting exactly what

we copied and pasted from Roger Ebert

okay in this quotation marks now note

again if you fallen asleep to my

melodious voice please wake up note the

period is not there it's there and what

is this six this six is what page number

it is found on what happens if it's a

online source and it doesn't have a page

number then you don't have to worry

about having the page number you don't

have to have this okay but if you do

have a something in parenthetical

information at the end of your quote the

period comes after it because the period

is part of hey this all came from this

Source the period ends that concept that

whole con thing the period doesn't go

here and here the period goes doesn't go

here and not there it's period's over

there okay now again so we've we've said

hey I got a quote here from Roger Ebert

so that means that I should be able to

go to the work side of page and find him

there he is okay boom that is the work

sided page that shows the fact that okay

boom there he is okay so I've got the

the the uh person okay the source so I

cited it again let's go back in time

here I've quoted Roger eert and I made

sure that he is there on the work side

of page life is beautiful okay let's

look at another way you can do this okay

in this case we don't introduce who the

quote is coming from in ahead of time we

just start off with a quote so in this

case the quote is directly from um it

starts from here and it goes to here

okay now who said this well we didn't

tell you ahead of time we didn't say who

said this quote so we're going to put it

in parenthetical information at the end

so it just so happens that the person

that this quote came from the last name

of the author is Lawrence and it came

off of page 21 and again if you don't

have a page number then you would just

leave that it would just be Lawrence

close quotation marks but again note the

period is not there it is there okay it

comes after the parenthe IAL information

so again if I go to Lawrence okay I'm

thinking okay and and again the concept

is if I want to know more about what you

know Lawrence has to say then I can go

to the work side of page and find

Lawrence and say oh there he is okay

that's where that came from okay um vice

versa again as a professor if I'm

grading and if I go to a work side of

page and I see let's say you know this

many um sources right but nowhere in the

paper are there any kind of citations

that's wrong they have to go together

okay you if you have an Intex citation

it has to be in the work side of page if

you have something on the work side of

page it has to be an Intex citation okay

that's super important super important

because they're connected that's the

whole purpose of doing that all right

now um so that's really the the the gist

of what I wanted to cover so for the

rest of this video I'm just going to

show you some examples of how you can do

stuff wrong okay this is just for fun

and Giggles because why not okay maybe

kind of test yourself to see if you

understand the concept all right so uh

again here's the work sided page we've

talked about this uh the way it's

formatted okay okay so let's go look at

an Intex citation uh mistake okay so and

this quote right here so so someone puts

this in a in a paper okay another factor

of choosing apples over oranges is the

edible peel whereas the apple skin can

be eaten 99.99 38% of the world's

population more eat an Orange's peel a

recent study showed that people who ate

the peel of an orange are more likely to

commit crimes like robbing a bank and

asking for only quarters speeding in

front of a police station and claiming

14267 dependents on their tax returns

okay so the question here is what needs

to be cited well the general rule of

thumb is you need to site anything

that's not common knowledge okay so if

you were to say the Earth revolves

around the Sun you don't need to site

that because that's common knowledge

okay but where' you get this information

from and where' you get this information

from point is where is your proof you

didn't site this clearly this

information came from somewhere and but

you didn't say where you got it from

okay because you can also um you don't

have to necessarily quote something

directly it can be you can paraphrase

things information from a source but you

still have to say where you got that

information from so for an example of

how to fix this this would be boom

there's your proof we got it right here

okay so this 99% okay came from this

person right here there's my Intex

citation okay and then this information

about a recent study what recent study

well that's wouldn't call stupid

criminals now notice that stupid

criminals is in quotation marks here

because um whereas we have the name of

the author here this article doesn't

have an author so this is like the name

of the article and we could have even

just used one word like stupid um you

know uh so if you have just the name of

the article but again it would be in uh

quotation marks because uh it's the name

of an article and we're going to get to

that in just a second okay and again

notice where the periods are period is

there after the parenthetical and

periods there after the parenthetical

all right let's look at a couple more

all right uh NC stat is much better than

Duke I mean Duke is in Durham in that

city is shanked up NC State students are

better looking and even the air smells

better at NC State rather than Duke I

was at Duke once and it smelled like a

car cow Farm okay um

what okay first of all um if you're

writing a research paper you should not

be using first person right okay uh your

own experiences do not count as proof

and it weakens the strength of your

paper okay I

mean what just be I mean what makes it

durum shanked up okay uh how are you

determining this students are better

looking and what about this air quality

I mean where's your proof yeah that's

that's not good okay and then last but

not least let's talk about conclusions

okay so sometimes um you you know

someone has written an article you know

a research paper where they're arguing a

certain point and they really want to

make sure that you know they just spent

this whole entire paper look saying hey

look I'm trying to convince you of this

point and then they'll often it's weird

it's I'll see something like this this

okay yeah so America rocks and Greenland

is terrible but that's just my opinion

so you may think

differently okay now this is an extreme

example okay um what again we're not

using first person in in research papers

uh and huh so you just spent the whole

paper trying to make your point so don't

throw it away now okay so if you're just

saying okay I just told you this is

super important and I've given you

evidence and I've given you examples and

all that kind of stuff but you can think

what you want well of course people can

think what you want but that's not the

way you should wrap up a paper Okay a

better way to do it would be you know in

conclusion America is a better place to

live than Greenland based on higher

quality of Health Care average

temperatures during the year and job

opportunities people who value these

aspects as important will find America

better choice for them you're basically

saying the same thing now notice this is

a conclusion so you're saying we're just

concluding the main points that we made

during the paper so there's no

parenthetical I mean there's no inex in

text intext citations here um because

we're not adding new information in the

conclusion we're wrapping up the main

points so anyway there's a little video

there on MLA formatting and Intex

citations and I hope this has helped add

some clarity to what you need to do all

right thanks