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MLA Citation Guide: MLA Style Home

This guide is intended to help you cite your sources in the Modern Language Association's style. It covers citing within the text and the references section.

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General Information

The Modern Languages Association style is used frequently in the humanities. This guide covers the citation and reference portions of the style but does not cover the writing style portions.

Note that citations in MLA are double spaced in reality but, to save space (and scrolling), they are single spaced on this guide.

Citation Engines

There are several online sites that will format your citation for you from the information you enter. Be sure to check the citation to make sure that it is correct according to the latest edition of MLA.

Citation Tutorials

Books relevant to MLA style

Print Guides

Plagiarism

According to the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, to plagiarize is "to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own." When you use an idea, whether you completely rewrite the idea, paraphrase another, or quote the original, you must give credit to the originator of the idea using citations. Plagiarism at SDSU is governed by the SDSU Student Code 3.f.ii.1.

EndNote

EndNote is software provided to SDSU students, faculty, and staff to manage source information and help create citations in papers as well as bibliographies. See the EndNote Guide for more information on this program.