A Guide to MLA Documentation

by Joseph F. Trimmer

Overview

The Eighth Edition of A Guide to MLA Documentation is an affordable, concise guide that provides only the information that you really need and-according to many students and instructors-is easier to use than the MLA's own handbook.

Find what you need fast. The two-color design, a numbering system to help locate examples, and an index all make information easy to find.

Get the writing advice you want. The eighth edition includes useful hints on taking notes, summarizing, incorporating quotations, paraphrasing, and avoiding plagiarism.

Highlights of the Eighth Edition

The latest MLA documentation guidelines that reflect significant changes in the new MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Seventh Edition (2009).

An annotated sample student research paper

A new section on evaluating online sources

Updated sample entries

More tips on avoiding plagiarism

An up-to-date appendix on APA style

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781111837075
Publisher:	Cengage Learning
Publication date:	01/01/2012
Edition description:	Older Edition
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.10(d)

About the Author

Joseph F. Trimmer is Professor of English Emeritus and Director Emeritus of The Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry at Ball State University. He is the author of numerous articles on literature, culture, and literacy, including THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION: THE FIRST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS (1978), UNDERSTANDING OTHERS: CULTURAL AND CROSS-CULTURAL STUDIES AND THE TEACHING OF LITERATURE (1992), and NARRATION AS KNOWLEDGE: TALES OF THE TEACHING LIFE (1997). Professor Trimmer has also worked on 20 documentary films for PBS, including the six-part series, "Middletown" (1982). His textbooks include WRITING WITH A PURPOSE, 14th Edition (2004), THE RIVER READER, 12th Edition (formerly the RIVERSIDE READER (2016), and eFICTIONS (2002). Trimmer's A GUIDE TO MLA DOCUMENTATION, 9th Edition is a perennial bestseller; he has also published A GUIDE TO APA DOCUMENTATION.

Table of Contents

1 Preparing the List of Works Cited 1

Sample Entries: Books in Print 3

Sample Entries: Articles in Print Periodicals 7

Sample Entries: Miscellaneous Print and Nonprint Sources 9

Sample Entries: Web Publications 10

2 Documenting Sources 13

Placing and Punctuating the Parenthetical Reference 14

Citing Sources: Examples 15

3 Using Notes and Parenthetical References 19

4 Implications for Your Research and Composing 20

Evaluating Sources 20

Compiling Source Information 22

Taking Notes 22

Quoting Sources 23

Summarizing and Paraphrasing Sources 24

Avoiding Plagiarism 25

5 Annotated Student Research Paper 28

6 Abbreviations for MLA Documentation 34

Appendix on APA Style 35

Preparing the List of References 36

Sample Entries 37

Documenting Sources 39

Index 41

Editorial Reviews

"Trimmer's Guide is an informative, concise, and usable reference which aids students in understanding MLA conventions and appropriately documenting their sources. The text covers key concepts and provides examples of each."


"The book provides comprehensive coverage of the primary documentation circumstances a student writer is likely to encounter, especially in the first two years of college. The book offers cogent and clear counsel on the importance of evaluating sources before using them. It also gives explicit examples of the most prevalent kinds of plagiarism, explaining exactly how it is manifest in each example and how the plagiarism could have been avoided in each case."

From the Publisher