Should commas be used around by and an author’s name after a title?

It depends. In the following example, commas are used to set off the by phrase because the phrase is not integral to the meaning of… Read More

Tips for Teaching Community-Engagement Projects in the College Writing Classroom

Community-engagement projects can be fulfilling for teachers and students Read More

How do I make clear that a paraphrase is on the same page as a quotation I’ve given in the previous sentence?

The MLA Handbook (3.5) provides techniques for making citations more concise when a source is used more than once in succession. But it notes that you should… Read More

Scaffolding Writing Assignments in the Community College Classroom

Forty percent of college students in the United States attend a community college . . . Read More

In prose and titles, should an author use 3-D and 2-D or spell out the abbreviations?

It depends. MLA style minimizes the use of abbreviations in prose, but if in certain contexts the abbreviation is more common than the spelled out… Read More

If I paraphrase information from a source and then refer to that information again later in my paper, do I need to credit the source again?

If you paraphrase information from a source and cite that source appropriately, you do not need to cite subsequent references to that information. For example,… Read More

How do I cite an unpublished student paper?

A works-cited-list entry for an unpublished student paper should include the author, title of the paper (in quotation marks), and date. The name of the… Read More

Is it permissible to include in a works-cited-list entry a permalink I created for a source?

Yes. The MLA Handbook notes that writers should aim to “provide their audiences with useful information about their sources” (3). If you have created a permalink for a web… Read More

How do I show the blank space between stanzas when quoting from a poem?

Use a single line space to separate stanzas of poetry, as in this excerpt from Felicia Hemans’s “The Image in Lava”: Thou thing… Read More

How do I cite the Homeric hymns?

The Homeric hymns refer to poems that were once attributed, mistakenly, to the ancient Greek poet Homer. They are Homeric only in the sense that… Read More