A red box surrounds section 6.1, In-Texts Citations, of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook. A red arrow points to the box and has the following text next to it: "This could be you!"

Tell us how you would react to these scenarios and we’ll tell you which MLA style convention you are! Be sure to keep track of your answers.

1. You find an abandoned house in the woods. Upon entering, what do you inspect first?

  1. The shreds of burnt paper across the ground, which I hope will give me some clue as to the identity of the last resident of the house.
  2. The ashen walls, whose pale rectangular spots indicate where photos once hung. One family portrait, its glass frame shattered into a spiderweb, hangs crookedly.
  3. The baskets of eerily fresh laundry next to a cot in the living room that looks like it was slept in not too long ago.
  4. I don’t enter at all.

2. It’s 2005. You’re housebound with a cold that makes your nose run like sled dogs in the Iditarod. Streaming doesn’t exist yet, so you’re stuck with whatever’s on daytime TV. What do you watch?

  1. I rifle through my handful of old VHS tapes, stuck deciding between a recording of the 1991 World Series and a bootleg copy of E.T.
  2. I turn on the Home Shopping Network and let the boundless cheer of the hosts drown out the sound of my endless sniffles. The hosts manage to make replica Tiffany lamps and four-hundred-dollar blenders more interesting than I ever would have believed.
  3. I flip to a soap opera. Though I initially wrote off the genre as corny, I find myself becoming surprisingly invested in the characters and their relationships.
  4. I watch cable news. If I can’t do anything but lie in anguish on my couch, I might as well try to stay informed while doing it.

3. You board a train heading from Philadelphia to Boston. The journey is short enough that you didn’t bother to splurge on a nicer seat but long enough that you want to make sure you’re comfortable. Where do you sit?

  1. I want a window seat. The mid-Atlantic and New England countrysides are gorgeous, and I would be remiss not to take this opportunity to see so much of them.
  2. I want an aisle seat. It’s important to me that I can move about freely without having to climb over someone I don’t know, and if I really want to look outside, there’s always someone else’s window.
  3. It doesn’t really matter to me—I’m going to put on headphones and conk out regardless of where I sit. It’s hit the hay all day over here!
  4. I want to sit in one of the booths with tables. I want to get some work done now, so that I can enjoy my trip without any needless stress weighing on my mind.

4. While on a road trip with a friend, you hunker down for the night in an inexpensive roadside motel. To your horror, you discover that you forgot to bring a toothbrush. What do you do?

  1. I make do with a glob of toothpaste and my finger.
  2. I don’t bother brushing my teeth. I want to go straight to bed and rest up for tomorrow’s drive.
  3. I use my friend’s toothbrush.
  4. I grab the keys and make a quick trip to the convenience store for a new toothbrush. I’m tired, but I’ll have to buy one at some point anyway. Might as well get things over with.

5. One must permanently disappear from the face of the earth. Which do you choose?

  1. Gills
  2. Mills
  3. Frills
  4. Hills

6. Thunderstorms have rattled the windows of your house every day for the past week, and you haven’t gone shopping. The only food in your house is a jar of peanut butter you’ve had for months, a bag with two limp tortillas, and a tub of yogurt that expired three days ago. What do you do?

  1. I brave the storm to buy more food. Even if I manage to throw together a meal with the paltry ingredients currently at my disposal, I won’t have enough to eat tomorrow. Sometimes, dealing with unpleasant situations is just a part of life.
  2. Growing up, I spent a lot of time watching the Cooking Channel, so I spend an hour confidently preparing a highly elaborate meal with the three ingredients. The meal ends up tasting horrible, but I finish it anyway, because I’m hungry and all I have left is my dignity.
  3. I work with what I’ve got. Tortillas with peanut butter and a little yogurt on the side doesn’t sound too bad… Plus, expiration dates are just a suggestion, right?
  4. I order a pizza. Easy and done.

7. Which superpower would you choose?

  1. You can read people’s minds, but only if they’re thinking about trout.
  2. You can prodigiously play the harpsichord, but only with your feet, and no one else can hear or see you.
  3. You can teleport a single kernel of corn into someone else’s pocket once a day.
  4. You can speak with animals, but they only understand you when you speak in nineteenth-century BCE Akkadian. (If you do speak nineteenth-century BCE Akkadian, congratulations!)

 

 

If you got mostly:

· A’s, you are endnotes–not footnotes!
If you had to choose three words to describe yourself, one of them would definitely be inquisitive. You are always willing to flip to the end of an essay or book to learn more.

· B’s, you are in-text citations!
You have never been a disciple of the latest trends, and you understand that fashions come and go. You once lamented being born in the wrong generation, but there are aspects of modern life that you’ve come to appreciate over time. Still, if someone approached you with a time machine and offered to take you back to a simpler time, you’re not sure you would say no.

· C’s, you are the supplemental element on the MLA template of core elements!
You’ve always been a bit of a wild card, a descriptor you embrace. You prefer to carve your own path instead of following anyone else. Even when you must adhere to structures, you find ways to exert your freedom.

· D’s, you are a highly readable typeface like Times New Roman (in your case, in all circumstances)!
You have a practical mind and don’t like to make things more complicated than they need to be. You like to nip problems in the bud rather than let them grow and continue to trouble you.

If you had an equal number of answers of two or more letters, your answer to question 4 overrides your other answers.