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Hey there! Ready to become a research rockstar? Let's learn how to find great sources and give them proper credit using MLA format!
When you write a research paper, you need to find trustworthy sources to back up your ideas. Look for articles from experts, academic databases, and educational websites to make sure your facts are solid.
MLA format requires you to cite your sources in two places: inside your paragraphs and at the very end of your paper. This shows your readers exactly where you found your information and keeps your writing honest.
Whether you copy a quote word-for-word or rewrite it in your own words as a paraphrase, you must include an in-text citation. Usually, this is just the author's last name and the page number inside parentheses.
Imagine you are writing a research paper about marine biology. You found this exact quote on page 14 of a book written by Dr. Sylvia Earle in 2012: "The ocean drives climate and weather." Show how to write a sentence that uses this quote with a correct MLA in-text citation, and explain your steps.
- Identify the key information needed for an MLA in-text citation: the author's last name (Earle) and the page number where the quote was found (14).
- Write your lead-in phrase to introduce the quote smoothly into your own sentence.
- Place the exact words from the source inside double quotation marks.
- Add a space after the closing quotation mark, then write the citation in parentheses: (Earle 14).
- Place the period at the very end, outside of the closing parenthesis, to complete your sentence: Dr. Sylvia Earle argues that "the ocean drives climate and weather" (Earle 14).
