Key Terms
From the French word "l'essai", or to attempt, this form is largely credited to Michel de Montaigne.
What is an essay?
If you've included the exact words of a source, inside of quotation marks, you've done this.
What is a quote?
This is the action of a sentence.
What is the verb?
Included at the end of a sentence or sentences that include source information, this type of citation comes before, not after, terminal punctuation.
What is a parenthetical citation?
What are margins?
Traditionally, this appears towards the end of the introduction of an essay, but you might choose to delay it to the end of your essay if you think your audience might be resistant.
What is a thesis?
This is the term for when you include an overview of a source text in your own writing, but you condense it, pulling out the relevant details for your own essay.
What is a summary?
This is the actor in a sentence.
What is a subject?
You've done this if your written sentences include enough information about a source for your reader to identify it by first element on your Works Cited page.
What is an in-text citation?
In MLA, this should be in the header, next to your last name.
What are page numbers?
This is the preferred source type of academic writing, as it has been checked and approved by experts in the field in which the author is writing.
What is a peer-reviewed source?
When you do this, you translate or state something a source has said, but in your own voice.
What is a paraphrase?
There are three ways to join two complete sentences in English grammar. They are FANBOYS, WABBITS, and this.
What is a semicolon?
This kind of title is always marked with italics in MLA, in the text and on the Works Cited page.
What is a container title?
What is a font?
An essay can be said to do this if it makes connections between the ideas from multiple sources, and uses those connections to support the thesis.
What is synthesis?
If you copy and paste text from a source, and then replace words to make it sound different, you've done this.
What is plagiarism?
What is a comma splice?
This element of a Works Cited page entry refers usually to page numbers or urls, depending on the kind of source.
What is the location?
If you have one of these, MLA asks you to center it above your first paragraph, with no line spaces above or below.
What is a title?
What is ethos?
If you include any information, ideas, or words from another text, regardless of whether it's quoted, you need to do this to avoid plagiarism.
What is a citation?
What is an interrobang?
What is a block quote?
This unusual formatting is used on Works Cited pages, and makes it easier for a reader to scan entries to find a specific one.
What is a hanging indent?