MLA Footnotes Examples
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The Modern Language Association (MLA) prefers parenthetical citations, but permits footnotes. Go figure. The arbiter in the matter is your teacher or professor. Find out what he or she prefers.
Learn the basics here, and then use our footnoter tool to automatically insert MLA footnotes into your next paper.
Footnotes and parenthetical citations examples of in MLA style.
For a book:
Your topic? The Cardiff Giant hoax that mesmerized America in the nineteenth century.
You write: It only took scientist O. C. Marsh twenty minutes to figure out the mystery of the giant, supposedly a three-hundred-year-old statue.
The MLA footnote would look like this –
1Mark Jaffe, The Gilded Dinosaur: The Fossil War Between E.D. Cope and O.C. Marsh and the Rise of American Science (New York: Crown Publishers, 2000) 1-8.
Here’s the MLA abbreviated footnote format –
2Jaffe 1-8.
An MLA parenthetical citation will look like this –
It only took scientist O. C. Marsh twenty minutes to figure out the mystery of the giant, supposedly a three-hundred-year-old statue. (Jaffe 1-8)
For a book section:
Same topic. Same book. Somewhat different form.
The MLA footnote will look like this –
1Mark Jaffe, "Chapter One." The Gilded Dinosaur: The Fossil War Between E.D. Cope and O.C. Marsh and the Rise of American Science, (New York: Crown Publishers, 2000) 1-8.
Here’s the MLA abbreviated footnote format –
2Jaffe 1-8.
An MLA parenthetical citation will look like this –
It only took scientist O. C. Marsh twenty minutes to figure out the mystery of the giant, supposedly a three-hundred-year-old statue. (Jaffe 1-8)
For an encyclopedia:
You’re doing a paper that covers advances in medicine. In it, you use information from The Columbia Encyclopedia.
You write: The Human Genome Project was 83 percent complete in 2000 after ten years of mapping the twenty-three pairs of human chromosomes. Genes for such diseases as a type of breast cancer, cystic fibrosis, Huntington’s disease and neurofibromatosis were located.
The MLA footnote will look like this –
1Columbia University, "Human Genome Project," The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth. ed. Paul Lagasse. vol., 22847.
Here’s the MLA abbreviated footnote format –
2"Human Genome Project." The Columbia Encyclopedia. 22847.
An MLA parenthetical citation will look like this –
The Human Genome Project was 83 percent complete in 2000 after ten years of mapping the twenty-three pairs of human chromosomes. Genes for such diseases as a type of breast cancer, cystic fibrosis, Huntington’s disease and neurofibromatosis were located. (Columbia University 22847)
For a journal item:
Slogging around for material on American war memorials, you happen across an American Forests journal item by Gabriela Rodrigues detailing Memorial Trees. These were planted to honor the soldiers of World War I and later the Second World War and victims of the 9-11 terrorist attacks.
The MLA footnote will look like this –
1Gabriela Rodrigues, "Preserving history by saving sycamores," American Forests 2.
Here’s the MLA abbreviated footnote format –
2Rodrigues.
An MLA parenthetical citation will look like this –
War memorials sometimes fall victim to neglect or vandalism. Thirty-three Memorial Trees planted in a small town in Pennsylvania in honor of veterans of World War I were almost toppled by chainsaws. (Rodrigues)
For a magazine article:
Your professor wants a paper on the great American political system. You’ve narrowed the topic to the 2008 presidential election. Still a large subject, you whittled even further to the campaign strategies of frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Rudolph Guiliani. You find an excellent article in The New Yorker on Rudy.
You write: Rudy Giuliani learned an important lesson about politicking from a real pro, longtime New York attorney general, Louis Lefkowitz. They were working the streets of Manhattan when a man questioned Guiliani on one of his positions, a position the man opposed. Giuliani spent a long time trying to change the man’s opinion. Finally Lefkowitz put his arm around the inexperienced candidate and said, “Hey kid, you’re not gonna get this guy’s vote.”
The MLA footnote will look like this –
1Peter J. Boyer "Mayberry Man: Why the heartland likes Rudy Giuliani," The New Yorker, 44-61.
Here’s the MLA abbreviated footnote format –
2Boyer 44-61.
An MLA parenthetical citation will look like this –
Rudy Giuliani learned an important lesson about politicking from a real pro, longtime New York attorney general, Louis Lefkowitz. They were working the streets of Manhattan when a man questioned Guiliani on one of his positions, a position the man opposed. Giuliani spent a long time trying to change the man’s opinion. Finally Lefkowitz put his arm around the inexperienced candidate and said, “Hey kid, you’re not gonna get this guy’s vote.”
(Boyer 44-61)
For a newspaper article:
In a paper examining the problems faced by the airline industry, you bring up the August 2007 Los Angeles International Airport computer snafu.
You write: Planes were held up for hours because of glitch in the United States Customs and Border Protection agency’s computers. Seventeen thousand passengers were affected all because of a network card in a desktop computer that wasn’t working properly.
You picked this up from a New York Times article.
The MLA footnote will look like this –
1John Schwartz "Who Needs Hackers?," New York Times 12 September 2007, National, H1, H6.
Here’s the MLA abbreviated footnote format –
2Schwartz H1, H6.
An MLA parenthetical citation will look like this –
Planes were held up for hours because of glitch in the United States Customs and Border Protection agency’s computers. Seventeen thousand passengers were affected all because of a network card in a desktop computer that wasn’t working properly. (Schwartz H1, H6)
For a Web site:
Your paper deals with how to get fit. You examine different devices and their promises of firmer thighs and so on. You conclude that the best way to get your body looking better is to work out more and properly.
As an example, you use abdominal exercises.
You write: Many people fall for the ab stimulators. They’re good in physical therapy for soft-tissue injuries. Pretty much useless for working your abs. Instead, do a circuit of exercises that include knee touches, ankle smacks, hip thrusts, butterfly sit-ups, and others.
You discovered all this information on a YouTube page.
The MLA footnote will look like this –
1Jackdanyells, (10 September 2007), How to workout Your Abs Without Buying Stupid Crap. YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrUUEujszlY.
Here’s the MLA abbreviated footnote format –
2Jackdanyells.
An MLA parenthetical citation will look like this:
Many people fall for the ab stimulators. They’re good in physical therapy for soft-tissue injuries. Pretty much useless for working your abs. Instead, do a circuit of exercises that include knee touches, ankle smacks, hip thrusts, butterfly sit-ups, and others. (Jackdanyells)
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