PACT for Conventions
Who is reading, listening, or viewing?
The conventions are what is expected and what is appropriate in a specific genre. Consider the conventions of a scary movie. Write those here:
MLA Basic Conventions:
- Typed and on standard, white 8.5 x 11-inch paper with 1 inch margins
- Double-spaced, 12 pt. Times New Roman font
- Indent the first line of paragraphs
- List your name, your instructor's name, the course, and the date in the upper left hand corner of your first page
- Create a header that includes your last name and numbers all pages consecutively in the upper right-hand corner
- Center the title (Do not underline, italicize, or put quotation marks in your title)
- Include only one space after periods or other punctuation marks
- Use italics throughout your essay for the titles of larger works (books, magazines) and quotation marks for titles of shorter works (poems, articles)
MLA Basic Work Cited Conventions:
- The Works Cited page is on a separate page at the end of the paper
- Double space all citations, but do not skip spaces between entries
- Create a hanging indent
- List entries in alphabetical order
MLA Basic In-Text Citations:
- MLA follows the author-page method of in-text citation, meaning that the author’s last name and the page number or numbers that are used must appear in the text.
Example: (Franklin 476)
- The author’s name appears in the sentence itself or in the parentheses following the quotation, paraphrase, or summary.
Example: According to Franklin, *insert quote, paraphrase, or summary*(476).
- Remember that quotes cannot stand alone!