Stylebook Home ~ Works Cited ~ Plagiarism

All the formatting information on this page is based on the MLA format. If your teacher has required you to use APA instead, click here to see the different requirements for that style.

Margins, font size, etc.

• Your margins should be 1” on each side.
• Use a standard 12 point font, such as Times New Roman, Courier, or Arial. 
• Indent the first line of each new paragraph by about 5 spaces.
• Do not justify the right hand margin to make it even.
• Double-space everything throughout your entire paper.
• Print in black ink only on standard size and standard weight white paper.
• DO NOT include a “cover” or any illustrated cover sheet unless your teacher specifically tells you to do so.

Pagination

Every page in your paper should be numbered in the upper right corner with an Arabic numeral. To create page numbers in Word, click View, then Header and Footer. Format the page number so that it’s in the same font as the rest of the paper, and so that it’s aligned with the right edge of the Header box. Type your last name and then insert the symbol for page number.

Your page number should look like this:

 

Parker 4

Where Parker is your last name and this is the fourth page of the paper.

The pages of your paper should appear in this order:

1. Title page, if required
2. Abstract, if required – APA only
3. Text, or Body, of the paper
4. Works Cited page (References page in APA)
5. Appendixes, if needed. Each one begins on a separate page.
    

Title page

MLA prefers that your paper be submitted without a title page. Instead, you will set your margins to 1” and your paper to double-spaced, and begin to type at the first line:

Your name
Your teacher’s name
The name of the course
The date
The title of the paper (centered)

Do not underline your title or put it in quotation marks or type it in all capital letters.

Here is a sample MLA first page:

Parker 1  Peter Parker Mrs. Duncan U.S. History 1 April 15, 2005 The Development of the Atomic Bomb         The first detonation of an atomic bomb on August 1, 1945 followed years of research in the United States, England, the Soviet Union, and even in the laboratories of Nazi Germany.  Even before the detonation took place,

Note: If your teacher asks for a separate title page, prepare it in exactly the same way, but begin a new page before you begin to type the text .

APA specific requirements

If you are using the APA format, a separate title page is required.

1. Set your margins to 1” and your spacing to double space.
2. Do not right justify the margins. Do not break a word at the end of line. (If necessary, begin a new line and type the complete word there.)
3. Open the document header, and type the running header (the first two or three words of the title) and page number that will appear on every page in your paper at the right.
4. Close the header and press the enter key several times. You should be about one-third away from the top of the page. 
5. Center your text. Type the full title of your paper, using upper and lower case letters. Do not underline.
6. Press enter once and type your name.
7. Press enter again and type Fair Lawn High School.

Here is a sample APA title page:
 

Growth Patterns 1      Growth Patterns in Albino Soybeans Peter Parker Fair Lawn High School

Preparing an abstract

APA requires an abstract, which is a single paragraph summary of the main points in your paper.

1. The abstract follows the title page and precedes the body of the paper, and is numbered in sequence as page 2.
2. At the top of the page, type the word Abstract, using upper and lower case letters, centered, at the top of the page.
3. Type the abstract as a single paragraph. Use block format (that is, do not indent at the beginning of the paragraph.)
4. The abstract should be a 100-200 word summary of the paper..

Quotations

1. A quotation that is fewer than 40 words long should be typed within the body of the text. Enclose in quotation marks.
2. A quotation that is longer than 40 words should be in its own block of double-spaced text. Do not use quotation marks. Do not indent the beginning of the paragraph or block.
3. When a period or comma comes just before closing quotation marks, place the punctuation before, not after, the quotation marks. Other punctuation (for example, a question mark) comes after the closing quotation marks unless it is part of the quotation.
4. To indicate an error in the original quotation, use the Latin word [sic], as in MLA, but enclose it in brackets and italicize it.

Italics or Underlining?

• Most items that are underlined in MLA are italicized in APA. Italicize:
  1. title of books and periodicals
  2. genera, species and varieties
  3. a technical term the first time it is used (not subsequent uses of the term)
  4. letters used as statistical symbols or algebraic variables
  5. the volume number in a References list (example:  2:16-23)

When your research is not presented as a paper

Most of the same rules apply to your research project, regardless of the format in which it appears. You always need to do careful research, to document your work completely, and to use correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Only the requirements of the format will be different.

As with a written research paper, you must always be aware of the requirements your teacher has given you. Unless your teacher tells you otherwise, you can follow the general guidelines below for your PowerPoint or Web-based research project.

PowerPoint

PowerPoint is primarily a visual medium. This means that your content will only be communicated to your viewer if it looks good. It’s important to make sure that the way your work looks reflects the content you’re trying to communicate.
 

• Your presentation should begin with a title slide, or with an introductory slide followed by a title slide.
• Select colors and fonts and layout patterns that aren’t too complicated, and that are in keeping with the subject of your presentation. For example, if your presentation is about a very serious subject, don’t use bold, crazy colors or silly fonts.
• Be consistent in your use of backgrounds. Don’t change the color and style for each slide.
• Make sure you select fonts that are easy to read from a distance and from close-up.
• Don’t use more than two different fonts in your presentation. If you need more variety for emphasis or some other reason, stick to these same two fonts and use bold or italic variations.
• Don’t fill up whole slides with text. Balance text and images on each slide.

How to Document Your Work in PowerPoint

You’ll need the same information for citing your sources, and you’ll still use MLA form. There are several ways to show your documentation; whichever system you use, be consistent, and use the same one throughout your presentation. If your teacher prefers one system over another, use that one.

Method A – References in Text

At the bottom or end of each slide, include a reference in text exactly as you would in a written paper.

For example:

At the end of your presentation, you will have a slide, or a series of slides, that show the complete citation information for all the sources you used, just like a Works Cited page.

For example:

Method B: Hyperlinks

This method is more complicated. You will begin by making an individual slide for each one of your sources:

On each of the information slides in your presentation, write the word “Source” or something similar. Then make this word a hyperlink so that when your viewer clicks on it, it will change to the slide that provides the full course information.

Method C: Works Cited on Each Page

At the bottom of each page, using a smaller font, provide the complete citation for your source, just as you would on a Works Cited page. But you won’t need a Works Cited slide for this presentation, because the information is on each individual slide instead. You may have to repeat the information on more than one slide.

For example:

Webpage or Website

A webpage or website is an interactive medium. This means that what makes web content different from other presentation formats is that you can click on links and go from page to page, or from place to place within a page. It’s also a visual medium, so if your page is hard to read or navigate, it won’t be of much use to your viewer. Just like in a PowerPoint presentation, it’s important to make sure that the way your work looks reflects the content you’re trying to communicate.

• Your page should not be wider than the average computer screen. Also, it’s better to break up your work into multiple shorter pages than it is to keep it as one very long page.
  Select colors and fonts and layout patterns that aren’t too complicated, and that are in keeping with the subject of your presentation. For example, if your presentation is about a very serious subject, don’t use bold, crazy colors or silly fonts.
• Don’t use fonts that are too small to read on the screen.
• Don’t use more than two different fonts in your presentation. If you need more variety for emphasis or some other reason, stick to these same two fonts and use bold or italic variations.
• Don’t fill up whole pages with text. Balance text and images on each page.
• Don’t use more than one animated element on each page.
• Use a heading at the top of each page.
• Keep your backgrounds simple, and make sure that the colors of your fonts don’t clash with the backgrounds.
• Make sure that all your links work before you hand in your assignment.

How to Document Your Work on a Webpage or Website

You should document your web-based work in the same way you document a written paper. Use references in text and provide a Works Cited page as part of your project. However:

• If you include an illustration or graph or chart within the body of a page (as you should on a webpage, although not in a written paper), include the full citation just below that illustration.

“1.5.9 Graph Isomorphism” State University of New York at Stony Brook. 7 Mar. 2001.

30 Nov 2004. <www.cs.sunysb.edu/.../ graph-isomorphism.shtml> .
 

• Because you have the luxury of providing links, you can link directly to each Internet source from your Works Cited page. Clicking on the link will take your reader to the specific page cited.
  
  
   

  “1.5.9 Graph Isomorphism” State University of New York at Stony Brook. 7 Mar 2001. <www.cs.sunysb.edu/.../graph-isomorphism.shtml.> 30 Nov 2004. Bush heads north for Canada visit BBC World News. 30 Nov 2004. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2 /hi/americas/4053747.stm>

 

• Depending on the nature of your web-based project, you can also provide links within the context of your work. This kind of link provides its own documentation, and needs nothing further. Clicking on the link takes the reader to the specific page cited, and not to the site in general.

According to the BBC World News, President Bush planned to visit Canada in November, 2004, hoping to change the Canadian government’s response to the U.S. led war in Iraq.