by Laurel Willow

Created on: May 08, 2008

As a retired high school English teacher, using MLA citation in research papers is a subject I know well. I would introduce the MLA (Modern Language Association) by placing a velvet cloth on my desk and carry the book into the room with great ceremony. I would stand the book on the desk, dusting the velvet gently, and bow to the display. Then I turned to the class and told them in hushed tones,

"These are the gods of the English language! Oh, how important they are to our work as we being our research papers. It is this small book that will guide us in our journeys of research. They will tell us how to write our papers and instruct us how to cite the material we gather from our sources. We must follow their rules exactly. We must use the proper punctuation for every citation we. When we do, the English language gods will reward us with excellent grades!"

In a following class I would bring in all the ingredients and utensils for making chocolate chip cookies. I promised to bake their creations for class the next day. Volunteers would come to the front and begin to assemble the dough. One student would read the amount of each ingredient to be added. The last step was adding the chocolate chips. I would yell, "STOP!" The class stared at me. What was wrong? I would tell them to not add the chips. A flurry of discussion would insue. "They're not chocolate chip cookies without the chips!" was the ultimate statement. In this way, I showed them the importance of following the MLA EXACTLY! (We added the chips; the cookies were delicious!)

During the next few weeks we would constantly refer to the MLA for assistance. By using the information in the book to help students write their papers properly, citation became a way of research life. I used the MLA to teach students about the importance of following the rules of style: margins, headers, numbering, cover sheet and style manuals in general.
All students knew to keep track of the sources of their information. When the time came for them to write their papers with inclusive citation they simply needed to learn the format as determined by the MLA.

Each reference had to be identified according to its genre. When that was established, students were taught how to use the MLA's index to locate the format of their citation. Each sentence of their papers was checked to see if it needed to be cited. Students quickly learned that in many cases an entire paragraph of writing came from one source and could be cited at the end. Through example, students learned how to use MLA citation if a paragraph contained information from two sources, from interviews, Web-base information, TV shows, journals and more.

Short quizzes using the book helped students to further improve their citation skills and get over their fear and/or reluctance of using the book. Since they had access to the book from the beginning of the research unit it became second nature for them to use it. We continually discussed the importance of following directions through the early example of following a recipe. What would happen if you did not put the chocolate chips into the batter? What kind of cookie would you have? The same principal was applied to their research papers. If you did not follow the MLA exactly you would not make a chocolate chip cookieI mean a correct citation!

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