Skip to Main Content

Information Technology & Computing

MLA Citations

Modern Language Association (MLA) Handbook

Need help understanding MLA's citation style? The links below lead to useful MLA information.

Citation Makers

A citation generator may serve as a starting place to help you create your citations. However, PLEASE DO NOT RELY ONLY ON A CITATION GENERATOR. They often do not include all of the needed information and contain errors in formatting and punctuation.

If you use a citation generator, you must cross-check your citations with a citation style website, like the Purdue Owl (Online Writing Lab), which will show you each part needed for each kind of citation you are creating.

Academic Support and Tutoring

A bright yellow notebook lies in the center of a desk with the word "tutoring" written on it.

Academic Support and Tutoring (AST) provides free tutoring to MCC students (including writing and citation assistance) and free support and tutorials for college-related software.

AST offers in-person support in the Learning Commons, located on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the Learning Technology Center (LTC). You can also reach out to AST via phone, Zoom, or email.

Use the link above to learn more about AST and locate its contact information and hours. 

Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

Guidelines for Avoiding Plagiarism

This short guide will explain plagiarism and how to avoid it.

Paraphrases and Quotes

Not sure what the difference is between paraphrasing, summarizing and quoting? 

Paraphrasing: "Paraphrasing involves putting a passage from source material into your own words. A paraphrase must also be attributed to the original source. Paraphrased material is usually shorter than the original passage, taking a somewhat broader segment of the source and condensing it slightly." from Purdue Owl

Summarizing: A summary is "much shorter that the original source. If your aim is to summarize a long passage, look for the author's most important ideas." from The Curious Writer

Quoting: A quote contains the exact words from a source. Don't forget to use quotation marks and cite the source.

If you need further help, try these websites: