Question

If a student found this article in a magazine and used information from it in a research paper on the Peachtree Road Race, which is the correct way to document this source on the works cited page using the MLA system of documentation?

A) Matherne, David. The Peachtree Road Race—A Race Like No Other. Road Racer Digest March, 2007: 32-33.

B) David Matherne. "The Peachtree Road Race—A Race Like No Other." Road Racer Digest March, 2007, pp. 32-33.

C) "The Peachtree Road Race—A Race Like No Other." Matherne, David. Road Racer Digest March, 2007: pp. 32-33.

D) Matherne, David. "The Peachtree Road Race—A Race Like No Other." Road Racer Digest, Mar. 2007, pp. 32-33.

Answer 1

The beginning of an MLA citation is "lastname, firstname". B and C don't follow this, so you can eliminate them. Then you notice at the end of the citation, the pages cited has to be preceded by a "pp". Choice A doesn't follow that, so we can also eliminate that choice. The remaining choice "D" is a correct citation.

:)

Answer 2

The answer is D. According to the Modern Language Association (MLA), the correct way to document an article is the one presented in option D.

The MLA states that the first component of the reference must be the author's name, beggining with the last name, then the first name, separated with a comma, in this case: Matherne, David. The next component is the title of the article in quotation marks, in this case: "The Peachtree Road Race-A race Like No Other"; followed by the name of the journal and a comma, Road Racer Digest, although according to the MLA, this name should be italicised. Next, you write the publication date, including season and year: Mar. 2007; and finally the page numbers, starting with pp.