MLA DOCUMENTATION/PUNCTUATION EXERCISES 

EXERCISE 1 

Place the correct information in the spaces provided (as you would find at the top of the first 

page of an MLA Document). 

 

________________ 

________________ 

________________ 

________________ 

                                    ________________ 

 

EXERCISE 2 

Insert the proper punctuation to complete the quotes (as you would find when using a quote 

from a secondary source inside of your paper). 

 

1) Dr. Hansen suggests___ ___ people need to think for themselves in order to be self-sufficient 

___ ___167 ___ ___ 

 

2) According to a recent article___ ___ The genders are set, yet men and women are different 

and equal ___ ___ Morris 254___ ___ 

 

3) ___  Victory is a wonderful thing to have and a horrible thing to use___ ___ stated General 

Landry ___Morris 168 ___ ___ 

4) Williams Shakespeare has his character Hamlet contemplate the meaning of existence.  He 

states___  

    To be, or not to be: that is the question:       Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer 

      The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune 

    Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, 

      And by opposing end them? To die, to sleep,  

    No more; and by a sleep to say we end 

      The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks 

      That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation 

      Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep; 

    To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub; 

      For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, 

      When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, 

      Must give us pause: there’s the respect 

      That makes calamity of so long life; 

      For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, 

      The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely, 

      The pangs of despis’d love, the law’s delay, 

      The insolence of office, and the spurns 

      That patient merit of the unworthy takes, 

      When he himself might his quietus make 

      With a bare bodkin? who would these fardels bear, 

    To grunt and sweat under a weary life, 

    But that the dread of something after death  

      The undiscover’d country, from whose bourn 

    No traveller returns, puzzles the will,       And makes us rather bear those ills we have 

      Than fly to others that we know not of? 

      Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; 

      And thus the native hue of resolution 

    Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought; 

      And enterprises of great pith and moment, 

      With this regard, their currents turn awry, 

      And lose the name of action ___ ___Shakespeare 568___  

A reader may note the complexity that death has for Shakespeare’s character.  

 

5) Dr. Dickey, an eminent biologist, once exclaimed ___ ___The types of non-indigenous plants 

found in a residential area may hold an answer to the plight of sufferers of allergies ___ ___ 

Morehead 23 ___ ___ 

 

EXERCISE 3 

Insert the proper punctuation to complete the paraphrases (as you would find when creating a 

paraphrase from a secondary source inside of your paper). 

 

1) Star Wars is based in part on Akira Kurosawa’s film The Hidden Fortress ___  Anderson 7 

___ ___ 

 

2) MASH stands for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, a common acronym used in the United 

States Military ___  Donaldson 23 ___ ___ 

 

3) While many religious communities have strict doctrines on sexual activity, there seems to be 

a surprising increase of localized strains of Sexually-Transmitted Diseases in those areas ___  Szczepkowski ___ ___ 

 

4) Amerification is the radical notion which claims that Mexico, the United States, and Canada 

should open their borders to ensure economic prosperity for the entire continent, providing 

Canadian raw materials, Mexican manufacturing, and transportation of goods by the United 

States ___  “Struggling Economies” ___ ___ 

 

5) Just as paper books have been replaced by digital documents, personal computers may 

ultimately be replaced by cellular phones ___ Harrison ___ ___ 

 

EXERCISE 4 

Insert the proper punctuation to complete the following bibliographic citations (as you would find 

when creating a “Works Cited” entry from a secondary source). 

1) Silverstein___  Shel___ The Giving Tree___  New York City___  Harper Collins___ 1964___ 

Print___  

 

2) Life is Good Corporation___ Life is Good___ Simple Words from Jake and Rocket___ Des 

Moines___ Meredith Books___ 2009 ___Print ___ 

 

3) Pausch, Randy___   The Last Lecture___  New York City___ Hyperion___ 2008___ Print___  

 

4) ___ Life Beyond Hardships___ ___  Foundation for Overcoming Obstacles_._  02 February 

2010___  Web___  03 February 2011___ ___http://www.overcomingoil.org/ lifebeyond___ ___ 

 

5) Iron Man___  Dir___  Jon Favreau___  Marvel___ 2008___ Film___   

  

 EXERCISE 5 

Place the information from EXERCISE 4 into a Works Cited page, using the space below. 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOTE: MAKE SURE THE CITATIONS ARE PLACED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER.  AND, 

MAKE SURE THE STUDENT PLACES THE WORDS "WORKS CITED"  ABOVE THE 

CITATIONS.