Eng 103, Spring 2007, Essid
Using MLA documentation

All papers for me should use Modern Language Association format (MLA) for attributing sources. Copies of the MLA handbook are on permanent reserve at the main service desks at Boatwright Library. Be prepared to walk over to borrow them or buy one (a good investment for this course).

Know MLA format, as I will grade down for errors of citation.

This invented passage (sources are likewise fictional) uses MLA documentation to attribute quotations and paraphrases. In a Word document you would also have to double-space the paragraphs and put an indent at the beginning of each one (not easily supported for Web documents). Examples are given in red and notes to you in green. 

For decades, analysts of American foreign policy have debated the victories that communist guerrillas operating in Southeast Asia enjoyed in the 1960s and 70s. One by one, it seemed to observers in the mid 70s, the nations known then as "the Asian Dominoes" were turning communist, even after the United States and France had fought costly wars to prevent that very outcome. There was no shortage of bravery among US allies, of course. Creative writers have recently turned to this complex situation and remebered the often forgotten sacrifices by these men and women who helped the US; one such project makes a hypertext of the tales of South Vietnamese refugees living in the US today (Miller). Historians have likewise turned their attention this way; Albert notes that the ARVN troops fought well in many battles and were often more motivated to defend their homeland than the foreign soldiers who fought beside them (25).

This bravery came to naught, in the end; journalist Tex Marley says that governments of US allies were collapsing "faster than I could photogaph the scenes around me"(105). Today, as communist governments have either fallen or moderated their policies, in hindsight we reconsider what role our foreign policy played in earlier successes against America and its allies. Many reasons exist for the victory by communist forces in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos, but a few ideas bear close examination. In the countryside, one particularly powerful development was the way in which the insurgents, and not America and its allies, gained or coerced the cooperation of villagers (Cambodian History Project). In Cambodia, for example, the Khmer Rouge recruited many young men who were able to infiltrate the army while officially doing military service (Davidson 37). By doing this, the communists "created an entire force of double agents who spread confusion among the ranks of their fellow soldiers" (Cambodian History Project).

At least two important analyses of the war have reached this conclusion. With the countryside in the hands of the insurgents, it was never possible for the American-supported regimes to retain control of their nation (Albert 7, Davidson 45).

Works Consulted* :

Albert, Carol. The Long War in Southeast Asia. NY: Big Apple Books, 1998.

Cambodian History Project. 1 March 2000. U of Eastern Virginia.

10 Oct 2004 <http://www.ueva.edu/cambodia/>.

The first date in this is the date of last modification of the Web site, if you can find it. The second is the date you consult it.

Davidson, Paul. "Twilight of a War." Military History Monthly 12 (1994): 32-48.

Miller, Lane. To Save the Village. CD-ROM. Watertown, MA: Eastgate Systems, 1999.

A hypertext is a stand-alone piece of software, like a book. The only difference here is that the type of media (CD-ROM) on which the software appears gets cited as well.

Vietnam Through a Camera Lens. Ed. Tex Marley .15 Mar. 2000. 2 Oct. 2004

<http://www.photoworld.net/morley>.

"Vietnam War, The." The Big Internet Encyclopedia. Vers. 3.2 Apr. 2000. Open Internet

Resource project. 2 Oct. 2004.<http://www.bigie.com>.

*Notes

1) we have a book, professional web site, journal article, personal Web site, and an online encyclopedia. I assume that the writer got background information from the last source, but the writer did not quote or paraphrase it. Thus, the bibliography becomes a "works consulted" instead of a "works cited" list.

2) MLA format indents the second and subsequent lines of bibliographies.

Notes for all Works Cited or Consulted Lists:

For Web sources the most recent date for a site update precedes the publisher, followed by the date of your access and the site URL. MLA format does specify (for some odd reason) that the word "online" go in entries for such sources.

BIG URLS: Some sites have short Web addresses. Other are "dynamic" (with their contents in a database) and yield addresses that look like this:

http://app.harpweek.com/viewarticletext.asp?webhitsfile=hw18591022000024%2Ehtm&xpath=
%2FTEI%2E2%5B1%5D%2Ftext%5B1%5D%2Fbody%5B1%5D%2Fdiv1%5B12%5D&xml=
HW%5C1859%5C18591022%2Exml&titleid=HW&volumeid=1859&issueid=1022&pagerange=
0678bd%2D0679ac&restriction=&pageIDs=%7CHW%2D1859%2D10%2D22%2D0678%
7CHW%2D1859%2D10%2D22%2D0679%7C

DO NOT put these monsters in your lists of references. Instead, use the basic URL. In this case, the reference form would be:

"Death of Broderick." Harper's Weekly. 22 October 1859: 678-79. 1 May 2005. <http://app.harpweek.com>.

Albert, Carol. The Long War in Southeast Asia. NY: Big Apple Books, 1998.

A comprehensive history of the Vietnam conflict by a noted Harvard historian who served with the First Cavalry Division during the war. The work introduces a new perspective on special-operations missions, based upon recently declassified records.

Cambodian History Project. 1 March 2000. U of Eastern Virginia.

10 Oct 2004 <http://www.ueva.edu/cambodia/>.

This site began with a series of oral histories by Cambodian refugees who had entered the US in the 1980s. It now provides a forum for an online journal by Cambodian academics as well.

Davidson, Paul. "Twilight of a War." Military History Monthly 12 (1994): 32-48.

An unbiased account that focuses not on the politics of US engagement but rather on the legacy of US-made equipment captured by victorious Communist forces in 1975.

Vietnam Through a Camera Lens. Ed. Tex Marley .15 Mar. 2000. 2 Oct. 2004

<http://www.photoworld.net/morley>.

.The author of this site worked in Vietnam from 1969 until the fall of Saigon. One image, "F-4 Phantom at Dawn," won the Braswell Award for best military photograph in 1977. The images and text on his site reinforce his critique of the US government's policies in Southeast Asia.

Miller, Lane. To Save the Village. CD-ROM. Watertown, MA: Eastgate Systems, 1999.

This hypertext weaves together over 200 first-hand accounts by current and former Vietnamese citizens who were in the vicinity of the Cambodian/Vietnamese border in the last years of the war. Miller states in his introduction that "I wanted to capture the spirit of places that no longer exist," and over the course of seven years he interviewed people whose homes were destroyed in the war.

"Vietnam War, The." The Big Internet Encyclopedia. Vers. 3.2 Apr. 2000. Open Internet

Resource project. 2 Oct. 2004.<http://www.bigie.com>.

A good overview of the major events in the conflict with many photographs and some video footage from the war era.

Writer's Web page on printed sources: http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/mladocu.html

Richmond Libraries' page on MLA sources: http://library.richmond.edu/help/citing/index.htm

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