These are basic guidelines to citing sources for research papers cited page using MLA style. If another type of source are needed, see the MLA style guide in the Reference area of the library (2nd floor) or use one of the links listed on the right.
Book, one author
Basic Format for Books:
Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication.
Medium of Publication.
Example:
Vonnegut, Kurt. Breakfast of Champions, or Goodbye Blue Monday. Garden City, N.Y.:
International Collectors Library, 1973. Print.
Book, more than one author
Hockey, Jennifer Lorna, and Allison James. Social Identities Across the Life Course.
Hampshire, N.Y.: Palgrave MacMillan, 2003. Print.
Scholarly Journal Article
Basic Format for Journal Articles:
Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal Volume.Issue (Year): pages. Medium of
publication.
Example:
Dietrich, Eric, and Anthony Gillies. "Consciousness and the Limits of Our Imaginations."
Synthese 126.3 (2001): 361-381. Print.
Online Journal Article that Also Appears in Print
For scholarly journals that you read online (see below for ones you read through one of the library's subscription databases) but that are also published in print, use the same format as print, but include the word Web and include the access date at the end.
Example:
Anielski, Mark. "Are We Happy Yet?" Alternatives Journal 35.6 (2009): 12-16. Web. 4 Dec.
2009.
Journal Article in one of the Library's Databases
Add the Database name in italics and the date accessed.
Example:
Devault, George. "More Peas, Please." Organic Gardening 47.2 (2000): 58.
Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 Mar. 2010.
Newspaper Article in Print
Rentschler, Kay. "Magical Morphing Butternut Squash." New York Times 24 Nov.
2004: 7F. Print.
Newspaper Article in one of the Library's Databases
Martin, Antoinette. "A Home for the Holidays." New York Times 20 Dec. 2009: 5.
Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 Mar. 2010.
Entire Website
MLA no longer requires that you give a web address. However, if your professor requires the URL, include it in brackets at the end of a citation. (Example:
Basic Format for Websites:
Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site. Version number. Name of
institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of
resource creation (if available). Medium of publication. Date of access.
Example:
The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U,
2008. Web. 23 Apr. 2008.
A Page on a Website
Use the same basic format as entire websites, but include the title of the page after the author/editor (if known).
Example:
"MLA 2009 Works Cited: Electronic Resources (Web Publications)." The Purdue OWL
Family of Sites. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U, 2008.
Web. 23 Apr. 2008.
Typically, parenthetical citations follow the format of the author's last name followed by a page number. The following are basic guidelines only. For works with no author, or special cases, see this site for more guidelines.
Direct Quotations (copied exactly from the original text)
Quotations that are less than four lines: place a parenthetical citation after the quotation mark, but inside the period. Example:
"A savory pie or tart can be the star of a brunch, lunch, casual supper, or buffet" (Malgieri 121).
Quotations that run more than four lines in your paper: use block quote format and do not use quotation marks. The parenthetical citation goes after the last period of the quotation. Block quotes should be double-spaced and indented one inch from the left margin. Example:
So Kilgore Trout had a depressing childhood, despite all of the
sunshine and fresh air. The pessimism that overwhelmed him in later
life, which destroyed his three marriages, which drove his only son,
Leo, from home at the age of fourteen, very likely had its roots in the
bittersweet mulch of rotting Erns. (Vonnegut 34)
Paraphrasing (writing an author's ideas in your own words)
If you paraphrase an author, place the parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence or paragraph. Example:
States with a high celebrity population, such as California and New York, should consider writing legislation that makes it unlawful to publish non-newsworthy photographs of celebrities that exploit their image, so as to protect the celebrities' privacy (Willis 202).