PHSC LIBRARIES MLA Documentation and Format LINCC Electronic Resources This handout was developed using the 7 th edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. The MLA Reference Number is included where applicable, and all citations reflect the rules found in the Modern Language Association s most current handbook. For more in-depth information, please reference these books, which are on reserve at all of the PHSC libraries. Please see the following resources for additional help with your paper: PHSC Writing Center http://www.phccwritingcenter.org/ PHSC Learning Center YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/channel/ucnpxofh0seuavulnngx6edg/feed?view_as=public PHSC libraries http://phsc.edu/library LINCC ELECTRONIC RESOURCES (PHSC DATABASES)... 1 An Article in a Journal (5.6.4)... 1 A Journal Article or Book Chapter Reprinted in a Reference Book (5.5.6)... 2 An Article in a Newspaper (5.6.4)... 2 An Article in a Magazine (5.6.4)... 2 An Article in an Online Reference Book (encyclopedia, dictionary) 5.6.2... 3 A LINCC Online Book... 3 An Article from Issues and Controversies... 3 An Item from Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center... 3 IN-TEXT CITATIONS... 4 Author Not Named In Your Sentence (6.4.2)... 4 Author Named In Your Sentence (6.4.2)... 4 A Work with Two or Three Authors (6.4.2)... 4 A Work with More Than Three Authors (6.3)... 4 A Work by an Author of Two or More Cited Works (6.4.6)... 4 A Work with No Person Named as Author (6.4.4)... 5 An Indirect Source (use when what you quote or paraphrase is a quotation) (6.4.7)... 5 A Multivolume Work (6.4.3)... 5 Two or More Works in the Same Citation (6.4.9)... 5 FORMATTING AN MLA STYLE PAPER... 6 First Page (4.3)... 6 Works Cited Page (5.3.2)... 6 LINCC ELECTRONIC RESOURCES (PHSC DATABASES) Databases can have all types of information. They can contain books, articles, videos, graphs, and so on. In most cases, when you are citing material that you obtained from PHSC s electronic resources, you can follow the model for the print publication, except that the database in italics should follow the page numbers, the word Web should be used in place of Print, and the date you accessed the source must be listed (day month year without commas see sample). If there are no page numbers given, be sure to include n. pag. (or N. pag. if after a period) where the page numbers are called for. An Article in a Journal (5.6.4) Author. Article Title. Journal Title Volume.Issue (Year): Page(s). Database. Medium. Date of Access. Flint, Abbi, Sue Clegg, and Frank MacDonald. "Exploring Staff Perceptions of Student Plagiarism." Journal of Further and Higher Education 30.2 (2006): 145-56. Academic Search Complete. Web. 8 July 2009. Hansen, Brian. Combating Plagiarism. CQ Researcher 13.32 (2003): 773-96. CQ Researcher Plus Archive. Web. 8 July 2009. 1
A Journal Article or Book Chapter Reprinted in a Reference Book (5.5.6) 2 Sometimes, an article that was originally printed in a book or journal is reprinted in a reference book. The source is still the article; however, the format shows that you obtained it from that book. You will begin by listing the information of the earlier publication and adding Rpt. in ( Reprinted in ) followed by the publication information of the reference book. Since these are from the LINCC databases you must also include the database information. Example of a journal article that has been reprinted in an article in a book: Author. Article Title. Journal Title Volume.Issue (Year): Page(s). Rpt. In Article Title. Book Title. Editor(s). City: Publisher, Year. Page(s). Database. Medium. Date of Access. Walsh, Thomas F. The Bedeviling of Young Goodman Brown. Modern Language Quarterly. 19.4 (1958): 331-36. Rpt. in Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Short Story Criticism. Ed. Anna Sheets. Vol. 29. Detroit: Gale, 1998. 238-40. Literature Criticism Online. Web. 29 June 2010. Example of a book chapter/excerpt that has been reprinted in a book: Author. Article Title. Book Title. Editor(s). Edition. City: Publisher, Year. Page(s). Rpt. in Title of Book. Editor(s). City: Publisher, Year. Page(s). Database. Medium. Date of Access. Grove, James. "Anne Tyler: Wrestling with the 'Lowlier Angel.'" Southern Writers at Century's End. Ed. Jeffrey J. Folks and James A. Perkins. Lexington: UP of Kentucky, 1997. 134-50. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 205. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson, 2005. 272-81. Literature Criticism Online. Web. 10 June 2010. An Article in a Newspaper (5.6.4) You can follow the model for the newspaper print publication, except that the database in italics should follow the page numbers, the word Web should be used in place of Print, and the date you accessed the source must be listed (day month year without commas see sample). Hunt, Terence. "White House Assistant Resigns, Admits Newspaper Plagiarism." The Orlando Sentinel 1 Mar. 2008, final ed.: A18. NewsBank America's Newspapers. Web. 8 July 2009. Itzkoff, Dave, comp. "A Plagiarism Complaint." The New York Times 24 June 2009, late ed.: 2. NewsBank Access World News. Web. 8 July 2009. An Article in a Magazine (5.6.4) You can follow the model for the magazine print publication, except that the database in italics should follow the page numbers, the word Web should be used in place of Print, and the date you accessed the source must be listed (day month year without commas see sample). Minutaglio, Bill. "The Afterlife of George W. Bush." Newsweek 25 May 2009: 48. Academic OneFile. Web. 8 July 2009.
Schwarzbaum, Lisa. "When Stars Write Novels." Entertainment Weekly 26 June - 3 July 2009: 115-16. Readers' Guide Full Text. Web. 8 July 2009. An Article in an Online Reference Book (encyclopedia, dictionary) 5.6.2 Freedman, Bill. "Dinosaur." Gale Encyclopedia of Science. Ed. K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner. 3rd A LINCC Online Book ed. Detroit: Gale, 2004. Science Resource Center. Web. 26 Jan. 2010. Wray, David. Catullus and the Poetics of Roman Manhood. Cambridge University Press, 2001. ebook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 18 Oct. 2011. Putt, Carole A. Outcome Research in Substance Abuse Treatment. Substance Abuse: A Practitioner s Guide to Comparative Treatments. Eds. E. Thomas Dowd and Loreen Rugle. New York: Springer, 2007. 8-49. ebrary. Web. 8 July 2009. An Article from Issues and Controversies "Title of Article." Issues and Controversies Date of publication: n. pag. Issues and Controversies. Web. Date of Access. "Microfinance." Issues and Controversies 14 June 2010: n. pag. Issues and Controversies. Web. 29 June 2010. "Vaccine Exemptions." Issues and Controversies 9 Feb. 2007: n. pag. Issues and Controversies. Web. 8 July 2009. An Item from Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center Opposing Viewpoints is home to many forms of material, including books, periodicals, and statistical information. The following examples are an article in a book with an editor, an article in a journal, and a table, respectively. Moorhouse, John C., and Brent Warner. "Gun Control Laws Do Not Reduce Violent Crime." Opposing Viewpoints: Violence. Ed. Louise Gerdes. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. N. pag. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 8 July 2009. Peleg-Oren, Neta, Giora Rahav and Meir Teichman. "School-age Children of Fathers with Substance Use Disorder: Are They a High Risk Population?" Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education 52. 2 (2008): 9-30. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 8 July 2009. "Table: Alcohol Use among Teens." Table. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 8 July 2009. 3
IN-TEXT CITATIONS Author Not Named In Your Sentence (6.4.2) The Sedlec Ossuary is located in the city of Kutna Hora in the Czech Republic (Cruickshank 92). Author Named In Your Sentence (6.4.2) In his new book, architectural historian Dan Cruickshank travels to the Czech Republic to visit the Sedlec Ossuary (92-97). A Work with Two or Three Authors (6.4.2) Although writings describing utopia have always seemed to take place far from the everyday world, in fact all utopian fiction whirls contemporary actors through a costume dance no place else but here (Rabkin, Greenberg, and Olander vii). A Work with More Than Three Authors (6.3) If the source has more than three authors, you may list all their last names or use only the first author s name followed by et al. It depends on what you do in your list of Works Cited. or Increased competition means that employees of public relations firms may find their loyalty stretched in more than one direction (Cameron et al. 417). Increased competition means that employees of public relations firms may find their loyalty stretched in more than one direction (Cameron, Wilcox, Reber, and Shin 417). A Work by an Author of Two or More Cited Works (6.4.6) If your list of Works Cited contains more than one work by an author, you need to specify which work you are citing. Put a comma after the author s last name, and add the full title of the work if it is brief and the page number. If the title is too long, shorten it to the first main word or the first two or three main words. Shakespeare s King Lear has been called a comedy of the grotesque (Frye, Anatomy 237). For Northrop Frye, one s death is not a unique experience, for every moment we have lived through we have also died out of into another order (Double Vision 85). 4
A Work with No Person Named as Author (6.4.4) For a work with no person named as author or editor, use a full or shortened version of the title. This is an example where the title of the article is Right to Die and there is no person named as an author. Death-row inmates may demand execution to achieve a fleeting notoriety ( Right to Die 16). Death-row inmates may demand execution to achieve a fleeting notoriety ( Right 16). or If there are two publications with the same title, include the title or a shortened version of the title of the publication it was printed in. Say, for example, Controversies in Medicine and Physician s Quarterly both have articles with the same title: Freedom to Die. In order to distinguish them in the paper, a shortened version of the publication must be included after the title. Many argue that determining how their lives will end is a basic right ( Freedom, Controversies). Others argue that legalized euthanasia would open doors to abuse ( Freedom, Physician s). An Indirect Source (use when what you quote or paraphrase is a quotation) (6.4.7) When the material that you quote or paraphrase is a quote from someone else, that someone else has to be given credit: According to Jones, Dinosaurs are still living among us. They are birds! (qtd. in McFarland). This means that Jones was quoted in (qtd. in) the article written by McFarland. There would be a source listed in the Works Cited with McFarland as author. A Multivolume Work (6.4.3) In the parenthetical reference, separate the volume number and the page number with a colon and a space (Wellek 2: 1-10). If you are citing the entire volume, add the abbreviation vol. before the volume number. After issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln said, What I did, I did after very careful deliberations, and under a very heavy and solemn sense of responsibility (5: 438). Between 1945 and 1972, the political party system in the United States underwent profound changes (Schlesinger, vol. 4). Two or More Works in the Same Citation (6.4.9) When you refer to more than one work in a single parenthetical citation, separate the references with a semicolon. Two recent articles point out that a computer badly used can be less efficient than no computer at all (Gough and Hall 201; Richards 162). 5
FORMATTING AN MLA STYLE PAPER First Page (4.3) Works Cited Page (5.3.2) 6