MLA Citation Guide How to Create a Works Cited Hillsdale Public Schools This guide provides examples for the most common types of citations used by students in their Works Cited at the end of a report or paper. It is based on the 7 th edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers published by the Modern Language Association in 2009. A short sample Works Cited is included at the end. You also may use Citation Machine: <http://citationmachine.net>. General Guidelines: The list of Works Cited must be on a new page at the end of your paper. The label Works Cited (no quotation marks, no underlining) should be centered at the top of the page. Double space all entries. The first line of each entry in your list is flush with the left margin. Indent the second and following lines of each entry five spaces. This is known as a hanging indent. Entries are arranged alphabetically by the author s (or editor s) last name, or if there is no author or editor, by the first word of the title other than A, An, or The. If you have more than one work by a particular author, order alphabetically by title, and use three hyphens in place of the author s name for every entry after the first. Titles are italicized (not underlined); all important words in the title should be capitalized. Use quotation marks around the titles of articles in magazines and newspapers. Also use quotation marks for the titles of short stories, book chapters, poems, and songs. If you refer to a magazine article that appeared on pages 225 through 250, list the page numbers on your Works Cited page as 225-50. Do NOT number the citations. Pay very close attention to all of the necessary punctuation and capitalization used in each of the samples. Examples: Here are examples of citations for the most common types of sources including the Internet and databases. Consult the MLA Handbook if you have questions beyond these examples. In general, the following information is included for all book citations: Author s last name, Author s first name. Book Title. Place of Publication: Publisher, copyright date. Print. Book with one author Anderson, James. How to Sail. New York: Random House, 1999. Print. More than one book by the same author (arrange alphabetically by book title) Smith, Liz. Games for Girls. New York: Penguin, 2004. Print. - - -. Puzzles for Boys. New York: Penguin, 2003. Print.
Book with two or three authors (Give their names in the same order as on the title page not necessarily in alphabetical order. Reverse only the name of the first author, add a comma, and give the other name or names in normal form. Place a period after the last name.) Jones, Amy, and Barbara Smith. All About Pakistan. Philadelphia: Norton Books, 1999. Print. Book with an editor Abel, Mark, ed. How to Avoid Plagiarism. Burlington: Random House, 1968. Print. One work in an anthology or an essay in a book Author s last name, Author s first name. Work or Essay. Anthology Title. Editors First name Last name and First name Last name. Place of publication: Publisher, copyright date. Page number(s). Print. Nevermore, Edgar. Spielberg and His Movies. All About Movies. Eds. John Allen and Joseph Smith. London: BFI, 2000. 46-59. Print. Book with more than three authors Hemingway, Richard, et al. Rules of the Jungle. Trenton: Knopf, 1998. Print. Book with corporate author Culinary Association. Best Pancake Recipes. Chicago: Scribners, 1950. Print. Article in a reference book such as an encyclopedia (if the article is signed, include the author s name; if unsigned, begin with the title of the article). Well-known encyclopedia (no author) Article Title. Encyclopedia Title. Edition number. Copyright date. Print. Islam. Encyclopedia Americana. 15 th ed. 1997. Print.
Less familiar or specialized reference books Article Author s last name, First name. Article Title. Reference Book Title. Editor s First name Last name. Number of volumes. Place of publication: Publisher, copyright date. Print. Cahn, Mary. Spider Man. World Encyclopedia of Comics. Ed. Maurice Brass. 2 vols. New York: Chelsea, 1978. Print. Television or radio program Title of Episode or Segment. Program Title. Producer First name Last name. Network. Station call letters, City day month year of broadcast. Scandal of the Century. All Things Considered. Prod. Charles Haines. PBS. WNET, New York 6 June 2002. NOTE: Omit the articles A, An, and The as the first word in periodical (newspapers, magazines, journals) titles. Article in a journal or a magazine Weekly magazine: Author s Last name, First name. Article Title. Magazine Title day month year: page number(s). Film or movie Movie or film title. Director s First name Last name. Performers First names Last names. Production company, year of release. Chicago. Dir. Rob Marshall. Perf. Reneé Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere. Miramax, 2002. Hudson, John. Give Me Liberty. Time 4 July 1990: 10-12. Newspaper article Author s Last name, First name. Article Title. Newspaper Title day month year: Section and page+. (NOTE: The plus sign indicates any additional pages of the article.) Kelly, Mike. Conventions are Big Business. Record 15 Jan. 2003: A1+.
NOTE ON ELECTRONIC SOURCES: The samples in this section provide complete citation information. However, sometimes sources do not provide all desired information. Therefore, writers must settle for citing whatever information is available. Article from a database (note that the library where accessed and the URL are included) Author s Last name, First name. Article Title. Periodical Title. Day month year of publication: page number(s). Database Name. Name of Library Where Accessed, Location of Library Where Accessed. Web. Day month year of access. <URL of sponsoring organization>. SAMPLE WITH AUTHOR: Heming, Wayne. Culture in Paris. New Yorker 15 June 1999: 19-22. EBSCOhost. Lucia A. Drake Media Center, Hillsdale, NJ. Web. 10 Sept. 2004. <http://belsweb2.bccls.org>. SAMPLE WITH NO AUTHOR: Internet site With author: Last name, First name. Title of Website. Day month year published or last revised. Sponsoring Organization. Web. Day month year of access <URL>. Peterson, Susan Lynn. The Life of Martin Luther. 1999. Harvard University. Web. 9 Mar. 2001 <http://pweb.netcom.com/ ~supeters/luther.htm>. No author: Legends of our Times. 22 Jan. 2003. Museum of American History. Web. 12 Oct. 2004 <http://museum.org>. Fresco Painting. Britannica Online. 2002. Encyclopædia Britannica. Web. 8 May 2002 <http://search.eb.com>.
SAMPLE Works Cited Abel, Mark, ed. How to Avoid Plagiarism. Burlington: Ashgate, 1968. Print. Anderson, James. How to Sail. New York: Random House, 1999. Print. Cahn, Mary. Spider Man. World Encyclopedia of Comics. Ed. Maurice Brass. 2 vols. New York: Chelsea, 1978. Print. Chicago. Dir. Rob Marshall. Perf. Reneé Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere. Miramax, 2002. Film. Peterson, Susan Lynn. The Life of Martin Luther. 1999. Harvard University. Web. 9 Mar. 2001 <http://pweb.netcom.com/~supeters/luther.htm>. Scandal of the Century. All Things Considered. Prod. Charles Haines. PBS. WNET, New York 6 June 2002. Television. Smith, Liz. Games for Girls. New York: Penguin, 2004. Print. - - -. Puzzles for Boys. New York: Penguin, 2003. Print. Culinary Association. Best Pancake Recipes. Chicago: Scribners, 1950. Print. Fresco Painting. Britannica Online. 2002. Encyclopædia Britannica. Web. 8 May 2002 <http://search.eb.com>. Heming, Wayne. Culture in Paris. New Yorker 15 June 1999: 19-22. EBSCOhost. Lucia A. Drake Media Center, Hillsdale, NJ. Web. 10 Sept. 2004. <http://belsweb2.bccls.org>. Hemingway, Richard, et al. Rules of the Jungle. Trenton: Knopf, 1998. Print. Hudson, John. Give Me Liberty. Time. 4 July 1990: 10-12. Print. Islam. Encyclopedia Americana. 15 th ed. 1997. Print. Jones, Amy, and Barbara Smith. All About Pakistan. Philadelphia: Norton Books, 1999. Print. Kelly, Mike. Conventions are Big Business. Record 15 Jan. 2003: A1+. Print. Legends of our Times. 22 Jan. 2003. Museum of American History. Web. 12 Oct. 2004 <http://museum.org>. Nevermore, Edgar. Spielberg and His Movies. All About Movies. Eds. John Allen and Joseph Smith. London: BFI, 2000. 46-59. Print.
MLA GUIDE PARENTHETICAL CITATIONS The purpose of a research paper is to synthesize previous research and scholarship with your ideas on the subject. Therefore, you should feel free to use other persons words, facts, and thoughts in your research paper, but the material you borrow must not be presented as if it were your own creation. When you write your research paper, remember that you must document everything that you borrow not only direct quotations and paraphrases but also information and ideas (Gibaldi 69). The word plagiarism comes from the Latin word plagiarius meaning kidnapper. When a writer uses someone else s words or thoughts without giving the original author credit, he or she is plagiarizing. Writers need to know the difference between quoting and paraphrasing information. Quoting is copying the author s words exactly. Quotation marks and the correct parenthetical citation are needed with the quoted material. When a quotation is changed in any way, it is called paraphrasing. Though quotation marks are not needed, correct parenthetical citation is still necessary. The following excerpt is from Robert Hughes s The Fatal Shore, an account of the founding of Australia. The examples of how students tried to use this excerpt illustrate the problem of plagiarism (Trimmer 25). Original Version Transportation did not stop crime in England or even slow it down. The criminal class was not eliminated by transportation, and could not be, because transportation did not deal with the causes of crime. Version A Transportation did not stop crime in England or even slow it down. Criminals were not eliminated by transportation because transportation did not deal with the causes of crime. Version A is plagiarism because the writer has neither put quotation marks around the quoted material nor given a parenthetical citation to indicate that the words are not hers (Trimmer 26). Version B Robert Hughes points out that transportation did not stop crime in England or even slow it down. The criminal class was not eliminated by transportation, and could not be, because transportation did not deal with the causes of crime (168). Version B is also plagiarism, even though the writer acknowledges his source and documents the passage with a parenthetical [citation].... He has copied the original word for word yet has supplied no quotation marks to indicate the extent of the borrowing (Trimmer 26). Version C Hughes argues that transporting criminals from England to Australia did not stop crime.... The criminal class was not eliminated by transportation, and could not be, because transportation did not deal with the causes of crime (168). Version C is one satisfactory way of handling this source material. The writer has identified her source at the beginning of the sentence, letting readers know who is being quoted. She then explains the concept of transportation in her own words, placing within quotation marks the parts of the original she wants to quote and using ellipsis points to delete the parts she wants to omit. She provides a parenthetical [citation] to the page number in the source listed in the Works Cited (Trimmer 26). Parenthetical Citations The most common way to document information is to refer to its source in parentheses within the report. This is called a parenthetical citation. The reference in parentheses directs the reader to the Works Cited list at the end of the report. Writers should supply parenthetical citations for each quotation, paraphrase, or summary that they use (Anderson 484). The following are basic guidelines for parenthetical citations and a corresponding Works Cited sample for elementary and middle school students. For more information on this subject, refer to the 7 th edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers..
SAMPLE Work by One Author: Give the author s last name and the page number (unless it is a non print work) in parentheses. PLEASE NOTE: There is no comma preceding the page number. Records show that about 57 tsunamis happen every ten years (González 102). If you mention the author s name in the sentence, give only the page number if the source is more than one page. As Svitil reports, tsunami waves in the open ocean are many hundreds of feet long but only a few feet high. In deep water, the wave usually passes unnoticed. In shallow water, however, the wave can become as high as a 10-story building (70). Work with No Author Given: Give the title (or a shortened version of the title) and the page number if it is a print work. A horizontal shift will not cause the waves ( What 82). Electronic Source: Give the author s last name. If no author is given, list the title. Such a wave travels very fast, but it gets dangerous when it gets close to shore. There the wave slows down in shallow water, and it gets higher ( Physics ). Works Cited González, Frank I. Tsunami! New York: Random House, 1999. Print. Physics of Tsunamis. West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center Home Page. 6 Sept. 1999. West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center. Web. 7 Mar. 2000 <http://wcatwc.gov/physics.htm>. Svitil, Kathy A. A Deadly Wave. Discover Jan. 1999: 68 71. Print. What Is a Tsunami? The Handy Science Answer Book. Detroit: Visible Ink, 1994. Print. Wilson, Robert E. Tsunami. Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. Deluxe ed. Danbury: Grolier, 1999. CD ROM. (Anderson 484) (Anderson 485)
Works Cited Anderson, Gloria, et al. Language Network. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, Inc., 2001 Print.. Electronic Sources MLA Style. 20 Jan. 2005. The Write Source. Web. 25 July 2006 <http://thewritesource.com/index 2.htm>. Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7 th ed. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 2009. Print. Hacker, Diane. A Writer s Reference. 5 th ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martin s, 2003. Print. Rohr, Kathy. MLA Citation Guide How to Create a Works Cited. West Essex: West Essex Junior High School Library, 2005. Print. Trimmer, Joseph F. A Guide to MLA Documentation. 6 th ed. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Print.