MLA Style Guide 7 th ed. (REF LB 2369 G53 2009) The following are examples of frequently used forms of citation. For more explanation and further examples, see MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7 th ed. (in the library at REF LB 2369 G53 2009). When you use another person's ideas in your paper, even if you put the author's ideas into your own words, you must cite (i.e. credit) the source. Citations in text are brief credits in the body of a paper. Works Cited is a complete list of all the sources cited, placed in alphabetical order, by author s last name, at the end of a paper. --Note that within a citation, authors' names are not alphabetized. Your paper should be double-spaced throughout, including quotations and the list of works cited. References cited in the body of a paper must appear in the Works Cited list and vice versa. Formatting Double-spaced Easily readable typeface, set to a standard size (e.g. Times New Roman, 12 pt.) Use quotation marks for the titles of works published within larger works Italicize the names of books, plays, Web sites, films, etc. Works Cited List Double-spaced Hanging indent (in Word 2007 use Paragraph > Special > Hanging) Alphabetized PERIODICALS Journal Article Author. Article Title. Journal Title Volume.Issue (Publication Year): page(s). Print. Author. Article Title. Journal Title Volume.Issue (Publication Year): page(s). Title of database or Web site. Web. Date of access (day, month, and year). Journal Article Early, Frances H. Staking Her Claim: Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Transgressive Woman Warrior. Journal of Popular Culture 35.3 (2001): 11-27. Print. Citation in text: (Early 12) NOTE: Omit any article ( A, An, or The ) at the beginning of the title of an English-language journal.
PERIODICALS Journal Article online database Soroka, Stuart. Schindler s List s Intermedia Influence: Exploring the Role of Entertainment in Media Agenda-Setting. Canadian Journal of Communication 25.2 (2000): 211-30. CBCA Reference. Web. 12 Sept. 2003. Citation in text: (Soroka) online page number for quotation isn t evident Journal Article online Morgan, Monique R. Frankenstein s Singular Events: Inductive Reasoning, Narrative Technique, and Generic Classification. Romanticism on the Net 44 (2006): n. pag. Web. 15 May 2008. Citation in text: (Morgan par. 20) paragraphs are numbered in the online source Magazine / Newspaper Article Author. Article Title. Magazine/Newspaper Title Day Month Year: page(s). Print. Author. Article Title. Magazine/Newspaper Title Day Month Year: page(s). Title of database or Web site. Web. Date of access (day, month, and year). Magazine Article MacQueen, Ken. Boy vs. Girl: Understanding Gender. Maclean s 26 May 2003: 26-32. Print. Citation in text: (MacQueen 27) NOTE: The volume and issue number of newspapers and magazines are not cited. Magazine Article online database Newspaper Article Fear and Loathing in Malaysia s Heartland. Economist 28 Aug. 1999: 29-30. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Mar. 2001. Citation in text: ( Fear ) no page numbers given Davidson, Darren. Lives on the Line. Nelson Daily News 21 Aug. 2003: 1+. Print. In-text citation: (Davidson 1) NOTE: If an article is not printed on consecutive pages, write only the first page number and a plus sign. Newspaper Article online database Thompson, Elizabeth. Chretien Firm on Reforms to Health System. Vancouver Sun 12 Feb. 2003, final ed.: A4. Canadian Newsstand. Web. 5 Sept. 2003. Citation in text: (Thompson A4) Page 2 of 8
BOOKS Book Book 2 works by the same author Author. Book Title. Edition (if available). Publication City: Publisher, publication year. Print. Shields, Carol. The Stone Diaries. Toronto: Random, 1993. Print. ---. Jane Austen. New York: Viking, 2001. Print. Citation in text: (Shields, Stone 20) (Shields, Jane 138-39) Book 2 or 3 authors Book more than 3 authors Hammersley, Richard, Furzana Khan, and Jason Ditton. Ecstasy and the Rise of the Chemical Generation. London: Routledge, 2002. Print. Citation in text: (Hammersley, Khan, and Ditton 69) Temple, Charles, et al. Children s Books in Children s Hands: An Introduction to Their Literature. 2 nd ed. Boston: Allyn, 2002. Print. Citation in text: (Temple et al. 188-90) NOTE: If there are more than three authors, you may name only the first and add et al. ( and others ), or you may give all names in full in the order in which they appear on the title pages. Part of a Book Work in an Anthology or Collection edited book Multivolume Work Author. Essay Title. Book Title. Ed. Editor s Name(s). Publication City: Publisher, publication year. Page(s). Print. Robinson, Eden. Queen of the North. The Penguin Anthology of Stories by Canadian Women. Ed. Denise Chong. Toronto: Penguin, 1998. 130-56. Print. Citation in text: (Robinson 131) Wellek, René. A History of Modern Criticism, 1750-1950. Vol. 4. New Haven: Yale UP, 1965. Print. Citation in text: (Wellek) NOTE: If you are using only one volume of a multivolume work and the volume has an individual title, you may cite the book without reference to the other volumes in the work. Page 3 of 8
BOOKS Government Document Name of Government. Name of Agency (and Subdivisions, if listed). Publication Title. Publication City: Publisher, publication year. Print. NOTE: If known, the name of the document s author may either begin the entry, or, if the agency comes first, follow the title and the word By (etc.) Government Document Canada. Statistics Canada. Canada Year Book 2006. Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 2006. Print. Citation in text: (Canada, Statistics 59) E-BOOKS E-book with print publication data E-book edited Author. Book Title. Edition (if available). Publication City: Publisher, publication year. Collection or Database Name. Web. Access Date. Yusuf, Shahid, and Kaoru Nabeshima, eds. How Universities Promote Economic Growth. Washington: World Bank, 2007. NetLibrary. Web. 30 Apr. 2010. Citation in text: (Yusuf and Nabeshima 241-42) REFERENCE WORKS Article in a Reference Book no author Article in a Reference Book signed article Postmodernism. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6 th ed. 2000. Print. Citation in text: ( Postmodernism ) Rothwell, Kenneth S. Shakespeare. The New Encyclopaedia Britannica: Macropaedia. 15 th ed. 2002. Print. Citation in text: (Rothwell 269) Page 4 of 8
REFERENCE WORKS NOTE: When citing specialized reference works, especially those that have appeared in only one edition, give full publication information, omitting inclusive page numbers for the article if the dictionary or encyclopedia is arranged alphabetically. AUDIOVISUAL MEDIA Video Video Film Title. Dir. Full Name. (May include screenwriter(s), performer(s), producer(s) if pertinent.) Year of Film Release (if relevant). Distributor, Year DVD/Video Released. DVD/Videocassette. My Doukhobor Cousins. Dir. Ole Gjerstad. Prod. Mark Zannis and Sally Bochner. NFB, 2002. Videocassette. Citation in text: (My Doukhobor) Video online Map The Great Train Robbery. Dir. Edward Porter. Thomas Edison, 1903. Internet Archive. Web. 5 June 2008. Citation in text: (Great Train) Michigan. Map. Chicago: Rand, 2000. Print. Citation in text: (Michigan) Map online Maplewood, New Jersey. Map. Google Maps. Google, 15 May 2008. Web. 15 May 2008. Citation in text: ( Maplewood ) Page 5 of 8
WEB DOCUMENTS Document from a Web Site Document from a Web Site Author. Document title. Title of Web Site. Publisher/Sponsor, publication date. Web. Access Date. Sinclair, Ian P.W. Taser Model X26: Test Concepts. Police Accountability. BC Civil Liberties Association, 22 Jan. 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2010. NOTE: MLA does not recommend the use of URLs in citations. If your instructor requires the URL, give it at the end, enclosed in angle brackets (see the example below). Whole Web Site Supervised Injection Site. Vancouver Coastal Health, n.d. Web. 7 May 2010. <http://supervisedinjection.vch.ca/>. COURSE LECTURES Lecture unpublished Stubbs, Neil. Ernest Hemingway and the Italian Irredentist Movement. Selkirk College, Castlegar. 17 Mar. 2003. Lecture. Citation in text: (Stubbs) INDIRECT SOURCES Indirect Source Howells, Coral Ann. Intimate Dislocations: Alice Munro, Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage. Alice Munro. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Infobase, 2009. 167-192. Print. Citation in text: Alice Munro remarked about telling jokes: It s a form of literary composition, but nobody feels it s literary, so anybody can become an expert at it (qtd. in Howells 179). NOTE: When you can, take material from the original source, not a secondhand one. Page 6 of 8
REVIEWS AND PEER COMMENTARY Review (online) Mendelsohn, Daniel. September 11 at the Movies. Rev. of United 93, dir. Paul Greengrass, and World Trade Center, dir. Oliver Stone. New York Review of Books 21 Sept. 2006: 43-46. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Apr. 2010. Citation in text: (Mendelsohn 44) OTHER COMMON SOURCES Interview Person Interviewed. Type of Interview (e.g. Personal interview, Telephone interview). Date. Interview Sutherland, Duff. Personal interview. 3 May 2010. Citation in text: (Sutherland) E-Mail Message E-Mail Message Name of the writer. Title of the message (if any) taken from the subject line. Description of the message that includes the recipient (e.g. Message to the author). Date of the message. Medium of delivery. Boyle, Anthony T. Re: Utopia. Message to Daniel J. Cahill. 21 June 1997. E-mail. Citation in text: (Boyle) NOTE: In general, determine the kind of work you are citing (e.g., a book, a typescript, a photograph, a sound recording), and follow the relevant guidelines. In place of the medium of publication, record the digital file format, followed by the word file (e.g. PDF file, Microsoft Word file, JPEG file, MP3 file, XML file, etc.) italicized if a title of a software program. If you cannot identify the file type, use Digital file. Page 7 of 8
SAMPLE REFERENCE LIST Works Cited American Council of Learned Societies. Commission on Cyberinfrastructure for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Our Cultural Commonwealth. New York: ACLS, 2006. PDF file. Boyle, Anthony T. Re: Utopia. Message to Daniel J. Cahill. 21 June 1997. E-mail. Canada. Statistics Canada. Canada Year Book 2006. Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 2006. Print. Davidson, Darren. Lives on the Line. Nelson Daily News 21 Aug. 2003: 1+. Print. Early, Frances H. Staking Her Claim: Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Transgressive Woman Warrior. Journal of Popular Culture 35.3 (2001): 11-27. Print. Fear and Loathing in Malaysia s Heartland. Economist 28 Aug. 1999: 29-30. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Mar. 2001. The Great Train Robbery. Dir. Edward Porter. Thomas Edison, 1903. Internet Archive. Web. 5 June 2008. Hammersley, Richard, Furzana Khan, and Jason Ditton. Ecstasy and the Rise of the Chemical Generation. London: Routledge, 2002. Print. Howells, Coral Ann. Intimate Dislocations: Alice Munro, Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage. Alice Munro. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Infobase, 2009. 167-192. Print. MacQueen, Ken. Boy vs. Girl: Understanding Gender. Maclean s 26 May 2003: 26-32. Print. Mendelsohn, Daniel. September 11 at the Movies. Rev. of United 93, dir. Paul Greengrass, and World Trade Center, dir. Oliver Stone. New York Review of Books 21 Sept. 2006: 43-46. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Apr. 2010. Morgan, Monique R. Frankenstein s Singular Events: Inductive Reasoning, Narrative Technique, and Generic Classification. Romanticism on the Net 44 (2006): n. pag. Web. 15 May 2008. My Doukhobor Cousins. Dir. Ole Gjerstad. Prod. Mark Zannis and Sally Bochner. NFB, 2002. Videocassette. Page 8 of 8