Basic Rules for Writing Citations: Based on MLA Format 5th Ed.

Main information for print resources:

Author. Title of work.  City of publication: Publisher, year of publication.

 

Main information for electronic resources:

Author. "Article title."  Original source of article. Date of original source (day month year): page numbers.

Product name. Date of visit to site (day month year). <URL of specific article>.

Double space all entries and list in alphabetical order by author's last name. Three main divisions--author, title, and publication information--are followed by a period and two spaces.  Titles are italicized or underlined.  Select one style to use throughout the paper.

 

1.  BOOKS

one author

Frye, Northrup.  Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays.  Princeton: Princeton UP, 1957.

 

two or three authors

Gesell, Arnold, and Frances L.  Child Development:  An Introduction to the Study of Human Growth.  New York: Macmillan, 1960.

four or more authors

Spiller, Robert, et al.  Literary History of the United States.  New York:  Macmillan, 1960.

 

corporate author

United States Capitol Society.   We, the People:  The Story of the United States Capitol. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Soc., 1964.

no author named

Encyclopedia of Photography.  New York:  Crown, 1984.

 

article or chapter in an anthology

Magny, Claude-Edmonde.   “Faulkner or Theological Inversion.”  Faulkner: A Collection of Critical Essays.  Ed. Robert Penn Warren.  Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1966.  66-78.

anthology or collection

Rueschemeyer, Marilyn, ed. Women in the Politics of Postcommunist Eastern Europe.  Armonk: Sharpe,  1994.

 

2.  NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES, AND OTHER SOURCES

weekly, biweekly, or monthly magazine

Miller, Tyler.  "The Vietnam War:  The Executioner."  Newsweek.  13 Nov. 1978:  70.

 

magazine article  (no author)

"Drunkproofing Automobiles."  Time.  6 Apr. 1987:  37.

 

newspaper article

Strout, Richard L.  "Another Bicentennial."  Christian Science Monitor.  10 Nov. 1978: 27.

 

reference book (encyclopedia) article

Burton, Donald J.  “Chlorine.”  Encyclopedia Americana.  1997:  615-617.

 

reference book (encyclopedia), no author

"Chromosphere."  Encyclopedia Americana.  1997:  680.

 

government publication

United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Statistics.  Dictionary of Occupational Titles.  4th ed.  Washington:  GPO,

1977.

United States Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, Office of Public Communication.   “Denmark.”  Background

 Notes.  Washington:  GPO, April 2002.

Culturegrams

“Republic of Ghana.”  Culturegrams.  Orem, Utah: Culturegrams, 2002.

radio or television program

“The First American.”  NBC News Special.  Narr. Hugh Downs.  Writ. and prod. Craig Fisher.  KNBC, Los Angeles.  21

 Mar. 1968.

"The Blessing Way."  The X-Files.  Fox. WXIA, Atlanta. 19 July 1998.

advertisement

Acura.  Advertisement.  Rolling Stone. 16 May 1996: 8-9.

 

someone you interviewed

Franklin, Anna.  Personal interview. 15 Nov. 1988.

 

3.  SOME ELECTRONIC SOURCES

webpage

Daly, Bill.  Writing Argumentative Essays. 1997.  26 June 1998.  <http://cougar.vut.edu.au/~dalbj/argueweb/frntpage.htm>.

 

“When the Well Runs Dry: Population pressures threaten global water supply.”  Population Connection.  25 February 2003.

 <http://www.population connection.org/Reports_Publications/Reports/report18.html>. 

e-mail

Davids, Martha (Davidsm@unlo.edu).  “Citing your sites.”  27 July 1997.  E-mail to student@corvallis.k12.or.us

 

article in an online reference database

Pasquier, Roger F. "Owl."  Encyclopedia Americana Online.  Grolier, Inc., 1999.  28 September 1999.

               <http://ea.grolier.com>.

magazine article from an online database

Acharya, Keya.  “Sterilization in India.”  Contemporary Review. July 2001: p26. EBSCOHost. 25 February 2003. <http://www.oslis.k12.or.us>.

newspaper article from an online database

Lang, Jeremy. “Passion for Trash.”  Oregonian.  20 February 2003. Oregonian.

<http://www.oslis.k12.or.us>.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ELECTRONIC SOURCES AND PRINT RESOURCES, SEE: <http://www.mla.org.>

 

4.       IN-TEXT CITATIONS

When you omit the author's name in your sentence:

One researcher has found that dreams move backward in time as the night progresses (Dement 71).

 

When you mention the author's name in your sentence:

Freud states that "a dream is the fulfillment of a wish" (154).

 

When you cite more than one work by the same author:

One current theory emphasizes the principle that dreams express "profound aspects of personality" (Foulkes, "Sleep" 184). But investigation shows that young children's dreams are "rather simple and unemotional" (Foulkes, "Dreams" 78).

 

When the work has two or three authors:

Psychologists hold that no two children are alike (Gesell and Ilg 68).

 

When the work has no author, begin with the word by which the title is alphabetized in the Works Cited:

Random testing for use of steroids by athletes is facing strong opposition by owners of several of these teams ("Steroids" 22).

 

FOR OTHER CASES, SEE "PARENTHETICAL CITATIONS" IN THE MLA HANDBOOK 184-204.  R 808 Gib. (CVHS)