MLA Style Creating a Bibliography and Sources Cited Page Updated April 2013

MLA Style

Creating a Bibliography and Sources Cited Page

Updated April 2013

REMEMBER…

To avoid plagiarism, cite your sources!

A conscious effort to give credit to the source from which you are borrowing your ideas.

What is MLA Style?

The Modern Language Association (MLA).

Other forms: APA, Chicago, etc.

Elements of MLA Style

Citing a source in MLA Style is a two-part process:

1. Bibliography/Sources Cited

2. In-text (Parenthetical) Citations EXAMPLE: (Source page #) (Smith 235)

Bibliography vs. Sources Cited

What is the difference?

– BIBLIOGRAPHY = sources that you are considering using in your paper.

– SOURCES CITED = sources you actually cite in your paper

Documenting a Source General format to follow for a book:

Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. Place of

Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication.

Medium of Publication.

**DOUBLE SPACE

**The arrows above indicate what we call HANGING INDENTATION

Documenting a Source For an actual book, it might look something

like this:

Wise, Steven M. Rattling the Cage:

Toward Legal Rights for Animals.

Cambridge: Perseus, 2000. Print.

**DOUBLE SPACE

Documenting a Print Source

When documenting a print source, you generally include the following information:– Author name– Title of the print source (book, article,

magazine, newspaper, etc.)– Place of publication– Publisher– Date of publication– Editors (if needed)

Documenting a Print Source

Where will I find the information needed for my bibliography/works cited entry? – The cover– The spine– The title page– The inverse of the title page– The URL address – The home page– Etc.

Documenting a Source

Helpful Hint:

– If you are having difficulty finding the year of publication, use the most recent copyright date.

Documenting Web Sources

Web-based resources include (but are not limited to):– World Wide Web Sites– Articles from Scholarly Journals– Archives or Scholarly Projects– Online newspapers/magazines– Articles from Data Bases (i.e. EBSCOhost or

ERIC)– Newsgroups, Forums, Blogs, and Wikis

Documenting Web Sources

Key differences between entries for print sources and web sources:

Dunn, Julie. “More Buy Homes They Can’t Afford.”

The Denver Business Journal. 14 Dec. 2001.

19 Dec. 2001 <http://www.denver.bcentral.com/

denver/stories/2001/12/17/story3.html>.Date the source was posted, published, or

recently updated

Date the source was accessed by the

researcher

URL is no longer

needed!

Documenting Web Sources Since the URL is no longer needed, a web

source might look like this:

Dunn, Julie. “More Buy Homes They Can’t Afford.”

The Denver Business Journal. 14 Dec. 2001. Web.

19 Dec. 2001.

Medium of Publication goes here. This replaces the need for that long URL

in the previous example

Common Bibliographic Forms

Book:

Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying. New York: Penguin, 1993. Print.

Common Bibliographic Forms

Selection from an Anthology:

Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Raven.” A Portrait of

American Literature. 5th ed. Eds.

Steven Bowman, et al. Upper Saddle

River: Prentice, 1996. 504-24. Print.

Common Bibliographic Forms

Newspaper:

“Obama Addresses Tensions with Iran.” The

Punxsutawney Spirit 21 Jan. 2012:

15. Print.

Common Bibliographic Forms

Magazine:

Wilson, Naomi, and Martin Dubner.

“Chasing Our Tails.” Newsweek 11 Nov.

2002: 42-47. Print.

Common Bibliographic Forms

Article from Online Database (EBSCO, SIRS, etc.):

**Treat the source as you would in print form, but include the name of the database (in italics), Web, and the date of access.

Junco, Reynol. “The Relationship Between

Frequency of Facebook Use and Student

Engagement.” Computers & Education 58.1

(2012): 162-71. EBSCO Host. Web. 2 May

2012.

Common Bibliographic Forms

Web Sources:

Cowan, Brittany. “The Jazz Age’s Influence

on Modern Culture.” American

Literature and Influence. LitBiz, 21 Mar.

2009. Web. 18 Apr. 2012.

Common Bibliographic Forms

Sources by the same author: (According to the Purdue OWL)

Palmer, William J. Dickens and New

Historicism. New York: St. Martin's,

1997. Print.

- - - . The Films of the Eighties: A Social

History. Carbondale: Southern Illinois

UP, 1993. Print.

Common Bibliographic Forms

Sources with no known author: (According to the Purdue OWL)

Alphabetize these works by their TITLE and

then use a shortened version of that title

when creating your parenthetical, in-text

citations.

MLA Style Tips & Tricks!

Important Abbreviations: –n.p. = no publisher–n.d. = no date–n. pag. = no page

MLA Style Tips & Tricks!

Important Abbreviations: – Ed./Eds.= “Edited by;” used when citing a

selected work prepared by an editor in a larger work and that information appears after the title of the source

– ed.= can mean “edition” or it can mean “editor” when used for citing entire anthologies or collections and the editor is the first part of the citation entry (listed last name, first name, then ed.

– eds. = for more than one editor when citing an entire anthology or collection

MLA Style Tips & Tricks!

Important Abbreviations: – et al. = In Latin, this means “and others.”

Use this abbreviation if there are more than three authors/editors. List only the first author--last name, first name—followed by et al. (Note: there is NO PERIOD after et)

– If you have three or fewer authors/editors, list the first name (last name, first name), then the other two names (NOT inverted last name, first name)

MLA Style Tips & Tricks!

Important Abbreviations: –Abbreviate months that are longer than 4 lettersExamples: Nov., Dec.,

May, June

MLA Style Tips & Tricks!

Important Abbreviations: –Use postal abbreviations of states & other geographic namesExamples: PA, VA, NC,

Eng., etc.

MLA Style Tips & Tricks!

Important Abbreviations: – Abbreviate publisher names as much as

possible– Try to use acronyms or short versions of

namesExamples:Scribner’s & Sons = Scribner’sMcGraw-Hill = McGrawMicrosoft, Inc. = MicrosoftOxford University Press = Oxford UP

MLA Style Tips & Tricks!

Citing Indirect Sources: – When you are citing something that was

quoted in the source you are using, this is called citing an indirect source. (For example, if you are citing something from an article and they quote someone’s response in an interview and you want to cite that…)

– Use (qtd. in _________) and fill in the rest of the citation like normal

MLA Style Tips & Tricks!

Alphabetize your entries!–Ignore A, An, and The

Don’t forget (.) at the end of EVERY ENTRY!

Special Situation Documenting the Bible:

– Do not underscore or italicize the word Bible of the books of the Bible in the text of your composition.

– The King James Version gets special treatment (see next slide)

– If not the King James Version, give the name of the specific edition you are using, any editor(s) associated with it, followed by the publication information.

Documenting the Bible

EXAMPLES:

The Bible. **This denotes the King James Version and no

other information is needed.

**Other Versions/Editions require more information:

The New Jerusalem Bible. Ed. Susan Jones.New York: Doubleday, 1985. Print.

Documenting the Bible

OTHER EXAMPLES:

The Geneva Bible. 1560. Facism. Rpt. Madison: U. of Wisconsin P, 1961. Print.

The New Open Bible. Large print ed. Nashville:Thomas Nelson, 1990. Print.