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Citing References MLA Style Kalamazoo Valley Community College Libraries

Adapted guidelines from the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers 2009

M L A I n - T e x t R e f e r e n c e s

A r e h u m a n s t h e o n l y c r e a t u r e s w i t h t h e a b i l i t y t o t a l k ? S o m e s c i e n t i s t s w i l l a r g u e y e s ; o t h e r s w i l l p o i n t a t t h e b e h a v i o r o f b i r d s a n d d o l p h i n s , f o r i n s t a n c e , a n d a r g u e t h a t t h e y h a v e t h e a b i l i t y t o c o m m u n i c a t e . C e r t a i n l y , s o m e p e t s a n d c i r c u s a n i m a l s h a v e a r e m a r k a b l e a b i l i t y t o “ u n d e r s t a n d ” a t r a i n e r ’ s c o m m a n d . A l s o , a s G r i f f i n ’ s s t u d i e s h a v e s h o w n , b e e s c a n t e l l f e l l o w m e m b e r s o f t h e h i v e t h e l o c a t i o n o f g o o d s o u r c e s o f f o o d ( 4 ) . S o m e o f t h e m o s t i n t e r e s t i n g s t u d i e s h a v e b e e n d o n e w i t h p r i m a t e s i n a n a t t e m p t t o t e a c h t h e m s i g n l a n g u a g e . A l l e n a n d B e a t r i c e G a r d n e r h a v e s p e n t t h e l a s t t e n y e a r s a t t e m p t i n g t o t e a c h a f e m a l e c h i m p a n z e e , W a s h o e , t o c o m m u n i c a t e . A c c o r d i n g t o t h e i r s t u d i e s , W a s h o e h a s a v o c a b u l a r y o f 1 5 0 w o r d s ( P e t e r s o n 9 7 ) .

M e d i e v a l E u r o p e w a s a p l a c e b o t h o f “ r a i d s , p i l l a g e s , s l a v e r y , a n d e x t o r t i o n ” a n d o f “ t r a v e l i n g m e r c h a n t s , m o n e t a r y e x c h a n g e , t o w n s i f n o t c i t i e s , a n d a c t i v e m a r k e t s i n g r a i n ” ( T o w n s e n d 1 0 ) .

A d v e n t u r e s o f H u c k l e b e r r y F i n n i s c o m m o n l y r e g a r d e d a s o n e o f t h e g r e a t A m e r i c a n n o v e l s .

T h e D u k e E l l i n g t o n O r c h e s t r a p l a y e d a t a H a r l e m s u b w a y s t a t i o n a c c o r d i n g t o T h e O f f i c i a l S i t e o f t h e J a z z L e g e n d : D u k e E l l i n g t o n .

To make your paper smoother, try to incorporate the author’s name into the text when possible. When you do this, all you need to place in parentheses is the page number.

The MLA style incorporates the reference information into the text and does away with a footnote or endnote page. Note that the period that ends the sentence is after the parentheses and that you do not need a comma to separate the author’s last name from the page number.

A reference directly after a quotation follows the closing quotation mark.

If a quotation extends to more than four lines, indent one inch and double space it without using quotation marks.

See p. 94 – MLA Handbook.

Italicize the names of books & journals, etc. in the text of your paper. See 3.6.2 for a complete list of items that should be italicized.

Always remember, it’s not just direct quotes that need references; all information needs its sources identified!

Refer to a website (italicized) in the text of your paper using the first item that appears in your Works Cited entry.

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MLA Format – Print Sources

Double-space all lines on actual reference page. Indent 2nd & 3rd lines. Book, journal, magazine & newspaper titles are italicized & every important word of the title is capitalized.

Add Print. at the end of each citation. Article titles should be in quotation marks.

You may go to the MLA Web site for current information: www.mla.org Check at the Reference Desk at either library to borrow the MLA Handbook.

Book with one author Truss, Lynne. Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. New York: Gotham, 2004. Print.

Add specific page numbers in your in-text citation: (Truss 27) Book with more than one author

Bartol, Curt R., and Anne M. Bartol. Juvenile Delinquency and Antisocial Behavior: A Developmental Perspective. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009. Print.

Encyclopedia Full publication information is not needed for well-known encyclopedias or reference books; add edition If given. “Siberia.” The New Encyclopedia Britannica: Micropaedia. 2007 ed. Print. Reference Book, collection Cramer, Carmen. “The Americanization of Leo Finkle.” Cuyahoga Review 22 (1983): 89-90. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed.

Christopher Giroux. Vol. 85. Detroit: Gale, 1995. 394-96. Print.

Edited or compiled or translated Book Weisser, Susan Ostrov, ed. Women and Romance: A Reader. New York: New York UP, 2001. Print.

Multivolume works Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life Groelsema, R. “Angolans.” Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life. Ed. Timothy L. Gall and Jeneen Hobby. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale,

2009. Print. CultureGrams “Japan.” CultureGrams: World Edition. Vol.1. Provo, Utah: ProQuest-CSA, 2007. Print. (“…you need give only page numbers when you refer

to that work in the text” of the paper.) When using two or more volumes of a work, cite the total number of volumes. If using only one volume state the number of that volume in the entry.

If using more than one volume, put total number of volumes right before the publication city: 5 vols.

Add page numbers prior to the word Print. only if the articles or sections are not in alphabetical order or if you used only part of an article. Articles (daily, weekly, or monthly publication, issues paginated separately): don’t give vol. or issue #s; give the range of consecutive pages. Kosowski, Frank. “Cheese.” Scientific American May 1985: 45+. Print. (+ indicates more pages later in the issue.) Journal, continuous pagination (scholarly) list issue # if given: 48.1 refers to volume 48 issue 1 Mills, Ken. “Learning the Test.” College English 48 (1986): 24-28. Print. (In this example there is no issue number given.) Article, no author “Pork Expert Fined $1,000 for Smuggling Hog Diseases.” New York Times 2 May 1985: A11. Print. (The “A” in A11 is the section number of the newspaper.) Essay, in an anthology Woods, Al. “College Athletes Should be Paid.” Sports and Athletes. Ed. Christine Watkins. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2009. 87-94. Print. Opposing

Viewpoints Ser.

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MLA STYLE – Citing Electronic Sources

Double-space all lines on actual reference page. Indent 2nd & 3rd lines. Add Web. right before the date of access.

Use urls only if the reader cannot locate the source without it or if your instructor requires it. Add these in <angle brackets> following the date of access.

Use n.p. if publisher or sponsor of site is unavailable. Use n.d. when the date of publication is unavailable.

Italicize title of the overall web site and names of databases. Title of the work is in quotation marks if part of a larger work or italicized if independent. Home page or Course home page comes before the title (if there is one) of that page.

Personal Home Page Lancashire, Ian. Home page. 28 Mar. 2002. Web. 15 May 2002. (First date is date of last update, if not given, enter n.d. Second date is date

of access.) Magazines and Newspapers from a Library Subscription Service (ProQuest, InfoTrac, etc.) Author's Last Name, First Name and Initial. "Title of Article." Title of Magazine Day Month Year: Page Range (if not known insert n. pag.).

Database Name. Web. Day Month Year (of access). Examples: Schaefer, Bradley E. "Meteors That Changed the World." Sky and Telescope Dec. 1998: 68-75. ProQuest. Web. 29 Oct. 1999. Hawkins, Beth L. “Idealism with a Business Edge.” Facilities Design & Management May 2002: 32+. InfoTrac OneFile. Web. 18 Apr. 2005. “Japan.” Culture Briefings. Geo Travel Research Center. Web. 28 May 2009. Rothman, David J. “Commerce in Organs Has Led to Human Rights Violations.” Medical Ethics. Ed. James D. Torr. San Diego: Greenhaven,

2000. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 21 Apr. 2005.

Scholarly Journals from a Library Subscription Service (ProQuest, InfoTrac, etc.) Author's Last Name, First Name and Initial. "Title of Article." Title of Journal Volume Number. Issue Number (Year): Page Range (if not

known insert n. pag.). Database Name. Web. Day Month Year (of access). Example: Onwuemene, Michael C. "Limits of Transliteration: Nigerian Writers' Endeavors toward a National Literary Language." PMLA 114.5

(1999): 1055-66. ProQuest. Web. 3 Dec. 1999.

Newspaper and Newswire Articles Author's Last Name, First Name and Initial. "Title of Article." Title of Newspaper. Publisher or Sponsor of the site, Day Month Year (of

publication). Web. Day Month Year (of access). Examples: Biersdorfer, J. D. “Religion Finds Technology.” New York Times. New York Times, 16 May 2002. Web. 20 May 2002. PDF article from Kalamazoo Gazette posted on MLive.com: "State House Votes 94-13 to Ban Texting While Driving." Kalamazoo Gazette 9 Dec. 2009: 1. MLive.com. Web. 9 Dec. 2009. Don’t include the name of the newspaper if it’s a real time web posting (has time of day listed), since we don’t know if it appeared in the paper: VanOchten, Brian. "Is Putting an Injured Matthew Stafford on the Field Worth the Risk for Lions?" MLive.com. Michigan Live, 2009. Web. 2 Dec. 2009. No need to cite a reader’s posted comment on the article above on your Works Cited page; mention the poster in the text of your paper, like this: VanOchten's article is followed by this comment by GeauxLionsWin: "If Clay Matthews had been taken with the 20th pick, we wouldn't be having this discussion, now would we?"

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Online Book (E-Book) Author’s Last Name, First Name and Initial. Title of Book. Edition used. Number(s) of volume(s) used. City of publication: Publisher, year of

publication. Title of Database or Website. Web. Day Month Year (of access). Example: Pecorari, Diane. Academic Writing and Plagiarism: A Linguistic Analysis. London: Continuum, 2010. Ebrary. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. E-Journal Levy, Steven. “Great Minds, Great Ideas.” Newsweek. 27 May 2002. Web. 20 May 2009. Clarke, Tom. “Polio’s Last Stand.” Nature 409 (2001): 278-280. Web. 21 Apr. 2005. An Entire Internet Site The Official Site of the Jazz Legend: Duke Ellington. Estates of Mercer K. Ellington and Edward K. “Duke” Ellington. 2008. Web. 3 June 2009.

(Date is date of access.) A Blog (See 5.6.2.b. in the MLA Handbook) Sinkevics, John. “The Weekend List: Mustard Plug, The Hard Lessons, Reverend Horton Heat and Saugatuck’s Waterfront Film Festival.”

Sound Check. Michigan Live, 11 June 2009. Web. 12 June 2009. Encyclopedia article on CD-ROM (See 5.7.17 in the MLA Handbook) “Air Pollution.” The World Book Encyclopedia. Chicago: World Book, 2010. CD-ROM. Encyclopedia article from Wikipedia (See 5.6.2.b in the MLA Handbook) “Wind Turbine.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia, 2010. Web. 23 July 2010. Constitution of the United States

Familiar historical documents like the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence may be cited in a parenthetical reference (in-text) and don’t need to be included in the Works Cited list.

…in the Declaration of Independence (US 1776).

…in the U.S. Constitution (amend. V) or (US Const., art. 2, sec. 4, cl.3) When citing a web page that includes the Constitution or has information about the Constitution, cite the web page. “Constitution of the United States.” The National Archives. U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Web. 26 July 2010. An entry for the U. S. Code may be included in the Works Cited list and in parenthetical references.

17 USC. Sec. 304. 2000. Print.

March 20, 2014

magazine

journal

Check with your instructors about adding any details they may want you to include in your citations!