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.