Citation Help (MLA)
- Commonly accepted facts do not need to be cited (The sky is blue.)
- Cite ideas that are not your own, whether you paraphrase or directly quote them
- Cite things within your paper (in-text) and at the end (Works Cited page)
- All punctuation and spacing must be followed exactly
- Come to the library for citation help!
MLA in-text citation
How to credit a source within the text of the paper:
Author's name in the sentence: Smith lists those with the opposite point of view (53-68).
Author's name not in sentence: Others have the opposite point of view (Smith 53-68).
Direct quotation from source: "John's position is contrary to mine" (Smith 53).
MLA Entries for Works Cited Page
| Book, one author: | Smith, Alex. Book Title. San Francisco: Publishing Company, 2008. Print. |
| Book, two+ authors: | Smith, Alex, John Lehman, and Donald Brown. Book Title. Dallas: Publishing Company, 2001. Print. |
| Book by Corporation: | John Deere. Book Title. Grand Rapids: Publishing Company, 2005. Print. |
| Book with Editor(s): | Jones, Amanda, ed. Book Title. London: Publishing Company, 1987. Print. |
| Book, Anonymous: | Book Title. Raleigh: Publishing Company, 1998. Print. |
| DVD: |
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Dir. George Lucas. Twentieth Century Fox, 1977. DVD. |
| Database Article: | Smith, Alex. "Avatar Review." Entertaining 28.1 (2008): 12-13. Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 Sept. 2010. |
| Magazine Article: | Smith, Alex. "Avatar Review." Entertaining 28 Dec. 2008: 12-13. Print. |
| Online Article: |
Smith, Alex. "Avatar Review." Entertaining 28 Dec. 2008. Web. 24 Sept. 2010. <http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20326743,00.html> |
| Ebook | Author(s). Book Title. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Title of the Database or Web site. Web. Date you accessed the material. |
| Personal Interview: | Smith, Alex. Personal interview. 1 Jan. 2012. |
| Website: | Smith, Alex. "Our Company" (italicized if it's the only title or with quotation marks if part of a larger work). John Deere (Title of the Web site if distinct from the title of the work). Deere & Company (if there isn't a publisher or site sponsor use N.p.), 2013 (date of publication: day, month, year as available). Web. 21 Feb. 2013. <http://www.johndeere.com>. |
MLA Works Cited Page
The list of all the sources used in the paper goes on the last page titled "Works Cited" centered at the top. Each source must be in alphabetical order based on the first word of the entry. The list is double spaced and if the source goes to two lines, the second line is indented one tab.
Works Cited
American Farming in the 1920s. Raleigh: Publishing Company, 1998. Print.
John Deere. American Tractors. Grand Rapids: Publishing Company, 2005. Print.
Jones, Amanda, ed. Tractors. London: Publishing Company, 1987. Print.
Sanchez, Aaron. "John Deere." Farming 28.4 (2008): 12-13. Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 Sept. 2010.
Abbreviations for missing information
| No pages found | n. pag. |
| No date of publication | n.d. |
| No place of publication; no publisher | n.p. |
Month Abbreviations in the Works Cited
You need to abbreviate months (except for May, June, and July) on your Works Cited page.
| January | Jan. |
| February | Feb. |
| March | Mar. |
| April | Apr. |
| August | Aug. |
| September | Sept. |
| October | Oct. |
| November | Nov. |
| December | Dec. |