MLA Bibliographic Style--A Brief Guide  

This site is designed to be a quick reference guide to the MLA style of documenting sources in research papers. Your "Works Cited" section should appear at the end of your paper and works should be arranged alphabetically by author (or title, if no author appears in the entry.) In this section you should list only works actually cited. (Your teacher may also request a list of works consulted.) For further information about types of entries not listed here, consult Joseph Gibaldi's MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6th edition, which is available at the circulation desk. For further information, consult the official page of the Modern Language Association http://www.mla.org.

Check out the Citation Styles Online at http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/citex.html , the Guide for Writing Research Papers based on Modern Language Association prepared by the Humanities Department and the Arthur C. Banks, Jr., Library Capital Community-Technical College Hartford, Connecticut http://cctc.commnet.edu/mla.htm or Sources: Their Use and Acknowledgment by Dartmouth College http://www.dartmouth.edu/~sources/ or Duke University Libraries Citing Sources http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/works_cited.

Underlining vs. italics: Though MLA style traditionally recommended underlining the titles of major works,  many publications now utilize italics.  Check with your teacher to varify if he/she would has a preference about the use of underlining or italics.

Other tips:

• If no author is given, start the citation with the title.
• Abbreviate the names of all months except May, June and July.
• Indent the second line and all other lines 5 spaces.

Print Sources:

Format for the "WORKS CITED" section:

A Book By One Author

English, Carol. The Cliffs Won't Do: Read the Book. Philadelphia: McGraw Hill, 1997.

Two or More Books by the Same Author

Small, Chris. Please, Help Me Carry My Keys! Topeka: Rand, 1993.

- - - . Don't Measure a Chemist by Her Size. New York: Feminist, 1993.

A Book By Two Authors

Bernhard, Monica and Anabella Bond. How to Survive AP Spanish. New York: Simon and

     Schuster, 1997.

A Book by Three Authors

          Simpson, Homer, Bugs Bunny, and Charlie Brown. Cartoon Life is a Drag. Los Angeles: Warner

               Bros., 2004.

A Book by a Corporate Author

Colegio Maya Home Economics Department. Cooking with Spice. New York:

     Scribners, 1993.

A Book with an Editor

Rizzardi, Carol ed. The Poems I Like: An Anthology. Brooklyn, NY: Random House,

     1991.

A Work in an Anthology

Smith, James. "The Physics of Sushi." The Fabulous Physics Paper . Ed. Samuel Klein.

     Rome: Cambridge UP, 1854. 46-59.

A Work (Essay, Story, etc.) in an Anthology Previously Published in Another Collection

Denmark, Joe. "Hamlet's Dull Revenge." Literary Theory / Renaissance Texts. Ed. Patricia

     Parker and David Quint.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1986. 280-302.  Rpt. in Major Literary

     Characters: Hamlet.  Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1990. 166-185.

An Edition Other Than the First

Peters, Michael. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Keeping Your Classroom

     Neat and Clean. 4th ed. Philadelphia: Lysol, 2005.

A Signed Article in a Reference Book

Clinton, Hillary. "Zen and the Art of Wearing Pearls." Encyclopedia Americana.

     1996 ed.

An Unsigned Article in a Reference Book

"Best Beards of All Time." Encyclopedia of Anatomy and Hair . 15th ed. 1993.

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An Article in a Journal with Continuous Pagination

Skater, Andrew. "Skateboarding on a Secondary Level." Secondary Education 54(2004):

     113-25.

An Article From a Monthly or Bi-Monthly Periodical

Ramsey, Pamela. "Where's My Smiley Face?" MacWorld Sept. 1997: 86-94.

An Article from a Weekly or Biweekly Periodical

Henry, Mary Ann. "Announcing Bus Changes With Flair." Time 4 July 2006: 17-76.

A Signed Article from a Daily Newspaper

Goldberg, Grace. "The Inside Track: Alumni Life." Trojan Times 10 Oct. 1991:17.

OR

Smith, Bob. “Schools Losing Ground.” USA Today 5 May 2001:5D.

An Unsigned Article from a Daily Newspaper

"Dancing With Dr. Miller." New York Times 15 Oct. 2000, late ed. sec.: 35+.

Films; Radio and Television Programs

"Starring the Other Megan Beltinck." Slightly Off Broadway--The Series . Prod. Sheldon Wang.

     PBS. WNET, New York. 6 Aug. 1995.  

Making Creative Bookcovers. Dir. Tom Martin. Videocassette. Clemens, 1997.

Sound Recording

         Jones, Norah. "Don't Know Why."  Come Away With Me. Rec. 2001. Blue Note, 2002.

Personal or Telephone Interview

Colom, Alvaro. Personal interview. 23 Sept. 2007.

Personal photograph (Good for your scanned images!)

(Begin with a description of the photo. Do not use italics or quotation marks. Indicate who took the photo and the date it was taken.)

Playing Games at the Friendship Fair. Personal photograph by Juan Student. 28 Mar. 2003.

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Electronic / Online Sources

World Wide Web (General Web site):

Format:

Author (if known). “Title of Page or Document.” Title of the Site or Larger Work. (if applicable).

Date of electronic publication, last update, or date of posting. Name of any

Associated Institution. Date of download < http://address/filename>.

Examples:

Aune, Peder. “Science and the Art of Physics.” Science World Guatemala. 8 June 1999.

 3 Oct. 2004 <http://www.scienceworldguate/physicsaune.com>.

OR

Bergmann, Aaron. “Jamie Day Has Look of a Champion.” ESPNET SportsZone. 29 Aug. 1996.

2 Feb. 2008 <http://www.espn.com>.

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Article in an online magazine (not accessed through a subscription service)

        Format:

        Author of article. Title of article. Title of Magazine Date of electronic publication. Date of access.

                 <http://address/filename>.

        Example:

        Miller, Sherry. "Colegio Maya's 50th Reunion" Web Weekly 26 Feb 2008. 4 May 2008 <http://webweekly.com/drmiller/>.

Article in an online encyclopedia:

Format:

Author. “Title of Article.” Title of Reference Work. Edition or version (if available).

Date of electronic publication. Title of Database or Online Service.

Date of access. < http://address/filename>.

Example:

Rizzardi, Carol. “Berlin, Germany.” Encyclopedia Americana Online. 2005. Encyclopedia Americana.    

            29 Feb. 2006 <http://grolier.go.com>.

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Journal material accessed from a subscription service (EBSCO):

Format:

Author. “Article Title.” Periodical Title Date of print publication (if available): pages.

Database Name. Publisher (if appropriate). Name of Providing Library, City/State of the Library.

Date of access <http://address/filename>.

Example:

Dunigan, Kate. "How to Use EBSCOhost." Library Journal 5 June 2007. Advanced Placement Source. 

              EBSCOhost. Colegio Maya Library, Guatemala City. 1 Jan. 2008 <http://search.ebscohost.com>.

OR

McGuigan, Mike. “Writing the Perfect Paper.” High School Weekly 12 Sept. 1996: 22. Student Research 

            Center. EBSCOhost. Colegio Maya Library, Guatemala City. 25 Nov. 2004

            <http://search.ebscohost.com>.

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CD-ROMs

Non-periodical (encyclopedias, etc.):

Format:

Name of Author (if given). “Title of Part of Work.” Title of Product. Edition or release, if

relevant. Publication medium CD-ROM. City of Publication: Publisher,

Year of publication.

Example:

Wallechinsky, David. “Olympic Games.” Encyclopedia Encarta. CD-ROM. Redmond, WA:

Microsoft, 2004.

Examples of CD-ROMs:

When you are working with a journal reprint:

Ochshorn, Kathleen G. "A Cloak of Grace: Contradictions in 'A Good Man is Hard to

          Find'," in Studies in American Fiction  (18)1:13-7;

          republished in EXPLORING Short Stories. CD-ROM. Detroit: Gale Research,

          1998.

Gale biographies, character descriptions, overviews, or other material written by Gale on CD-ROM:

"Biography of William Shakespeare." EXPLORING Shakespeare. CD-ROM. Detroit:

          Gale Research, 1997.

OR

Whicter, George F. "Dickinson, Emily Elizabeth." Dictionary of American Biography on

          CD-ROM. CD-ROM. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1997.

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CD-ROM (Periodical)

Format:

Name of Author (if available). “Title of article.” Title of Journal or Newspaper Publication

information for printed source. Title of Database. Publication medium

CD-ROM. Name of Vendor (if relevant). Electronic publication date.

Example:

Nethead, Jane. “Email Rules.” New York Times 15 November 1995, late ed.: B3.

New York Times Ondisc. CD-ROM. UMI-Proquest. Jan. 1996.

E-Mail:

(Warning: Though many style sheets advise listing personal e-mail addresses in a citation, there is the danger of violating the privacy of the author or the recipient. The MLA Handbook does not recommend including addresses.)

        Format:

        Sender's Last Name, First Name. “Subject Line from Posting.” Day Month Year of Posting. Email Recipients Name.

                    Date of Access.

        Example:

        Maldonado, Maribel. "Senior Portfolio Presentations." 12 Mar. 2008. E-mail to Aaron Dunigan AtLee. 13 Mar. 2008.

Listserv:

        Format:

        Author (if given). "Subject of Message." Date of posting. Online posting. Name of Discussion List.

                  Access date <URL or email address of the list.>.

        Example:

        Kurtz, Brad. “Computer to T.V. Screen.” 6 August 1995. Online posting. Global Technology

                  Discussion Group. 21 Nov. 1999 <http://www.gtdg.org> or <listserv@citation.edu.>.

Online Chat or Synchronous Communication:

        Format:

        Name of Speaker. (if available). "Description of the event." Date of session or event. Forum of the

                  communication. Date of access.<Web or network address>.

        Example:

        Mulligan, Michael. "Online discussion of future fuels." 24 Oct. 1997. EnvironMOO. 28 June 2000. 

                  <telnet://IRC@envirosite.edu>.

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Blog entry

Images/Sound/Video Clips/AP Photo Archive

Online images

Format:

Artist if Available. "Description or Title of Image." Online image. Date of image.  Title of Larger Site. 

        Name of Providing Library (if appropriate).  Name of organization (if appropriate).  Date of download  

         <http://address.website.org>.

Example:

"Mars Landing." Online image. 3 Nov. 1999. NASA: Solar System Exploration. NASA. 4 Oct. 2006                 

        <http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Pluto&Display=Gallery>.

OR

Weaver, Bruce. "Challenger Explosion." Online image. 28 Jan. 1986. AP Photo Archive.

EBSCOhost. 30 Jan. 1999 <http://accuweather.ap.org/cgi-bin/aplaunch.pl>.

Format:

Creator if Available. "Description or Title of Sound." Date of Sound. Online sound. Title of Larger Site.

          Date of download <http://address.website.org>.

Example:

"This Week's Saturday Radio Address." 25 Oct. 1998. Online sound. Whitehouse Briefing Room. 23

          Oct. 2000 <http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/html/briefroom.html>.

Online video clip

Format:

"Description or Title of Video Clip." Date of clip. Online video clip. Title of Larger Site.

Name of Providing Library (if appropriate). Date of download <http://address.website.org>.

Example:

"Hindenburg Broadcast." 6 May 1937. Online video clip. Encarta Online Deluxe. Colegio Maya Lib. 4 Nov. 2000 

            <http://encarta.msn.com/encarta/MediaMax.asp?z>.

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Style information based on:

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th ed. New York: Modern Language

Association, 2003.

Hacker, Diana. Research and Documentation in the Electronic Age. Boston: Bedford, 2006.

"What is MLA Style?" Modern Language Association. 9 July 1998. 4 Mar. 2004 <http://www.mla.org/main_stl-nf.htm>.

Adapted from Power Tools: Recharged  by Joyce Kasman Valenza. Copyright 2004. American Library Association. Used by permission of ALA Editions.

Reproduction for nonprofit educational purposes permitted.