MLA Citations

Citation (Documentation) is the systematic process of giving credit to the sources of ideas and information that are used in your paper. Its purpose is to identify the works you consulted and to distinguish these works from your own ideas, facts, and opinions.

Failure to cite your sources is plagiarism, which is the presentation of another's words, ideas or research as your own. This is a form of theft, and it applies to the use of material found on the Internet as well as books, articles or any form of print or non-print resources. A more detailed explanation of source documentation can be found in the MLA Handbook, available on Reserve and at the Reference Desk.

  Proper Formats for your Works Cited List:

NASSAU COMMUNITY COLLEGE LIBRARY

MLA STYLE SHEET
Based on the MLA Style Manual 7th edition, 2009

Note: Alphabetize and Double Space all entries. Indent all lines five spaces after the first line.

FORMATS FOR PRINT SOURCES

BOOK WITH ONE AUTHOR

Author's last name, Author's first name. Title of the Book. City of publication: Publisher's name,

year of publication. Print.

Metcalf, Allan. Research to the Point. New York: Harcourt, 1991. Print.

In-text reference: (Metcalf 234)

BOOK WITH TWO AUTHORS

Smith, Ann, and John Stevens. Proper Citation Formats. San Francisco: Que, 1999. Print.

In-text reference: (Smith and Stevens 68)

ESSAY IN A BOOK

Author. "Title of the Article." Title of the Book. Ed. Editor's name. City of publication: Publisher, year.

Pages. Print.

Krutch, Joseph Wood. "What the Year 2000 Won't Be Like." Finding a Voice. Ed. Jim W. Cordeer.

Glenview: Scott Foresman, 1973. 21-36. Print.

In-text reference: (Krutch 24)

ENCYCLOPEDIA

Author of article, if given. "Title of the Encyclopedia Article." Title of the Encyclopedia. Year ed. Print.

Sanders, Tanya. "Communication." Encyclopedia of Speech. 1999 ed. Print.

ARTICLE IN A REFERENCE BOOK

Author of article, if given. "Title of Article." Title of Reference Book. Ed. Editor's first and last

name. Edition, if given. Volume number. City of publication: Publisher, date. Print.

Natoli, Joseph. "William Blake." Critical Survey of Poetry. Ed. Frank N. McGill. Rev. ed. Vol. 6.

Pasadena: Salem, 1992. Print.

EXCERPT REPRINTED IN A REFERENCE BOOK

Correct Citation for the Original Work. Excerpt from Title of Source Book. Ed. Editor's name. Volume

number. City of publication: Publisher, year. Pages. Print.

Jones, Anthony. "Examining Faulkner." Southern Journal 44 (1922): 612-18. Print. Excerpt from Short

Story Criticism. Ed. Laura James. Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale, 1996. 62-5. Print.

MAGAZINE ARTICLE

Author. "Title of the Article." Title of the Magazine day Mon. year: pages. Print.

Keenan, Sandy. "Talking to Kids about Violence." Newsweek 4 Aug. 2004: 76-9. Print.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

Author. "Title of the Article." Title of the Newspaper day Mon. year, edition: Section page. Print.
(If the story continues beyond the initial page, add + after the page number.)

Mifflin, Lawrie. "Increase Seen in Number of Violent TV Programs." New York Times 17 Apr. 1998,

late ed.: A16+. Print.

SCHOLARLY JOURNAL ARTICLE

Author. "Title of the Article." Title of the Journal Volume number. Issue number

(Year of publication): pages. Print.

Garabedian, Deanna M. "Toni Morrison and the Language of Music." CLA Journal 41.3 (1998): 3-18.

Print.

GOVERNMENT DOCUMENT

United States. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor. Occupational Outlook Handbook.

2004-2005. Washington: GPO, 2004. Print.

FORMATS FOR AUDIOVISUAL SOURCES

FILM OR VIDEO

The Dark Knight. Dir. Christopher Nolan. Perf. Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, and Aaron

Eckhart. Warner Bros., 2008. DVD.

SOUND RECORDING

Runger, Nelson, narr. John Adams. By David McCullough. Simon, 2002. CD.

FORMATS FOR WEB SOURCES

ARTICLE FROM A SUBSCRIPTION DATABASE
Follow the format for a print article. Omit the word Print, but include:
     1. Name of database
     2. Format of the article: Web
     3. Date of access
Examples below may be used for all databases depending on type of article.
NOTE: For in-text references, use the author's last name and page number, if given. Where there is no page
number, use the paragraph number. (Jennings par. 4)

POPULAR MAGAZINE FROM A DATABASE

Jennings, Andrea T. "Hiring Generation X." Fortune. Feb. 2000: 55-. Infotrac Onefile. Web. 7 Apr. 2009

SCHOLARLY JOURNAL FROM A DATABASE

Kintisch, Eli. "Report: Think Simple on Cars." Science 321.5891 (15 Aug. 2008): 903-903. Academic 

Search Premier. Web. 8 June 2009.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE FROM A DATABASE

Mauch II, Thomas H. "Researchers Identify Alzheimer's Enzyme Inhibitor." Los Angeles Times

13 Apr. 2000: B2. Lexis-Nexis Academic. Web. 18 Apr. 2009

ESSAY FROM A DATABASE

Wachbroit, Robert. "Why Not Clone Humans?" Cloning. 2000. Contemporary Issues Companion

Series. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 10 May 2002.

ENCYCLOPEDIA ENTRY FROM A DATABASE

Brower, Kirk J. "Anabolic Steroids." Encyclopedia of Drugs, Alcohol, and Addictive Behavior. Ed.

Rosalyn Carson-DeWitt, M.D. Vol. 1. 2nd ed. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2001.

122-128. Gale Virtual Reference Library. 12 August 2004.

A WORK CITED ONLY ON THE WEB

Include the following information in order:
     1. Name of author, compiler, director, editor etc.
     2. Title of the work, italicized if it is not part of a larger work, in quotations if it is part of a larger work
     3. Title of the overall website italicized
     4. Version or edition, if given
     5. Publisher or sponsor of the site; if not available, use N. p.
     6. Date of publication (day, month, year) or n.d. if not given
     7. Web
     8. Date of access (day, month, year)

NEWS WEBSITE

Quade, Alex. "Elite Team Rescues Troops behind Enemy Lines." CNN.com. Cable News Network,
           19 Mar. 2007. Web. 15 May 2008.

ONLINE MAGAZINE

Zakaria, Fareed. "Victory in Iraq." Newsweek. 6 June 2009. N.pag. Web. 11 June 2009.

SCHOLARLY ONLINE JOURNAL

Markless, Sharon. "A New Conception of Information Literacy for the Digital Environment." Nordic

Journal of Information Literacy in Higher Education. 1.1 (2009): 26-40. Web. 8 June 2009.

SCHOLARLY PROJECT, NO AUTHOR GIVEN

"Treatment." What You Need to Know about Breast Cancer. Cancernet, National Cancer Institute, U.S.

National Institutes of Health. 01 Nov. 2007. Web. 8 June 2009.

ONLINE VIDEO

Barack Obama. "A New Beginning: President Obama Speaks to the Muslim World from Cairo, Egypt."

Speech. YouTube.com. YouTube, 4 June 2009. Web. 8 June 2009.

GENERAL GUIDELINES

• List all your sources at the end of your paper on a separate page with the centered title, Works Cited.
  All entries should be double-spaced. All lines following the first must be indented five spaces.

• Use italics rather than underlining for titles of works.

• Indicate the format of the work, whether print, web, DVD or other.

• Only include sources mentioned in your paper.

• List each item in alphabetical order by the author's last name regardless of format.

• If there is no author, alphabetize by the first word of the title.

• Where there is no publisher, no date or no page, use n.p., n.d. or n.pag respectively.

• Capitalize each word in the titles of books, magazine articles, etc. Do not capitalize words such as "the", "a",
  "an", "in" unless it is the first word of the title or subtitle. Example: The Essence of Citation: A Guide for the 
  Researcher

• Include appropriate in-text references for all material from outside sources.

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If you have any questions, speak with a reference librarian or consult the MLA Handbook available at the
Reference Desk. Additional help is available at the following websites:

• Nassau Community College Writing Center:
   http://www.ncc.edu/Academics/AcademicDepartments/English/WritingCenter/

• Purdue University Online Writing Lab http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/15/

• Citation generators such as www.knightcite.com or www.easybib.com are helpful, but always review the
   results for accuracy.

REV. ms/fall 09