MLA Quick Reference Guide

Book with one author

• Author's name. Title of the book. City of publication: Publisher's name, Date of publication.
• If the publisher's name is commonly abbreviated with capital initials and it is likely to be familiar to your audience, use abbreviation.
• Note that Period(.) is not underlined after Title of the book.

Example:

Fukuyama, Francis. Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution. New York: Farra, 2002.

Rowling J[oanne] K[athleen]. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. New York: Levine-Scholastic, 2000.

Book with two authors

• Authors' name. Title of the book. City of publication: Publisher's name, Date of publication.
• Authors' name format: [Last] of first Author, [First] of first author, [First] [Last] name of second author.

Example:

Eggins, Suzanne, and Diana Slafe. Analysing Casual Conversation. London: Cassell, 1997.

Hutcheon, Linda, and Michael Hutcheon. Bodily Charm: Living Opera. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 2000.

Book with three or more authors

• Author's name, et al. Title of the book. City of publication: Publisher's name, Date of publication.
• Only one author name is required.

Example:

Gilman, Sander, et al. Hysteria beyond Freud. Berkeley: U of California P, 1993.

Quirk, Randolph, et al. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman, 1985.

Works with No Author or With an Anonymous Author

• Title of the book. City of publication: Publisher's name, Date of publication.
• Start with the title and ignore any initial A, An, or The.

Example:

Encyclopedia of Virginia. New York: Somerset, 1993.

The Holy Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984.

Two or more books by the same author

• Give the names in the first entry only. Thereafter, type three hyphens which stands for the names of the preceding entry.

Example:

Durant, Will, and Ariel Durant. The Age of Voltarie. New York: Simon, 1965.

---. A Dual Autobiography. New York: Simon, 1977.

Book by a Corporate Author

• Omit any initial article (A, An, The)
• Cite the book by the corporate author, even if the corporate author is the publisher.

Example:

American Medical Association. The American Medical Association Encyclopedia of Medicine. Ed. Charles B. Clayman. New York: Random, 1989.

National Research Council. Beyond Six Billion: Forecastinf the World's Population. Washington: Natl. Acad., 2000.

Part of a Book

• Author. "Title of Article." Title of Collection. Ed. Editor's Name. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year. Pages.
• Cite the book by the corporate author, even if the corporate author is the publisher.

Example:

Hartley, J. T., et al. "Contemporary issues and new directions in adult development of learning and memory." Aging in the 1980s. Ed. L. W. Poon. Washington, DC: APA. 1980. 239-252.

Reference Book

• Author (if available). "Title of Article." Title of Book. Edition. Year.
• If no article author is listed begin with the title.

Example:

"Tapestry." Encyclopedia Americana. Danbury Conn. : Scholastic Library Pub., 2005.

"Frankenstein." Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Eds. John Clute and Peter Nicholls. London : Orbit, 1993.

E-Book

• Author. Title. Publishing info (if available). Source (the first example is for a subscription database; the second for an unrestricted site). Update date. Sponsoring organization. Access date <Full web address>.

Example:

Ouida. A Dog of Flanders and Other Stories. London, 1872. Victorian Women Writers Project. Ed. Perry Willet. July, 1997. Indiana U. 1 Dec. 2000 <http://www.indiana.edu/~letrs/vwwp/ouida/dog.html>.

Journal Article

• Author's name. "Title of Article." Journal Title Volume number (year of publication): inclusive page numbers.

Example:

Trumpener, Katie. "Memories Carved in Granite: Great War Memorials and Everyday Life." PMLA 115 (2000): 1096-1103

Online Journal

• Author. "Title." Publication Volume. Number (Year): paragraphs/pages (if available). Access date <Full web address>.

Example:

Binda, Hilary J. "Hell and Hypertext Hath No Limits: Electronic Texts and the Crises in Criticism." Early Modern Literary Studies 5.3 / Special Issue 4 (2000): 29 pars. 1 Dec. 2000 <http://purl.oclc.org/emls/05-3/bindmarl.html>.

Geelan, David R. "Sketching Some Postmodern Alternatives: Beyond Paradigms and Research Programs as Referents for Science Education." Electronic Journal of Science Education 5.1 (2000). 1 Dec. 2000 <http://unr.edu/homepage/crowther/ejse /geelan.html>.

Newspaper Article

• Author's name. "Title of Article." Title of the newspaper date, edition: page numbers.

Example:

Jeromack, Paul. "This once, a David of the Art World Does Goliath a Favor." New York Times 13 July 2002, late ed.: B7+

Magazine Article

• Author's name. "Title of Article." Title of Magazine date: page numbers.

Example:

Mehta, Pratap Bhanu. "Exploding Myths." New Republic 6 June 1998: 17-19.

Online Magazine

• Author. "Article Title." Publication title Date of publication. Access date <Full web address>.

Example:

Schofield, John. "The Fight for Knowledge: Canada’s University Libraries are Battling for Access to Cutting-Edge Research." Macleans 4 Dec. 2000. 1 Jan. 2001 <http://www.macleans.ca/xta-asp/storynav.asp?/2000/12/04/Education/44105.shtml>.

Newspaper/ Magazine Article

• Author. "Title." Publication. Date: pages. Database. Sponsoring Organization. Access date <Root web address>.

Example:

Schwartz, John. "U.S. Selects a New Encryption Technique." New York Times 3 Oct. 2000:C12. LEXIS-NEXIS Academic Universe. Washington State U. Libs., Pullman, WA. 1 Dec. 2000 <http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe>.

Shenk, Joshua W. "A New Emphasis on Learning by Doing." U.S. News and World Report 2 March 1998: 91+. ProQuest Direct. Washington State U. Libs., Pullman, WA. 12 May 1998 <http://www.proquest.umi.com>.

Journal Article

• Author. "Title." Publication. Volume: Number (Year): pages. Database. Sponsoring Organization. Access date <Root web address>.

Example:

Moss, Connie M. "Professional Learning on the Cyber Sea: What Is the Point of Contact?" CyberPsychology & Behavior 3.1 (2000): 41-50. PsycINFO. Washington State U. Libs., Pullman, WA. 12 May 1998 <http://newfirstsearch.oclc.org/>.

Online Journal

• Author. "Title." Publication Volume. Number (Year): paragraphs/pages (if available). Access date <Full web address>.

Example:

Binda, Hilary J. "Hell and Hypertext Hath No Limits: Electronic Texts and the Crises in Criticism." Early Modern Literary Studies 5.3 / Special Issue 4 (2000): 29 pars. 1 Dec. 2000 <http://purl.oclc.org/emls/05-3/bindmarl.html>.

Geelan, David R. "Sketching Some Postmodern Alternatives: Beyond Paradigms and Research Programs as Referents for Science Education." Electronic Journal of Science Education 5.1 (2000). 1 Dec. 2000 <http://unr.edu/homepage/crowther/ejse /geelan.html>.

Online Magazine

• Author. "Article Title." Publication title Date of publication. Access date <Full web address>.

Example:

Schofield, John. "The Fight for Knowledge: Canada’s University Libraries are Battling for Access to Cutting-Edge Research." Macleans 4 Dec. 2000. 1 Jan. 2001 <http://www.macleans.ca/xta-asp/storynav.asp?/2000/12/04/Education/44105.shtml>.

Scholarly Project

• Title. Ed. (if available). Update date (if available). Sponsoring organization. Access date <Full web address>.

Example:

Victorian Women Writers Project. Perry Willet. 27 Sept. 2000. Indiana U. 1 Dec. 2000 <http://www.indiana.edu/~letrs/vwwp/>.

Professional Site

• Title of page. Update date (if available). Sponsoring organization. Access date <Full web address>.

Example:

WSU Libraries. Washington State U. 1 Dec. 2000 <http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/>.

Genealogy. 30 Aug. 2000. The U.S. Census Bureau. 1 Dec. 2000 <http://www.census.gov/genealogy/www/>.

Personal Site

• Author. Title or Home Page. Update date (if available). Access date <Full web address>.

Example:

Gillman, Howard. Home Page. 10 Jan. 2001 <http://www.usc.edu/dept/polsci/gillman/>.

Discussion List

• Author. "Subject Line." Online posting. Message date. Name of list/forum. Access date <Full web address (preferred if available) or mailing list address>.

Example:

Ossipoff, Mike. "[EM] How I got my expectation table." Online posting. 2 Apr. 2000. Election Methods Mailing List. 1 Dec. 2000 <http://www.eGroups.com/message/election- methods-list/5297>.

Simonetti, Karen. "Holocaust Teaching Materials Available." Online posting. 5 May 1998. Children and Youth Literature List. 6 May 1998 <kidlit-l@bingvmb.cc.binghamton .edu>.

E-Mail

• Author. "Title of message from subject line." E-mail to Recipient. Date.

Example:

Smithers, Waylan. "RE: Simpson, Homer." E-mail to Montgomery Burns. 2 June 1989.

Online images

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

Weaver, Bruce. "Challenger Explosion." Online image. 28 Jan. 1986. AP Photo Archive. ACCESS PA. 30 Jan. 1999. <http://accuweather.ap.org/cgi-bin/aplaunch.pl>.

Blog Entry

• Last Name, First Name, "Title of individual blog entry." [Weblog entry.] Name of Weblog. Sponsoring organization if any. Date posted. (URL) Date accessed.

Example:

Valenza, Joyce K. "Citing a Blog Entry in MLA Style." [Weblog entry.] Neverending Search. Springfield Township High School. 10 Jan. 2007. (http://joycevalenza.edublogs.org/permalink06). 31 Jan. 2007.

• Portions of this Information was gathered from the "MLA/APA Style." Springfield Township High School Virtual Library. 30 May. 2007. <http://www.sdst.org/shs/library/mla.html>.

Images/ Photographs of Works of Art

• Last Name, First Name, Title of work. Institutional or private owner. City. (The following is the source information to be included) Title. By author. City. publisher. Year. Page.

Example:

Terwilliger, Robert. Die Bart Die. Springfield Art Museum. Springfield. The Tao of Bob. Terwilliger, Cecil. Springfield. Burns publishing. 2007. 352.

Lisa playing the Sax. Personal photograph by Marge Simpson. 4 May 2006.

Online images

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

Weaver, Bruce. "Challenger Explosion." Online image. 28 Jan. 1986. AP Photo Archive. ACCESS PA. 30 Jan. 1999. <http://accuweather.ap.org/cgi-bin/aplaunch.pl>.

Blog Entry

• Last Name, First Name, "Title of individual blog entry." [Weblog entry.] Name of Weblog. Sponsoring organization if any. Date posted. (URL) Date accessed.

Example:

Valenza, Joyce K. "Citing a Blog Entry in MLA Style." [Weblog entry.] Neverending Search. Springfield Township High School. 10 Jan. 2007. (http://joycevalenza.edublogs.org/permalink06). 31 Jan. 2007.