How to Cite: the Somewhat Easy Version

Tena Litherland 8/13

Research Steps 1. Locate and find sources

2. Copy full bibliographic (publishing) information

3. Take notes

4. Format and write paper

5. Create works cited page

Check and double-check your work.

Research Strategies

1. OPAC – Reference– Nonfiction– Primary sources (sources, essays, letters, letters, speeches, autobiographies) also found in appendices

2. Databases– World History in Context*– Biography in Context*– Biography Reference Bank (by/about)

3. Selected websites

Bibliography? Works Cited?

Bibliography = list of sources consulted

Works cited = sources quoted or referred to

Primary SourcesOPAC– Reference– Nonfiction– Primary sources (sources, essays, letters, letters, speeches, autobiographies) – Other primary sources (paintings, art objects,

sculptures, photographs, artifacts from the period, etc.)

Reference – REF 909-909.2

Databases– Biography in Context– World History in Context– World News Digest

Remember!Always use the title page and/or the verso for your bibliographic information.

Do not use the book cover:

MLA 7th edition

Books with Author/s (print) One author

Hughes, Robert. Rome: a Cultural, Visual, and Personal History. New York: Alfred

A. Knopf, 2001. Print.

Two authorsBouvet, Vincent and Gerarad Durozoi. Paris Between the Wars, 1919-1939: Art,

Life and Culture. New York: The VendromePress, 2010. Print.

Three authorsBooth, Wayne C., Gregory C. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. The Craft of

Research. 2nd ed. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2003. Print

Four or more authorsPlag, Iago, et al. Introduction to English Linguistics. Berlin: Mouton, 2007. Print.

(MLA 154-156)

Book with an author and/or editor

Book with an editor

Cruden, Alexander, ed. Perspectives on Modern World History: The Bosnian Conflict.

Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. Print.

Book with editors

Lago, Mary, Linda K. Hughes, and Elizabeth MacLeod Walls, eds. The BBC Talks of E. M.

Forester, 1929-1960. Columbia: U of Missouri P, 2008. Print.

Book with and author and an editor

Plath, Sylvia. The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath. Ed. Karen VV. Kukil. New York:

Anchor- Doubleday, 2000. Print.

(Hacker 457)

EditionsInclude the number of the edition, if 2nd edition

or higher.

Example:Auletta, Ken. The Underclass. 2nd ed. Woodstock,

Overlook, 2000. Print.

(Hacker 460)

Encyclopedia or Dictionary Entry

Signed articleEllis, Richard S. “Hammurabi, Code of.” Encyclopedia

Americana. 2006 ed. Print

Unsigned article“Grenadines.” Encyclopedia Americana. 2006 ed. Print

Library Databases

These are easy sources to cite. The work is done for you – really!

Look for button/link for complete citation. Be sure that you select MLA 7th edition style!

Example:"Han Dynasty." Encyclopedia of Asian History. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988. World History In Context. Web. 18 Aug. 2013.

WebsitesWebsites are the most difficult to cite.

Use a citation tool to help you.

Example: website with an authorPeterson, Susan Llynn. The Life of Martin Luther. Susan Lynn Peterson, 2005. Web. 24 Jan. 2009.

*If your teacher requires a URL for web sources, include the URL, enclosed in angle brackets, at the end of the entry. When a URL in a works cited entry must be divided at the end of a line, break it after a slash. (Hacker 464-465)

Paintings, Sculptures, Photographs

Order of citation, for a reproduction of a work found online:

1. State the artist’s name first (last name, first name).

2. Italicize the title and list the date of composition. If the date is unknown, write N.d.

3. Name the institution that houses the work. If the work is in a private collection, give the name of the collection. (Collection of…)

4. Give the city where the institution or collection is located.

5. Indicate the title of the website.

6. Provide access date.

Example: Hessing, Vlajean. Caddo Myth. 1976. Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha. Joslyn Art

Museum. Web. 19 Apr. 2009.

Maps and Charts

Treat a map or chart like an article or book, but add a descriptive label (Map, Chart).

Example: “Western Boundaries of Brazil, 1600, 1780, and the

Present.” Map. Brazilian Narrative Traditions in a

Comparative Context. By Earl E. Fritz. New York:

MLA 2005. 43. Print.

Direct QuotationsYou must use quotations marks ( “…” ) if

you use exact phrases or sentences, aka direct quote.

If a quote is less than 4-lines, use quotation marks and incorporate it into the text.

If a quotation at the end of a sentence needs a parenthetical reference, end the sentence with a period after the reference.

Example:For Charles Dickens the eighteenth century was both “the best of times” and “the worst of times” (35).

Internal or Parenthetical Citations

Usually the author’s last name and page number– If you use only 1 source in your paper insert a parentheses and page number

Example: (15)

– If you use 2 or more sources in your paper, use the author’s last name and page number. Example: (Litherland 15)

Examples:

Original Source from an essay by Wendy Martin in the book Columbia Literary History of the United StatesSome of Dickinson’s most powerful poems express her firmly held conviction that life cannot be fully comprehended without an understanding of death.

PlagiarismEmily Dickinson firmly believed that we cannot fully comprehend life unless we also understand death.

But you may present the materials if you cite your source:As Wendy Martin has suggested, Emily Dickinson firmly believed that we cannot fully comprehend life unless we also understand death.

(MLA 56)

Plagiarism Example

Original Source from an essay by Wendy Martin in the book Columbia Literary History of the United StatesSome of Dickinson’s most powerful poems express her firmly held conviction that life cannot be fully comprehended without an understanding of death.

PlagiarismEmily Dickinson firmly believed that we cannot fully comprehend life unless we also understand death.

But you may present the materials if you cite your source:As Wendy Martin has suggested, Emily Dickinson firmly believed that we cannot fully comprehend life unless we also understand death. (625).

(MLA 56)

Long QuotesIf a quote extends 4 or more lines…

Introduce your quote by using a colon

Begin a new line. Indent 1 inch from the left hand margin (tab twice).Insert the long quote. Be sure to double-space the quote

End the quote with a parenthetical reference

Example:At the conclusion of Lord of the Flies, Ralph and the other boys realize the horror or their actions.The tears began to flow and sobs shook him. He gave himself up to them for now for

the first time on the island; great, shuddering spasms of grief that seemed to wrench

his whole body. His voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckage of the

island; and infected by that emotion, the other little boys began to shake and sob too. (186)

ParaphrasingIndirect quote

Summarizing or paraphrasing = condenses information in your own words (but it’s still the author’s idea)

You must name the source of your information!

If you mix the author’s words with your own, you must use quotation marks, or internal citations.

Quote within Quote

Example:

According to Bill Coleman, an executive at Salary.com, “Personal Internet use and casual office conversations often turn into new business ideas or suggestions for gaining operating efficiencies” (qtd in Frauenheim).

MLA Format – 7th edition

12 point Times

1 inch margin around body of text

double space lines

block quote (4 or more sentences)

– indent 1” from left margin (tab twice) – double space lines

Sample Paper – page1

(Hacker 488)

Title is centered.

Your nameTeacher’s nameClassDate

Your last name & page #

Long quote, blocked

Sample Paper – page 2

(Hacker 489)

Your last name & page #

Sample Paper – page 3

Your last name & page #

(Hacker 490)

Sample Paper – Page 4

(Hacker 491)

Indirect quote: words quoted in another source

Works Cited Page

Rules:

1. Include every source to which you refer.

2. Always use the title page and/or verso when locating your bibliographic information!

3. Alphabetize sources.

4. If your source has no author and begins with an article (The, A, or A), omit the article and alphabetize according to the next word.

5. Use hanging indention for each source listed.

Sample Paper – Works Cited Page

•Alphabetize sources by author’s last name, or by title when there is no author

•Hanging indention

(Hacker 492)

Heading is centered

Citation Sources (print)

Examples from:

Hacker, Diana, and Nancy Sommers. A Writer’s

Reference with Exercises. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St.

Martin’s, 2011. Print.

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th ed. New

York: The Modern Language Association of

America, 2009. Print.

Citation Sources (online)

Under the category “Cite Sources” on the Library portal you can link to:

Easybib at http://www.easybib.com/

Owl Perdue at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/search.php

Son of Citation Machine at http://citationmachine.net/index2.php?reqstyleid=1