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Citing Sources |
MLA Format Examples (See also: MLA format on the Research & Documentation Online website)
APA Format Examples (See also: APA format on the Research & Documentation Online website)
Chicago Style Format Examples (on the Research & Documentation Online website)
Automated Bibliography Formatting
How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography
How to Cite a Work within the Text of Your Paper (Parenthetical Citations)
Why Cite Sources?
Once you have located and read an adequate number of sources, incorporated ideas from your reading with your own understanding of the topic, and presented your analysis of your topic in a research paper, it is essential to cite the sources and you must use the proper bibliographic format to do so.
The main reason for citing your sources is to give credit to those authors whose ideas you used in your research. Even when you do not quote directly from another work, if reading that source contributed to the ideas presented in your paper, you must give the authors proper credit by including their work in your bibliography. Citing your sources allows readers of your work to easily find the sources to which you've referred.
If you do not cite the sources upon which your research is based, you will be guilty of plagiarism. Plagiarism is using the ideas and writings of others and representing them as your own. Even if you do not copy another source word-for-word, but rather rephrase the source without attributing it to the original author by including a footnote, you are guilty of plagiarism. Plagiarism is a serious violation of academic standards and is punishable with a failing grade, possible expulsion from the institution, and may subject you to ostracism by your peers. The increasing availability of electronic information has unfortunately made it easy to copy another author's works.
How to Cite a Work within the Text of Your Paper (Parenthetical Citations)
Remember that you need to give credit to authors whose words or ideas you are using in your paper. The citations you will provide within the text of your paper will help your reader a) to know who said the words you quoted or paraphrased, and b) to locate the full information about that source on your Works Cited page in case the reader wishes to consult the sources you've used.
You have two options when you cite your sources within the text of your paper:
Note: There is no punctuation after the author's name or before the page number. Do not use commas, p., pgs., or any other such notation in the citation.
When no author is given for a source, include the title of the article, web page or book instead of the author. An article or web page title should be in quotes; a book title should be underlined or italicized. If the title is long, you can shorten it in the parenthetical documentation.
When you are citing online sources (from a webpage or an online database such as PowerSearch or Proquest), you run into a special problem: electronic sources don't have page numbers. In these cases, you will need to cite the author's name as usual, but don't include page numbers, e.g.
Note: If you happen to be using a source which numbers its paragraphs or has section divisions, headings or numbers, you can use this information in place of page numbers. For example:
When a writer's or a speaker's quoted words appear in a source written by someone else, begin the parenthetical citation with the abbreviation "qtd. in."
Bibliography or "Works Cited" List
The most common way to cite sources is to use a bibliography or "Works Cited" list at the end of your research paper. The Works Cited list includes a citation for each of the sources you used to write your paper. The citations are formatted in a consistent style according to one of several standard citation formats. Two of the most common formats used for undergraduate research papers are the MLA (Modern Language Association) format and the APA (American Psychological Association) format. Some instructors specify which format they prefer; others leave it up to the students as long as they maintain one consistent format.
The list of all citations is commonly organized in a single alphabetical list. Each different type of source--book, magazine article, journal article, newspaper article, article from a reference book, World Wide Web page--has a precise format that is specified by the given format (MLA, APA or other).
Citing Database Information for Full Text Sources Accessed from Online Databases
With the increasing availability of full-text articles from online periodical databases (online, CD-ROM and other electronic formats), students have questions about how to cite documents that have been accessed electronically. If the full text of an article or other document is accessed from an electronic database (even if the document was originally published in a traditional print publication), the name of the database, the database service or publisher and the date the information was accessed must be included in addition to the information for the originally published document. But, if an electronic database was used just to find a reference (a citation and/or abstract) to a document, and the full text of the document was accessed from the original print publication, the database information should not be included in the bibliographic citation. (See examples below in the "Citation Format for Articles from Periodicals" for either MLA or APA format.)
Below are examples of how to cite most of the common types of sources according to the:
Automated Bibliography
Formatting
If your sources are
relatively standard types, you can try using an automated
bibliography formatting website, in which you enter the information for each of your sources and the website formats citations for you. If you want try using one of these sites, we recommend: Noodle Bib Express
If you use an
automated site, you should double check your results to be sure that the
formatting was done correctly.
Other automated bibliography formatting websites include: Citation Machine and EasyBib.com.
For more detailed explanations of how to use the MLA format, you should consult one of the following:
Books with a single author:
Citation
description:
Author's last name, First name
Middle initial (if any). Title. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of
publication.
Citation example:
Gamson, Joshua. R. Claims to
Fame: Celebrity in Contemporary
Books with two, three or more
authors:
Citation
description:
First author's last name, First
name Middle initial (if any), and Second author's First name Middle initial (if
any) Last name. Title. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of
publication.
Note: For a book with three authors,
list all three author's names. Only the first author's name should be listed
last name first. For a book with more than 3 authors, list only the first
author's name followed by a comma and the words et al.
Citation
examples:
Stewart, David W., and David H.
Furse. Effective Television Advertising: A Study of 1000 Commercials.
Jonson, Albert, Thomas Gray, and
Jessie Muncy. Information Access.
Baker, Nellie, et al. Book
Publishing.
Books with editor(s)
rather than author(s):
Citation
description:
Editor's last name, First name
Middle initial (if any), ed. Title. Place of publication: Year of
publication.
Citation example:
Baughman, Cynthia, ed. Women on
Ice: Feminist Essays on the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan Spectacle.
Essay, article, story or chapter in a book with
an editor (if the book is an anthology of works by multiple writers):
Citation
description:
Author's last name, First name
Middle initial (if any). "Title of Chapter or Essay." Title of Book. Ed.
Editor's first and last name. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of
publication. Page numbers for the chapter.
Citation
example:
Fox, Aaron A. "
Citation Format for Articles from
Periodicals (Magazines, Journals & Newspapers)
Magazine article (the following information is for paper copies of articles, see below for additional information required for articles from databases):
Citation
description:
Author's last name, First name
Middle initial (if any). "Title of Article." Title of Magazine Day (if
given) Month (abbreviated except May, June, and July) Year: Page numbers of
article (if the article is not printed on consecutive pages, give the first page
followed by a +).
Citation examples:
Bazell, Robert. "Science and
Society: Growth Industry." New Republic 15 Mar. 1993:
13-14.
Frank, Michael. "The Wild, Wild West." Architectural Digest June 1993: 180+.
Journal article (the following information is for paper copies of articles, see below for additional information required for articles from databases):
Citation
description:
Author's Last name, First name
Middle initial (if any). "Title of article." Journal title Volume number. Issue
number (if each issue number begins on page 1) (Date of publication): page
numbers.
Citation example:
Babrow, Austin S. "Student Motives for Watching Soap Operas." Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 31.3 (Summer 1997): 309-321.
Newspaper article (the following information is for paper copies of articles, see below for additional information required for articles from databases):
Citation
description:
Author's last name, First name
Middle initial (if any). "Article Title." Title of Newspaper Day Month
(abbreviated except May, June, and July) Year: Section and page number(s) (if
the article is not printed on consecutive pages, just give the first page
followed by +).
Citation example:
MacKenzie, Bill. "Packin' the Heat." San Francisco Chronicle 4 Nov. 1993: A16+.
Book review article (the following information is for paper copies of articles, see below for additional information required for articles from databases):
Citation
description:
Reviewer's last name, First name
Middle initial (if any). "Article Title." (if more than "Book Review" and/or
title of the book) Rev. of Title of Book, by Book author's first name Middle
initial (if any) Last name. Title of the Periodical Volume and/or date
and page information for the appropriate type of periodical as shown above. If
the full text of the article is accessed from an electronic database, include
database information and access date as shown below.
Citation
examples:
Hendrickson, Donald. Rev. of The Case Against Immigration: The Moral, Economic Social and Environmental Reasons for Reducing United States Immigration Back to Traditional Levels, by Roy Howard Beck. Foreign Affairs 75.4 (July-August 1996): 146.
Fukuyama, Francis. "No Vacancy." Rev. of The Case Against Immigration: The Moral, Economic Social and Environmental Reasons for Reducing United States Immigration Back to Traditional Levels, by Roy Howard Beck. New York Times Book Review 1 Sept. 1996:18.
Article accessed from an online library subscription periodical database (such as Gale, or Proquest
web-based databases):
Citation
description:
Article information as shown
above for magazine, journal or
newspaper; then
add: Title of
Database. Name of database service or publisher. Name of the library through
which the database was accessed. Date of researcher's access. <URL
(electronic address)> (because the length of the URL may sometimes be
excessively long, the cited URL may be either the complete address for the web
page of the full-text article or the basic address for accessing the
database).
Citation examples:
Adler, Jonathan H. "A Child's Garden of Misinformation." Consumers' Research Magazine
Sept. 1993: 11+.
General OneFile. Gale.
b1. Academic journal article from Proquest Psychology database (click here to see actual article from the database):
Dodge, Brian, et. al.. "Sexual
Compulsivity Among Heterosexual College Students." The
Journal of Sex Research 41.4 (Nov 2004): 343+. ProQuest Psychology
Journals. Proquest.
b2. Academic journal article from History Resource Center database (click here to see actual article from the database):
Hoganson, Kristin. " ‘As Badly Off As
The Filipinos’:
c. Article from a book from the Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center database (click here to see actual article from the database):
d. Book review article from an academic journal from PowerSearch databases:
Article for which only the abstract (summary) of the article is accessed from an online periodical database on the World Wide Web (such as InfoTrac databases or the Medline database on PubMed):
Citation
description:
Article information as shown
above for magazine, journal or newspaper. Abstract. Title of Database. Name of
database service or publisher. Date of researcher's access. <URL (electronic
address)> (because the length of the URL may sometimes be excessively long,
the cited URL may be either the complete address for the web page of the
full-text article or the basic address for accessing the
database).
Citation example:
LeGrand, E. K. "Potential Risk of
Enhancing Survival of Infected Cells." Journal of the American Veterinary
Medicine Association 213.12 (15 Dec. 1998): 1698. Abstract. Medline. PubMed.
18 Feb. 2006.
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Entrez/query?uid=9861953&form=6&db=m&Dopt=b>.
Citation Format for Articles from
Encyclopedias or Other Reference Sources, including Online Reference Sources
Article from a Major Print Encyclopedia
Citation
description:
Author's last name, First name
Middle initial (if any). [If no author listed, begin with article title.] "Title
of Article: Subtitle of Article (if any)." Title of Encyclopedia or Other
Reference Source. Year of Publication ed.
Citation
example:
Naisbitt, John, Thea K. Flaum and
Oscar Handlin. "
Article from a Non-Major Print Encyclopedia or Other Reference Source
Citation
description:
Author's last name, First name
Middle initial (if any). [If no author listed, begin with article title.] "Title
of Article: Subtitle of Article (if any)." Title of Encyclopedia or Other
Reference Source. Ed. Encyclopedia Editor's name (if any). Edition (if not
first edition). Number of volumes. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of
publication.
Citation
example:
Helweg, Arthur W. "Immigration."
Encyclopedia of Social Issues. Ed. John K. Roth. 6 vols.
Article from an Online Encyclopedia or Other Online Reference Database
Citation
description:
Author's last name, First name
Middle initial (if any). [If no author listed, begin with article title.] "Title
of Article: Subtitle of Article (if any)." Title of Encyclopedia or Other
Reference Source. Date of Publication or Latest Update. Publisher,
Sponsoring Organization or Website name. Day Month Year of researcher's visit.
<URL (web address) of the page>.
Citation
example:
Berthoff, Roland.
"
"Charles Dickens." Authors and
Artists for Young Adults. Vol. 23. Gale Research, 1998.
Citation Format for World Wide Web Pages
Note: The MLA format for online publications is not completely standardized. Various websites provide specific information on how to cite information from the Web according to their current interpretations of official citation formats. For MLA format information, start with the official MLA website:
General web page format:
Citation
description:
Author's last name (if an author
is given), First name Middle initial (if any). "Title of the Page." (if no title
is given, provide a description, such as Personal Home Page.) Publication
information for any print version of the source. Title of the Site.
Editor of the site (if given). Day Month Year of publication or latest update.
Name of any institution or organization sponsoring or associated with the
website (if given and if different from the title of the site). Day Month Year
of researcher's visit. <URL (web address) of the page>.
Note: If any of
the above information is not given, leave the information
out. If citing a website homepage, no title of page is included.
Citation example:
Brenner, Eric. "Citing Sources."
Citation examples for specific types of Web sources (specific examples following the general description and example shown above):
Personal web page:
Bell, Rosemary. Home page. Fall 2003. 1 Oct. 2007. <http://www.smccd.net/accounts/bellro/>.
Academic or scholarly site:
The William Faulkner Society. 5 Oct. 2003. William Faulkner Soc. 1 Dec. 2007. <http://www.english.ufl.edu/faulkner/>.
NAIC Online. 29 Sept. 2003. National Association of Inventors Corporation. 1 Oct. 2007. <http://www.better-investing.org/>.
U. S. Department of Education. 29 Sept. 2003. US Dept. of Education. 1 Oct. 2007. <http://www.ed.gov/index.html>.
"William Faulkner." William
Faulkner on the Web. 6 Feb. 2003.
Online book:
An online book may be the electronic text of part or all of a printed book, or a book-length document available only on the Internet (e.g., a work of hyperfiction).
Bird, Isabella L. A Lady's Life
in the
Online book chapter:
Bryant, Peter J. "The Age of
Mammals." Biodiversity and Conservation. 2002.
Article in an online journal:
Wysocki, Anne Frances. "Monitoring
Order: Visual Desire, the Organization of Web Pages, and Teach the Rules of
Design." Kairos: A Journal for Teachers of Writing in Webbed Environments
3.2 (Fall 1998). English Dept.,
Article in an online magazine:
Fording, Laura. "Globalization and its Discontents." Newsweek 1 Dec. 2003. MSNBC News. 1 Dec. 2007. <http://www.msnbc.com/news/999004.asp?0cv=KB20&cp1=1>.
Newspaper article from a newspaper website:
Lattin, Don. "Religions Have Complicated Role in Globalization." San Francisco Chronicle 23 February 2003. SF Gate. 13 Nov. 2007. <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/02/23/LV133895.DTL>.
Bilmes, Linda J. and Joseph E. Stiglitz. "The Iraq War will Cost Us $3 Trillion, and Much More." Washington Post. 9 March 2008. washingtonpost.com. 27 May 2008. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/07/AR2008030702846.html>.
Poem or short story from a website:
Nesbit, Edith. "Marching Song."
Ballads and Lyrics of Socialism.
Citation Format for Audio/Video/Media
Video or Movie (theatrical performance)
Citation
description:
Title. Dir. Director’s First Name
Last Name. Optionally you can add narr. (narrated by), perf. (performers), prod.
(produced by), writ. (writte