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MLA Citation Style

GUIDE TO WORKS CITED AND PARENTHETICAL CITATIONS

Some departments and courses at Red Deer College, e.g. English, require the use of the Modern Language Association (MLA) style for citing references in student papers. It is important to remain consistent within the paper and to use the style recommended by your instructor. The purpose of documentation is to: Identify (cite) other peoples ideas and information used within your essay or term paper. Indicate the authors or sources of these in a Works Cited list at the end of your paper. Numbers in parentheses refer to sections in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (6th ed.). The examples in this guide cover frequently used citation forms only. For more detailed information refer to the MLA Handbook, available at the Information Desk.

General Guidelines for MLA Citation Style All sources of information and data, whether quoted directly or paraphrased, are cited with parenthetical references in the text of your paper. Double-space your entire paper, including the Works Cited list and any block quotes. (4.4) List Works Cited entries with a hanging indent (see the example on page 321). (5.4) Arrange Works Cited entries in one alphabetical sequence by the surname of the first author or by title or first word if there is no author. When beginning with the title ignore initial articles (e.g. A, An, The) for alphabetization. (5.4 5.5) Cite the first authors name with the surname first, but otherwise give the authors names as they appear in the source. (5.6.4) If the Works Cited list includes two or more entries by the same author(s), give the author(s) name(s) in the first entry only. In subsequent entries use three hyphens in place of the names, followed by a period and the title. Arrange the works in alphabetical order by title. (5.6.3) Capitalize the first, the last, and all significant words in a title and subtitle. (3.6) Underline book titles, journal titles, and titles of other works published independently. (5.6.1) Use quotation marks around the titles of works published as part of another work, e.g. journal article, short story, or essay in an anthology. (5.6.7) Omit any introductory article, e.g. first word The, in the title of an English-language journal. (5.7.1) For books, list the city of publication, publishers name, and year of publication as they appear on the title page or its reverse. Include a state or province if the city of publication is not well known. If there is more than one city, list the first one only. Abbreviate publishers names according to MLA guidelines (e.g. omit articles, business abbreviations such as Co., Inc., etc., and descriptive words such as Books, etc.). (7.4-7.5) When the Works Cited entry includes a URL that must be divided between two lines, break it only after a slash.

See over for examples of Print, Electronic, & Multimedia Citations

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Works Cited

Parenthetical Citation General format (Author Surname page number) (Berman 146-55)

BOOKS

General format Author Surname, First Name, Other names as they appear on the title page. Book Title: Subtitle. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year. Berman, Ronald. Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and the Twenties. Tuscaloosa, AL: UP of Alabama, 2001. McCloskey, Mary Lou, and Lydia Stack. Voices in Literature. Boston: Heinle, 1996.

Book One author (5.6.1) Book Two or three authors (5.6.4)

(McCloskey and Stack 46) [Always cite both names] Follows Works Cited entry: either use first author et al. or cite all names (6.2) (Wolfson 227-29) (McCormack 397)

Book More than three authors (5.6.4) Anthology or compilation (5.6.2) Work in an anthology (5.6.7)

You may name only the first author and add et al. or you may give all names in full.

Wolfson, Susan J., ed. The Cambridge Companion to Keats. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2001. McCormack, Eric. Inspecting the Vaults. Canadian Short Fiction. Ed. W.H. New. 2nd ed. Scarborough, ON: Prentice Hall Canada, 1997. 396-406. Lindgren, Hans C. Stereotyping. Encyclopedia of Psychology. Ed. Raymond J. Corsini. 2nd ed. 4 vols. New York: Wiley, 1994. Statistics Canada. Culture, Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics. Canadian Culture in Perspective: A Statistical Overview. Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 2000. General format Author(s). Article Title: Subtitle. Journal Title vol.iss (Year): page range. Paterson, Bill, and Ted Thorne. Enhancing the Evaluation of Nursing Care Effectiveness. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research 35.3 (2003): 26-38. Sheptycki, John. The Governance of Organized Crime in Canada. Canadian Journal of Sociology 28 (2003): 489-516. Sielke, Sabine. "The Empathetic Imagination: An Interview with Yann Martel." Canadian Literature 177 (2003): 12-32. Canadian Literary Centre. EBSCO. Red Deer Coll. Lib., Red Deer, AB. 11 Aug. 2004.

Article in a reference book (5.6.8) Government publication (5.6.21)

(Lindgren 468)

(Statistics Canada 49)

JOURNAL ARTICLES
Journal article Paginated by issue (5.7.2) Journal article Continuous pagination (5.7.1) Journal article From periodical index/online database (5.9.7)

General format (Author Surname page number) (Paterson and Thorne 29)

(Sheptycki 511)

(Sielke 25)

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Works Cited Journal article From an online periodical (5.9.4) Magazine article (5.7.6) Magazine article From online database (5.9.7) Astmann, Dana. Freylekhe Felker: Queer Subculture in the Klezmer Revival. Discourses in Music 4.3 (2003). 17 Aug. 2004 <http://www.discourses.ca/ v4n3a2.html>. Plaskin, Robert. Curtains for the End of Steel. Macleans 27 Nov. 1978: 29-30. Plaskin, Robert. Curtains for the End of Steel. Macleans 27 Nov. 1978: 29-30. CPI.Q. Gale. Red Deer Coll. Lib., Red Deer, AB. 18 Nov. 2004. Shecter, Barbara. Canadian Broadcasters Catch Break from CRTC. Calgary Herald 8 Nov. 2003: D3. Birth of a Nation. Dir. David W. Griffith. 1915. DVD. Image Entertainment, 1998. Strauss, Johann. Die Fledermaus: Highlights. Perf. Bratislava City Chorus. HNH International, 1994. Bach, Johann Sebastian. The Three Violin Concerti in Full Score. New York: Dover, 1986. General Format Author. Title of Site. Last update or copyright date. Name of sponsoring institution {if there is one}. Date you accessed site <web site address>. Browning, Tonya. A Brief Historical Survey of Women Writers of Science Fiction. 1993. 11 Aug. 2004 <http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~tonya/Tonya/sf/ history.html>. Literature. Wikipedia. 2007. 8 Aug. 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literature>. See pages 231-235 (5.9.9) for treatment of online television or radio programs, sound or film clips, maps, advertisements, email communication, and more. General Format Speakers name. Title of Presentation. Meeting and Sponsoring Organization. Location. Date. Barron, Guillermo. Lecture. Red Deer College, Red Deer, AB. 23 Mar. 2005. Schumacher, Rod. Re: Utopia. E-mail to the author. 15 Feb. 2005.

Parenthetical Citation (Astmann, pars. 1720)

(Plaskin 29) (Plaskin 29)

Newspaper article (5.7.5)

(Shecter D3)

AUDIOVISUAL MEDIA
Video or DVD (5.8.3) Sound Recording (5.8.2) Musical Composition (5.8.5) (Birth of a Nation) (Strauss) (Bach 43) General Format (Author surname OR Title page or par. #) (Browning par. 14)

WEB SITES

Web site General (5.9.2) Web site Document from a Web site, no author (5.9.1) Web page Multimedia and other sources

(Literature)

SPOKEN / E-MAIL COMMUNICATION

Address, Lecture, Speech (5.8.11) E-Mail (5.9.9j)

General Format (Speaker Surname) (Barron) (Schumacher) See over for Parenthetical Citation Tips

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Parenthetical Citations
How to Cite Quotations (3.7) When you incorporate a direct quotation into a sentence, you must cite the source. Fit quotations within your sentences, making sure the sentences are grammatically correct.
Gibaldi indicates, Quotations are effective in research papers when used selectively (109). Remember that [q]uotations are effective in research papers when used selectively (Gibaldi 109).

If the quotation will run to more than 4 lines in your paper, you must use: o a block format in which the quotation is indented 1 inch from the left margin o no quotation marks

How to Cite Summaries or Paraphrases Even if you put information in your own words by summarizing or paraphrasing, you must cite the original author or researcher as well as the page or paragraph number(s). For example, a paraphrase of Gibaldis earlier quotation might be identified as follows:
Within the research paper, quotations will have more impact when used judiciously (Gibaldi 109).

How to Cite Information When You Have Not Seen the Original Source (6.4.7) Sometimes an author writes about research that someone else has done, but you are unable to track down the original research report. In this case, because you did not read the original report, you will include only the source you did consult in the Works Cited list. The abbreviation qtd. in the parenthetical reference also indicates you have not read the original research.
Fongs 1987 study found that older students memory can be as good as that of young people, but this depends on how memory is tested (qtd. in Bertram 124). [Do not include Fong (1987) in Works Cited; do include Bertram.]

How to Cite Information If No Page Numbers Are Available If a resource contains no page numbers, as can be the case with electronic sources, then you cannot include a page number in the parentheses. However, if the source indicates paragraph numbers, use the abbreviation par. or pars. and the relevant numbers in the parentheses.
One website describes these specific dragons (King). A solution was suggested in 1996 (Pangee, pars. 12-18).

How to Cite Two or More Works by the Same Author or Authors When citing one of two or more works by the same author(s), put a comma after the authors last name and add the title of the work (if brief) or a shortened version of the title and the relevant page number. (6.4.6) More Tips for MLA Citation If the authors name is unavailable, use the title of the article or book or Web source, including the appropriate capitalization and quotation marks/underlining/italics format. e.g. (Asthma Rates Increasing 29). When you need to leave out part of a quotation to make it fit grammatically or because it contains irrelevant/unnecessary information, insert ellipses. (3.7.5) If you must add or slightly change words within a quotation for reasons of grammar or clarity, surround the change with square brackets. (3.7.6) For more information access the MLA Website www.mla.org, select MLA Style, and click on Frequently Asked Questions.

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