Citation and Works Cited: MLA Formats

IN-TEXT CITATIONS

When you need to cite a source for a quotation or paraphrased passage, instead of using footnotes, just give a brief citation in parenthesis, as follows.  Note that nothing is ever underlined: book and journal titles are italicized.

Author's name in text (don’t repeat it in the parentheses)

Magny develops this argument (67-69).

Jackson writes, “Both kinds of vehicles, the passenger car and the truck, share responsibility for decentralization” (265)

Author's name in reference (when it’s not mentioned in the sentence)

This argument has been developed elsewhere (Magny 67-69).

“Both kinds of vehicles, the passenger car and the truck, share responsibility for decentralization” (Jackson 76).

Quotation found in indirect or "secondhand" source

The philosopher Alain states that "admiration is not pleasure but a kind of attention. . ." (qtd. in Magny 66).

Electronic source that uses paragraph numbers

The semiconductor workplace is highly toxic (Ross, par. 35).

Electronic source that uses chapter and section numbers

"Once we start using a tool extensively, it also starts using us" (Rawlins, ch. 1, sec. 1).

 

WORKS CITED

At the end of the article, include a Works Cited or Bibliography that includes all the works you’ve cited. Note that nothing is underlined: book and journal titles are italicized. 

Book

Okuda, Michael, and Denise Okuda. Star Trek Chronology: The History of the Future. New York: Pocket, 1993.

Journal Article

Wilcox, Rhonda V. "Shifting Roles and Synthetic Women in Star Trek: The Next Generation." Studies in Popular Culture 13.2 (1991): 53-65.

Newspaper or Magazine Article

Di Rado, Alicia. "Trekking through College: Classes Explore Modern Society Using the World of Star Trek." Los Angeles Times 15 Mar. 1995: A3.

Book Article or Chapter

James, Nancy E. "Two Sides of Paradise: The Eden Myth According to Kirk and Spock." Spectrum of the Fantastic. Ed. Donald Palumbo. Westport: Greenwood, 1988. 219-223.

Website

Lynch, Tim. "DSN Trials and Tribble-ations Review." Psi Phi: Bradley's Science Fiction Club. 1996. Bradley University. 8 Oct. 1997 <http://www.bradley.edu/campusorg/psiphi/DS9/ep/503r.html>.

(If the paper is being presented on the internet, it is becoming common to "hide" this URL as a link: turn the author's name or the entire bibliographic entry into a link that takes us to the original website.)  

Newspaper or Magazine Article on the Internet

Andreadis, Athena. "The Enterprise Finds Twin Earths Everywhere It Goes, But Future Colonizers of Distant Planets Won't Be So Lucky." Astronomy Jan. 1999: 64- . Academic Universe. Lexis-Nexis. B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Lib., Brookville, NY. 7 Feb. 1999 <http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe>.

LINKS

For online materials you’ve incorporated, you can also include a text link as you’ve been doing in your blogs.  But also include the citation reference and works cited reference described above.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: For more examples of the formats for citations and works cited, check out the following websites.  Note that whenever a guide shows something underlined, you should use italics instead.

Writing Center, U of Wisconsin

Owl at Purdue: Documenting Sources

Owl at Purdue: Works Cited Format for Electronic Publications

Ohio University Citation Guide