When you write a research paper in the humanities, you will be required to document all information you use in the format standardized by the Modern Language Association (MLA). Here is a list of various types of sources as they would appear on a Works Cited page or bibliography. The corresponding in-text citation is given with each source type. On your Works Cited page, list sources alphabetically by author’s last name, regardless of their source types. If no author is provided, use the next available piece of information (usually the title) for both the Works Cited page and the in-text citation.
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Books:
Trimble, John R. Writing with Style: Conversations on the Art of Writing. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1975.
In-text note: (Trimble 7)
Books with two or more authors:
Witte, Stephen P. and Lester Faigley. Evaluating College Writing Programs. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1983.
In-text note: (Witte and Faigley 46)
Books with an editor instead of an author:
Vesterman, William, ed. Readings for the 21st Century: Tomorrow's Issues for Today's Students. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1991.
In-text note: (Vasterman 12)
Articles:
Erard, Michael. "Colons Descending: An Interim Assessment." English Today 12.4 (1996): 43-45.
In-text note: (Erard 44)
Articles without authors:
“Negro College Fund: Mission Is Still Important on 50th Anniversary.” Editorial. Dallas Morning News 8 Oct. 1994: A28.
In-text note: (“Negro College” A28) –Notice: use an abbreviated title in the parenthetical citation
Anthology selection:
Rich, Adrienne. "Claiming an Education." Conversations: Reading for Writing. 2nd edition. Ed. Jack Selzer. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1991. 88-93.
In-text note: (Rich 90)
Scholarly Articles or Journals:
Albada, Kelly F. “The Public and Private Dialogue about the American Family on Television.” Journal of Communication 50.4 (200): 79-110.
In-text note: (Albada 81-2)
Personal interviews:
Gomes, Peter. Personal interview. 23 Apr. 1997.
In-text note: (Gomes) –Notice: since there is no page number, omit it from the note
Reference works or Encyclopedias:
Benedict, Roger William. “Northwest Passage.” Encyclopaedia Britannica: Macropedia. 1974 ed.
In-text note: (Benedict 117)
Advertisements:
Subaru Outback. Advertisement. Brill’s Content Feb. 2000: 37.
In-text note: Naming the advertisement in the paper itself is preferable to having a parenthetical note.
Films:
Mrs. Winterbourne. Dir. Richard Benjamin. Perf. Shirley MacLaine and Ricki Lake. TriStar Pictures, 1996.
In-text note: Name the film in the body of your paper.
Government Documents:
United States. Congress. Joint Committee on Printing. 1985-86 Official Congressional Directory. 99th Congress, 1st session. Washington: GPO, 1985.
In-text note: Avoid a lengthy note by naming the document in the body of your essay and placing only the relevant page numbers between parentheses.
Personal websites with no title:
Syverson, Peg. Home page. 18 November 1999 .
In-text note: (Syverson) –Notice: since most websites do not have page numbers, omit the page number
Professional websites:
“Annual Report 1996-97.” The Undergraduate Writing Center, The University of Texas at Austin. 18 Nov. 1999 .
In-text note: (“Annual Report”)
Materials accessed from an online database:
"Jazz." britannica.com. 18 Nov. 1998 .
In-text note: (“Jazz”)
Online articles:
Slatin, John. "La Zambinella Meets the Cyborg: Barthes, S/Z, and Print- Based Literary Studies." CWRL: The Electronic Journal for Computer Writing, Rhetoric and Literature 3.1 (1997). 18 Nov. 1999 .
In-text note: (Slatin)
Email communications or discussion group postings:
Kostka, Ericka. "E-mail Communication in Freshman Composition." Online posting. 11 September 1997. CWRL Message Forum. 7 July 1998 .
In-text note: (Kostka)
Making the Transition from High School to College Writing
MLA Format