Documentation

The following documentation examples use general rules for documenting.  For special citations please follow your English course guidebook or MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers.

These examples are from the Southside Library collection. 

Updated July/August 2009 - MLA 7th edition 

 

Note:  Works cited page spacing: double space  

These examples are single spaced.

 

Books

A book

Perrett, Geoffrey. America in the Twenties. New York: Simon, 1982. Print.

 

A book editor

Bloom, Harold, ed. Thomas Hardy. New York: Chelsea, 1987. Print.

 

A multi-volume work with more than 3 authors or editors use et al

Scott, Mark W., et al, eds. Shakespeare for Students. 3 vols. Detroit: Gale, 1992. Print.

 

A multi-volume work with 2 editors

Moss, Joyce and George Wilson, eds. Literature and Its Times. 5 vols. Detroit: Gale,

     1997. Print.

 

If using 2 volumes of a multivolume work provide total number of volumes and inclusive dates.

 

Lewis, C. Day, and R. A. Scott-James. “Thomas Hardy.”  British Writers.  Ed. Ian Scott-Kilvert 

     et al. Vol. 6. New York: Scribner’s, 1983. 10 vols.to date.  1979-. Print.

 

 

If using one volume of a multivolume work provides that volume number and publication date.

Sherry, Richard J. “C.S. Lewis.” Magill’s Survey of World Literature. Ed. Frank N. Magill. Vol. 4.

        New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1993. Print.

 

An Introduction, Preface, a Foreword, or an Afterword of a book

Vendler, Helen. Introduction. The Wasteland and Other Poems. By T.S. Eliot.

     New York: New American, 1998. Print.

 

Sacred writings are treated as any other book in the works cited list.

The student Bible: new international version. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996.  

---Abbreviate the titles of the books of the Bible when used in parenthetical references (Phil. 4.11). Print.

 

Encyclopedia

An unsigned encyclopedia article

“Tides.” World Book. 1997 ed. Print.      

 

A signed encyclopedia article

Pounds, Norman. “Wales.” Academic American Encyclopedia. 1988 ed. Print.

 

Periodicals

For an unsigned article in a weekly publication

“Aiding the Arts.” Newsweek 15 Jan. 1996: 8-9. Print.

 

For a signed article in a weekly publication

Wald, Matthew. “Putting the Brakes on Teen Drivers.” The New York Times Upfront

     10 Jan. 2003: 8. Print.

 

 

The Internet (The URL is not required in MLA, but may be required by your instructor.)

Web site with author

URL not required

Hardcastle, Martin. Martin’s Poetry Page. Cambridge U. 22 May 1995. Web. 10 June 1995.

URL required

Hardcastle, Martin. Martin’s Poetry Page. Cambridge U. 22 May 1995. Web. 10 June 1995.

      <http://www.cam.ac.uk/pub/poems.html>.

 

Web site without an author [omit the URL if not required]

America in the 1930s.  U of Virginia, June 1980. Web. 8 Jan. 2003. 

     <http://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s/home1.html>.

 

CD-ROM

“Teacher.” Discover. Vers. 1.1. CD-ROM. Hunt Valley: ACT, 1999.

Prosser, Eleanor. “Hamlet and Revenge.” Exploring Shakespeare. 1997 ed.  CD-ROM.

     Detroit: Gale, 1997.

Smith, Joe. “Woodstock.” American Decades. 1998 ed. CD-ROM. Detroit: Gale, 

     1998.

Hirsch, Edward L. “Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.” Scribner Writers Series. Vers. 2.0.           

     CD-ROM. New York: Scribner’s, 1997.

 

Online Databases

 NOTE:  Most databases supply the works cited information at the end of the article.

Be sure to make changes if the author’s last name is not first.  Check for correct capitalization.

Remember all months are abbreviated in the works cited except for May, June, and July.

Gale Discovering Collection [provided at the end of the article]

"Music in the 1930s." DISCovering U.S. History. Gale, 1997. Reproduced in

     Discovering Collection. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale. Web. Oct., 2001.

      

 

Encyclopaedia Britannica [provided at the end of the article]

"Lewis, C.S." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Web. 30 Jan. 2007.

 

EBSCO [Click on the yellow page at the top of the article to see all citation formats for the articles.  Select MLA.  The MLA citation will automatically be emailed or printed.]

[Remember to insert library name, city, state.]

Author’s last name, first name. “Article title.” Article’s original print information: source, publication date: page numbers. Product name [Academic Search Elite]. Publisher [EBSCOhost]. Source type. Web. Date of access.

 

Example:

Dulles, Avery Cardinal. "Love, the Pope, and C.S. Lewis." First Things: A Monthly Journal of

     Religion & Public Life (2007):20-24. Academic Search Elite. EBSCOHost. Web. 29 January 2007.

 

Interview that you conducted

Name of person interviewed.  The kind of interview (personal interview, telephone interview). Date. 

Dobson, James. Personal interview. 15 Aug. 2008.

 

For an email interview: Name of person interviewed. Email subject in quotations. Message to [insert name]. Date.

Grisham, John. "RE: New book." Message to John Smith.  23 Mar. 2007.