library research - citing sources

Library Research:Citing Sources

Why do we need to cite information?

What is MLA format?

MLA stands for Modern Language Association, and it is the format we most often write in when we are writing in the disciplines that are part of the Humanities.

There are other citation formats as well like Chicago (sometimes used in History) or APA (American Psychological Association…used in the Social Sciences)

Why Cite?

MLA citation is really all about one thing…giving credit to the original author of a text or an idea. People’s intellectual property is legally theirs; it belongs to them.

It is our responsibility as writers to give credit for ideas that are not our own.

PlagiarismUsing others’ideas without propercitation is called plagiarism.

Plagiarizing can be many things from copying an essay from the internet, to not fully paraphrasing a sentence from a source.

Each level of plagiarism has different consequences, but all plagiarism can be avoided with proper citation.

Bibliography or Works Cited

How do I write a…

Works Cited Page

The title “Works Cited” should be centered at the top of the page.

Sources should be written alphabetically and are double spaced.

Sources are formated using “hanging indent” which is when the first line is longer than the following lines.

Example:

Castro, Peter, and Michael E. Huber. Marine Biology. 4th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2003. Print.

How to cite a …BOOK

Author’s last Name begins on the margin of the first line. The last name goes first, followed by a comma and the first name of the author, then a period.

Each detail in the entry ends with a period.

Example:

Crabtree, Jonathan.


The selection title begins after the author’s name. If the section is not the entire book, or book length, then it will be in quotation marks. Complete book titles should be underlined.

Example:

Crabtree, Jonathan. “The Sea Wolf: Decadence and Despair.”

★Bibliography entries should be in hanging-indent format, which means that all lines except the first are indented.


The book title will be underlined immediately after the selection title.

Example:

Crabtree, Jonathan. “The Sea Wolf: Decadence and Despair.” Collegiate Responses to Jack London.


The editor’s, translator’s, or compiler’s name will follow the book title. The name will be followed by a comma and abbreviation for the position.

Editor = , ed.

Translator = , trans.

Compiler = , comp.

Example:

Crabtree, Jonathan. “The Sea Wolf: Decadence and Despair.” Collegiate Responses to Jack London. Sabord Woods, ed.


The editor is followed by the place of publication, publishing company, then the year of publication.

★ Be as specific as possible. If the print source is published in the U.S., the state is specific enough. Otherwise, use what is given. If you use abbreviations, make sure they are the right ones. For the date use only the year in yyyy format.

Example:

Crabtree, Jonathan. “The Sea Wolf: Decadence and Despair.” Collegiate Responses to Jack London. Sabord Woods, ed. Tennessee, Lee Printing: 2006.


Page numbers should be given in a range, unless only one page is being cited. The first number given is the first number cited in the paper, and the last number given is the last number cited. Pages should be separated by a hyphen.

When citing a primary source, all pages should be cited.

Example:

Crabtree, Jonathan. “The Sea Wolf: Decadence and Despair.” Collegiate Responses to Jack London. Sabord Woods, ed. Tennessee, Lee Printing: 2006. 1-6.

library research - citing sources

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