Quick Guide to Using Style Manuals
MLA Style

APA Style MLA Style

This guide gives the basic format of MLA Style for citing sources in a Works Cited page. For a complete overview of MLA Style, consult:

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers	Current edition is the 6th (1999). Published by the Modern Language Association of America.	Reference Area 808.02 M689m 1999
"Frequently Asked Questions About MLA Style"	MLA Style. Modern Language Association of America. 10 July 2003.	Internet Resource http://www.mla.org/publications/style/style_faq

The following examples are taken from or are modified from examples from these guides.

Book Citation Format Periodical Article Format Full-text Journal Article from an Electronic Database Internet Site Basic Format Works Cited List

Book Citation Format:

Author. Book title. City of Publication: Publisher, year of publication.

• Single Author
  Wilson, Frank R. The Hand: How Its Use Shapes the Brain, Language, and Human Culture. New York: Pantheon, 1998.
• Two or More Authors
  Marquart, James W., Sheldon Ekland Olson, and Jonathan R. Sorensen. The Rope, the Chair, and The Needle: Capital Punishment in Texas, 1923-1990. Austin: U of Texas P, 1994.
• Corporate Author
  American Medical Association. The American Medical Association Encyclopedia of Medicine. New York: Random, 1989.
• Work in an Anthology
  More, Hannah. "The Black Slave Trade: A Poem." British Women Poets of the Romantic Era. Ed. Paula R. Feldman. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1997. 472-82.
• Article in a Reference Book
  
  • If it is is a familiar reference work, full publication information is not necessary
  • If articles are arranged alphabetically, you may omit volume and page #s
  • For lesser known reference works, give a full citation
  "Ginsberg, Ruth Bader." Who's Who in America. 48^th ed. 1994.
  
  Allen, Anita L. "Privacy in Health Care." Encyclopedia of Bioethics. Ed. Warren T. Reich. Rev. ed. 5 vols. New York: Macmillan-Simon, 1995.

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Periodical Article Format:

Author. "Title of Article." Title of Periodical volume # for scholarly journals (date of publication in parentheses for scholarly journals): page numbers.

• Article in a Scholarly Journal with Continuous Pagination
  Craner, Paul M. "New Tool for an Ancient Art: The Computer and Music." Computers and the Humanities 25 (1991): 303-13.
• Article in a Scholarly Journal That Pages Each Issue Separately (Add a period and the issue number directly after the volume number)
  Baum, Rosalie Murphy. "Alcoholism and Family Abuse in Maggie and The Bluest Eye." Mosaic 19.3 (1986): 91-105.
• Article in a Magazine
  Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. "The Creative Personality." Psychology Today July-Aug. 1996: 36-40.
• Article in a Newspaper
  Trachtenberg, Jeffrey A. "What's in a Movie Soundtrack? Catchy Tunes and Big Business." Wall Street Journal 1 Aug. 1994, eastern ed.: B1.

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Full-text Journal Article from an Electronic Database:

Author. "Article Title." Journal Title. Publication information (see examples above). Name of database. Name of database service. Name of subscribing library, city. Date information accessed. <URL of the database service home page>.

• Full-text Journal Article from Online (Web-delivered) Database
  Davies, Paul. "Interplanetary Infestations." Sky & Telescope. Sep. 1999: 33-40. Academic Search Elite. EBSCOhost. Oklahoma State University Library, Stillwater, OK. 24 May 2001 <http://www.ebscohost.com/ehost/login.html>.
  
  McCarthy, Michael. "The Uncertain Impact of Global Warming on Disease." The Lancet 357 (2001): 1183. PA Research II--Peer Reviewed. Proquest. Oklahoma State University Library, Stillwater, OK. 24 May 2001 <http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb>.
  
  Ayers, P. K. Shakespeare Quarterly 44 (1993): 423-39. J-Stor. Oklahoma State University Library, Stillwater, OK. 24 May 2001 <http://www.jstor.com>.

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Internet Site Basic Format:

See pages 207-237 in the 6^th edition of the handbook or the MLA Website for complete instructions on citing different types of electronic publications, including online scholarly projects, professional and personal Web pages, online books, and others. Cite as much information as is given such as author, title or type of page if no title, editor, date of electronic publication or last update for the page, publisher (company or organization hosting the Web page), date of access, and the URL of the page in angle brackets (< >).

• Scholarly Project
  Victorian Women Writers Project. Ed. Perry Willett. Apr. 1997. Indiana U. 24 May 2001 <http://www.indiana.edu/~letrs/vwwp/>.
• Professional Site
  Portuguese Language Page. U of Chicago. 1 May 1997 <http://humanities.uchicago.edu/romance/port/>.
  
  Beck, Susan E. The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly or, Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources. 16 Nov. 2000. New Mexico State University Library. 22 May 2001 <http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/eval.html>.
• Personal Site
  Lancashire, Ian. Home page. 22 May 2001 <http://www.chass.utoronto.ca:8080/~ian/>.

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Works Cited List

(See pages 142-237 of handbook)

When writing a research paper in MLA style, you need to list all your sources (cited as indicated in the examples above) in a Works Cited page that goes at the end of the paper.

"Works Cited" should appear as the heading at the top of the page. Each entry starts at the left margin and each subsequent line, if any, should be indented one half inch or 5 spaces. Double space the entire list and first, last, and all principal words of titles should be capitalized. Follow the example below:

Hallin, Daniel C. "Sound Bite News: Television Coverage

        of Elections, 1968-1988." Journal of Communication

        42.2 (1992): 5-24.

The list should be alphabetized by the author's last name. For anonymous authors or if no author is given, begin the entry with the title. Underline the title but not the period following the title. Check with your instructor about substituting italics for underlining.

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Book Citation Format Periodical Article Format Full-text Journal Article from an Electronic Database Internet Site Basic Format Works Cited List

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