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This guide is based on the MLA Handbook, 8th edition (Modern Language Association, 2016). MLA style is most commonly used in English and other humanities disciplines.
Works Cited items are listed alphabetically at the end of the research paper and should be double-spaced. After the first line, citations should be indented 1/2 inch on the Works Cited list. Parenthetical references are items referred to in the body of the paper.
Please Note: Because the MLA Handbook was recently updated, some Internet resources still utilize the guidelines of the 7th edition. Always double-check your citations using this guide, the Handbook, or the Purdue OWL Style Guide.
MLA Handbook by
The Modern Language Association, the authority on research and writing, takes a fresh look at documenting sources in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook. Works are published today in a dizzying range of formats. A book, for example, may be read in print, online, or as an e-book--or perhaps listened to in an audio version. On the Web, modes of publication are regularly invented, combined, and modified. Previous editions of the MLA Handbook provided separate instructions for each format, and additional instructions were required for new formats. In this groundbreaking new edition of its best-selling handbook, the MLA recommends instead one universal set of guidelines, which writers can apply to any type of source. Shorter and redesigned for easy use, the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook guides writers through the principles behind evaluating sources for their research. It then shows them how to cite sources in their writing and create useful entries for the works-cited list. More than just a new edition, this is a new MLA style.
Scholarly Journal Article, Print (One Author)
Works Cited:
Myerson, Joel. "A Calendar of Transcendental Club Meetings." American Literature, vol. 44, no. 2, 1972, pp. 197-207.
Parenthetical:
(Myerson 1972)
Scholarly Journal Article, Print (Two Authors)
Works Cited:
Brown, Cecelia M., and Lina Ortega. "Information-seeking Behavior of Physical Science Librarians: Research and Practice." College & Research Libraries, vol. 66, no. 3, 2005, pp. 231-247.
Parenthetical:
(Brown and Ortega 237)
Magazine Article (One Author)
Works Cited:
Cook, Mariana. "Cousin Kay." Victoria, Nov. 2001, pp. 27-28.
Parenthetical:
(Cook 28)
Newspaper Article
Works Cited:
Johnston, David Cay. "Got Game? Got Old Game?" New York Times, 11 July 2003, late ed., F1+.
Parenthetical:
(Johnston F1)
Encyclopedia Article
Works Cited:
"Glossitis." The New Encyclopædia Britannica. 15th ed., vol. 5, 2010, p. 306.
Parenthetical:
("Glossitis" 306)
Review
Works Cited:
Barth Melissa E. Review of The Summons, by John Grisham. Magill Book Reviews 1 Nov. 2002, p. 221.
Parenthetical:
(Barth 221)
Book (One Author)
Works Cited:
Johnson, Charles Richard. Middle Passage. Atheneum, 1990.
Parenthetical:
(Johnson 176)
Book (Two to Three Authors)
Works Cited:
Gilbert, Sandra, and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. Yale UP, 1979.
Parenthetical:
(Gilbert and Gubar 42)
Chapter in a Book (Two to Three Authors)
Works Cited:
Gilbert, Sandra, and Susan Gubar. “Infection in the Sentence: The Woman Writer and the Anxiety of Authorship.” The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. Yale UP, 1979, pp. 45-92.
Parenthetical:
(Gilbert and Gubar 51)
Book (Corporate Author)
Works Cited:
Land Use: West Central Ohio, Dayton Power and Light Company. Batelle Institute, 1960.
*As this source is published by the same organization that authored it, the author is not included. If the author and publisher are different, include both in the full citation.
Parenthetical:
(Land Use 78)
Book (Anthology)
Works Cited:
McNally, John, editor. Humor Me: An Anthology of Humor by Writers of Color. U of Iowa P, 2002.
Parenthetical:
(McNally xv)
Book (Works in an Anthology)
Works Cited:
James, Henry. "The Friends of Friends." The Norton Book of Ghost Stories, edited by Brad Leithauser, Norton, 1994, pp. 40-60.
Parenthetical:
(James 47)
Electronic Book
Works Cited:
Hartog, Hendrik. Man and Wife in America: A History. Harvard UP, 2002. ACLS Humanities e-book, hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.04365.0001.001.
Parenthetical:
(Hartog 137)
Scholarly Electronic Journal Article from a Library Database
Works Cited:
Scott, Jonathan. "Advanced, Repressed, and Popular: Langston Hughes During the Cold War." College Literature, vol. 33, no. 2, 2006, pp. 30-51. Electronic Journal Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/ejournals/ article/ 322964651.
Parenthetical:
(Scott 42)
Item from a Library Database
Works Cited:
Clark, Zsuzsanna. "From Saturday-Night Poetry to Big Brother." New Statesman, vol. 132, no. 4647, 21 July 2003, p. 32. Academic Search Complete. proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost. com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=10311624&site=ehost-live.
Parenthetical:
(Clark)
Thesis or Dissertation (Digital)
Works Cited:
Heimtun, Bente. Mobile Identities of Gender and Tourism: The Value of Social Capital. 2007. U of West England, Bristol, PhD dissertation. DART-Europe E-theses Portal, idtjeneste.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-bibsys_brage_10136.
Parenthetical:
(Heimtun 86)
Web Site
Works Cited:
Zalta, Edward N., editor. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford U, 1995-2017, plato.stanford.edu.
Parenthetical:
(Zalta)
Television Program
Works Cited:
“Dunder Mifflin Infinity.” The Office, performance by Steve Carell, season 4, episode 10, NBC, 4 Oct. 2007.
Parenthetical:
("Dunder Mifflin Infinity")
Hulu
Works Cited:
“Reunion.” Alias, created by J. J. Abrams, performance by Jennifer Garner, season 3, episode 3, ABC, 12 Oct. 2003. Hulu, www.hulu.com/watch/701284.
Parenthetical:
(“Reunion”)
Sound Recording
Works Cited:
Copland, Aaron. Long Time Ago: American Songs. Performance by Thomas Hampson, Dawn Upshaw, and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Teldec, 1994.
Parenthetical:
(Copland)
Tweet
Works Cited:
@OSUPrezDrake (Michael V. Drake): “To our graduates receiving a record 11,734 degrees today: be proud of your accomplishments and dream BIG! #osugrad #buckeyeforlife.” Twitter, 7 May 2017, 3:04 p.m., twitter.com/OSUPrezDrake/status/861295780883288064.
Parenthetical:
(@OSUPrezDrake)
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