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MLA Documentation

Note: This has the MLA rules from the new 7th edition of the MLA Handbook, 2009.

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Download printable version
(note: this web version has more examples, due to space)

When you use the words or original ideas of another person in your writing, you need to document, or give credit to, the sources of those words or ideas. If exact words from the original are used, quotation marks are necessary. If you paraphrase, or restate the idea in your own words, quotation marks are not required, but documentation of the source is still required.  There are several different formats for documentation. This page explains the MLA format (named for the Modern Language Association, which developed it).   In this format, you briefly identify your sources in the text of your paper, then give the full information in the "works cited" list at the end of the paper. This handout is based on MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th ed. New York: MLA, 2009. Print.

How to document quotations and paraphrasing is explained first, then how to do the "works cited" list is explained.

Parenthetical Documentation || Works Cited List

Format for Print Materials || Format for Videos || Format for Online Source from Library Databases || Format for Online Sources From the Web

Help from a Human

In the MLA format, "parenthetical documentation" is used to briefly identify the sources of information you have borrowed in writing your paper. Parenthetical documentation should be integrated smoothly into the text of your paper, rather than listed separately.

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Works Cited

A list of works cited has all the sources that contributed ideas and information to your paper. (It is the same as a "bibliography.")  It is arranged in alphabetical order by the authors' last names or, if the source doesn't list an author, by the first word of the title (ignore "A," "An," and "The"). The following sample works cited list is in correct order. 

If you have a type of source not covered in the examples below, ask the librarian to show you the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th edition, or go to the MLA's web site (although not many details are given there) .

SAMPLE - All sources are integrated into one list, arrange alphabetically.

Typing should be double-spaced, with the second line of an entry indented 5 spaces.

Works Cited

Box, Scott. "One Father's Unique Perspective." Newsweek 5 Mar. 1999: 38. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 12 Feb. 2009.

"Parent." Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2008. Web. 13 Mar. 2009.

Parke, Ross. Fathers. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000. Print.

Schorr, Burt, Jr. “States Cracking Down on Fathers Dodging Child-Support Payments.” Wall Street Journal 26 Jan. 2009, eastern ed.: 33. Print.

Sheppard, Lisa. "Father Involvement Shows Positive Outcomes." Urban Programs Resource Network. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Apr. 2001. Web.

29 May 2009.

 

How to format the works cited page

"Hanging indent" for entries. Drag lower margin marker to right a half inch..

Top of page and sides have 1" margins.

 

 

The most BASIC RULES for works cited entries are:

BOOKS 

Last name, First name of author. Title of book. City where published: Name of Publisher, year published. Print.

PRINT MAGAZINES

Last name, First name of author (if given). "Title of Article." Name of Magazine Date of issue: page numbers. Print.

MAGAZINE ARTICLE FROM LIBRARY ONLINE DATABASE

Last name, First name of author (if given). "Title of Article." Name of Magazine Date of issue: page numbers. Name of Database.

        Web. Date of Access.

WEB PAGES

These have several factors that can affect the citations; see section below for examples.

Other Rules

For other than "public" web pages, when required information is not given: In the spot where the information should be, put the following abbreviations:

  • No date of publication - n.d.
  • No place of publication or no publisher -  n.p.
  • No page number - n.pag.

A second work by the same author: Instead of repeating the author's name in the works cited list for the second entry, put 3 hyphens and a period (---.) and alphabetize as if the name were spelled out.

There are many variations for Works Cited entries. Look at the examples for print, video, and web sources below.

Remember, the following examples are not in the order you will list sources. Your list will be one alphabetical list.

To make it easier to find the correct example, the following are divided into print and video and online library and Web sources.

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Works Cited - PRINT and INTERVIEWS

   

Works Cited

General encyclopedia, signed article  
Farber, Bernard. “Family.” Encyclopedia Americana. 2007 ed. Print.
Specialized encyclopedia, no author given  
“Fatherhood.” Encyclopedia  of Sociology. Ed. T.E. Chen. Vol 2. New York: Putnam,
1999. Print.

Book or pamphlet  
Parke, Ross. Fathers. Cambridge: Harvard University  Press, 2000. Print.
Republished book  
Young, Marilyn. Family Life. 1972. New York: Doubleday, 1999. Print.
Book with two editors, not the first edition  
McKee, Lorna, and Margaret O’Brien, eds. The  Father Figure. 3rd ed. New York: Tavistock,
1982. Print.
A work or chapter within a larger work  
Valsiner, Jaan. “The Father’s Role in the Social Network of a Soviet Child.”The Role of 
the Father in Child Development. Ed. Michael E. Lamb. New York: Wiley, 1981. 187-201. Print.
Work reprinted in a collection and given a new title  
Wooster,  Bernard. “Child Support Laws Should Be Tougher.” Family Values: Opposing Viewpoints.         
San Diego: Greenhaven, 1998. 10-14. Print. Rpt. of “Deadbeat Dads.” Reader’s Digest
Jan. 1996: 29-34.
Previously published scholarly article reprinted in a collection  
Wornen, Henry. “The  Father and His Sons.” Modern Literature 27.3 (1995): 179-85. Rpt. in Twentieth
Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Michael Stewart. Vol. 89. Detroit: Gale, 1999. 404-10. Print.
        
Magazine article, no author given  
"Fathers Confused by Changing Family Roles." Family Monthly Oct. 1980: 5. Print.
Magazine article with an author  
Gold, Jeannye. “When Fathers Raise Children Alone.” U.S. News and World Report. 12 Apr.
1999: 51-52. Print.
Scholarly journal article(volume & issue numbers go after journal name; if no issue number, just put volume)  
Larson, Eric. “Cross-Cultural Studies of Fatherhood.”  Journal of Marriage and the Family 11.4 (1998):
212-18. Print.
          
Newspaper article with author  
Schorr, Burt, Jr. “States Cracking Down on Fathers Dodging Child-Support Payments.”  Wall Street Journal
26 Jan. 2009, eastern ed.: 33. Print.
Government document  
United States.  Dept. of Justice. Child Support Payment Laws. Washington: GPO, 2007. Print.
Interviews
(in-person and from an outside source)
 

Vargas, Carmen. Personal interview. 8 November 2005.

Jensen, Alfred. Interview by Ted Koppel. Nightline. ABC. KVUE, Austin, TX.

24 May 2004. Television.

 

Works Cited - VIDEOS

 

   

Works Cited

Film or video  
When Fathers Desert Families. Prod. Project Hope. Maxwell, 2008. DVD.    
Online video 
 
Barack Obama Podcast: On Fatherhood. barackobama.com. 17 June 2007. YouTube. Web. 5 May 2009.

Works Cited - ONLINE SOURCES

   

Works Cited

Full text magazine article from online database to which the library subscribes (first date is date of publication; second date is day you accessed it.)  
Box, Scott. "One Father's Unique Perspective." Newsweek 5 Mar. 1999: 38. 

       MasterFILE Premier. Web. 12 Feb. 2009.
 

E-book from online database to which the library subscribes  
Coltrain, Scott. Family Man: Fatherhood, Housework, and Gender Equity. New York: Oxford,

1996. NetLibrary. Web. 7 Feb. 2009.

      
Scholarly journal article from an online database to which the library subscribes (volume & issue numbers go after journal name)  
Gerry, Judy O. "Balancing Employment and Fatherhood." Journal of Family Issues 18.6 (1997): 386-402.
Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 July 2008.
        
Newspaper article from an online database to which the library subscribes  
Griest, Stephanie. “Program Offers Help for Young Fathers.” Austin American-Statesman 27 Apr. 1999: E4.
InfoTrac Newspapers. Web. 21 Apr. 2009.
        
Work reprinted in a collection from a library database (give information about where originally published first, then about reprint source)  
O'Neale, Sondra. "Fathers, Gods, and Religion: Perceptions of Christianity and Ethnic Faith in James
Baldwin." Critical Essays on James Baldwin. Ed. Fred Stanley and Nancy Burt. N.p.: Hall, 1988: 125-43.


Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Web. 12 Dec 2008.

 
        

Works Cited - ONLINE SOURCES FROM THE WEB

   
Web newspaper article with author  (name of publisher follows title of source, so Washington Post repeats)  
Willison, Marilyn Murray. “Family Issues." Washington Post. Washington Post, 1 May 2009. Web.
6 May 2009.
      
Web encyclopedia, no author given  
"Parent." Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2008. Web. 13 Mar. 2009.
	  
World Wide Web site (Give the specific page’s title in quotation marks, then general title of web site in italics. Give publisher after that.)  
Sheppard, Lisa. "Father Involvement Shows Positive Outcomes." Urban Programs Resource Network. University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Apr. 2001. Web. 29 May 2009. 

World Wide Web page with "missing" information
(Often all the information asked for in the above example isn't there. Here there was no author or overall web site name or publisher or publication date.)
 
Why Fathers Are Getting Child Custody More. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 June 2008. 

Government document from the web.   United States. Dept. of Education. Choices for Parents. 9 Oct. 2008. Web.
11 Nov. 2008.


If
you have questions, you can e-mail the librarian for help

Or you can telephone for help.


The URL for this page is
http://library.austincc.edu/help/mla/

© 2009 Austin Community College Library Services     Last Updated 5/13/09


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