This page is designed to be a quick reference guide to the MLA style of documenting sources in research papers. Your "Works Cited" section should appear at the end of your paper and works should be arranged alphabetically by author (or title, if no author appears in the entry.) In this section you should list only works actually cited. (Your teacher may also request a list of works consulted.)

For further information about types of entries not listed here, consult Joseph Gibaldi's MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6th edition. Available at your WAHS Media Center.

For further information, consult the official page of the Modern Language Association.

Tips:
If no author is given, start the citation with the title.
Abbreviate the names of all months except May, June and July.
Indent the second line and all other lines 5 spaces.

Note: MLA recommends double spacing citations, but many teachers (including some here at West Ashley) prefer citations single spaced. Please check to determine your teacher's preferences.

Click here to go to Long Island University's B. David Schwartz Memorial Library's terrific MLA sample format web page.

or look below for the full text of the web page.

Book
Okuda, Michael, and Denise Okuda. Star Trek Chronology: The History

     of the Future. New York: Pocket, 1993.

Journal Article
Wilcox, Rhonda V. "Shifting Roles and Synthetic Women in Star

     Trek: The Next Generation." Studies in Popular Culture 13.2 (1991):

     53-65.

Newspaper or Magazine Article
Di Rado, Alicia. "Trekking through College: Classes Explore Modern

     Society Using the World of Star Trek." Los Angeles Times 15 Mar.

     1995: A3.

Book Article or Chapter
James, Nancy E. "Two Sides of Paradise: The Eden Myth According to

     Kirk and Spock." Spectrum of the Fantastic. Ed. Donald Palumbo.

     Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1988. 219-223.

Encyclopedia Article   (well known reference books)
Sturgeon, Theodore. "Science Fiction." The Encyclopedia Americana.

     International ed. 1995.

Encyclopedia Article   (less familiar reference books)
Horn, Maurice. "Flash Gordon." The World Encyclopedia of Comics.

     Ed. Maurice Horn. 2 vols. New York: Chelsea, 1976.

Gale Reference Book   (and other books featuring reprinted articles)
Shayon, Robert Lewis. "The Interplanetary Spock." Saturday Review

      17 June 1967: 46. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed.

     Sharon R. Gunton. Vol. 17. Detroit: Gale Research, 1981. 403.

ERIC Document
Fuss-Reineck, Marilyn. Sibling Communication in Star Trek: The Next

     Generation: Conflicts between Brothers. Miami: Speech

     Communication Assn., 1993. ERIC Document Reproduction Service

     ED364932.

Website
Lynch, Tim. "DSN Trials and Tribble-ations Review." Psi Phi: Bradley's

     Science Fiction Club. 1996. Bradley University. 8 Oct. 1997 <http://

     www.bradley.edu/campusorg/psiphi/DS9/ep/503r.html>.

Newspaper or Magazine Article on the Internet
Andreadis, Athena. "The Enterprise Finds Twin Earths Everywhere It

     Goes, But Future Colonizers of Distant Planets Won't Be So Lucky."

     Astronomy Jan. 1999: 64- . Academic Universe. Lexis-Nexis. B.

     Davis Schwartz Memorial Lib., Brookville, NY. 7 Feb. 1999 <http://

     web.lexis-nexis.com/universe>.

Literature Resource Center
Shayon, Robert Lewis. "The Interplanetary Spock." Saturday Review

      17 June 1967: 46. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed.

     Sharon R. Gunton. Vol. 17. Detroit: Gale Research, 1981. 403.

     Literature Resource Center. Gale Group. B. Davis Schwartz

     Memorial Lib., Brookville, NY. 16 Oct. 2001 <http://

     infotrac.galegroup.com/menu>.

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Notes

• Arrange the items on your reference list alphabetically by author, interfiling books, articles, etc.
• Doublespace all lines.
• Indent the second and following lines 5 spaces (or one half inch).
• If no author is given, start with the title.
• Abbreviate the names of all months except May, June, and July.
• If the encyclopedia does not arrange its articles alphabetically, treat the encyclopedia article as if it were a book article. Specific volume and page numbers are cited in the text, not in the list of references.
• Gale Reference Book: cite the original source being reprinted as shown under Book, Journal Article, Newspaper or Magazine Article, etc. The example shows a Magazine Article. Then include the citation information for the reference book.
• Websites: include the title of the web page, the name of the entire web site, the organization that posted it (this may be the same as the name of the website). Also include the full date the page was created or last updated (day, month, year if available) and the date you looked at it.
• Internet Magazine Articles: Include:
  • The name of the database (underlined) and the company that created it and its home webpage;
  • The full date of the article (day, month, year if available) and the date you looked at it;
    • If you are citing a journal instead of a magazine, include the volume (and issue number) and date as shown under the Journal Style above.
  • The library or other organization (and its location) that provided you with access to the database.
  • As for page numbers, different databases will provide different information. Include the range of pages (ex. 25-28.); or the starting page followed by a hyphen, a blank space, and a period (ex. 64- .); or the total number of pages or paragraphs (ex. 12 pp. or 33 pars.). If no page information is given, then leave it out.
• The rules concerning a title within a title are not displayed here for purposes of clarity. See the printed version of the manual for details.
• For documents and situations not listed here, see the printed version of the manual.