Citing Sources
Chapter five of the MLA Handbook covers creating a works cited list:
...[T]here are often several options for recording key features of a work. For this reason, software programs that generate entries are not likely to be useful. You may need to improvise when the type of scholarly project or the publication medium of a source is not anticipated by this handbook. Be consistent in your formatting throughout your work. Choose the format that is appropriate to your research paper and that will satisfy your readers’ needs. (Modern Language Assn. of America 129)
The three most common sources you will cite in your papers will be journal articles, print books, and web pages. While taking notes you will obviously need to remember to record page numbers from all of these sources except web pages. These page numbers will be used in the parenthetical citations within the text of your paper, which are covered in chapter six of the MLA Handbook. In order to create your works cited list you will need to collect the following information:
- Author or Editor
- Title
- Publisher
- Publication Date (For web pages use last updated date)
- Type of Publication e.g. print, web, microfiche, etc.
- City of Publication (Books Only)
- Edition (Books and Web Pages Only)
- Journal Name (Journal Only)
- Volume and Issue Number (Journal Only)
- Page Numbers of Complete Article (Journal Only)
- Web site Title (Web Page Only)
- URL optional (Web Page Only)
- Date of Access (Web Page Only) (Modern Language Assn. of America 136, 148, 184-185)
The items highlighted in yellow are the main types of information you will need to collect and are common to all three types of items you will cite.
Source:
Modern Language Association of America. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th ed. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2009. Print.
