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MMC NOTEBOOK
- NOTE #D2: MLA BIBLIOGRAPHIC FORMAT
Scholarly writing, as writing
for other purposes, has a set of conventions and guidelines. These
are set down in style manuals published by various persons and
organizations. Scholarly, research and professional journals have
guidelines for authors who wish to publish in them. Newspapers and
popular periodicals often do also.
College and university
instructors often require that term papers and other work conform to
a specific style manual. The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research
Papers (MLA). (Call number LB 2369 .G53 2003) is commonly used
by students and scholars in English, History, Religion and other
arts and humanities.
While it is necessary to
consult the Handbook for the fine points of writing a paper, the
basic formats for several of the common items included in
bibliographies, reference lists or endnotes are illustrated here. A
bibliography or literature cited is an author alphabetical list of
the items cited in the body of the paper. Reference lists may be
items read in preparation but not cited specifically, or, a list of
suggested items for further study.
Endnotes are sometimes used.
They are numbered lists of cited references with the complete
citation appearing only the first time reference is made to the
work. Endnotes may be used to include parenthetical information. The
MLA suggests the use of endnotes in preference to footnotes if the
note style is used.
Paper
Organization
Most college
papers are reviews of literature or position papers based on the
literature. The paper, in effect is meant to summarize and to teach
about a specific topic or viewpoint.
Typically a paper:
- states
a problem
- summarizes past and current research
- discusses
relationships, compares and contrasts or applies information to a
problem.
Reference Citations in
Text
When references are cited
within the narrative, there are three styles to choose among. The
most common is the author-date system. When quoting, use
author, page(s).
Examples:
Heraldry has
modern usages (Allcock 11).
"Good heraldry can flourish in
America..." (Allcock 11)
Citations may be
numbered in the text and bibliography.
Heraldry has modern
usages.1
1 Allcock, Hubert.
Heraldic Design. New York: Tudor, 1962.
The full citation may
be incorporated in the text. This is rarely done in college
papers.
Conventions
Writing
should conform to accepted grammar and punctuation standards. See
the MLA Handbook for these and lists of abbreviations,
etc.
Cited
Literature
Indent second
and subsequent lines of each citation in a paper. This is called a
hanging indent. See the Books, Two or More Authors example below.
Underlining vs
Italics
The MLA Handbook suggests underlining of titles
in manuscripts but also says to follow the convention prescribed by
the instructor or publisher.
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Print
BOOKS
ONE
AUTHOR
Sargent, Walter. The Enjoyment and Use of
Color. New York: C. Scribner’s Sons,
1923.
In text: author page
numbers in parentheses - (Sargent 17-22)
TWO OR MORE
AUTHORS
Gibaldi, Joseph, and Walter S. Achtert. MLA
Handbook for Writers of Research
Papers.
New York:
Modern Language Association of America, 1988.
CORPORATE
AUTHOR
San Diego Museum of Art. Sculpture in
California, 1975-1980: An Exhibition. San
Diego: The Museum,
1980.
EDITOR OR
COMPILER
Satin, Joseph, ed. Shakespeare and His
Sources. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1966.
EDITION OTHER THAN
1ST
Saxton, Dolores F., ed. Mosby’s Comprehensive
Review of Nursing. 13th ed. St.
Louis:
C.V. Mosby,
1990.
CHAPTER IN AN
ANTHOLOGY
Buchanan, George. "The History of Scotland,
1582." Shakespeare and His
Sources.
Ed.
Joseph Satin. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1966.
560-569.
UNSIGNED ARTICLE IN
AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OR DICTIONARY
"Early man." The
Cambridge Encyclopedia of Archeology. New York: Crown
Publishers,
1980.
62-70.
GOVERNMENT DOCUMENT
(corporate author)
U.S. Department of Commerce,
Economics and Statistics Administration, Bureau of
the Census. 1990 CPH-1, 1990
Census of Population and Housing, Summary
Social, Economic, and
Housing Characteristics United States. Washington D.C.:
U.S. Department of Commerce,
1995.
Print
ARTICLES
ANONYMOUS
"The President and Black
Americans." America 179. 12 (1998):
3.
ONE
AUTHOR
Inchausti, Pablo. "Reductionist Approaches to
Community Ecology." The American
Naturalist 143.2
(1994): 201-221.
TWO OR MORE
AUTHORS
Bernard, Mitchell, and John Ravenhill. "Beyond
Product Cycles and Flying
Geese."
World
Politics 47 (1995): 171-202.
MAGAZINE
Moore, Thomas. "Soul Mates."
Psychology Today March/April 1994: 26-31.
NEWSPAPER
Fields, Suzanne. "Motivation, Not
Money, is Message for Young." The Des Moines
Register 7 Mar.
1994: 5A.
—NO
AUTHOR
"Centerpiece of Reforms in Doubt." The Des
Moines Register 7 Mar. 1994: 3A.
Video
(documentary)
Whitney Museum of Art. American Art Today
A View from the Whitney: the 1987
Bieniel Exhibition from
the Whitney Museum of Art. N.Y.: Whitney Museum of Art,
1987. Videocassette.
Video (feature
film)
Lean, David, dir. The Bridge on the River
Kwai. Burbank, CA: Columbia TriStar Home
Video, 1993.
Videocassette.
INTERVIEWS
Interview citations should include the name of the
person interviewed, the kind of interview (personal,
telephone), and the date.
Jones, John. Telephone
interview. 1 January, 1996. |
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WORLD WIDE
WEB
The World Wide Web
(WWW) is a way to find multimedia information on computers called
servers, on the Internet. Files found on the WWW should be
acknowledged and cited like any other information. Sometimes
information is available in paper (eg. magazine article) and also on
the WWW. Always cite the version you used as there is no guarantee
that they are exactly the same.
Included here are MLA citation exemplars
for the files found on the WWW. As electronic publishing is quickly
growing and changing, the recommendations on citation format are
also developing. These examples are based on the MLA Handbook 5th
edition. The basic forms mirror the analogous print resources
(articles, books) but should include the publication medium (WWW
address), the date you found it.
One important difference in citing WWW
sources is that page numbers are not used in the body of a
paper. Electronic articles are one file and therefore one
page. Links to additional files are also each just one
page. If the article is also in print form and a starting page
number or inclusive page numbersis are used in a periodical
index or on a webpage, that page number(s) is part of the citation
on your literature cited page but not used in the body of your
paper.
Electronically stored information is
mutable. It is also ephemeral and may be here today and gone
tomorrow, or it may move to another server at a new location. Take
care to get the complete information needed for your citation. It
may be several different files such as the journal title page and
the article itself which may have several files.
Individual
Electronic Work (webpage) without
author
Latin
Phrases and Words Used in English. 10 December
1999.
<http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/classics/englatin.htm>.
Individual Electronic
Work (webpage) with author
Beard, Robert. A Web on On-line
Dictionaries. 10 December
1999.
<http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/rbeard/diction.html>.
Part of a Work (eg. online
encyclopedia)
"Mutable".
Hypertext WebsterInterface. 16 January
1996.
<http://c.gp.cs.cmu.edu:5103/prog/webster?mut
able.>.
Electronic
Book
Baddeley, A. D. Essentials of human
memory. Hove, England: Psychology Press, 1999.
November 09, 2001. netLibrary.
Busse Library, Cedar Rapids, IA.
<http://www.netlibrary.com/>.
Document on an
organizational, educational, governmental agency or
institutional website.
American Nurses
Association. Telehealth--issues for Nursing.
1996. Nursing World
Reading
& Reference Room. 11 November
2001.
<http://www.nursingworld.org/readroom/>.
Journal Article from a
full-text database service
Steele, Kenneth M., Karen E. Bass and Melissa D. Crook.
"The Mystery of the
Mozart Effect:
Failure to Replicate." Psychological
Science, 10. 4 (1999).
EBSCOhost. Busse Library, Cedar Rapids, IA. 12 March 2005
<http://search.epnet.com>.
Journal Article from
the publishers website
Hart, William B. "The Intercultural Sojourn as the
Hero's Journey," The Edge: The
E-Journal of Intercultural Relations. 2.1(1998).
Busse Library, Cedar
Rapids,
IA. 10 December
1999 <http://interculturalrelations.com/v2i1Winter1999/w99hart.htm>.
Magazine Article from a fulltext
database service
Grochow, Jerrold M. "Productivity and the IT personnel
shortage." PC Week. 23 August
1999. Expanded Academic Universe
ASAP. Busse Library, Cedar Rapids, IA.
8 September 1999. <http://web6.infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/>.
Magazine Article from a
publisher's website
Reaves,
Jessica. "Anti-Frankenfood Forces Try a New Tactic." Time. 15
December 1999.
15 December 1999.
<http://www.pathfinder.com/time/daily/0,2960,36044-101991215,00.html
101991215,00.html>.
Newspaper Article from
a fulltext database service
Kearney, Syd. "Birders to Migrate South to
Harlingen for Festival." The
Houston
Chronicle. 24
October 1999. General News. Lexis-Nexis Academic
Universe. Busse
Library, Cedar Rapids, IA.15
December 1999.
<http://www.pathfinder.com/time/daily/0,2960,36044-101991215,00.html>.
Newspaper Article from
a publisher's website
Boshart, Rod. "GOP Resumes Tax-cut Push."
TheGazette. 19 May 1999 . 10 September
1999. < http://www.gazetteonline.com/ialegis/1999/tax/99tx039.htm>.
Image (art
reproduction, photograph or other graphic)
Kaufman, Steve.
"Japanese Crane in Snow." ca 1993. 10 November
1999.
<http://search.corbis.com/default.asp?i=10898330&vID=1&rID=101>. |
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