Dacus Library Research Guides: MLA Style

Welcome to Dacus Library Online

MLA Documentation Style

Susan Silverman
Winthrop University
June, 2007

For additional and more-detailed information, consult the following sources located at the reference desk:
- MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (2003)
- MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (1998)
MLA suggests that using parenthetical references (or citing in the text) is the most practical way to document specific sources.
- These references are brief but should give enough information to find the full citation in the works cited list at the end of the paper. For examples, refer to Chapter 6 in the MLA Handbook.
All entries in the Works Cited page are double spaced. Begin each entry flush with the left margin and indent any subsequent lines.
In printed material submitted for grading, words that would be italicized in a publication are usually underlined to avoid ambiguity.
For electronic references, refer to the research guide Citing Electronic Information - MLA Documentation Style.

Examples for the Works Cited Page

Citing Books by an Individual Author

Wilso	n, Johnny. How to Evaluate Internet Information: A Simple Guide for

	New Users. New York: Harper, 1999.

Citing Books by two or More Authors

Gorma	n, Mary J., Martin L. Longfeet , and Susan Walker. No Place to Call My Own.

	Chicago: Newburg Press, 1997.

Edited Works

Gathin	gs, Eleanor, ed. Rock Hill Neighborhood Association. York, S.C.:

	York County Historical Society, 1996.

Work in an Anthology or Collection

Hansb	erry, Lorraine. "A Raisin in the Sun." Black Theater: A Twentieth-Century

	Collection of the Works of Its Best Playwrights. Ed. Lindsay Patterson. New

	York: Dodd, 1971. 221-76.

Article in an Encyclopedia or Reference Work

Note: Treat an encyclopedia article or reference work as a work in a collection, but do not cite the editor of a reference work. For familiar sources, give only the edition and year. When citing less familiar reference works, include the editor and publication information.

"Japan." World Book Encyclopedia. 12th edition. 1996.

"Ancie	nt Civilizations." Encyclopedia of Religion. Ed. Mircea Eliade. 16 vols.

	New York: Macmillian, 1987.

Article in a Scholarly Journal

Note: When citing a scholarly journal, provide the volume and issue, if given; for example: 25.5 (25 is the volume number and 5 is the issue number).

Wells,	Jane. "The Greatest Sports Feats of the Twentieth Century." Journal of

	Physical Education Recreation and Dance 25.5 (1998): 6-12.

Article in a Magazine

Note: To cite a magazine give the date of the issue. Do not provide a volume or issue number.

Weeks, Johnny. "Interlibrary Loan Nightmares." ILL Magazine May-June 1997: 9-11.

Article in a Newspaper

Rose,	Annie Lee. "John Grisham: Mississippi Novelists." New York Times

	1 Apr. 1997, late ed.: D1+.

Video or Film

Saving	Private Ryan. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Perf. Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore,

	and Edward Burns. Paramount Pictures, 1998.

For additional information, consult the following Web sites:

Modern Language Association http://www.mla.org

MLA Style Guide, University Library, Sonoma State University http://library.sonoma.edu/research/mlastyle.html

Research and Documentation Online http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc

MLA Style, Simmons College http://my.simmons.edu/libraries/bibliography/mlastyleguide.html