Here are some MLA 8 citation guides you can print.
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Cite Your Sources |
Whenever you quote or base your ideas on another person's work, you must document the source you used. Even when you do not quote directly from another work, if reading that source contributed to the ideas presented in your paper, you must give the authors proper credit.
Citations allow readers to:
Citations provide:
In written academic work, citing sources is standard practice and shows that you are responding to this person, agreeing with that person, and adding something of your own. Think of documenting your sources as providing a trail for your reader to follow to see the research you performed and discover what led you to your original contribution.
Check this link for information on "Accidental Plagiarism."
BOOKS
A Book with One Author
Basic format:
Author’s Last name, First name. Title of the Book. Publisher, Date of publication.
Example:
Buffington, Jack. The Recycling Myth: Disruptive Innovation to Improve the Environment. Praeger,
2016.
A Book with Two or More Authors
Note: For two authors, only reverse the first author’s name; for three or more authors, follow the first author with a comma and et al.
Basic format:
Author's Last name, First name, and Second Author’s First name Last name Title of the Book.
Publisher, Date of publication.
Example 1:
Jesse, Neal G., and Kristen P. Williams. Ethnic Conflict: A Systematic Approach to Cases of Conflict.
CQ Press, 2011.
Example 2:
Moseley, William G., et al. An Introduction to Human-Environment Geography. Wiley Blackwell, 2014.
An Electronic Book from a Cerritos College Library Database
Note: Only include full URL if professor requires. Do not include http.
Basic format:
Author’s Last name, First name. Title of the Book. Publisher, Date of publication.
Name of Database, DOI or stable URL if provided.
Example:
Hayes, Kevin J. Road to Monticello: The Life and Mind of Thomas Jefferson. Oxford UP, 2008.
eBook Collection EBSCOhost.
An Electronic Book from the Web
Basic format:
Author’s Last name, First name. Title of the Book. Title of the website. Publisher, Date of publication,
Web address. (do not include http)
Example:
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Project Gutenberg. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation,
1998, www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1524.
An Article in a Familiar Reference Book
Basic format:
Author’s Last name, First name. “Title of Article.” Title of Reference Book. Edition. Date of
Publication, Page number(s).
Example:
Hong, Maria. “Guatemalan Americans.” Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America. 5th ed.
2000, pp. 153-68.
An Article in a Less Familiar Reference Book
Basic format:
Author’s Last name, First name. “Title of Article.” Title of Reference Book, edited by Editor’s name(s),
Volume number, Publisher, Date of publication, Page number(s).
Example:
La Patourel, John. “Normans and Normandy.” Dictionary of the Middle Ages, edited by Joseph R.
Strayer, vol. 13, Scribner’s, 1987, pp. 250-88.
An Article in an Anthology
Basic format:
Author’s Last name, First name. "Title of Essay." Title of Collection, edited by Editor's Name(s),
Publisher, Date of publication, Page number(s).
Example:
Gaines, Ernest J. “The Sky Is Gray.” The Oxford Book of the American South: Testimony,
Memory, and Fiction, edited by Edward L. Ayers and Bradley C. Mittendorf, Oxford
University Press, 1997, pp. 492-516.
PERIODICALS
A Print Scholarly Journal Article
Basic format:
Author’s Last name, First name. “Title of Article.” Journal Title, Volume Number, Issue
Number, Date of publication, Page number(s).
Example:
Craner, Paul M. “New Tool for an Ancient Art: The Computer and Music.” Computers and
the Humanities, vol. 25, no. 5, 1991, pp. 303-13.
A Scholarly Journal Article from a Database
Note: Only include full URL if professor requires. Do not include http.
Basic format:
Author’s Last name, First name. “Title of Article.” Journal Title, Volume number, Issue number,
Date of publication, Page number(s). Name of Database, DOI or stable URL if provided.
Example 1:
Goldman, Anne. “Questions of Transport: Reading Primo Levi Reading Dante.” The Georgia Review,
vol. 64, no. 1, Spring 2010, pp. 69-88. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41403188.
Example 2:
Arnold, Wilfred Niels. “The Illness of Vincent van Gogh.” Journal of the History of the Neurosciences,
vol. 13, no. 1, Mar 2004, pp 22-43. Academic Search Premier.
A Print Magazine Article
Basic format:
Author’s Last name, First name. “Title of Article.” Magazine Title, Volume number, Issue number, Day
Month Year, Page Number(s).
Example 1:
McKibben, Bill. “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Chemistry.” Nation, vol. 302, no. 15/16, 11/18 Apr.
2016, pp. 12-18.
Example 2:
Luscombe, Belinda. “How to Stay Married.” Time, 13 June 2015, pp. 36-41.
A Magazine Article from a Database
Note: Only include full URL if professor requires. Do not include http.
Basic Format:
Author’s Last name, First name. “Title of Article.” Name of Magazine, Volume number, Issue
number, Date of publication, Page number(s). Name of Database, DOI or stable URL if provided.
Example:
Horowitz, Alexandra. “My Dog Is Smarter Than Your Dog.” Discover, vol. 29, no. 7, July 2008, pp. 71-73.
MasterFile Premier.
An Article from an Online Periodical (not from a database)
Basic format:
Author’s Last name, First name. “Article name.” Title of Web Magazine, Publisher, Volume number,
Issue number, Date of Publication, Page number(s) if provided, Web address.
Example:
Bianchi, Stephanie. “Peerless Pathways to Find Peer Reviews.” Info Today, vol. 33, no. 4, Jul.-Aug.
2009, www.infotoday.com/online/jul09/Bianchi.shtml.
OTHER ONLINE RESOURCES
A Web Site or Page
Basic format:
Author’s Last name, First name “Title.” Name of Site, Name of institution/organization affiliated with
the site (sponsor or publisher), Date of resource creation if available, Web address.
Example:
Harris, Charles “Teenie.” Teenie Harris Archive, Carnegie Museum of Art,
www.teenie.cmoa.org/interactive/index.html#date08.
A YouTube Video
Basic format:
Lastname, Firstname [or single username]. "Title of YouTube Video." Publishing Website, Day month
year posted, Web address.
Example:
McGonigal, Jane. “Gaming and Productivity.” YouTube, 3 July 2012,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkdzy9bWW3E.
An Instagram Post
See below for examples of how to cite and text of an Instagram post or an image/video that you see on Instagram.
Basic Format for Text:
Last Name, First Name[@username if different from author name]. "Full text of post." Instagram. Day Mon. Year, URL
Example:
Irvine Valley College [@ivclibrary]."We are gearing up for Banned Books Week. The theme this year is 'Freed between the lines.'" Instagram. 18 Sept. 2024. https://www.instagram.com/p/C__nIYvSlOS/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Basic Format for Image/Video:
Last Name, First Name[@username if different from author name]. Description of post.[Usually Photos or Video of].Instagram. Day Mon. Year, URL.
Example:
Sacramento Public Library [@saclib].Photo of phone and a reminder to go see the Mark Oshiro event at the library. Instagram. 17 Sept. 2024, https://www.instagram.com/p/DAB2fLtu2WT/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
For detailed information on documenting your research using the Modern Language Association (MLA) style, please stop at the Library Reference Desk and ask for the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers 8th ed.).