MLA Bibliography Reference

ROBERT MORRIS UNIVERSITY

THOMAS JEFFERSON LIBRARY 

MLA-STYLE CITATION

Bibliography/Works Cited/Source List 

Why do we have to do this? 

The purposes of a bibliography are to give proper credit to the sources used, to refer the reader to relevant sources, and to allow the reader to recreate the path followed in preparing the research paper.  Your bibliography should be clear and accurate enough to lead your readers precisely to the same sources you found and used in your paper.   

How to do it 

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7^th ed.,

REF 808.027 MLA 

Chapter 5 “Documentation: Preparing the List of Works Cited”  

Chapter 6 “Documentation: Citing Sources in the Text” (See page 6 of this handout for a brief example of citing in the document.)

  

Works Cited/Bibliography/Literature Cited 

Format

*For a complete description of the format for works cited, see Chapter 5.3 on page 129. 

The works cited should be completely double-spaced, with the second and subsequent lines of each entry indented 5 spaces or ½ inch from the left margin (hanging indention).   

Alphabetize the entries by the author’s surname or by title if the name is not known. 

 Follow all the MLA rules for capitalization, etc.

 

EXAMPLES from the MLA Handbook: 

BOOK with one author/editor: 

[Author. Title. City: Publisher, Year published. Print.] 

Fukuyama, Francis. Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology 

Revolution. New York: Farrar, 2002. Print. 

[Editor. Title. City: Publisher, Year published. Print.] 

Weisser, Susan Ostrov, ed. Women and Romance: A Reader. New York: New York UP, 

2001. Print.

BOOK with more than one author: 

[Author, Author, and Author. Title. City: Publisher, Year published. Print.] 

Marquart, James W., Sheldon Ekland Olson, and Jonathan R. Sorensen. The Rope, the 

Chair, and the Needle. Austin: U of Texas P, 1994. Print.

Essays from an anthology:

 [Author. “Title of story/essay.” Title of book. Editor’s name. Place of publication:

            Publisher, Year published. Page number(s). Print.]

More, Hannah. “The Black Slave Trade: A Poem.” British Women Poets of the

Romantic Era. Ed. Paula R. Feldman.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1997. 

472-82. Print.

 

Reprints: 

[Author. “Title of Article/Essay.” Journal Title volume.issue (Year published): Page(s).

            Reprinted in Book Title. Editor. Volume number. City: Publisher,

Year published. Page number(s). Print.] 

Holladay, Hillary. “Narrative Space in Ann Petry’s Country Place.” Xavier Review 16.2 

(1996): 21-35. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Linda Pavlovski 

and Scott Darga. Vol. 112, Detroit: Gale, 2002. 356-62. Print.

 

BOOK in a subsequent edition:

 [Author. Title. Editor. Edition. City: Publisher, Year published. Print.] 

Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. Ed. F. N. Robinson.  2^nd ed.  

            Boston:  Houghton, 1957. Print.

 

Reference Books & Multi-volume works: 

[Author or Editor. Title. City: Publisher, Year published. Volume number of Series Title. Total 

volumes. Year published. Print.]

 

If you are using only one of the volumes, follow this example:

 Stowe, Harriet Beecher. “Sojourner Truth, the Libyan Sibyl.” 1863. The Heath Anthology of 

American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter et al. 4^th ed. Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton, 2002. 

2530-38. Print. 

If you are using two or more of the volumes, follow this:

 Lauter, Paul, et al., eds. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. 4^th ed. 2 vols. 

Boston: Houghton, 2002. Print.

Article from a journal or magazine found through a subscription database:

 [Author(s). “Article Title.” Journal Title volume.issue (year): Page number(s). Database

            name. Web. Date of access.]

Coffey, Warren. “Flannery O’Connor.” Commentary 40.2 (1965): 938-9. 

Literature Resource Center. Web. 3 Mar. 2001.  

“Cooling Trend in Anarctica.” Futurist May-June 2002: 15. Academic Search Premier. 

Web. 23 May 2003. 

Nielsen, David and David Goldman. “Gene Transfer and Gene Therapy.” Alcohol Health

and Research 16.4 (1992): 304-39. Health Source Plus. Web. 3 Mar. 2001.  

McMichael, Anthony J. “Population, Environment, Disease, and Survival: Past Patterns,

Uncertain Futures.” Lancet 30 Mar. 2002: 1145-48. Lexis-Nexis. Web. 22 May 2002.

  
Essay from a magazine reprinted in a book and accessed via a database:

 [Author. “Title of essay.” Journal Title volume.issue (Year published): Page numbers. 

Reprinted in Book Title. Editor’s name. Volume number. City: Publisher, Year

published. Pages. Database title. Web. Access date.]

 

Holladay, Hillary.  “Narrative Space in Ann Petry’s Country Place.” Xavier Review 16.2 

(1996): 21-35. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Linda Pavlovski 

and Scott Darga. Vol. 112, Detroit: Gale, 2002. 356-62. Literature Resource 

Center. Web. 18 Aug. 2003.

 

Article from a newspaper found through a database: 

[Author. “Article Title.” Name of newspaper Date (day month year), Edition: Section Page.

Database Name. Web. Access date. ]

Gopnik, Blake. “Art and Design Bringing Fresh Ideas to the Table.” Washington Post 21 

Apr.2002: G1. Newspaper Source Elite. Web. 18 Aug. 2003.

 

INTERNET

 [Author. “Article title.” Web site name. Publisher, Date. Web. Access date.] 

Nastali, Dan, and Phil Boardman. “Searching for Arthur: Literary Highways, Electronic Byways,  

and Cultural Back Roads.” Arthuriana 11.4 (2001): 108-22. Abstract. Web. 1 Oct. 2002

 “Reebok International Ltd.” Hoover’s Online. 2002. Hoover’s, Inc., Web. 19 June 2002

 “Maplewood, New Jersey.” Map. Google Maps. Google, 15 May 2008. Web. 15 May 2008.

 Tyre, Peg. “Standardized Tests in College?” Newsweek. Newsweek, 16 Nov. 2007. Web. 15 May

             2008.

 “Verb Tenses.” Chart. The Owl at Purdue. Purdue U Online Writing Lab, 2001. Web. 15 May

             2008.

 “Utah Mine Rescue Funeral.” CNN.com. Cable News Betwork, 21 Aug. 2007 Web. 21 Aug.

             2007.

 

 VHS/DVD

 

Original Release:

 

It’s a Wonderful Life. Dir. Frank Capra. Perf. James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore,

             and Thomas Mitchell. RKO, 1946. Film.

 

Re-release in new format:

 [Title. Director. Performers. Film Studio, Year Original Release. New format, Distributor,

            Year. Film. ]

 

It’s a Wonderful Life. Dir. Frank Capra. Perf. James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore,

            and Thomas Mitchell. RKO, 1946. Republic, 2001. DVD.

 

 

INTERVIEW

 Fellini, Federico. “The Long Interview.” Juliet of the Spirits. Ed. Tullio Kezich.  

Trans. Howard Greenfield. New York: Ballantine, 1966. 17-64. Print

 Gordimer, Nadine. Interview. New York Times 10 Oct. 1991, late ed.: C25. Print.

  

 

“Citing Sources in the Text” from MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7^th ed., by Joseph Gibaldi:

 

Wherever you incorporate another’s words, facts, or ideas, insert a brief parenthetical acknowledgment in your paper. You can usually use the author’s last name and a page reference.

             Example:

 

Medieval Europe was a place both of “raids, pillages, slavery, and extortion” and of “traveling merchants, monetary exchange, towns if not cities, and active markets in grain” (Townsend 10).

 

If you don’t have an author’s name, use the corporate author, i.e. General Motors.  If you don’t have the corporate author, use the title.  If there is more than one essay by the same title, add a publication fact, such as a date, that distinguishes the work. For other, trickier examples, see the book, pages 213-232.

 

11/4/04 njro

11/23/09 jrr(updated)