How to Cite a Source in Your Paper and in the Bibliography, MLA Style

The Modern Language Association (MLA) Style is widely used for identifying research sources. In MLA style you briefly credit sources with parenthetical citations in the text of your paper, and give the complete description of each source in your Bibliography, which is a list of all the sources used in your paper, arranged alphabetically by author's last name, or when there is no author, by the first word of the title (except A, An or The).

FOR OUR PAPERS IN THIS CLASS, we are going to use the MLA style. MLA stands for “Modern Language Association.” Your citations in your bibliography for this paper must be in MLA style.

WEB ARTICLE CITATION, MLA STYLE:
Last Name, First Name. “Article Title.” Name of publication. Date of publication. Web Site Name. Date of access with day, then month, then year .

Batchelor, Bob. "Bootlegging." Dictionary of American History. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 26 Apr. 2010 .

Complete publication information may not be available for a Web site. Provide what is given.

Entire Internet Site: Scholarly Project or Professional Site

Title of the Site. Editor. Date and/or Version Number. Name of Sponsoring Institution. Date of Access .

Encyclopedia Mythica. 2004. 13 May 2004 .

Document from a Web Site

Author. "Title of Web Page." Title of the Site. Editor. Date and/or Version Number.
Name of Sponsoring Institution. Date of Access .

Sherman, Chris. "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About URL." SearchEngineWatch. Ed. Danny Sullivan. 24 Aug. 2004. 4 Sept. 2004 .

Interview Conducted by the Researcher
Person Interviewed. Type of Interview (personal, telephone, email, etc.). Date.
Nakamura, Michael. Personal interview. 23 July 2004.

TELEVISION PROGRAM:
"Title of Episode or Segment." Title of Program or Series. Credit (Performer, writer, etc). Name of Network. Call Letters (if any), City of Local Station (if any). Broadcast Date.

"Daddy Knows Best." Cold Case Files. Narr. Bill Kurtis. A & E. 6 Sept. 2004.

"Why the Towers Fell." Nova. PBS. KHET, Honolulu. 7 Sept. 2004.

WITHIN THE TEXT OF THE PAPER, YOU SHOULD CITE THE SOURCES LIKE THIS:

Abraham Lincoln's birthplace was designated as a National Historical Site in 1959 (National Park Service).

Note: Personal or corporate author and page number should be given if they exist on the website.

FOR YOUR FURTHER INFORMATION:
The other two common styles used for citing sources in papers are Chicago Style and APA (American Psychological Association) style. You may be required to use those styles for some courses in college, but for now, I just want you to see what they look like, and how they’re different from MLA.

Here are some examples of how these different styles look:

WEB ARTICLE CITATION IN A BIBLIOGRAPHY, CHICAGO STYLE:
Batchelor, Bob. "Bootlegging." Dictionary of American History. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (April 26, 2010). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401800513.html

WEB ARTICLE CITATION IN A BIBLIOGRAPHY, APA STYLE:
Batchelor, Bob. "Bootlegging." Dictionary of American History. 2003. Retrieved April 26, 2010 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401800513.html