Citing
Sources
Citation
format examples: - MLA
format - APA
format
Once
you have located and read an adequate number of sources,
incorporated ideas from your reading with your own
understanding of the topic, and presented your analysis of
your topic in a research paper, it is essential to cite the
sources and you must use the proper bibliographic format to
do so.
The
main reason for citing your sources is to give credit to
those authors whose ideas you used in your research. 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when you do not quote directly from another work, if reading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 by including
their work in your bibliography. Citing your sources allows
readers of your work to easily find the sources to which
you've referred.
- If
you do not cite the sources upon which your research is
based, you will be guilty of plagiarism. Plagiarism is
using the ideas and writings of others and representing
them as your own. Even if you do not copy another source
word-for-word, but rather rephrase the source without
attributing it to the original author by including a
footnote, you are guilty of plagiarism. Plagiarism is a
serious violation of academic standards and is punishable
with a failing grade, possible expulsion from the
institution, and may subject you to ostracism by your
peers. The increasing availability of electronic
information has unfortunately made it easy to copy
another author's works.
-
- Bibliography
or "Works Cited" List
The
most common way to cite sources is to use a bibliography or
"Works Cited" list at the end of your research paper. The
Works Cited list includes a citation for each of the sources
you used to write your paper. The citations are formatted in
a consistent style according one of several standard
citation formats. Two of the most common formats used for
undergraduate research papers are the MLA (Modern Language
Association) format and the APA (American Psychological
Association) format. Some instructors specify which format
they prefer; others leave it up to the students as long as
they maintain one consistent format.
The
list of all citations is commonly organized in a single
alphabetical list. Each different type of source--book,
magazine article, journal article, newspaper article,
article from a reference book, World Wide Web page--has a
precise format that is specified by the given format (MLA,
APA or other).
Citing
Database Information for Full Text Sources Accessed
Electronically
With
the increasing availability of full-text articles from
computerized periodical databases (online, CD-ROM and other
electronic formats), students have questions about how to
cite documents that have been accessed electronically. If
the full text of an article or other document is
accessed from an electronic database (even if the document
was originally published in a traditional print
publication), the name of the database, the database service
or publisher and the date the information was accessed must
be included in addition to the information for the
originally published document. But, if an electronic
database was used just to find a reference (a citation
and/or abstract) to a document, but the full text of the
document was accessed from the original print publication,
the database information should not be included in the
bibliographic citation. (See examples below in the "Citation
Format for Articles from Periodicals" for either MLA or
APA format.)
Below
are examples of how to cite most of the common types of
sources according to the:
MLA
FORMAT
For
more detailed explanations of how to use the MLA format, you
should consult the official MLA style manual:
- MLA
Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (REF
PN 147 G444 1998)
Ask a
librarian to show you this guide book.
General Information
- In
a bibliography or "Works Cited" list, all citations are
listed in alphabetical order, according to the last name
of the author. If no author is listed, alphabetize by the
first word in the title (ignoring "A", "An" or "The" at
the beginning of a title).
- In
all cases, the citation begins with the author's name
(last name first) whenever the author's name is listed.
If the author's name is not given, then the citation
begins with the title of the work (book, article or other
document). If there are two or three authors, the second
and third authors' names are listed first name first as
shown in the book example below.
- Book,
magazine, journal and newspaper titles are always
underlined.
- Article
titles are always put in "quotations".
- Subtitles
are designated by a colon (:).
- All
words in any titles (of books, articles or other
documents) are capitalized, except
the following parts of speech (when they are not the
first word in a title or subtitle):
- Articles
(a, an, the)
- Prepositions
(e.g., in, of , to,
against, between)
- Coordinating
conjunctions (and, but, for,
nor, or, so,
yet)
- the
to in infinitives (as in How
to Play Chess)
Citation Format for Books
Books
with a single author:
Author's
last name, First name Middle initial (if any).
Title. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of
publication.
Gamson, Joshua. R. Claims to Fame: Celebrity in
Contemporary America. Berkeley: University of
California Press,1994.
Books
with two, three or more authors:
First author's last name, First name Middle initial (if
any), and Second author's First name Middle initial (if
any) Last name. Title. Place of publication:
Publisher, Year of publication.
Note: For a book with three authors, list all
three author's names. Only the first author's name should
be listed last name first. For a book with more than 3
authors, list only the first author's name followed by a
comma and the words et al.
Stewart, David W., and David H. Furse. Effective
Television Advertising: A Study of 1000 Commercials.
Lexington: Lexington Books, 1986.
Jonson, Albert, Thomas Gray, and Jessie Muncy.
Information Access. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1992.
Baker, Nellie, et al. Book Publishing. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1992.
Books
with editor(s) rather than author(s):
Editor's
last name, First name Middle initial (if any), ed.
Title. Place of publication: Year of
publication.
Baughman, Cynthia, ed. Women on Ice: Feminist Essays
on the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan Spectacle. New
York: Routledge, 1995.
Chapter
in a book with an editor:
Author's
last name, First name Middle initial (if any). "Title of
Chapter or Essay." Title of Book. Ed. Editor's
first and last name. Place of publication: Publisher,
Year of publication. Page numbers for the chapter.
Fox, Aaron A. "Split Subjectivity in Country Music and
Honky-Tonk Discourse." All That Glitters: Country
Music in America. Ed. George H. Lewis. Bowling Green,
Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press,
1993. 131-139.
Citation Format for Articles from
Periodicals (Magazines, Journals &
Newspapers)
Magazine
article:
Author's
last name, First name Middle initial (if any). "Title of
Article." Title of Magazine Day (if given) Month
(abbreviated except May, June, and July) Year: Page
numbers of article (if the article is not printed on
consecutive pages, give the first page followed by a
+).
Bazell, Robert. "Science and Society: Growth Industry."
New Republic 15 Mar. 1993: 13-14.
Frank, Michael. "The Wild, Wild West." Architectural
Digest June 1993: 180+.
Journal
article:
Author's
Last name, First name Middle initial (if any). "Title of
article." Journal title Volume number. Issue number (if
each number of journal begins on page 1) (Date of
publication): page numbers.
Babrow, Austin S. "Student Motives for Watching Soap
Operas." Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic
Media 31.3 (Summer 1997): 309-321.
Newspaper
article:
Author's
last name, First name Middle initial (if any). "Article
Title." Title of Newspaper Day Month (abbreviated
except May, June, and July) Year: Section and page
number(s) (if the article is not printed on consecutive
pages, just give the first page followed by +).
MacKenzie, Bill. "Packin' the Heat." San Francisco
Chronicle 4 Nov. 1993: A16+.
Book
review article:
Reviewer's
last name, First name Middle initial (if any). "Article
Title." (if more than "Book Review" and/or title of the
book) Rev. of Title of Book, by Book author's first name
Middle initial (if any) Last name. Title of the
Periodical Volume and/or date and page information
for the appropriate type of periodical as shown above. If
the full text of the article is accessed from an
electronic database, include database information and
access date as shown below.
Hendrickson,
Donald. Rev. of The Case Against Immigration: The
Moral, Economic Social and Environmental Reasons for
Reducing United States Immigration Back to Traditional
Levels, by Roy Howard Beck. Foreign Affairs
75.4 (July-August 1996): 146.
Fukuyama,
Francis. "No Vacancy." Rev. of The Case Against
Immigration: The Moral, Economic Social and Environmental
Reasons for Reducing United States Immigration Back to
Traditional Levels, by Roy Howard Beck. New York
Times Book Review 1 Sept. 1996:18.
Article
for which the full text is accessed from an online
periodical database on the World Wide Web (such as
InfoTrac, WilsonWeb, Proquest, Lexis-Nexis or Dialog
web-based databases):
Article
information as shown above for magazine, journal or
newspaper. Title of Database. Name of database
service or publisher. Date of researcher's access.
<URL (electronic address)> (because the length of
the URL may sometimes be excessively long, the cited URL
may be either the complete address for the web page of
the full-text article or the basic address for accessing
the database).
Kaiser, Jocelyn. "Acid Rain's Dirty Business: Stealing
Minerals from the Soil." Science 12 Apr. 1996:
198. Academic ASAP. InfoTrac. 18 Feb. 2000.
<http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/plan_skyline>.
Kaiser,
Jocelyn. "Acid Rain's Dirty Business: Stealing Minerals
from the Soil." Science 12 Apr. 1996: 198. News
Group File, Beyond Two Years. Lexis-Nexis. 18 Feb. 2000.
<http://www.lexis.com/research>.
Kaiser,
Jocelyn. "Acid Rain's Dirty Business: Stealing Minerals
from the Soil." Science 12 Apr. 1996: 198.
Periodical Abstracts PlusText. Dialog. 18 Feb. 2000.
<http://www.dialogclassic.com/>.
Article
for which only the abstract of the article is accessed
from an online periodical database on the World Wide Web
(such as InfoTrac databases or the Medline database on
PubMed):
Article
information as shown above for magazine, journal or
newspaper. Abstract. Title of Database. Name of
database service or publisher. Date of researcher's
access. magazine, journal or newspaper. Title of
Database. Name of database service or publisher. Date
of researcher's access. <URL (electronic address)>
(because the length of the URL may sometimes be
excessively long, the cited URL may be either the
complete address for the web page of the full-text
article or the basic address for accessing the
database).
LeGrand, E. K. "Potential Risk of Enhancing Survival of
Infected Cells." Journal of the American Veterinary
Medicine Association 213.12 (15 Dec. 1998): 1698.
Abstract. Medline. PubMed. 18 Feb. 1998.
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Entrez/query?uid=9861953&form=6&db=m&Dopt=b>.
Article
for which the full text is accessed from an online
database service that is accessed directly--not on
the Web (such as the dial-up version of the Lexis-Nexis
database service or the text version of
InfoTrac):
Article
information as shown above for magazine, journal or
newspaper. Title of Database. Name of database service.
Date of researcher's access.
Kaiser, Jocelyn. "Acid Rain's Dirty Business: Stealing
Minerals from the Soil." Science 12 Apr. 1996:
198. News Library/Curnws File. Lexis-Nexis. 18 Feb.
1998.
Article
for which the full text is accessed from a CD-ROM
periodical database (such as Newsbank S.F.
Chronicle databases or Proquest New York Times
databases):
Article
information as shown above for magazine, journal or
newspaper. Name of Database, if different from periodical
title. CD-ROM. Name of software. Name of the Publisher.
Date(s) of database coverage.
Morris, Joe. "Business Booming in Silicon Valley." New
York Times 24 Nov. 1995: A10+. CD-ROM. Proquest. UMI.
1995.
Citation Format for Articles from
Encyclopedias or Other Reference Sources
Article
from a Major Print Encyclopedia
Author's
last name, First name Middle initial (if any). [If no
author listed, begin with article title.] "Title of
Article: Subtitle of Article (if any)." Title of
Encyclopedia or Other Reference Source. Year of
Publication ed.
Naisbitt,
John, Thea K. Flaum and Oscar Handlin. "United States:
Immigration." Encyclopaedia Britannica:
Macropaedia. 1998 ed.
Article
from a Non-Major Print Encyclopedia or Other Reference
Source
Author's
last name, First name Middle initial (if any). [If no
author listed, begin with article title.] "Title of
Article: Subtitle of Article (if any)." Title of
Encyclopedia or Other Reference Source. Place of
publication: Publisher, Year of publication.
"Immigration."
Encyclopaedia of Social Issues. New York: Marshall
Cavendish, 1997.
Article
from an Online Encyclopedia or Other Reference
Source
Author's
last name, First name Middle initial (if any). [If no
author listed, begin with article title.] "Title of
Article: Subtitle of Article (if any)." Title of
Encyclopedia or Other Reference Source. Date of
Publication or Latest Update. Publisher, Sponsoring
Organization or Website name. Day Month Year of
researcher's visit. <URL (web address) of the
page>.
Naisbitt,
John, Thea K. Flaum and Oscar Handlin. "United States:
Immigration." Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2000.
Britannica.com. 29 Mar. 2000
<http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/0/0,5716,136340+1,00.html>.
Citation Format for World Wide Web
Pages
World
Wide Web pages
Note:
The MLA and the APA formats for electronic publications
are not yet completely standardized.. Various websites
provide specific information on how to cite information
from the World Wide Web according to their current
interpretations of official citation formats. The MLA
official website, listed below, provides some information
on citing electronic documents. Xia Li and Nancy Crane,
librarians at the University of Vermont, who authored
Electronic Styles: A Handbook for Citing Electronic
Information maintain a website that is often used as
a standard for electronic citation format and their site
is also listed below.
Author's
last name (if an author is given), First name Middle
initial (if any). "Title of the Page." (if no title is
given, provide a description, such as Personal Home Page)
Title of the Site. Day Month Year of publication
or latest update. Name of any institution or organization
sponsoring or associated with the website (if given and
if different from the title of the site). Day Month Year
of researcher's visit. <URL (web address) of the
page>.
Note: If any of the above information is not given, leave
the information out.
Brenner, Eric. "Ethical Issues: Citing Sources." LSCI
105: Computerized Research. 2 Dec. 1998. Skyline
College. 10 Dec. 1998.
<http://www.smcccd.cc.ca.us/smcccd/faculty/brenner/lsci105/citing.html>
APA
FORMAT
For
more detailed explanations of how to use the APA format, you
should consult the official APA style manual:
- Publication
Manual of the American Psychological Association (REF
BF 76.7 P83 1994)
Ask a
librarian to show you this guide book.
Citation Format for
Books
Books
with a single author:
Author's last name, First initial. Middle initial (if
any). (Year of publication). Title. Place of
publication: Publisher.
Gamson, J. R. (1994). Claims to fame: Celebrity in
contemporary America. Berkeley: University of
California Press.
Books
with two, three or more authors:
First author's last name, First initial. Middle initial
(if any), Second author's last name, First initial.,
Middle initial (if any), & Last author's last name,
First initial. Middle initial (if any), (Year of
publication). Title. Place of publication:
Publisher.
Note: Invert all authors' names; give last names
and initials for all authors, regardless of the number of
authors.
Stewart, D. W., & Furse, D. H. (1986). Effective
television advertising: A study of 1000 commercials.
Lexington: Lexington Books.
Books
with editor(s) rather than author(s):
Editor's last name, First initial. Middle initial (if
any). (Ed. ). (Year of publication). Title. Place
of publication: Publisher.
Baughman, C., (Ed. ). (1995). Women on ice: Feminist
essays on the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan spectacle.
New York: Routledge.
Chapter
in a book with an editor:
Author's
last name, First initial. Middle initial (if any). (Year
of publication). "Title of Chapter or Essay." In Editor's
first initial. Middle initial (if any). Last name. (Ed.),
Title of book. (pp. Page numbers for the
chapter.). Publisher. Place of publication.
Fox, A. A. (1993). Split subjectivity in country music
and honky-tonk discourse." In G. H. Lewis (Ed.), All
that glitters: Country music in America,
(pp.131-139). Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State
University Popular Press.
Citation Format for Articles
from Periodicals (Magazines, Journals &
Newspapers)
Magazine
article:
Author's
last name, First initial. Middle initial (if any). (Year,
Month Day (if given)). Title of article. Title of
Magazine, volume number, Page numbers of
article.
Bazell, R. (1993, March 15) Science and society: Growth
industry. New Republic, 208, 13-14.
Frank, M. (1993, June) The wild, wild west.
Architectural Digest, 50, 180-186, 199.
Journal
article:
Author's
last name, First initial. Middle initial (if any).
(Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume
number (issue number, if each number of journal begins on
page 1), Page numbers of article.
Babrow, A. S. (1997) Student motives for watching soap
operas. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic
Media, 31(3), 309-321.
Newspaper
article:
Author's
last name, First initial. Middle initial (if any). (Year,
Month Day). Title of article. Title of Newspaper,
pp. section and page number(s).
MacKenzie, B. (1993, November 4). Packin' the Heat.
San Francisco Chronicle, pp. A16, A18.
Article
for which the full text is accessed from an online
periodical database (such as InfoTrac databases or
Proquest Newspapers database):
Article
information as shown above for magazine, journal or
newspaper. Title of Database. Name of computer service.
Retrieved Month Day, Year from the World Wide Web: URL
(web address) of the page (because the length of the URL
may sometimes be excessively long, the cited URL may be
either the complete address for the web page of the
full-text article or the basic address for accessing the
database).
Jacobson, J. W., Mulick, J. A., & Schwartz, A. A.
(1995). A history of facilitated communication: Science,
pseudoscience, and antiscience: Science working group on
facilitated communication. American Psychologist,
50, 750-765. Academic ASAP. InfoTrac. Retrieved
January 27, 1999 from the World Wide Web:
http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/plan_skyline.
Article
for which the full text is accessed from a CD-ROM
periodical database (such as Newsbank S.F. Chronicle
databases or Proquest New York Times
databases):
Article
information as shown above for magazine, journal or
newspaper. [CD-ROM]. Producer (optional). Name of
Database, if different from periodical title. Name of
software. Date(s) of database coverage.
Morris, J. (1995, November 24). Business Booming in
Silicon Valley. New York Times pp. A10+.
[CD-ROM]. Proquest. 1995.
Citation Format for World Wide
Web pages
World
Wide Web pages
Note:
The MLA and the APA formats for electronic publications
are not yet completely standardized.. Various websites
provide specific information on how to cite information
from the World Wide Web according to their current
interpretations of official citation formats. The APA
official website, listed below, provides some information
on citing electronic documents, but the format
information provided by this site is quite limited. Xia
Li and Nancy Crane, librarians at the University of
Vermont, who authored Electronic Styles: A Handbook
for Citing Electronic Information maintain a website
that is often used as a standard for electronic citation
format and their site is also listed below.
Author's
last name, First initial. Middle initial (if any) -or-
Institutional or Organizational Author. (Year, Month Day
of last update). Title of web page [explanation of
document type, except for online periodical
articles]. City (if given): Name of any institution
or organization sponsoring or associated with the website
(if given). Retrieved Month Day, Year from the
World Wide Web: URL (web address) of the page.
Note: If any of the above information is not given, leave
the information out.
Brenner, E. (1998, December 2). Ethical Issues: Citing
Sources [online course page]. San Bruno, CA:
Skyline College. Retrieved December 10, 1998 from the
World Wide Web:
http://www.smcccd.cc.ca.us/smcccd/faculty/brenner/lsci105/citing.html.
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