MLA Style Quick Reference Guide
APA Style Quick Reference Guide
MLA | General Rules | Books | Periodicals | Electronic Sources |
| Interviews | Parenthetical Documentation |
MLA STYLE QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE
Works Cited Entries
· Put all entries on a separate page under the title “Works Cited” at the end of the paper.
· Alphabetize entries by the author’s last name, using the letter-by-letter system. Ignore spaces and any punctuation within the last name. Use authors’ first names if two authors share the same last name. (Example: Descartes, Rene’, De Sica, Maria, De Sica, Victor). Use book or article title, ignoring any initial A, An, or The, if no author is listed.
· The first line of each entry should be flush with the left margin, with all following lines indented five spaces.
· Double space. (To save space, the citation examples shown are single spaced)
· Separate author, title, and city of publication with a period followed by one space. Complete all entries with an end period.
· A colon should separate the city (and possibly state or country) of publication and the name of the publisher.
· Abbreviate names of months except May, June, and July
Books
Author’s or editor’s last name, first name. Book Title. City of Publication (include the state or country if the city is not a
major, well-known city): Publisher, date of publication.
No author or editor listed, or author, anonymous :
(Do not use either Anonymous or Anon.)
Go Ask Alice. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1971.
Author, one:
Kramer, Barbara. Trailblazing American Women. Berkley Heights, New Jersey: Enslow, 2000.
Authors, two or more:
Johansen, Bruce E., and Donald A. Grind, Jr. Encyclopedia of Native American Biography. New York: Da Capo Press, 1997.
Editor:
Torr, James D., ed. Genetic Engineering. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2001.
Encyclopedia articles:
Dickinson, Robert E. "Norman Conquest." The World Book Encyclopedia. 1998 ed.
"Folk Music." Encyclopedia Americana. 1997 ed.
Periodicals
Author’s last name, first name. “Title of Article.” Magazine or Newspaper Name Date: page(s).
Magazine articles:
”The New Label Logic.” Health Oct. 2002: 144.
Lorch, Donatell. "Following Freedom’s Trail.” Newsweek 2 Sept. 2002: 34-37.
Newspaper articles:
(If the city of publication is not included in the name of a locally published newspaper, add the city in square brackets after the name.)
Gordon, Greg. “Moussaoui Trial Delayed for Second Time.” Star Tribune [Minneapolis-St.Paul] 1 Oct. 2002: A5.
Electronic Sources
CD-ROMs:
"Spiders." Grolier's New Multimedia Encyclopedia. CD-ROM. Groliers, 1996.
Articles from online databases:
Author's last name, first name. "Title of Article." Article's original source (magazine or journal) volume.issue (if available).
Publication date: page numbers. Product name (name of the database). Name of the service. Location
accessed from (our library or, if from home, Arrowhead Regional Library System). Date researcher visited site.
<Electronic Address, or URL, of the source>. (If you cannot find some of this information, cite what is available.)
Gale Group Databases (Infotrac, Contemporary Authors, etc.):
(There are 10 separate databases in this group. All would be cited in the same format.)
Hazynes, Karima. "Maya Angelou: Prime-time Poet." Ebony. April 1993: 68-71. Infotrac. Gale. High School Library
Media Center, Grand Rapids. 5 Feb. 2002 <http://www.galegroup.com/>.
Electric Library:
Walker, Pierre A. "Racial Protest, Identity, Words and Form in Maya Angelou's 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.'"
College Literature. 1 Oct. 1995. Electric Library. High School Library Media Center, Grand Rapids. 5 Feb. 2002
<http://www.elibrary.com/>.
World Wide Web:
Last name, first name of person who created the site, if given. Title of site (or description, such as Home page). Date of
last update. Name of any organization associated with the site. Date of access <network address>.
"Cambodia." CIA World Factbook. 1997. Central Intelligence Agency. 12 June 1998 <http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/
factbook/country-frame.html>.
"Fresco." Britannica Online. Vers. 97.1.1. Mar. 1997. Encyclopedia Britannica. 29 Mar. 1997 <http://www.eb.com:180>.
Lancashire, Ian. Home Page. 1 May 1997 <http://www.chase.utoronto.ca:8080/~ian/index.html>.
Interview
Last name, first name of person interviewed. Kind of interview (Personal interview, Telephone interview).
Date of interview.
Wellstone, Paul. Personal interview. 5 Jan. 2002.
Parenthetical Documentation
A citation reference note, placed within the text of a work, directs readers to a "Works Cited" list at the end of the paper. The text reference usually includes an author name and the location (page) of the information in the text being cited.
· Place the citation directly after the quotation or paraphrase. When citing a paraphrased source, place the citation before a comma if within the sentence, or before the end period.
Example: In the late Renaissance, Machiavelli contended that human beings were by nature “ungratefull” and “mutable” (124) and Montaigne thought them “miserable and puny” (127).
· Include only the author's last name and the page number(s) in parentheses at the end of the sentence (Smith 145).
· If more than one work by the same author is cited, use the author's last name, key words from the title, and page number(s) in parentheses (Smith Journey Home 145).
· Use the name of the source as listed on the works cited page if no author or editor is credited (Experimental Psychology 296).
· If the author's name appears in the same sentence as the cited material,include only the page number (s).
· Do not use commas within a citation.
Examples:
Native peoples have little to lose by adopting these practices (Johnson 37).
Viviano sees advantages in this line of defense (146).
For more in-depth information or instruction on citing sources not covered in the Quick Reference Guide, refer to the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. A copy is on reserve in the GRHS Library (808.02 GIB).
MLA Citation Machine -- Fill-in the blank form that creates your bibliography citation automatically.
Return of Top of Page
Return of Top of Page
APA | General Rules | Books | Periodicals | Electronic Sources |
| Parenthetical Documentation | Interviews |
APA STYLE QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE
Works Cited Entries
· Put all alphabetized entries on a separate page under the title “References” at the end of the paper.
· The first line of each entry should be flush with the left margin, with all following lines indented.
· Double space. (To save space, the citation examples shown are single spaced)
· Use one space after all punctuation.
· When citing book titles and article titles, capitalize only the first word of the title and subtitle, if any, and any proper nouns.
· The date of publication always is the second item in the entry; if the author is unknown or unlisted, the article title would appear first, followed by the date.
Books
Author’s or editor’s last name, initials. (Year of Publication). Book title. City of Publication (include the
state abbreviation or country if the city is not a major, well-known city): Publisher.
No author or editor listed, or author, anonymous :
(Do not use the abbreviation Anon; use Anonymous only if that appears in the work as the author.)
Experimental psychology. (1938). New York: Holt.
Anonymous. Go ask Alice. (1971). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Author, one:
Kramer, B. (2000). Trailblazing American women. Berkley Heights, NJ: Enslow.
Authors, two or more:
Johansen, B. E., & Grind, D. A., Jr. (1997). Encyclopedia of native American biography. New York: Da Capo Press.
Editor:
Torr, J. D. (Ed.). (2001). Genetic engineering. San Diego: Greenhaven Press.
Encyclopedia articles:
Dickinson, R. E. (1998). Norman conquest. In The world wook encyclopedia (Vol. 14, pp. 455-456). Chicago:
World Book.
Folk music. (1997). In Encyclopedia Americana (Vol. 11, pp. 498j-498l). Danbury, CT: Grolier.
Periodicals
Author’s last name, initials. (Date of publication). Title of article. Magazine or Newspaper Name, volume number,
pages. (Do not use p. or pp. for magazine articles; use pp. for newspaper articles)
Magazine articles:
The new label logic. (2002, October). Health, 144.
Lorch, D. (2002, September 2). Following freedom’s trail. Newsweek, 34-37.
Newspaper articles:
Gordon, G. (2002, October 1). Moussaoui trial delayed for second time. Star Tribune, p. A5.
Electronic Sources
CD-ROMs:
Spiders. (1996). Grolier's New Multimedia Encyclopedia [Computer software]. Danbury, CT: Groliers.
Articles from online databases:
Follow the form given above that corresponds to the original format of the work (Magazine article, newspaper article, etc.); add the date of retrieval and the name of the database.
Author's last name, initials. (Publication Date). Title of article. Article's Original Source (magazine, journal, or newspaper),
volume number (if available), pages. Retrieved date article found, from Name of the database.
Gale Group Databases (Infotrac, Contemporary Authors, etc.):
(There are 10 separate databases in this group. All would be cited in the same format.)
Hazynes, K. (1993, April). Maya Angelou: Prime-time poet. Ebony, 68-71. Retrieved February 5, 2002, from
Infotrac database.
Electric Library:
Walker, P. A. (1995, October 1). Racial protest, identity, words and form in Maya Angelou's 'I know why
the caged bird sings.’ College Literature, 22, 91. Retrieved February 5, 2002, from Electric Library database.
World Wide Web:
Last name, initials of person who created the site, if given, or name of any organization associated
with the site. Title of site (or description, such as Home page). Retrieved date article found, from
network address (no period follows the internet address)
Central Intelligence Agency. CIA World Factbook: Cambodia. Retrieved June 12, 1998, from
http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/country-frame.html
Encyclopedia Britannica. Britannica Online. Retrieved March 29, 1997, from http://www.eb.com:180
Lancashire, Ian. Home Page. Retrieved May 1, 1997, from http://www.chase.utoronto.ca:8080/~ian/index.html
Parenthetical Documentation
A citation reference note, placed within the text of a work, directs readers to a "References" list at the end of the paper. The text reference usually includes an author name and year of publication.
· Place the text reference directly after the quotation, or in the case of a paraphrase, at the nearest pause in the text, usually before a comma or the end of the sentence, before the period.
· The in-text citation should include only the author's last name (if there are two, always include both) and year of publication, separated by a comma, and should be enclosed in parentheses: (Smith, 1991) or (Smith and Johnson, 1991).
· If the author's name appears in the same sentence as the cited material, only include the year of publication and place it following the author’s name: “Johnson (1991) stated that……”
· Use the name of the source as listed on the references page if no author or editor is given: (Experimental Psychology, 1990).
Examples:
Native peoples have little to lose by adopting these practices (Johnson 1991).
Viviano sees advantages in this line of defense (1987).
Interviews
Because unpublished interviews do not provide recoverable data, they are not included in the reference list. Include a parenthetical citation in the text.
T. K. Lutes [appearing in the preceding sentence] (personal communication, April 18, 2001)
(V. G. Nguyen, personal communication, September 28, 1998)
For more in-depth information or instruction on citing sources not covered in the Quick Reference Guide, refer to the APA Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. A copy is on reserve in the GRHS Library.
Return of Top of Page
