THE MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION (MLA) RULES FOR MAKING BASIC BIBLIOGRAPHY ENTRIES AND FOR CREATING THE WORKS CITED PAGE
What follows are the elements that constitute basic bibliography entries. By that, we mean that in order to have an entry, the following elements must be present. If you have publication information in addition to the basic elements, you have no choice but to use the models in an MLA manual to incorporate the additional elements into the entry. It is most important that you read this page carefully, since it is the only place you can find not only what is required for a basic entry, but also what is not permitted in a bibliography entry. This is the place, for example, where you find out how to format titles. You need to know that not only for bibliography entries, but also for correctly documenting the research essay, as you will see if/when you decide to do the research documentation exercise. All of the following information is located in Edward J. Martin's text for English 102 (Essay and Research): A Guide to Writing College Papers, 3rd ed. (37-50). Your Weekly Syllabus will remind you, as will the English 299 Class Policies, that only the MLA method of documentation is permitted in the essays you will write.
OK. I already read
the general information that follows this paragraph earlier in the quarter. Right now, I
need to get to the Quick Search Bookmarks that will let me navigate
through the MLA rules and models quickly!
Fine---Just make sure you have studied the material that precedes your
current destination. BE DOUBLY SURE YOU HAVE ABSORBED THE MATERIAL REGARDING BASIC
BIBLIOGRAPHY ENTRIES FOLLOWING THE QUICK SEARCH: THAT INFORMATION CONTAINS WHAT
MUST AND MUST NOT APPEAR IN BIBLIOGRAPHY ENTRIES.
MLA--THE MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION STYLE
There are many acceptable systems for writing bibliographies and documenting papers. The following system is known as the MLA style (for Modern Language Association) and is required for English 299. It is used throughout the United States in colleges and universities, especially in areas of humanities and the arts. It is acceptable in classes at Columbus State unless your instructor stipulates otherwise.
THE BIBLIOGRAPHY
At two points during the research and writing process, you must be concerned about bibliography forms. As you find sources for your project, you construct a working bibliography. Either following your instructor's directions or using your own choice, you might use index cards, notebook paper, or even a special feature on your word processor for recording this information. More important is the format of each entry.
The final bibliography may be called Bibliography, Literature Cited, or Works Cited. The last is preferred (and required for English 299) if your research includes such non-print sources as films, interviews, or television programs. Use Works Cited when your bibliography contains only those sources actually referred to in the text of your paper. Use Works Consulted or Selected Bibliography when the list contains all sources you read or reviewed when preparing your paper.
By carefully recording all of the vital information for the working bibliography, you should have no problem completing the Works Cited page. In fact, this step should require only alphabetizing the sources, discarding those you did not use in your paper, and compiling the rest on a separate page.
However, the final step is this simple only if you understand what a bibliography is and how you write the separate entries.
DEFINITION
A bibliography is an alphabetical list of source materials that relate to one subject. Entries in a bibliography require a specific form. And you must use the correct form for all parts of the entry: content, order, capitalization, punctuation, and indentation.
BASIC BIBLIOGRAPHY ENTRIES: AS EASY AS 1, 2, 3,
You can easily
remember the basic bibliography entry if you see it as consisting of three parts,
each ending with a period. Study the content, order, capitalization,
punctuation, and spacing inthe following analysis of the parts.
1. Author------Last name, First
Name, Middle Initial
2. Title----------BOOK TITLE
----------or----------"Article Title"
3. Publication
Data----Book=Place: Publisher, Date.-------Periodical=Periodical Name Date: Page
#'s.
Collecting Bibliography Sources
As you find sources on your topic, locate the appropriate model and write a correct entry on an index card. Using index cards will help you keep your bibliography in alphabetical order as you add to or subtract from it until you have completed your paper.
An alternative approach is to develop your bibliography with the help of a word processor. With your program you can create a separate file for the bibliography. On the file, you can easily add, rearrange, or delete entries.
QUICK
SEARCH BOOKMARKS
BASIC BIBLIOGRAPHY
FORMS--A CLOSER LOOK
What follows are
examples of the elements of bibliography entries that must be present
minimally. Often, you will have publication information in addition to the
basic elements (editions, multiple authors, editors, etc). When that is the case,
you must go to the appropriate section of the MLA manual
to find out where to insert those additional elements. By the appropriate
section, I simply mean that you will not find a model for a book in the Periodicals
Section of a manual.
BOOKS ONLY
EXAMPLE ENTRY FOR A BOOK:
Boorstin, Daniel J. The Discoverers. New York: Knopf,
1983.
DO'S AND DON'T'S OF BOOK
ENTRIES
Notice in the example entry
that the author's name is followed by a period. The title of the book is
also followed by a period. The place of publication is followed by a
colon. The publisher is followed by a comma, and the year of
publication is followed by a period. Note that the entry as a whole (like
a sentence) "ends" with a period.
Punctuate exactly as the example
shows and the rules dictate; do not deviate. If any single element (including
punctuation) is incorrect for any reason, the entire entry is incorrect.
The only time there will be any different punctuation or organization of elements is when
you have source material in addition to the BASIC bibliography entry above and later on
this page.
AUTHOR
Use
the author's last name, first name, and middle initial (note it does
not say middle name). You may use a Family Title
(Jr., Sr., III, etc.) if it appears on the book.
No Courtesy or Professional
Titles (Ms., Mr., Mrs., Dr., Ph.d, R.N., etc.) are permitted.
TITLE
Underline the
titles of Books. Note: Italics may be used in place of underlining the title.
Do not underline and
italicize a book title.
PLACE OF PUBLICATION
Use only
the name of the city for major centers. New York, Los Angeles,
Cleveland, Philadelphia, Atlanta, etc. do not need to be accompanied by the two-letter
state ZIP abbreviation.
If there is more than one place of publication
listed in the book, use the first one only. For "New York, London, Toronto," use
New York only.
If a city is less
well-known (Greenhaven, etc.), or if many cities have the same name (London,
England; London, Ontario; London, Ohio; Oxford, England; Oxford, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio;
Columbus, Georgia; Columbus, Indiana, etc.), use the two-letter state
ZIP abbreviation also.
PUBLISHER
If a
publisher consists of several names, use only the first.
Harcourt, Brace, and World? USE Harcourt only.
Do not include words like
"Company," "Inc.," "Corp.," "Ltd.," etc. in the
entries.
Do abbreviate
"University Press." USE UP. Example: The Ohio State University
Press= Ohio State UP.
Do not separate the
"U" and the "P" with a period; do not use
"up-and-down capitalization": Up.
Do not separate the
"U" and the "P" even though some publishers do:
EXAMPLE: Original reads, "University of Kentucky Press"
NO: U of Kentucky P
YES: Kentucky UP
DATE
Provide the Year of
publication only. You can use the copyright date.
Notice with the example entry above, that the
year of publication is the last element in a basic entry for books. Notice
that the year is not followed by page numbers in a basic
bibliography entry for books. Page numbers will only occur with book entries under special
circumstances, and those circumstances would only be shown in the models section for
Books, not here.
ORIGINAL: My friend Flicka.
NO: My friend Flicka.
YES: My Friend Flicka.
MAGAZINE ARTICLES ONLY
EXAMPLE ENTRY FOR A MAGAZINE
ARTICLE:
Seligman, Jean. "Making the Most of Sight." Newsweek
16 Apr. 1990: 92-93.
DO'S AND DON'T'S OF MAGAZINE
ARTICLE ENTRIES
Notice in the example entry that
the author's name is followed by a period. That is followed by the title
of the article in the magazine and a period (inside the
closing quotation marks).The title of the magazine itself is immediately followed by the
date (notice that there is no punctuation separating the title of
the magazine and the date). Notice that no place of publication appears.
The date is followed by a colon, and the basic entry ends with the page
numbers for the article, followed by a period. Note that the entry as a
whole (like a sentence) "ends" with a period.
Punctuate exactly as the example
shows and the rules dictate; do not deviate. If any single element (including
punctuation) is incorrect for any reason, the entire entry is incorrect.
The only time there will be any different punctuation or organization of elements is when
you have source material in addition to the BASIC bibliography entry above and later on
this page.
AUTHOR
Use
the author's last name, first name, and middle initial (note it does
not say middle name). You may use a Family Title
(Jr., Sr., III, etc.) if it appears on the book.
No Courtesy or Professional
Titles (Ms., Mr., Mrs., Dr., Ph.d, R.N., etc.) are permitted.
TITLE OF THE ARTICLE INSIDE OF THE MAGAZINE
Enclose the
title of the article in quotation marks. Capitalize First, Last, and all
Main words. Put the punctuation inside of the closing quotation
marks.
Do not underline or italicize
titles of articles inside of magazines, newspapers, journals, or other kinds of
periodicals.
TITLE (NAME OF) THE MAGAZINE
Underline the
titles (Names) of Magazines. Note: Italics may be used in place of underlining
the title.
Do not underline and
italicize a magazine title.
PLACE OF PUBLICATION
Place of publication is not
used in an entry for a magazine.
NAME OF PUBLISHER
The Publisher's Name is not used
in an entry for a magazine.
DATE
Write the day
before the name of the month, followed by the year.
Do not write a date as April
16, 1990.
Abbreviate all
months except May, June, and July (16 Apr./16 Mar. 1990,
etc.).
Do not write a date as 16 April
1990.
PAGE NUMBERS
Entries for magazine
articles will always end with page numbers. The page numbers used are for the whole range
of the article. In short, if the article began on page 15 and ended on page 25, you would
enter 15-25, even though you may only have cited page 17 in the body of your essay.
Do not use "p.," or
"pp.," or "#" as a prefix for the page numbers. Do not
prefix the numbers with the words "page" or "pages." Enter the numbers
only.
NO:-------- :page 16----:pages 15-25----:p. 17 ---------pp. 15-25------#15
YES:------- :16---------------------15-25--------17 --------------15-25-------15
If the
pages of an article are not consecutive (continued later in the magazine,
perhaps), give the number of the first page of the article and a
plus sign (+).
--------NO: -----(5-7; 15-22; 31-34).
-------YES: -----(5+).
ORIGINAL: My friend Flicka.
NO: My friend Flicka.
YES: My Friend Flicka.
If a title has no final punctuation, place a period inside the final quotation marks. If a title has its own final punctuation, use it:----"Onward, Women!" or "Are Animals People Too?"
MAGAZINE
TITLES:
When giving the name of a periodical, omit any introductory article ("A,"
"An," or "The").
-----------------NO:---------The New York Review of
Books.
--------------------YES:--------New York Review of Books.
VOLUME NUMBERS:
Do not use the volume number for magazine entries.
SCHOLARLY JOURNAL ARTICLES ONLY
EXAMPLE ENTRY FOR A SCHOLARLY
JOURNAL ARTICLE:
Hoffman, Yvonne. "Surviving a Child's Suicide."
American Journal of Nursing 47.4 (1987): 32-39.
DO'S AND DON'T'S OF JOURNAL
ARTICLE ENTRIES
Notice in the example entry that
the author's name is followed by a period. That is followed by the title
of the article in the journal and a period (inside the
closing quotation marks).The underlined title of the journal itself is immediately
followed by the volume number, issue number, and the year of publication(the latter
in parenthesis). Notice that there is no punctuation separating
the title of the journal from those elements. Notice that no place of
publication appears. The date is followed by a colon, and the basic entry
ends with the page numbers for the article, followed by a period. Note
that the entry as a whole (like a sentence) "ends" with a period. Punctuate exactly
as the example shows and the rules dictate; do not deviate. If any
single element (including punctuation) is incorrect for any reason, the
entire entry is incorrect. The only time there will be any different punctuation
or organization of elements is when you have source material in addition to the
BASIC bibliography entry above and later on this page.
Scholarly journals are usually
"issued" four times a year. Most journals will have the issue number on the
cover or on the binding. The issues usually correspond roughly to Spring, Summer, Fall,
Winter, and indeed, those words may appear on some journals, rather than the numbers 1, 2,
3, or 4. Use what's there.
When all four issues for a given year have been published, they are bound together to form a "volume" for that particular year. That volume then receives a number in the chronology of publication, based on whatever number the previous year's volume number was. Thus, if issues 1,2,3, and 4 of the Journal of English and Germanic Philology for 1996 were finally bound together in Volume 59, then when issues 1-4 of the same journal for the year 1997 are bound together, they will appear in Volume 60.
AUTHOR
Use
the author's last name, first name, and middle initial (note it does
not say middle name). You may use a Family Title
(Jr., Sr., III, etc.) if it appears on the book.
No Courtesy or Professional
Titles (Ms., Mr., Mrs., Dr., Ph.d, R.N., etc.) are permitted.
TITLE OF THE ARTICLE INSIDE OF THE JOURNAL
Enclose the
title of the article in quotation marks. Capitalize First, Last, and all
Main words. Put the punctuation inside of the closing quotation
marks.
Do not underline or italicize
titles of articles inside of magazines, newspapers, journals, or other kinds of
periodicals.
TITLE (NAME OF) THE JOURNAL
Underline the
titles (Names) of Journals. Note: Italics may be used in place of underlining the
title.
Do not
abbreviate a journal title, unless you are certain that the abbreviation will not be
mistaken for something else. Even JAMA (Journal of the American Medical
Association) might not be recognized outside of a medical environment. Since you
are obligated to make your sources clear in research, you should spell out
journal titles.
Do not underline and
italicize a Journal title.
PLACE OF PUBLICATION
Place of publication is not
used in an entry for a journal.
NAME OF PUBLISHER
The Publisher's Name is not used
in an entry for a journal.
VOLUME/ISSUE NUMBERS AND DATE
Write the Volume
number immediately following the title/name of the journal. Follow the volume
number with the Issue number/name (if there is one). Follow the
issue or volume number (if no issue) with the year of publication in
parentheses.
Do not write the words
"volume," "vol.," "issue," or "number."
If there is a volume number,
but no issue number, enter----English Notes 75 (1996): 13-45.
If there is a volume number
and an issue number (volume 16, issue 4, for example), enter------
Community College Review 16.4 (1989): 50-60.
If there is a volume number,
but the issue number is replaced by a word (usually a season of the year)---
enter-----Speculum 88 (Fall 1996).
PAGE NUMBERS
Entries for journal
articles will always end with page numbers. The page numbers used are for the whole range
of the article. In short, if the article began on page 15 and ended on page 25, you would
enter 15-25, even though you may only have cited page 17 in the body of your essay.
Do not use "p.," or
"pp.," or "#" as a prefix for the page numbers. Do not
prefix the numbers with the words "page" or "pages." Enter the numbers
only.
NO:-------- :page 16----:pages 15-25----:p. 17 ---------pp. 15-25------#15
YES:------- :16---------------------15-25--------17 --------------15-25-------15
If the
pages of an article are not consecutive (continued later in the journal,
perhaps), give the number of the first page of the article and a
plus sign (+).
--------NO: -----(5-7; 15-22; 31-34).
-------YES: -----(5+).
ORIGINAL: My friend Flicka.
NO: My friend Flicka.
YES: My Friend Flicka.
If a title has no final punctuation, place a period inside the final quotation marks. If a title has its own final punctuation, use it:----"Onward, Women!" or "Are Animals People Too?"
JOURNAL TITLES:
When giving the name of a periodical, omit any introductory article ("A,"
"An," or "The").
-----------------NO:---------The New England Journal
of Medicine.
--------------------YES:--------New England Journal of Medicine.
VOLUME and ISSUE
NUMBERS:
Volume and Issue numbers must be entered for scholarly journal entries.
Journals may be paginated in two
different ways: continuous pagination in which the first page of a succeeding issue begins
where the last page of the preceding issue stopped or journals in which
each new issue begins with page 1.
CONTINUOUS PAGINATION: Issue 1 begins on page 1 and ends on page 104--Issue 2 begins on page 105 and ends on page 211. Issue 3 begins on page 211 and ends on page 337 and Issue 4 begins on page 337 and ends on page 450. This could go on for years or could start over again with each new year.
When a journal does not use continuous pagination, each issue is treated as a separate publication. Issue 1 begins on page 1 and ends on page 115. Issue 2 also begins on page 1 and ends on page 117. Issue 3 begins on page 1 and ends on page 108, and so on. Each issue starts over with Page 1; only the end page of each issue will differ.
NEWSPAPER ARTICLES ONLY
EXAMPLE ENTRY FOR A NEWSPAPER
ARTICLE:
Engleman, Robert. "Fluoride Cancer Link Unclear
Experts Say." Pittsburgh Press 27 Mar. 1990: A 9.
DO'S AND DON'T'S OF
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE ENTRIES
Notice in the example entry that
the author's name is followed by a period. That is followed by the title
of the article in the newspaper and a period (inside the
closing quotation marks).The title of the newspaper itself is immediately followed by the
date (notice that there is no punctuation separating the title of
the newspaper and the date). Notice that no place of publication appears.
The date is followed by a colon, and the basic entry ends with the page
numbers for the article, followed by a period. Note that the entry as a
whole (like a sentence) "ends" with a period.
Punctuate exactly as the example
shows and the rules dictate; do not deviate. If any single element (including
punctuation) is incorrect for any reason, the entire entry is incorrect.
The only time there will be any different punctuation or organization of elements is when
you have source material in addition to the BASIC bibliography entry above and later on
this page.
AUTHOR
Use
the author's last name, first name, and middle initial (note it does
not say middle name). You may use a Family Title
(Jr., Sr., III, etc.) if it appears on the book.
No Courtesy or Professional
Titles (Ms., Mr., Mrs., Dr., Ph.d, R.N., etc.) are permitted.
TITLE OF THE ARTICLE INSIDE OF THE NEWSPAPER
Enclose the
title of the article in quotation marks. Capitalize First, Last, and all
Main words. Put the punctuation inside of the closing quotation
marks.
Do not underline or italicize
titles of articles inside of magazines, newspapers, journals, or other kinds of
periodicals.
TITLE (NAME OF) THE NEWSPAPER
Underline the
titles (Names) of Newspapers. Note: Italics may be used in place of underlining
the title.
Do not
underline and italicize a newspaper title.
IF the
city of publication is NOT in the title, add it IN SQUARE BRACKETS [
] after the name, not underlined.= The newspaper in Toledo, Ohio is called
the Blade. Since the name of the city (Toledo) does not appear in the title, the
correct entry would read Blade [Toledo, OH].
Do not
use parentheses ( ): you must use square brackets [ ]. Use the
ZIP for the state; do not spell it out.
PLACE OF PUBLICATION
Place of publication is not
used in an entry for a newspaper article.
NAME OF PUBLISHER
The Publisher's Name is not used
in an entry for a newspaper article.
DATE
Write the day
before the name of the month, followed by the year.
Do not write a date as April
16, 1990.
Abbreviate all
months except May, June, and July (16 Apr./16 Mar. 1990,
etc.).
Do not write a date as 16 April
1990.
EDITIONS OF A NEWSPAPER
IF
a company prints different editions of the same newspaper (Early, Late, Extra, Morning,
etc.), indicate the edition preceded by a comma and a space after the date: Pittsburgh
Press 5 Apr. 1997, eastern ed.: 21.
Do not capitalize the edition. Abbreviate
the word "edition." Follow the abbreviation with a period and colon.
PAGE NUMBERS
Entries for newspaper
articles will always end with page numbers. The page numbers used are for the whole range
of the article. In short, if the article began on page 15 and ended on page 25, you would
enter 15-25, even though you may only have cited page 17 in the body of your essay.
Do not use "p.," or
"pp.," or "#" as a prefix for the page numbers. Do not
prefix the numbers with the words "page" or "pages." Enter the numbers
only.
NO:-------- :page 16----:pages 15-25----:p. 17 ---------pp. 15-25------#15
YES:------- :16---------------------15-25--------17 --------------15-25-------15
If the
pages of an article are not consecutive (continued later in the newspaper,
perhaps), give the number of the first page of the article and a
plus sign (+).
--------NO: -----(5-7; 15-22; 31-34).
-------YES: -----(5+).
Indicate the section
with the style found in the newspaper: 8 F; A-22; G13; 35; Sports 15.
ORIGINAL: My friend Flicka.
NO: My friend Flicka.
YES: My Friend Flicka.
If a title has no final punctuation, place a period inside the final quotation marks. If a title has its own final punctuation, use it:----"Onward, Women!" or "Are Animals People Too?"
When giving the name of a newspaper, omit any introductory article ("A," "An," or "The").
-----------------NO:---------The Plain Dealer.
--------------------YES:--------Plain Dealer [Cleveland, OH].
VOLUME NUMBERS:
Do not use the volume number for newspaper entries.
These are the fundamental do's and don't for basic bibliography entries. The student needs to remember that basic entries are those with the minimal amount of publication information available. What has been described on this page must be produced MINIMALLY for each of the types of entries. Without that minimal information, an entry does not exist. Thus, when taking down source information, the student needs first to be sure that she/he has the material necessary for a basic entry. Once that information is taken down, the student should enter the other publication information available with the source. The next step is to eliminate the information that is not to be used according to the MLA. Once that is done, students should note what material remains beyond the elements of a basic entry, go to the MLA manual or a text containing MLA information, and systematically use the models to put together the correct entry (basic elements plus whatever other legitimate elements exist in addition to the basic elements). The final step for making a correct bibliography entry will always be applying the source material to the models in the MLA manuals (usually one of our texts contains the necessary models). Another good source for the models is Edward J. Martin's Guide to Writing Papers, used for English 102, and available at any time in the CSCC Bookstore in Delaware Hall).
THE WORKS CITED PAGE
1. Set the title Works Cited one inch down
from the top of the page, center it and double-space out to #2.
Do not underline,
italicize, or enclose the title in quotation marks.
2. List the items of your final bibliography in alphabetical order by the last name of the author or by the first main word of the title if the source has no author.
---------------Example with Author: Reed, John R.
---------------Example, no Author : Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire.
Do not place numbers to the
left of your entries.
3. Start the first line of each entry at the left margin and proceed to the right margin. Use the whole line. Do not just use part of a line. If the entire entry can be placed on a single line, that is fine.
4. If the entire entry cannot be placed on just one line, indent the second and any subsequent lines 5 spaces from the left margin. In all cases, go all the way to the right margin.
5. Double-space each entry and also double-space between the entries. In short, once you have typed the title for the page, you are to double-space throughout the paper.
6. The Works Cited page, like any other page in an essay, takes a page number.
EXAMPLE:
WORKS CITED
Bolle, Sonja. "Tips on Promoting Literacy at the Local
Level." Publishers Weekly 20 June 1968: 45.
Buckley, William F., Jr. "Johnny's Got to Learn to
Read." Washington Post 4 Sept. 1988: A-23.
"Business Fights Illiteracy." Futurist May/June 1988:
50.
Cather, Willa. "Neighbor Rosicky." Norton Anthology of
American Literature. Shorter fourth ed. Eds. Nina
Baym, et al. New York: Norton, 1996. 1532-1541.
Kozol, Jonathan. Illiterate America. New York: Anchor,
1985.
Lunsford, Andrea. Personal interview. 7 May 1990.
Plawin, Paul, and Bertha Kainen. "Educating Our Work
Force." Changing Times Apr. 1988: 107.
Skagen, Anne, ed. Workplace Literacy. New York:
American Management Association, 1986.
