Model 2: Author named in parentheses: One notable dinosaur expert states, Raptors do not think of people as Alphas, but food (Grady 17).

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1 OCC MLA Citation Handout 1 The Owens Community College Writing Center s Quick Guide to MLA Citation Edited 16 September 2015 Uses MLA 7 th edition and The Little Seagull (LS) Handbook In-Text Citation Basics: Your parenthetical (or in-text) citations within your paper link back to the Works Cited entries at the end of your paper by giving enough information to tell your readers which source from your Works Cited page they are looking at and where in the source the information can be found It is usually best to reference the source in text (usually by the author s last name) and include the page number (if present) at the end of the citation in parentheses (a parenthetical citation). MLA also allows writers to include both types of information in the parenthetical citation. Examples (In-text citation models from LS, highlights added for clarity): Model 1: Author named in a signal phrase: Owen Grady, a notable dinosaur expert, states, Dinosaurs have become popular lately (5). This example mentions the author s last name in the signal phrase and the page number in the parenthetical citation. Notice the location of the period. Model 2: Author named in parentheses: One notable dinosaur expert states, Raptors do not think of people as Alphas, but food (Grady 17). This example references the author and the page number in parentheses. A work with two authors : Carlson and Ventura wanted to introduce Julio Cortázar, Marjorie Agosín, and other Latin American writers to an audience of English-speaking adolescents (v). List the last names of both authors, either in a signal phrase or in the parenthetical citation. or three authors: Bullock, Brody, and Weinberg state, A clause is a group of words containing a subject and a predicate (254). List the last names of all three authors, using commas as you would in a typical list, either in a signal phrase or in the parenthetical citation. Four or more authors: One popular survey of American literature breaks the contents into sixteen thematic groupings (Anderson et al. A19-24). With four or more authors, either list each author s last name or list only the first author s name, followed by et al. (Latin for and others ).

2 OCC MLA Citation Handout 2 Organization or government as author: The U.S. government can be direct when it wants to be. For example, it sternly warns, If you are overpaid, we will recover any payments not due you (Social Security Administration 12). Acknowledge the organization either in a signal phrase or in parentheses. It s acceptable to shorten long names. Author unknown: A powerful editorial in last week s paper asserts that healthy liver donor Mike Hurewitz died because of frightening faulty postoperative care ( Every Patient s Nightmare ). For works written by an anonymous author or authors, use the work s title or a shortened version of the title in the parentheses. Source quoted in another source (indirect source): Charlotte Brontë wrote to G. H. Lews: Why do you like Miss Austen so very much? I am puzzled on that point (qtd. in Tanner 7). When you are quoting text that you found quoted in another source, use the abbreviation qtd. in in the parenthetical reference. Work without page numbers: Studies reported in Scientific American and elsewhere show that music training helps children to be better at multitasking later in life ( Hearing the Music ). Many online sources do not have page numbers, thus you cannot report them. It is essential to cite the author (or, if the author is anonymous, the title) in a signal phrase or parenthetical citation. If the source has paragraph or section numbers, use them with the abbreviation par. or sec. to report the location ( Hearing the Music, par. 2). Dictionary entry: According to dictionary.com, a hierarchy is any system of persons or things ranked one above another ( Hierarchy ). Because this definition did not have a specific author listed, we need to cite the title of the webpage, which is the word being defined. While the signal phrase, According to dictionary.com may not be strictly necessary, it starts the sentence to clarify for the reader that the definition is a dictionary definition, not a personally created definition.

3 OCC MLA Citation Handout 3 Works Cited Entry Models Each of your works-cited entries in MLA should follow a model. Each model has a collection of different elements of information, typically separated by a punctuation mark. Usually, we should follow the models in a writing handbook, though sometimes we need to consult the Purdue OWL website ( for the most up-to-date information. Note: For instructions about how to format Works Cited page in Microsoft Office, see the Writing Center s MLA Formatting Handout. To create a works-cited entry: Identify what type of source you have. o Book vs. Newspaper, Magazine, Journal Article, etc. o Medium of access (Print vs. Web) Identify what types of information you have about your source. o Number of authors? o Volume/Issue numbers? o Page numbers available? o Date of publication available? o Name of online research database? Find the model(s) that most closely match(es) the information you have for your source. Follow the formatting (including punctuation!) for each element, according to the model(s). Note: There may be more than one correct way to create an entry for certain types of sources. Example (Follows LS works cited model 3, highlights added for clarity): Basic Format for a Book (Print) with Three Authors: Becker, Karen A., Karla M. Krodel, and Bethanie H. Tucker. Understanding and Engaging Under-Resourced College Students: A Fresh Look at Economic Class and Its Influence on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Highland: Aha! Process, Inc., Print. Give the authors names in the order provided on the title page of the book. Since this example has three authors: o Reverse the first and last names of the first author only, not of the other authors. o Separate two or three authors names with commas o Insert the word and before the final name. Then, give the entire title of the book, including subtitles, in italics. Note: You may need to change the capitalization from the original (ex: Original was ALL CAPS, or had no capitalization at all) according to the rules of MLA. Then, give the city of publication, The name of the publisher, The year of publication, and The medium of publication ( Print in this case).

4 OCC MLA Citation Handout 4 Web Sources Examples (Follow LS works-cited models, highlights added for clarity): An Article in a Newspaper (Web): Steinberg, Jacques. Study Finds Academic Coaching Boosts Graduation Rates. New York Times. New York Times, 10 Mar Web. 23 June An Article in a Magazine (Web): Foroohar, Rana. What Ever Happened to Upward Mobility? Time. Time, 14 Nov Web. 23 June Elements: author(s), title of the article in quotation marks, title of the web site in italics, the sponsor of the website (usually, the organization listed in the copyright information at the bottom of the website) followed by a comma, the date the article was published or most recently updated, the medium of publication, and the date you accessed the source in day month year format An Article in a Scholarly Journal (Web): Barnes, Wally, and John R. Slate. College-Readiness Is Not One-Size-Fits-All. Current Issues in Education 16.1 (2013): Web. 23 June Elements: author(s), title of the article in quotation marks. title of the journal in italics, the volume number the issue number the year of publication in parentheses, followed by a colon the page numbers, without the abbreviation pp. the medium of publication, and the date you accessed the source A Definition from a Dictionary (Web): Hierarchy. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, Web. 3 Aug This example starts with the title because the dictionary entry did not have a specified author. E-books Example (Based on LS model 65): Kindle Book: Grady, Owen. Raptors Are Not Pets. Boston: Archway, Kindle file. Essentially, the only thing that is different about this kind of citation is the medium of access, which lists the type of electronic document (Kindle, Nook, PDF, etc.) and then the word file.

5 OCC MLA Citation Handout 5 Web Periodicals Located in Online Research Databases Since you are able to locate a variety of journal, magazine, and newspaper articles, at no cost to you, through our library s online research databases, it is important to know how to cite them. Examples of commonly used online databases include Academic Search Premier and LexisNexis Academic. Below, you will find citation models for articles from a scholarly journal, a magazine, and a newspaper, all found in an online database. Examples (highlights added for clarity): Scholarly Journal Article (Online Database): Brown, Jennifer L. Developing a Freshman Orientation Survey to Improve Student Retention within a College. College Student Journal 46.4 (2012): Academic Search Premier. Web. 23 June Format this citation like an online scholarly journal article, with one difference. Before you conclude with the medium and date of access, be sure to list the name of the database in italics. Newspaper Article (Online Database): Haynes, Gale Stevens. Stop Out, Not Drop Out. USA Today 24 June 2009: A8. Academic Search Premier. Web. 23 June Similar to above, format this citation like an online newspaper article, making sure to include the name of the database in italics, before the medium and date of access. Note: If the article begins on one page, but then skips to another, simply add a + after the first page. For example, in this model, if the article were longer than one page and the next page was not A9, you would put A8+ in the citation. Magazine Article (Online Database): Bugeja, Michael. The New R&R: Recruitment and Retention of Students. Education Digest Mar. 2013: Academic Search Premier. Web. 23 June Similar to above, format this citation like an online magazine article, making sure to include the name of the database in italics, before the medium and date of access.

6 OCC MLA Citation Handout 6 Commonly Used Abbreviations in Works Cited Entries Highlights added for emphasis. Abbreviations for Dates: In works cited entries, abbreviate all months except May, June, or July. Note: In the following examples, the N is capitalized when it follows a period. If a model has the publisher/sponsor, date, etc. after a comma, colon, or other mid-sentence punctuation, the n is lowercase. No city of publication: Use the abbreviation N.p. (without quotation marks), meaning no place, when a model requires a city of publication, but the source does not list one. Grady, Owen. Raptors Are Not Pets. N.p.: Archway, Print. No publisher/sponsor: When a model requires a publisher or sponsor, but one is not identified, use the abbreviation N.p. (without quotation marks). Gladwell, Malcolm. Enron and Newspapers. Gladwell.com. N.p., 4 Jan Web. 26 Aug No date: When a model requires a date of publication, but your source does not list one, use the abbreviation n.d. (without quotation marks). Rolex. Advertisement. Time. Time, n.d. Web. 1 Apr No page number: When a particular model requires page numbers, but your source does not have them, use the abbreviation N. pag. (without quotation marks). Anderson, Sherwood. The Strength of God. Winesburg, Ohio. New York: B. W Huebsch, N. pag. Bartleby.com. Web. 7 Apr For further help with MLA citations, check out the resources listed below. Works Cited Bullock, Richard, Michal Brody, and Francine Weinberg. The Little Seagull Handbook with Exercises. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Print. Frequently Asked Questions about the MLA Handbook. MLA. Modern Language Association, 2 Mar Web. 24 June Modern Language Association. How Do I Cite an E-book? MLA. Modern Language Association, n.d. Web. 6 Sept Russell, Tony, et al. MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics. The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 6 Mar Web. 29 July 2015.