MLA Style Guide for Bibliographies and Notes

ELECTRONIC RESOURCES

Adapted from USC Cooper Library. Updated 2/12

The following examples are based on the MLA Handbook, 7th ed. (2009). For further examples, consult the manual (available at the Circulation Desk) or the MLA’s official website http://www.mla.org/style_faq4.

In general, the following information (if available) is needed to cite an electronic source: author (inverted); title of poem, short story, or similar short work within a larger project, database, or periodical (in quotation marks); title of the scholarly project, database, periodical, or professional or personal site (underline); editor or compiler of project; version of source or, for a journal, the volume number and issue number, and a page or paragraph range (if numbered); date of electronic publication or latest update (day, month, year); name of sponsoring institution or organization; date of access (day, month, year); electronic address or URL (in angle brackets). Note: If you must divide the URL between two lines, break only after a slash; do not insert a hyphen at the break. All citations must be double-spaced.

For parenthetical notes on electronic material, only fixed pages, fixed paragraphs (abbreviated to "pars."), or section numbers can be cited, such as (Cooper 15) and (Sumner, pars. 34). If the source has no fixed pagination, then no numbers will appear in your parenthetical note, such as (Sherman). Remember: Page numbers from a printout should not be cited because the pagination may vary in different printouts.

Type of Resource / Reference List / Parenthetical Note
Journal article in a full-text database / Cassian, Nina. “Notes on Romanian Poetry.” Parnassus: Poetry in Review 18/19 (1993): 125-130. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 February 2012. / (Cassian 127)
Full-text newspaper article / Lynch, Sarah. “Revolution Brings Instability to Sinai Peninsula.” USA Today 16 February 2012. 17 February 2012 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13425-2202may1.html>. / (Lynch)
Article in on-line journal / Giddens, Eugene. “Masculinity and Barbarism in Titus Andronicus.” Early Modern Literary Studies 15.2 (2011): 35 pars. Web. 26 June 2002 <http://extra.shu.ac.uk/emls/15-2/giddtitu.htm> / (Giddens)
Article on website, with author / Ciobanu, Liliana. “Romanian PM Appoints Young Ministers in New Government.” CNN. 8 February 2012. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. 16 February 2012 <http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/08/world/europe/romania-politics/index.html?iref=allsearch> / (Ciobanu)
Article on website, anonymous / “Syria Crisis: UN Assembly Approves Arab-backed Resolution”. BBCNews. 16 February 2012. British Broadcasting Corporation. 17 February 2012 <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17065056> / (Syria)
Online Book / James, Henry. Portrait of a Lady. 1917. Bartelby.com. 2000. 16 April 2011 <http://www.bartleby.com/311//>. / (James)
Article in reference database / “Horseradish Tree.” Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. 2012. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 8 January 2012 <http://www.britannica.com.ezproxy.ngu.edu/EBchecked/topic/172119/horseradish-tree>. / (“Horseradish”)
Scholarly project or professional website / History Channel.com. 2002. History Channel. 14 May 2002 <http://historychannel.com/>. / (History)
Nonperiodical publication on CD-ROM / "Albatross." The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. CD-ROM. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1992. / (“Albatross”)

MLA Style Guide for Bibliographies and Notes

PRINT RESOURCES

Adapted from USC Cooper Library. Updated 2/12

The following examples are based on the MLA Handbook, 7th ed. (2009). If you do not see the one you need, consult the manual (available at the Circulation Desk).

Citations for print materials are very similar, but there are differences between book and article entries. A book entry consists of the following information (if available): author (inverted); title (italicized or underlined); editor, compiler, or translator; edition; number of the volume(s); series name; place of publication, name of publisher, and date of publication. An article entry has the following information (if available): author (inverted); title of the article (in quotation marks); name of the periodical (italicized or underlined); series number or name; volume number; issue number; date of publication (in parentheses); page numbers. All citations must be double-spaced.

Rather than using footnotes to cite page references, the MLA suggests brief parenthetical acknowledgments whenever you incorporate another person's words, facts, or ideas. A parenthetical note inserted into your text, either at the end of a quote or end of a sentence, consists of the author's last name and a page reference in parentheses.

Type of Resource / Reference List / Parenthetical Note
Book – single author / Twain, Mark. American Claimant, and Other Stories and Sketches. New York: Collier, 1899. / (Twain 27)
Book – more than one author / Eggen, Paul D., and Don Kauchak. Educational Psychology: Windows on Classrooms. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall, 2001. / (Eggins and Slade 457)
Article from a journal / Mann, Susan. “Myths of Asian Womanhood.” Journal of Asian Studies 59 (2000): 835-62. / (Mann 840-845)
Work in an anthology / Holladay, Hillary. “Narrative Space in Ann Petry’s Country Place.” Xavier Review 16 (1996): 21-35. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Linda Pavlovski and Scott Darga. Vol. 112. Detroit: Gale, 2002. 356-62. Print. / (Holladay 360)
Encyclopedia article / Mohanty, Jitendra M. “Indian Philosophy.” The New Encyclopedia Britannica: Macropaedia. 15th ed. 1987. / (Mohanty 287)
Newspaper article / Jeromack, Paul. “This Once, a David of the Art World Does Goliath a Favor.” New York Times 13 July 2002, late ed.:B7+. / (Jeromack 7)
Article in a multi-volume series / Oates, Stephen B. “King, Martin Luther, Jr.” Dictionary of American Biography. Ed. John A. Garraty & Mark C. Carnes. Supp 8. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1988. 332-336. / (Oates 334)
Dissertation – published / Geiger, Eric. An Exploration of the Relationship Between a Process-Driven Design for Church Ministry and Church Growth. Diss. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. 2005. Louisville: SBTS, 2005. Print. / (Geiger 15-20)