Bibliography

A bibliography is a list, alphabetized by author’s last name, which shows where you got your information. It provides information necessary for a reader to locate any sources you use in your research. If you use a source type not listed, please refer to the OWL at Purdue MLA formatting guide.

The Basic Rules

The authors’ names appear last name first. The first line of each entry in your list should be flush left. Additional lines for any one entry should be indented one-half inch. This is known as a hanging indent (like a reverse paragraph). All references should be double-spaced. Italicize titles of books, websites, and containers.

Your bibliography should begin on a separate page from the text of the essay under the label Bibliography (no quotations, underlining, etc.), centered at the top of the page. Double-space all entries, with no skipping spaces between entries.

Information to Include

“When deciding how to cite your source, start by consulting the list of core elements. These are the general pieces of information that MLA suggests including in each entry. In your citation, the elements should be listed in the following order:

  1. Author.
  2. Title of source.
  3. Title of container,
  4. Other contributors,
  5. Version,
  6. Number,
  7. Publisher,
  8. Publication date,
  9. Location.

Each element should be followed by the punctuation mark shown here.

If a work has more than one author, only the first author’s name listed with the family name first. Then, followed by a comma, and continue listing the rest of the authors. If more than two authors, write the first and et.al.

When citing the date, list day before month; use a three-letter abbreviation of the month.

BASIC FORMS

A book:

Author. Title of Book. Publisher, year of publication.

Ellis, Rob. Echoes of Distant Thunder. Coward, 1975.

Gesell, Arnold et al. Childhood Development and Growth. Macmillan, 1960.

An article from a reference book:

Author. “Topic Looked Up.” Name of book. Version, published date, page numbers.

Bob, Joe. “Mandarin.” Encyclopedia Americana. 1980 ed, pp 65-70.

Web Page:

Author. Name of page. Name of container, Date of posting/revision. electronic

Address, Date of access.

Daly, Bill. Writing Argumentative Essays. 1997. www.eslplanet.com. 26 Jun. 1998.

It is necessary to list your date of access because web postings are often updated, and information available at one date may no longer be available later. Be sure to include the complete address for the site.

Recorded Films or Movies

List films by their title. Include the name of the director, the distributor, and the release year. If relevant, list performer names after the director’s name.

Title. Director. Performers. Studio name. date published. Medium of publication.

Night at the Museum. Directed by Sean Levy. Performed by Ben Stiller and Robin

Williams. 20th Century Fox, 2006.


Bibliography

Bloom, Harold and Tom Weaver. Heroes Through the Ages. Continuum Publishers,

1979.

Croft, Robert W. “The Renaissance.” Historical Dictionary. 9 Aug 1992.

www.dictionary.com. Accessed 8 Jan 2004.

“Inventions of Archimedes.” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2015, 2nd ed. Pp 85.

Note that the entries are alphabetized and not numbered.

(This is an example of how a bibliography would look.)


Bibliography information

Source ______

1.  Author. ______.

2.  Title of source.______.

3.  Title of container,______,

4.  Other contributors, ______,

5.  Version, ______,

6.  Number, ______,

7.  Publisher, ______,

8.  Publication date, ______,

9.  Location. ______.

______

______

______.

Source ______

1.  Author. ______.

2.  Title of source.______.

3.  Title of container,______,

4.  Other contributors, ______,

5.  Version, ______,

6.  Number, ______,

7.  Publisher, ______,

8.  Publication date, ______,

9.  Location. ______.

______

______

______.