Psychology and Literature

Mrs. Malanka

Senior Research Paper

Fall 2009

HANDOUT #14: FORMING YOURWORKS CITED

Documenting Sources at the End of the Paper—MLA style

Documenting sources at the end of the research paper consists of listing all of the sources from which you quoted, paraphrased, or summarized. If you didn't quote, paraphrase, or summarize from a source (that is, if you merely read a source as background and didn't actually use its information in your paper), you cannot list it at the end.
Why list your sources? A person who reads your research paper may want to go to your original sources for more information on a topic. Your reader also may want to assess the quality of the information in your research paper by reviewing the dates of your sources and their type of publication (general interest magazines vs. specialized journals, for example). Finally and most importantly, listing your sources gives full credit to the authors of the sources' ideas and information.

The Modern Language Association format calls the list of sources the "Works Cited" page. The following list provides some general pointers for putting together a Works Cited for your paper:

  • sources are listed alphabetically, by authors' last names
  • sources without authors are listed alphabetically by either the editor's last name or by the title of the work (disregarding the words "a," "an," and "the")
  • each source entry starts at the left margin
  • Second (2nd) & subsequent lines of each entry are indented 5 spaces
  • Double space the entire Works Cited; DO NOT ADD AN EXTRA LINE SPACE BETWEEN ENTRIES
  • titles should be capitalized correctly in each entry

WARNING: YOU CANNOT RELY ON CITATIONMACHINE.NET, EASYBIB, or other “automatic” citation generators. They will not accurately format your citations in every case, and they will not integrate your Works Cited with your paper. 95% of cases, you’re going to have to do the legwork yourself. Roll up your sleeves and use the following resources to do your Works Cited.

There are some excellent Website that will show you formatting and examples of actual citations. Use the following:

Diana Hacker's Research & Documentation in the Electronic Age: An amazingly clear and detailed website for all things MLA. / For in-text citations:

For Works Cited:
PurdueUniversityWritingCenter: Excellent all-around website with info. on every aspect of MLA format & writing a research paper
/

I’ve also included a Sample Works Cited that has almost every possible example of secondary source from which you may mode your own Works Cited. Also note the formatting of this sample Works Cited.

Your citations and WorksCited are worth approximately 20% of your final term paper’s grade—be sure to revise extensively. Use the following checklist—along with the sample Works Cited I’ve provided to you via email and as a hard version—to finalize your Works Cited page.

Remember that all book and novel titles must be italicized. MLA does not want you to underline titles anymore—it’s only italics!

Remember: any source from which you don’t cite does not belong in your Works Cited—and vice versa. Any source you include in your Works Cited you must cite in your paper.

Your Works Cited page is the last page or pages of your paper, which means it needs to have the top-right corner header: last name followed by page #. See the sample Works Cited for the proper setup.

Type “Works Cited” on the first line of your page, and center it! I don’t want to read “Working Bibliography”!

Do not change the font size, style, or color of “Works Cited.” Do not underline or bold the words.

Double-space the entire page—do not create extra line spaces by pressing the “Enter” key between citations, or between “Works Cited” and your first source citation.

Keep the font size and color consistent throughout your Works Cited, the same as your paper. There should be no reason to bold anything in your Works Cited.

Do NOT number your citations—remove them if you’re revising your Working Bibliography.

Alphabetize your citations. Generally, each citation begins with the last name of the author, followed by first name. If your source doesn’t have an author, look for an editor’s name. If there is no known editor, alphabetize by the first word in the title of your article.

The first line of each citation begins at the left margin. Each subsequent line of each citation is then indented 1 tab from the left margin.

Finish each citation with a period.

Remove the hyperlink from all URL’s—this means URL’s are NOT underlined. Put angle brackets around the URL and follow up with a period. For example: < Actually, URLs are no longer required information for Works Cited pages, but if you choose to include one, be sure you remove the hyperlink.

Taken from:

Use these examples as models for your own Works Cited, if one or more of your secondary sources come from Gale publishing or Novels for Students.

Collections of Literary Criticism published by Gale:

Taylor, Douglas. "'The Great Gatsby': Style and Myth." University of Kansas City Review 20.1 (1953): 30-40. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Dennis Poupard and James E. Person, Jr. Vol. 14. Detroit: Gale, 1984. 156-58. Print.

Novels for Students:

When no author is given:

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer." Novels for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierbowski and Deborah A. Stanley. Vol. 6. Detroit: Gale, 1999. 1-24. Print.

When the material is a reprint of a periodical article:

Oates, Joyce Carol. "Frankenstein's Fallen Angel." Critical Inquiry 10 (1984): 543-54. Rpt. in Novels for Students. Ed. Diane Telgen. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1997. 197-99. Print.

When the material is reprinted from a book:

Moore, Opal. "Learning to Live: When the Bird Breaks from the Cage." Censored Books: Critical Viewpoints. Ed. Nicholas J. Karolides, Lee Burress, and John M. Kean. Metchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 1993. 306-16. Rpt. in Novels for Students. Ed. Diane Telgen. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1997. 146-49. Print.

Works Cited

Barrett, Laura. “From Wonderland to Wasteland: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Great Gatsby, and the New American Fairytale.” PLL 42 (2006): 150-180. Project Muse. Web. 22 Nov. 2007.

Beidler, Peter G. "An Allusion in Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye." ANQ 17.4 (Fall 2004): 44. Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 Dec. 2007.

“The Bell Jar.” Novels for Students. Ed. Diane Telgen. Vol. 11. Detroit: Gale, 1998. 90-100. Print.

Bennet, Robert."The Catcher in the Rye: The Literary Significance of The Catcher in the Rye." Novels for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1998. eNotes.com. January 2006. Web. 5 Dec. 2007.

Bloom, Harold, ed. Holden Caulfield. New York City: Chelsea House, 1990. Print.

Booth, David. "The Role of the Storyteller — Sholem Aleichem and Elie Wiesel." Judaism 42 (1993): 298-312. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec. Vol. 165. Detroit: Gale, 2003. 318-25. Print.

Bryan, James. “The Psychological Structure of The Catcher in the Rye.” Bloom 33-49. Print.

Coleman, Dan. "Tuning in to Conversation in the Novel: Gatsby and the Dynamics of Dialogue." Style 34.1 (Spring 2000): 52-77. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1 Dec. 2008.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1989.

Johnson, Kirk. "The Mountain Lions of Michigan." Endangered Species Update 19.2 (2002): 27+. Expanded Academic Index. InfoTrac. Web. 26 Nov. 2002.

Langhamer, Claire. “Love and Courtship in Mid-Twentieth-Century England.” Historical Journal 50.1 (2007): 173-96. ProQuest. Web. 27 May 2009.

Miller, Tyrus. “The Great Gatsby.” Novels for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol.4. Detroit: Gale, 1998. 235-39. Print.

Moore, Roger."Of Mice and Men: Dreams and Reality in Of Mice and Men." eNotes: Of Mice and Men. Ed. Penny Satoris. Seattle: Enotes.com Inc, October 2002. eNotes.com. Web. 8 Dec. 2008.

Moore, Roger."Of Mice and Men: Of Mice and Men: George and Lennie." eNotes: Of Mice and Men. Ed. Penny Satoris. Seattle: Enotes.com Inc, October 2002. eNotes.com. Web. 8 Dec. 2008.

Rowe, Joyce. “Holden Caulfield and American Protest.” Bloom 132-134. Print.

Shillinglaw, Susan and Jackson J. Benson. Introduction. America and Americans, and Selected Nonfiction. By John Steinbeck. New York: Viking, 2002. ix-xxviii. Print.

Tanner, Bernard. "The Gospel of Gatsby.” The English Journal 54.6 (1965): 467-474. JSTOR. Web. 5 Dec. 2007.

Will, Barbara. “The Great Gatsby and the Obscene Word.” College Literature 34.4 (Fall 2005): 125-144. Project Muse. Web. 3 Nov. 2009.

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