When writing a paper for a literature course, you are expected to use Modern Language Association (MLA) style. This ensures that anyone reading your work knows where you got your information and can go read more for themselves. It also helps you avoid plagiarism by giving credit to other authors whose quotes and ideas you've borrowed. Learning a new citation format can be tricky at first, but it gets easier the more you do it. As always, don't hesitate to contact a librarian for help!
You can pull your citations directly from the databases to save yourself time and stress. However, you should ALWAYS double check them for errors in capitalization, punctuation, and other formatting!
On the search results page, click on the title of the article you'd like to cite. Click on the "citation" button under the tools section (see below).
Make sure you have selected the MLA style citation, and simply copy and paste into your Works Cited page.
Don't forget to use the other resources on this page to double check these citations for accuracy! They're not always perfect!
When you cite a work in your text, it refers the reader to your works cited page so they can acquire the full reference information.
General Rule: (Author's last name and page number)
**Note: If the author's name is mentioned in the sentence, you only need to list the page number in parentheses after the quote or paraphrase.**
Examples:
"Even the most hard-boiled critics enthused about the glories of these films, and reviews from across the nation inluded descriptions of audiences bursting into applause at the dances and howling at the comic performances" (McFadden 678).
McFadden argues that creators turned to comic narratives as a mechanism for making sense of Depression-era social disorder (680).
General rule for books:
Author’s last name, First name. Book title. City of Publication: Publisher, Publication date. Format.
Example:
Pinker, Steven. The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature. New York: Viking, 2007. Print.
General rule for articles:
Author’s last name, First name. “Article Title.” Periodical Title Volume number. Issue number (Date): Page numbers. Format.
Example:
Barthelme, Frederick. “Architecture.” Kansas Quarterly 13.3-4 (1981): 77-80. Print.
Dealing with multiple authors:
If there are two or three authors, include both authors' names as done below.
Example: Broer, Lawrence R., and Gloria Holland. Hemingway and Women: Female Critics and the Female Voice. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama P, 2002. Print.
If there are more than three authors, use the first author's name followed by "et al."
Use these resources to double check the citations you copy from the databases, or to create a citation from scratch!
Resnick Library MLA Guide - A guide compiled by your SUNY Delhi librarians that covers the basics of MLA style.
Purdue Online Writing Lab - A helpful website for more in-depth citation questions. If you're struggling to cite a resource that doesn't quite fit the mold of those covered in the Resnick Library guide, this is the site for you!