Bibliography and MLA Works Cited Guide

Library Media Center Home    

1. For each source listed, begin first line at margin and indent each line that follows.
2. Underline or use italics for titles of books, periodicals and software. Titles of articles are enclosed in quotation marks.
3. Note punctuation and follow exactly.
4. If required information, such as author or place of publication, is not available, just leave it out.
5. Arrange all sources in one list, alphabetically by first word, which will generally be either the author's last name or the first important word of the title.
6. Center the words Works Cited (or Bibliography) at the top of the page.

Some automatic citation makers you might want to try . . .

OSLIS Citation Maker
Click on "Citation Maker" link. Includes templates for a variety of sources.  Will save all your citations to one page.  Citations can then be downloaded as an RTF, or can be copied and pasted into your document.

Slate Citation Maker
Includes a template and generates a correct citation that can be copied and pasted into your document.  Also shows how the source should be cited when using parenthetical documentation.

PRINT SOURCES

Book with one author:

1.  Author.

2.  Title of book. (underlined)

3.  City of publication:

4.  Publisher, date of publication.

Cohen, Daniel.  America's Very Own Ghosts.  New York:  Doubleday, 1985.

Book with two or three authors:

1.  Authors (in the order they are given in the book).

2.  Title of book. (underlined)

3.  City of publication:

4.  Publisher, date.

Wright, David, and Elizabeth Smith.  Rocks and Minerals.  Chicago:  Macmillan, 1995.

Book with more than three authors:

1.  Name the first author, then add et al. ("and others").

2.  Title of book. (underlined)

3.  City of publication:

4.  Publisher, date.

Gillis, Sander, et al. Grammar of the English Language.  New York: Random House, 1987.

Encyclopedia and other familiar reference books:

1.  Author of article (if available).

2.  "Title of article."

3.  Title of book. (underlined)

4.  Date of edition. (Volume and page number not necessary if articles are arranged alphabetically).

Eiselen, Malcolm R.  "Franklin, Benjamin."  The World Book Encyclopedia. 1999.

"France." Compton's Encyclopedia.  1998.

Article in a periodical (magazine or newspaper):

1.  Author (if available).

2.  "Title of article."

3.  Periodical title (underlined) date: page.

Haverkamp, Beth.  "Bad Women and Bandit Queens." Cobblestone May 1996: 20-22.

"N.F.L. Training Camp Report." The New York Times 21 August 1996:  B12.

INTERVIEW CONDUCTED BY THE RESEARCHER

1.  Name of person interviewed.

2.  Type of interview.

3.  Date of interview.

Whitman, Christie.  Personal interview. 20 August 1999.

Ford, Harrison.  Telephone interview. 26 January 1999.

MULTIMEDIA SOURCES

Videocassette, Filmstrip, Slide Program:

1.  Title of program (underlined).

2.  Type of multimedia.

3.  Responsible company, year.

4.  Length of presentation in minutes.

Bears of the North.  Videocassette.  National Geographic, 1997.  49 min.

Television or Radio Program:

1.  Title of segment (in quotation marks).

2.  Title of program (underlined).

3.  Television station.

4.  Local TV station, city, state.

5.  Date the program aired.

"Crime and Punishment." Nightline in Primetime.  ABC.  KAKE, Wichita, KS.  3 Sept. 1998.

ELECTRONIC SOURCES

Encyclopedia and other publications on CD-ROM:

1.  Author (if available).

2.  "Title of article."

3.  Title of product (underlined or in italics).

4.  Edition or version (if relevant)

5.  CD-ROM.

6.  City of publication:  Publisher, date of publication.

Cashman, Katharine V.  "Volcano."  World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia. 1999 ed. CD-ROM. Chicago:  World Book Inc., 1999.

Solnick, Bruce B.  "Columbus, Christopher."  Grolier MultiMedia Encyclopedia.  1994 ed.  CD-ROM.  Danbury, CT:  Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc., 1992.

Leicester, Henry M.  "Chemistry."  Microsoft Encarta.  1998 ed. CD-ROM.  Redmond, WA:  Microsoft Corporation, 1998.

ONLINE SOURCES

Periodical article from an online database (Electric Library, SIRS Discoverer):

1.  Author.

2.  "Article Title."

3.  Original Source of Article  Date: page numbers.

4.  Name of Database Used.  Name of the service (if available).

5.  Library where database was accessed, Location of library (city and state).

6.  Date of access

7.  <URL of service's homepage>.

Leo, John."Your Own Lincoln Bedroom."  U.S. News & World Report 17 Mar. 1997:  18.  Electric Lib.  Sterling Secondary Media Center, Sterling, KS.  25 Oct. 2000  <http://www.elibrary.com>. 

Maddren, Gerry.  "Against All Odds."  Cricket Feb. 1998: 21-23.  SIRS Discoverer.  SIRS Discoverer on the Web.  Sterling Secondary Media Center, Sterling, KS.  25 Oct. 2000  <http://www.sirs.com>.

"George Washington." Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia.  2000 ed.  SIRS Discoverer, Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia.  SIRS Discoverer on the Web.  Sterling Secondary Media Center, Sterling, KS. 25 Oct. 2000 <http://www.sirs.com>. 

World Wide Web:

Remember, you can't just list a search engine (Yahoo, Google, Ask Jeeves, etc.).  You must give the information from the site where you actually got your information.

1.  Author (if known).

2.  "Title of article."

3.  Title of complete work. (if available, underlined)

4.  Date of visit

5.  <Full http address>. (enclosed in angle brackets)

Boritt, Gabor S. "Civil War."  World Book Online. 10 September 1999 <http://www.worldbookonline.com/na/ar/fs/ar117060.htm>.

Norton, R.J. "An Overview of John Wilkes Booth's Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln." Abraham Lincoln's Assassination. 28 November 1999 <http://home.att.net/~rjnorton/Lincoln75.html>.

"Statistical Summary:  America's Major Wars."  The U.S. Civil War Center. 14 August 1999 <http://www.cwc.lsu.edu/other/stats/warcost.htm>.

Arnett, Bill. "Callisto." The Nine Planets. 21 May 1999 <http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/ callisto.html>.

Winter, Mark.  "Nitrogen." WebElements.  9 July 1999 <http://www.shef.ac.uk/chemistry/web-elements/N/key.html>.

Images:

1.  Creator/Author's Last Name, First Name  (if known).

2.  Title or description.
3.  Online Image.
4.  Date of visit to the site
5.  <URL of image>.

Galaxy Centaurua A Lithograph.  Online Image.  14 Apr. 2003
    <http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/blackholes/preview-centaurus.php>.

Sounds:

1.  Last Name, First Name of person recorded or creator of sound (if known).

2.  Title or description.
3.  Online Sound.
4.  Date of visit to the site
5.  <URL of sound>.

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano.  Four Freedoms.  Online Sound.  14 April 2003
    <http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/audio.html>.

Video clips:

1.  Creator's Last Name, First Name (if known).
2.  Title or description.
3.  Online Video Clip.
4.  Date of visit to the site
5.  <URL of video clip>.

Planet Quest.  Online Video Clip.  14 April 2003 
    <http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/overview/overview_index.html>.

Personal e-mail:

1.  Author.
2.  <Author's e-mail address> (enclosed in angle brackets)
3.  "Subject line from posting."
4.  Date of publication.
5.  Personal e-mail.

Thompson, Barry. <bthompson@aol.com>  "Computer Viruses."  26 Nov. 1999. Personal e-mail.