Research Paper Guide - Jim Thorpe Area School District

 JIM THORPE AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT
Research Paper Guide:
MLA and APA
2/2012
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The Research Paper Defined
The Research Paper is an organized document prepared by the student after careful research,
observation, investigation and discovery. The student goes beyond personal knowledge or
experience, through a specific sequence of activities-identifying his or her thesis, locating source
material, judging and assessing the data, and then incorporating the research into a cohesive
example of scholarship. The student increases his or her understanding, knowledge and opinions
of the research topic through this process. This is a learning and doing process.
While research projects differ, all student researchers must select an appropriate topic, develop a
working thesis or hypothesis, use the library and its various sources, prepare a working
bibliography, take notes, outline your paper or project and then do the actual writing of the
paper.
The Task
The student will prepare his/her research paper through the following sequence of activities:
• Identifying your thesis
• Locating source material
• Judging and assessing the data,
• Incorporating the research into a cohesive example of scholarship: the Research Paper.
The Process of Writing a Research Paper
While research projects differ, all student researchers must select an appropriate topic, develop a
working thesis or hypothesis, use the library and its various sources, both in print and online,
prepare a working bibliography, take notes, outline your paper or project and then do the actual
writing.
Writing A Research Paper: A Step by Step Procedure
A. Select an appropriate topic. Decide what you will write about.
1. Your topic can be:
a. Teacher directed or selected
b. Selected from a list of approved topics
c. Student selected
2. Restrict your subject based on the required length of the paper and the
amount of resource material you found.
B. Develop a working thesis or hypothesis. Establish the focus of your paper.
1. Decide what you are trying to prove and develop a preliminary thesis sentence to guide your
research. The working or preliminary thesis is the purpose or focus of the research. Start your
research with several key questions/research questions.
2. Preliminary reading of research materials should be done to develop a research question
(thesis) that states the intent of your research.
3. Recognize whether your topic is too broad or too narrow to write a good paper. How long should
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your paper be?
4. Prepare a preliminary outline using your key questions to help you decide what data you need for
your paper. Your outline will change as you gather your information.
C. Gathering Data:
1. Compile the working bibliography (a list of all possible sources), using MLA or APA (authordate) style. (Refer to “Working Bibliography Sheet”)
2. Prepare the bibliography on cards in correct form (3" x 5" cards)
3. Begin extensive work in the library; be sure to check: (Refer to “Search Strategy”)
a. Reference section
b. Non-fiction section
c. Indexes (books and collections, literature in periodicals, newspaper
d. Card catalog/electronic card catalog
e. Vertical File-clippings, maps, etc.
4. Use on-line resources (Refer to “Questions to Ask When Evaluating Material on the
WWW” and “Research Materials, Tutorials, and Search Engines for Online and Web
Based Sites”)
a. Access Pennsylvania Power Library
b. Net Trekker
c. World Wide Web
d. Online Databases
5. Sources outside the Library
a. Country, state, and federal agencies
b. Experts in the field
D. Note Taking and Finding the Main Idea
1. Refine your preliminary outline (Refer to “Sample Outline”)
2. Evaluate your source material on the basis of what is primary material and
what is secondary material. What sources should you use? Do you have
enough material to write your paper?
3. Begin taking notes on 3” x 5” index cards based on finding the main idea.
Avoid plagiarism by taking notes very carefully (Refer to page on plagiarism.)
Finding the Main Idea
In order for you to take good and useful notes you must develop the skill of finding the main idea. The
skill of finding the main idea includes the ability to recognize a group of sentences about the same topic.
This grouping is called a paragraph. A paragraph may include any number of sentences, generally from
four to six, that belong together. These sentences belong together because they are about the same topic.
These sentences will include a topic sentence that presents the main idea, supporting sentences that give
details about the topic (main idea) of the paragraph, and a concluding sentence that leads the reader back
to the topic of the paragraph.
The topic sentence or main idea does not have to be the first sentence of the paragraph, and as you
progress in your education the paragraphs will become more complicated and detailed.
Some paragraphs, especially those that are either descriptive or narrative, may not have a topic sentence.
This type of paragraph is focused on a group of related events or a single scene or character. The main
idea or topic is suggested rather than stated outright.
You need to read the entire paragraph to discover if the topic sentence comes first to tell you right away
what the paragraph is about, or comes in the middle with supporting details around it, or comes last for
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impact.
Once you can identify the topic sentence or main idea of each paragraph, you can find the focus or main
idea of an entire reading selection or piece of literature by using the same skill. Finding the focus of your
source, and putting it into useable notes makes writing your paper easier. The secret of a well researched
and well written research paper is quality note taking. You should use this sample note card as you set up
your cards:
How to Take Careful Notes for Your Research Paper
The key to an excellent research paper or project is meticulous note taking. When you have read,
compared, evaluated and scrutinized your sources and deleted the sources you will not be using, it is time
to take detailed and reliable notes. The following are acceptable methods:
1. Quotation-Quote verbatim by using quotation marks around the material you want to appear exactly as
the source states it. Be sure to note if the quotation continues onto another page. Only quote that material
you think must be in the original wording. Transcribe exactly as it appears, word for word, and comma
for comma.
2. Paraphrase-Paraphrase sentences and passages that you need detailed notes from but you do not want
to quote or use exact wording. By paraphrasing into your own words you include more of yourself but be
extremely careful not to distort the meaning of the original work.
3. Summary-Summarize the material if you need only the general idea. Again, be extremely careful not
to change or distort the meaning of the original work. It is strongly suggested to write out your notes
using your word processor or computer for the actual writing of your paper. When writing the rough draft
and revisions make sure you keep a back up copy of your work. The adage better safe than sorry applies
here
SAMPLE NOTE CARD
Source and Page number
(Shorthand way of listing where this information came from)
Heading
(What the note is about)
Note
(One thought or idea to a note card)
(Use quotation marks if you quote directly from your source)
Student’s Name
E. Writing the Paper:
1. Develop the final outline (“Refer to Sample Outline”)
2. Prepare to write by putting your note cards in the order of your outline.
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3. Write your rough draft, remembering to tie everything back to the thesis statement.
Cite the sources you have used by making parenthetical notation throughout your
paper. Parenthetical notations have replaced the use of footnotes. Remember that
parenthetical notations are written in either APA Style or MLA Style. (Refer to
sections in this manual on parenthetical notation.)
4. Proofread your rough draft thoroughly and carefully check documentation. (Refer to
section “How to Write Better” and “Advice”)
5. Revise and rewrite your rough draft into your final copy until it is as perfect as you
can make it. Take the time to proofread very thoroughly.
6. Type your final copy according to your instructor’s format. (Refer to “Research
Paper Guidelines and Instruction”)
7. Prepare your final bibliography/Reference page. (Refer to sections on preparing a
bibliography.)
8. Submit your completed research paper to your teacher.
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Questions to Ask When Evaluating Information Found on the
World Wide Web
Questions to ask about each web site you use:
• Are the facts and information presented on the web site accurate?
• Are they documented?
• Do they seem to be well researched?
• Is the information current?
• Is the information one sided or biased?
• Can you tell who the author(s) is (are)?
• Do they list the credentials of the author or web master?
• What are their educational backgrounds?
• Are they experienced in their field?
• Is the web site affiliated with a college, university or institution?
• Are links provided to other sites?
• How does the information on this site compare with other sources that are also
available on the topic?
• When was the information updated?
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Online Books and Journals
The On-line Books Page—The University of Pennsylvania
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/
A database of links to over 16,000 books available in their entirety online, searchable by author
and title, browsable by author, title and subject. Also links to other databases of online books in
English and specialty or foreign-language books.
EServer - The University of Washington
http://eserver.org/
Over 31,000 humanities texts, divided into various disciplines. Hard to describe - many of these
are items published only online (section on new fiction), while others are actual books, plays or
poems previously published and now been posted online (i.e., the 18th century studies section).
Reference books online
Bartleby.com: Great Books Online
http://www.bartleby.com/100/
Search dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopedias, familiar quotations, and usage manuals.
Internet Public Library Reference Center - Standard General Reference Aids
http://www.ipl.org/div/subject/browse/ref00.00.00
Collection of links to almanacs, dictionaries, quotations, phone books, statistics, news,
biographies on the Internet.
My Virtual Facts on File
by Bob Drudge, part of My Virtual Reference Desk
http://www.refdesk.com/facts.html
Links to ready reference sources on the Web, like dictionaries and almanacs, atlases, phone
books, libraries.
Research Tools
http://www.itools.com/research/
Search dictionaries (including foreign language), thesauri, biographical sources, atlases, e-mail
discussion groups, the Bible, stock quotes and ticker symbols.
The Biographical Dictionary
http://www.s9.com/biography/
Searchable biographical dictionary online.
Search engines - single databases
Alta Vista - http://www.altavista.com/
Search help - http://www.altavista.com/sites/help/search/default
Advanced search help - http://www.altavista.com/sites/help/search/help_adv
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Ask.com (formerly Ask Jeeves) - http://www.ask.com/
Search help - http://about.ask.com/en/docs/about/help_central.shtml
Google - http://www.google.com/
Search help - http://www.google.com/help/index.html
Advanced search help - http://www.google.com/help/refinesearch.html
MSN - http://search.msn.com
Yahoo! - http://www.yahoo.com/
Search help - http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/ysearch/
Search engines - multiple databases
Dog pile - http://www.dogpile.com/
Dog pile will fetch results from several major search engines.
Ixquick - http://www.ixquick.com/
"Highlighted result" feature will show you where to find your search terms in each document.
Meta-Crawler - http://www.metacrawler.com/
MetaCrawler sends your queries to several web search engines, including About, Ask Jeeves,
FindWhat, LookSmart, and Overture.
Research Paper Instructions and Assistance
A+ Research and Writing for high school and college students
http://www.ipl.org/div/aplus/
APA Style Online
http://www.apastyle.org/
The APA official site
Guide to Grammar and Writing
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
The Guide to Grammar and Writing is sponsored by the Capital Community College Foundation
of Hartford, Connecticut.
MLA Formatting and Style Guide
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/
Using the MLA Style Guide
OWL Online Writing Lab from Purdue University
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/
Handouts and exercises on research skills and resources and the writing of research papers
Web English Teacher
http://www.webenglishteacher.com/research.html
A great list of helpful web sites for writing research paper
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Sample Outline
Thesis: Air born pollutants are causing changes to all life forms and climate by depleting the earth’s ozone layer.
I. Introduction
A. Hook (a sentence or two to engage the reader’s attention)
B. Statement of the problem
1.
Causes
2.
Effects
II. Body of the paper
A. (Statement) Our Earth is experiencing changes to life as we know it because of the
depletion of the ozone layer.
1.
2.
Explain ozone layer destruction
a.
Causes (desire for CFC’s)
b.
Effect (what is chemical destruction of ozone)
Ultraviolet infections in animal life forms
a.
Cause (ozone holes)
b.
Effect (skin cancers, eye cataracts)
3.
UV immune system damage in animal life forms
4.
Destruction of plant life form
5.
a.
Cause (man’s desire farm land)
b.
Effect (deforestation)
Marine food chain is interrupted
B. (Statement) Earth is experiencing negative (define negative) changes in climate because of the ozone
layer destruction
1.
2.
3.
Fresh water supply problems from warmer climate
a.
Cause (ice cap melting equals flooding)
b.
Effect (salt flow into our drinking water and fisheries)
Polyanas (hot spots on the globe)
a.
Cause (broken ozone holes let in heat)
b.
Effect (melt ice cap = sea levels rise or drought)
The Greenhouse Effect
a.
Cause (poisonous gases into atmosphere)
b.
Effect (climatic wind action holds gases close..breathe poison)
III. Conclusion (Summary, Solution, Prediction)
A. Scientific tests prove thesis
B. Plan to stop destruction of ozone layer
C.
Other
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Standard Research Paper Guidelines and Instructions
“Plagiarism is using another person's words or ideas without giving credit to the other person. When you
use someone else's words, you must put quotation marks around them and give the writer or speaker
credit by revealing the source in a citation. Even if you revise or paraphrase the words of someone else or
just use their ideas, you still must give the author credit in a note. Not giving due credit to the creator of
an idea or writing is very much like lying."(Harris, Robert Anti-Plagiarism Strategies for Research
Papers Version Date: October 19, 2001)
1. Assignment. The Research Paper is an individual effort by the student that has not been used before
for any class. Your research materials must support your thesis and be available to your teacher. Your
teacher will give specific instructions about length and topic, etc.
2. Research for the paper. The paper must use a variety of sources as specified by your teacher. These
include WWW sources, book sources, magazines and online databases. The sources must be available to
your teacher. If a WWW source- print it out. If an online database- print it out. If a printed book- bring
the book.
3. Process steps for the paper. Your Due Date Paper for the course lists the dates each step is due.
a. Topic with preliminary thesis
b. Working Bibliography-includes at least 10 sources-all sources used in the paper must be in
the Working Bibliography
c. Note Cards-showing evidence of using the five required sources. Must be 50.
d. Final Paper with all the required components
(1). Title Page
(2). Outline
(3). Paper
(a). Introduction with thesis statement
(b). Body of paper with correct citations
(c). Conclusion where you show that you proved your thesis
(d). Bibliography of at least 5 sources in alphabetically order
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APA Style Research Paper
This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/). When printing this page, you
must include the entire legal notice at bottom.
Contributors:Elizabeth Angeli, Jodi Wagner, Elena Lawrick, Kristen Moore, Michael
Anderson, Lars Soderlund, Allen Brizee, Russell Keck.
Summary:
APA (American Psychological Association) is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. This
resource, revised according to the 6th edition, second printing of the APA manual, offers examples for the general
format of APA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the reference page. For more information,
please consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition, second printing.
General APA Guidelines
Your essay should be typed, double-spaced on standard-sized paper (8.5" x 11") with 1" margins on all sides. You
should use 10-12 pt. Times New Roman font or a similar font.
Include a page header at the top of every page. To create a page header, insert page numbers flush right. Then type
"TITLE OF YOUR PAPER" in the header flush left.
Major Paper Sections
Your essay should include four major sections: the Title Page, Abstract, Main Body, and References.
Title Page
The title page should contain the title of the paper, the author's name, and the institutional affiliation. Include the
page header (described above) flush left with the page number flush right at the top of the page. Please note that on
the title page, your page header should look like this:
Running head: TITLE OF YOUR PAPER
Pages after the title page should have a running head that looks like this:
TITLE OF YOUR PAPER
Type your title in upper and lowercase letters centered in the upper half of the page. APA recommends that your
title be no more than 12 words in length and that it should not contain abbreviations or words that serve no purpose.
Your title may take up one or two lines. All text on the title page, and throughout your paper, should be doublespaced.
Beneath the title, type the author's name: first name, middle initial(s), and last name. Do not use titles (Dr.) or
degrees (Ph.D.).
Beneath the author's name, type the institutional affiliation, which should indicate the location where the author(s)
conducted the research.
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Image Caption: APA Title Page
Abstract
Begin a new page. Your abstract page should already include the page header (described above). On the first line of
the abstract page, center the word “Abstract” (no bold, formatting, italics, underlining, or quotation marks).
Beginning with the next line, write a concise summary of the key points of your research. (Do not indent.) Your
abstract should contain at least your research topic, research questions, participants, methods, results, data analysis,
and conclusions. You may also include possible implications of your research and future work you see connected
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with your findings. Your abstract should be a single paragraph double-spaced. Your abstract should be between 150
and 250 words.
You may also want to list keywords from your paper in your abstract. To do this, center the text and type Keywords:
(italicized) and then list your keywords. Listing your keywords will help researchers find your work in databases.
Image Caption: APA Abstract Page
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In-Text Citations: The Basics
Reference citations in text are covered on pages 169-179 of the Publication Manual. What follows are some general
guidelines for referring to the works of others in your essay.
Note: APA style requires authors to use the past tense or present perfect tense when using signal phrases to describe
earlier research, for example, Jones (1998) found or Jones (1998) has found...
APA Citation Basics
When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name
and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, for example, (Jones, 1998), and a complete
reference should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.
If you are referring to an idea from another work but NOT directly quoting the material, or making reference to an
entire book, article or other work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication and not the
page number in your in-text reference. All sources that are cited in the text must appear in the reference list at the
end of the paper.
In-Text Citation Capitalization, Quotes, and Italics/Underlining
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Always capitalize proper nouns, including author names and initials: D. Jones.
If you refer to the title of a source within your paper, capitalize all words that are four
letters long or greater within the title of a source: Permanence and Change. Exceptions
apply to short words that are verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs: Writing
New Media, There Is Nothing Left to Lose.
(Note: in your References list, only the first word of a title will be capitalized: Writing new media.)
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When capitalizing titles, capitalize both words in a hyphenated compound word: NaturalBorn Cyborgs.
Capitalize the first word after a dash or colon: "Defining Film Rhetoric: The Case of
Hitchcock's Vertigo."
Italicize or underline the titles of longer works such as books, edited collections, movies,
television series, documentaries, or albums: The Closing of the American Mind; The
Wizard of Oz; Friends.
Put quotation marks around the titles of shorter works such as journal articles, articles
from edited collections, television series episodes, and song titles: "Multimedia
Narration: Constructing Possible Worlds"; "The One Where Chandler Can't Cry."
Short Quotations
If you are directly quoting from a work, you will need to include the author, year of publication, and the page
number for the reference (preceded by "p."). Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase that includes the author's
last name followed by the date of publication in parentheses.
According to Jones (1998), "Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time"
(p. 199).
Jones (1998) found "students often had difficulty using APA style" (p. 199); what implications does this have for
teachers?
If the author is not named in a signal phrase, place the author's last name, the year of publication, and the page
number in parentheses after the quotation.
She stated, "Students often had difficulty using APA style" (Jones, 1998, p. 199), but she did not offer an
explanation as to why.
Long Quotations
Place direct quotations longer than 40 words in a free-standing block of typewritten lines, and omit quotation marks.
Start the quotation on a new line, indented 1/2 inch from the left margin, i.e., in the same place you would begin a
new paragraph. Type the entire quotation on the new margin, and indent the first line of any subsequent paragraph
within the quotation 1/2 inch from the new margin. Maintain double-spacing throughout. The parenthetical citation
should come after the closing punctuation mark.
Jones's (1998) study found the following:
Students often had difficulty using APA style,
especially when it was their first time citing sources.
This difficulty could be attributed to the fact that many
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students failed to purchase a style manual or to ask
their teacher for help. (p. 199)
Summary or Paraphrase
If you are paraphrasing an idea from another work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of
publication in your in-text reference, but APA guidelines encourage you to also provide the page number (although
it is not required.)
According to Jones (1998), APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners.
APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners (Jones, 1998, p. 199).
In-Text Citations: Author/Authors
APA style has a series of important rules on using author names as part of the author-date system. There are
additional rules for citing indirect sources, electronic sources, and sources without page numbers.
Citing an Author or Authors
A Work by Two Authors: Name both authors in the signal phrase or in the parentheses each time you cite the
work. Use the word "and" between the authors' names within the text and use the ampersand in the parentheses.
Research by Wegener and Petty (1994) supports...
(Wegener & Petty, 1994)
A Work by Three to Five Authors: List all the authors in the signal phrase or in parentheses the first time you cite
the source.
(Kernis, Cornell, Sun, Berry, & Harlow, 1993)
In subsequent citations, only use the first author's last name followed by "et al." in the signal phrase or in
parentheses.
(Kernis et al., 1993)
In et al., et should not be followed by a period.
Six or More Authors: Use the first author's name followed by et al. in the signal phrase or in parentheses.
Harris et al. (2001) argued...
(Harris et al., 2001)
Unknown Author: If the work does not have an author, cite the source by its title in the signal phrase or use the
first word or two in the parentheses. Titles of books and reports are italicized or underlined; titles of articles,
chapters, and web pages are in quotation marks.
A similar study was done of students learning to format research papers ("Using APA," 2001).
Note: In the rare case the "Anonymous" is used for the author, treat it as the author's name (Anonymous, 2001). In
the reference list, use the name Anonymous as the author.
Organization as an Author: If the author is an organization or a government agency, mention the organization in
the signal phrase or in the parenthetical citation the first time you cite the source.
According to the American Psychological Association (2000),...
If the organization has a well-known abbreviation, include the abbreviation in brackets the first time the source is
cited and then use only the abbreviation in later citations.
First citation: (Mothers Against Drunk Driving [MADD], 2000)
Second citation: (MADD, 2000)
Two or More Works in the Same Parentheses: When your parenthetical citation includes two or more works,
order them the same way they appear in the reference list, separated by a semi-colon.
(Berndt, 2002; Harlow, 1983)
Authors With the Same Last Name: To prevent confusion, use first initials with the last names.
(E. Johnson, 2001; L. Johnson, 1998)
Two or More Works by the Same Author in the Same Year: If you have two sources by the same author in the
same year, use lower-case letters (a, b, c) with the year to order the entries in the reference list. Use the lower-case
letters with the year in the in-text citation.
Research by Berndt (1981a) illustrated that...
Introductions, Prefaces, Forewords, and Afterwords: When citing an Introduction, Preface, Foreword, or
Afterwords in-text, cite the appropriate author and year as usual.
(Funk & Kolln, 1992)
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Personal Communication: For interviews, letters, e-mails, and other person-to-person communication, cite the
communicators name, the fact that it was personal communication, and the date of the communication. Do not
include personal communication in the reference list.
(E. Robbins, personal communication, January 4, 2001).
A. P. Smith also claimed that many of her students had difficulties with APA style (personal
communication, November 3, 2002).
Citing Indirect Sources
If you use a source that was cited in another source, name the original source in your signal phrase. List the
secondary source in your reference list and include the secondary source in the parentheses.
Johnson argued that...(as cited in Smith, 2003, p. 102).
Note:When citing material in parentheses, set off the citation with a comma, as above.
Electronic Sources
If possible, cite an electronic document the same as any other document by using the author-date style.
Kenneth (2000) explained...
Unknown Author and Unknown Date: If no author or date is given, use the title in your signal phrase or the first
word or two of the title in the parentheses and use the abbreviation "n.d." (for "no date").
Another study of students and research decisions discovered that students succeeded with
tutoring ("Tutoring and APA," n.d.).
Sources Without Page Numbers
When an electronic source lacks page numbers, you should try to include information that will help readers find the
passage being cited. When an electronic document has numbered paragraphs, use the ¶ symbol, or the abbreviation
"para." followed by the paragraph number (Hall, 2001, ¶ 5) or (Hall, 2001, para. 5). If the paragraphs are not
numbered and the document includes headings, provide the appropriate heading and specify the paragraph under
that heading. Note that in some electronic sources, like Web pages, people can use the Find function in their browser
to locate any passages you cite.
According to Smith (1997), ... (Mind over Matter section, para. 6).
Note: Never use the page numbers of Web pages you print out; different computers print Web pages with different
pagination.
Reference List: Basic Rules
Your reference list should appear at the end of your paper. It provides the information necessary for a reader to
locate and retrieve any source you cite in the body of the paper. Each source you cite in the paper must appear in
your reference list; likewise, each entry in the reference list must be cited in your text.
Your references should begin on a new page separate from the text of the essay; label this page "References"
centered at the top of the page (do NOT bold, underline, or use quotation marks for the title). All text should be
double-spaced just like the rest of your essay.
Basic Rules
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All lines after the first line of each entry in your reference list should be indented one-half
inch from the left margin. This is called hanging indentation.
Authors' names are inverted (last name first); give the last name and initials for all
authors of a particular work for up to and including seven authors. If the work has more
than seven authors, list the first six authors and then use ellipses after the sixth author's
name. After the ellipses, list the last author's name of the work.
Reference list entries should be alphabetized by the last name of the first author of each
work.
If you have more than one article by the same author, single-author references or
multiple-author references with the exact same authors in the exact same order are listed
in order by the year of publication, starting with the earliest.
When referring to any work that is NOT a journal, such as a book, article, or Web page,
capitalize only the first letter of the first word of a title and subtitle, the first word after a
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colon or a dash in the title, and proper nouns. Do not capitalize the first letter of the
second word in a hyphenated compound word.
Capitalize all major words in journal titles.
Italicize titles of longer works such as books and journals.
Do not italicize, underline, or put quotes around the titles of shorter works such as journal
articles or essays in edited collections.
Please note: While the APA manual provides many examples of how to cite common
types of sources, it does not provide rules on how to cite all types of sources. Therefore,
if you have a source that APA does not include, APA suggests that you find the example
that is most similar to your source and use that format. For more information, see page
193 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, sixth edition.
Reference List: Author/Authors
The following rules for handling works by a single author or multiple authors apply to all APA-style references in
your reference list, regardless of the type of work (book, article, electronic resource, etc.)
Single Author
Last name first, followed by author initials.
Berndt, T. J. (2002). Friendship quality and social development. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 710.
Two Authors
List by their last names and initials. Use the ampersand instead of "and."
Wegener, D. T., & Petty, R. E. (1994). Mood management across affective states: The hedonic contingency
hypothesis. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 66, 1034-1048.
Three to Seven Authors
List by last names and initials; commas separate author names, while the last author name is preceded again by
ampersand.
Kernis, M. H., Cornell, D. P., Sun, C. R., Berry, A., Harlow, T., & Bach, J. S. (1993). There's more to self-esteem
than whether it is high or low: The importance of stability of self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 65, 1190-1204.
More Than Seven Authors
Miller, F. H., Choi, M. J., Angeli, L. L., Harland, A. A., Stamos, J. A., Thomas, S. T., . . . Rubin, L. H. (2009). Web
site usability for the blind and low-vision user. Technical Communication, 57, 323-335.
Organization as Author
American Psychological Association. (2003).
Unknown Author
Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary (10th ed.).(1993). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster.
NOTE: When your essay includes parenthetical citations of sources with no author named, use a shortened version
of the source's title instead of an author's name. Use quotation marks and italics as appropriate. For example,
parenthetical citations of the source above would appear as follows: (Merriam-Webster's, 1993).
Two or More Works by the Same Author
Use the author's name for all entries and list the entries by the year (earliest comes first).
Berndt, T. J. (1981).
Berndt, T. J. (1999).
When an author appears both as a sole author and, in another citation, as the first author of a group, list the oneauthor entries first.
Berndt, T. J. (1999). Friends' influence on students' adjustment to school. Educational Psychologist, 34, 15-28.
Berndt, T. J., & Keefe, K. (1995). Friends' influence on adolescents' adjustment to school. Child Development, 66,
1312-1329.
References that have the same first author and different second and/or third authors are arranged alphabetically by
the last name of the second author, or the last name of the third if the first and second authors are the same.
Wegener, D. T., Kerr, N. L., Fleming, M. A., & Petty, R. E. (2000). Flexible corrections of juror judgments:
Implications for jury instructions. Psychology, Public Policy, & Law, 6, 629-654.
19
Wegener, D. T., Petty, R. E., & Klein, D. J. (1994). Effects of mood on high elaboration attitude change: The
mediating role of likelihood judgments. European Journal of Social Psychology, 24, 25-43.
Two or More Works by the Same Author in the Same Year
If you are using more than one reference by the same author (or the same group of authors listed in the same order)
published in the same year, organize them in the reference list alphabetically by the title of the article or chapter.
Then assign letter suffixes to the year. Refer to these sources in your essay as they appear in your reference list, e.g.:
"Berdnt (1981a) makes similar claims..."
Berndt, T. J. (1981a). Age changes and changes over time in prosocial intentions and behavior between friends.
Developmental Psychology, 17, 408-416.
Berndt, T. J. (1981b). Effects of friendship on prosocial intentions and behavior. Child Development, 52, 636-643.
Introductions, Prefaces, Forewords, and Afterwords
Cite the publishing information about a book as usual, but cite Introduction, Preface, Foreword, or Afterword
(whatever title is applicable) as the chapter of the book.
Funk, R. & Kolln, M. (1998). Introduction. In E.W. Ludlow (Ed.), Understanding English Grammar (pp. 1-2).
Needham, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Reference List: Articles in Periodicals
Basic Form
APA style dictates that authors are named last name followed by initials; publication year goes between parentheses,
followed by a period. The title of the article is in sentence-case, meaning only the first word and proper nouns in the
title are capitalized. The periodical title is run in title case, and is followed by the volume number which, with the
title, is also italicized or underlined.
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue
number), pages.
Article in Journal Paginated by Volume
Journals that are paginated by volume begin with page one in issue one, and continue numbering issue two where
issue one ended, etc.
Harlow, H. F. (1983). Fundamentals for preparing psychology journal articles. Journal of Comparative and
Physiological Psychology, 55, 893-896.
Article in Journal Paginated by Issue
Journals paginated by issue begin with page one every issue; therefore, the issue number gets indicated in
parentheses after the volume. The parentheses and issue number are not italicized or underlined.
Scruton, R. (1996). The eclipse of listening. The New Criterion, 15(30), 5-13.
Article in a Magazine
Henry, W. A., III. (1990, April 9). Making the grade in today's schools. Time, 135, 28-31.
Article in a Newspaper
Unlike other periodicals, p. or pp. precedes page numbers for a newspaper reference in APA style. Single pages take
p., e.g., p. B2; multiple pages take pp., e.g., pp. B2, B4 or pp. C1, C3-C4.
Schultz, S. (2005, December 28). Calls made to strengthen state energy policies. The Country Today, pp. 1A, 2A.
Note: Because of issues with html coding, the listings below using brackets contain spaces that are not to be used
with your listings. Use a space as normal before the brackets, but do not include a space following the bracket.
Letter to the Editor
Moller, G. (2002, August). Ripples versus rumbles [Letter to the editor]. Scientific American, 287(2), 12.
Review
Baumeister, R. F. (1993). Exposing the self-knowledge myth [Review of the book The self-knower: A hero under
control, by R. A. Wicklund & M. Eckert]. Contemporary Psychology, 38, 466-467.
Reference List: Books
Basic Format for Books
Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Location: Publisher.
Note: For "Location," you should always list the city and the state using the two letter postal abbreviation without
periods (New York, NY).
20
Calfee, R. C., & Valencia, R. R. (1991). APA guide to preparing manuscripts for journal publication. Washington,
DC: American Psychological Association.
Edited Book, No Author
Duncan, G. J., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (Eds.). (1997). Consequences of growing up poor. New York, NY: Russell Sage
Foundation.
Edited Book with an Author or Authors
Plath, S. (2000). The unabridged journals K.V. Kukil, (Ed.). New York, NY: Anchor.
A Translation
Laplace, P. S. (1951). A philosophical essay on probabilities. (F. W. Truscott & F. L. Emory, Trans.). New York,
NY: Dover. (Original work published 1814).
Note: When you cite a republished work, like the one above, in your text, it should appear with both dates: Laplace
(1814/1951).
Edition Other Than the First
Helfer, M. E., Kempe, R. S., & Krugman, R. D. (1997). The battered child (5th ed.). Chicago, IL: University of
Chicago Press.
Article or Chapter in an Edited Book
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year of publication). Title of chapter. In A. Editor & B. Editor (Eds.), Title of book
(pages of chapter). Location: Publisher.
Note: When you list the pages of the chapter or essay in parentheses after the book title, use "pp." before the
numbers: (pp. 1-21). This abbreviation, however, does not appear before the page numbers in periodical references,
except for newspapers.
O'Neil, J. M., & Egan, J. (1992). Men's and women's gender role journeys: Metaphor for healing, transition, and
transformation. In B. R. Wainrib (Ed.), Gender issues across the life cycle (pp. 107-123). New York, NY: Springer.
Multivolume Work
Wiener, P. (Ed.). (1973). Dictionary of the history of ideas (Vols. 1-4). New York, NY: Scribner's.
Reference List: Other Print Sources
An Entry in an Encyclopedia
Bergmann, P. G. (1993). Relativity. In The new encyclopedia britannica (Vol. 26, pp. 501-508). Chicago:
Encyclopedia Britannica.
Work Discussed in a Secondary Source
List the source the work was discussed in:
Coltheart, M., Curtis, B., Atkins, P., & Haller, M. (1993). Models of reading aloud: Dual-route and paralleldistributed-processing approaches. Psychological Review, 100, 589-608.
NOTE: Give the secondary source in the references list; in the text, name the original work, and give a citation for
the secondary source. For example, if Seidenberg and McClelland's work is cited in Coltheart et al. and you did not
read the original work, list the Coltheart et al. reference in the References. In the text, use the following citation:
In Seidenberg and McClelland's study (as cited in Coltheart, Curtis, Atkins, & Haller, 1993), ...
Dissertation Abstract
Yoshida, Y. (2001). Essays in urban transportation. Dissertation Abstracts International, 62, 7741A.
Dissertation, Published
Lastname, F. N. (Year). Title of dissertation. (Doctoral disseration). Retrieved from Name of database. (Accession
or Order Number)
Dissertation, Unpublished
Lastname, F. N. (Year). Title of dissertation. (Unpublished doctoral disseration). Name of Institution, Location.
Government Document
National Institute of Mental Health. (1990). Clinical training in serious mental illness (DHHS Publication No. ADM
90-1679). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
For information about citing legal sources in your reference list, see the Westfield State College page on Citing
Legal Materials in APA Style.
21
Report From a Private Organization
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Practice guidelines for the treatment of patients with eating disorders
(2nd ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Conference Proceedings
Schnase, J. L., & Cunnius, E. L. (Eds.). (1995). Proceedings from CSCL '95: The First International Conference on
Computer Support for Collaborative Learning. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Reference List: Electronic Sources (Web Publications)
Please note: There are no spaces used with brackets in APA. When possible, include the year, month, and date in
references. If the month and date are not available, use the year of publication. Please note, too, that the OWL still
includes information about print sources and databases for those still working with these sources.
Article From an Online Periodical
Online articles follow the same guidelines for printed articles. Include all information the online host makes
available, including an issue number in parentheses.
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Online Periodical, volume
number(issue number if available). Retrieved from http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/
Bernstein, M. (2002). 10 tips on writing the living Web. A List Apart: For People Who Make Websites, 149.
Retrieved from http://www.alistapart.com/articles/writeliving
Online Scholarly Journal Article: Citing DOIs
Because online materials can potentially change URLs, APA recommends providing a Digital Object Identifier
(DOI), when it is available, as opposed to the URL. DOIs are an attempt to provide stable, long-lasting links for
online articles. They are unique to their documents and consist of a long alphanumeric code. Many-but not allpublishers will provide an article's DOI on the first page of the document.
Note that some online bibliographies provide an article's DOI but may "hide" the code under a button which may
read "Article" or may be an abbreviation of a vendors name like "CrossRef" or "PubMed." This button will usually
lead the user to the full article which will include the DOI. Find DOI's from print publications or ones that go to
dead links with CrossRef.org's "DOI Resolver," which is displayed in a central location on their home page.
Article From an Online Periodical with DOI Assigned
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number, page range.
doi:0000000/000000000000
Brownlie, D. (2007). Toward effective poster presentations: An annotated bibliography. European Journal of
Marketing, 41(11/12), 1245-1283. doi:10.1108/03090560710821161
Article From an Online Periodical with no DOI Assigned
Online scholarly journal articles without a DOI require the URL of the journal home page. Remember that one goal
of citations is to provide your readers with enough information to find the article; providing the journal home page
aids readers in this process.
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number. Retrieved
from http://www.journalhomepage.com/full/url/
Kenneth, I. A. (2000). A Buddhist response to the nature of human rights. Journal of Buddhist Ethics, 8. Retrieved
from http://www.cac.psu.edu/jbe/twocont.html
Article From a Database
Please note: APA states that including database information in citations is not necessary because databases change
over time (p. 192). However, the OWL still includes information about databases for those users who need database
information.
When referencing a print article obtained from an online database (such as a database in the library), provide
appropriate print citation information (formatted just like a "normal" print citation would be for that type of work).
By providing this information, you allow people to retrieve the print version if they do not have access to the
database from which you retrieved the article. You can also include the item number or accession number in
parentheses at the end, but the APA manual says that this is not required.
For articles that are easily located, do not provide database information. If the article is difficult to locate, then you
can provide database information. Only use retrieval dates if the source could change, such as Wikis. For more about
citing articles retrieved from electronic databases, see pages 187-192 of the Publication Manual.
Smyth, A. M., Parker, A. L., & Pease, D. L. (2002). A study of enjoyment of peas. Journal of Abnormal Eating,
8(3), 120-125.
22
Abstract
If you only cite an abstract but the full text of the article is also available, cite the online abstract as other online
citations, adding "[Abstract]" after the article or source name.
Paterson, P. (2008). How well do young offenders with Asperger Syndrome cope in custody?: Two prison case
studies [Abstract]. British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 36(1), 54-58.
Bossong, G. Ergativity in Basque. Linguistics, 22(3), 341-392.
Newspaper Article
Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of article. Title of Newspaper. Retrieved from
http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/
Parker-Pope, T. (2008, May 6). Psychiatry handbook linked to drug industry. The New York Times. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com
Electronic Books
Electronic books may include books found on personal websites, databases, or even in audio form. Use the
following format if the book you are using is only provided in a digital format or is difficult to find in print. If the
work is not directly available online or must be purchased, use "Available from," rather than "Retrieved from," and
point readers to where they can find it. For books available in print form and electronic form, include the publish
date in parentheses after the author's name.
De Huff, E. W. (n.d.). Taytay’s tales: Traditional Pueblo Indian tales. Retrieved from
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/dehuff/taytay/
taytay.html
Davis, J. (n.d.). Familiar birdsongs of the Northwest. Available from http://www.powells.com/cgibin/biblio?inkey=19780931686108-0
Chapter/Section of a Web document or Online Book Chapter
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. In Title of book or larger document (chapter or
section number). Retrieved from http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/
Engelshcall, R. S. (1997). Module mod_rewrite: URL Rewriting Engine. In Apache HTTP Server Version 1.3
Documentation (Apache modules.) Retrieved from http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/mod/mod_rewrite.html
Peckinpaugh, J. (2003). Change in the Nineties. In J. S. Bough and G. B. DuBois (Eds.), A century of growth in
America. Retrieved from GoldStar database.
NOTE: Use a chapter or section identifier and provide a URL that links directly to the chapter section, not the home
page of the Web site.
Online Book Reviews
Cite the information as you normally would for the work you are quoting. (The first example below is from a
newspaper article; the second is from a scholarly journal.) In brackets, write "Review of the book" and give the title
of the reviewed work. Provide the web address after the words "Retrieved from," if the review is freely available to
anyone. If the review comes from a subscription service or database, write "Available from" and provide the
information where the review can be purchased.
Zacharek, S. (2008, April 27). Natural women [Review of the book Girls like us]. The New York Times. Retrieved
from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/books/review/Zachareck
-t.html?pagewanted=2
Castle, G. (2007). New millennial Joyce [Review of the books Twenty-first Joyce, Joyce's critics: Transitions in
reading and culture, and Joyce's messianism: Dante, negative existence, and the messianic self]. Modern Fiction
Studies, 50(1), 163-173. Available from Project MUSE Web site:
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/modern_fiction_studies/toc/
mfs52.1.html
Dissertation/Thesis from a Database
Biswas, S. (2008). Dopamine D3 receptor: A neuroprotective treatment target in Parkinson's disease. Retrieved
from ProQuest Digital Dissertations. (AAT 3295214)
Online Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
Often encyclopedias and dictionaries do not provide bylines (authors' names). When no byline is present, move the
entry name to the front of the citation. Provide publication dates if present or specify (n.d.) if no date is present in
the entry.
Feminism. (n.d.). In Encyclopædia Britannica online. Retrieved from
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/724633/feminism
23
Online Bibliographies and Annotated Bibliographies
Jürgens, R. (2005). HIV/AIDS and HCV in Prisons: A Select Annotated Bibliography. Retrieved from
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/alt_formats/hpb-dgps/
pdf/intactiv/hiv-vih-aids-sida-prison-carceral_e.pdf
Data Sets
Point readers to raw data by providing a Web address (use "Retrieved from") or a general place that houses data sets
on the site (use "Available from").
United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. (2008). Indiana income limits [Data file]. Retrieved
from http://www.huduser.org/Datasets/IL/IL08/in_fy2008.pdf
Graphic Data (e.g. Interactive Maps and Other Graphic Representations of
Data)
Give the name of the researching organization followed by the date. In brackets, provide a brief explanation of what
type of data is there and in what form it appears. Finally, provide the project name and retrieval information.
Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment. (2007). [Graph illustration the SORCE Spectral Plot May 8, 2008]. Solar
Spectral Data Access from the SIM, SOLSTICE, and XPS Instruments. Retrieved from http://lasp.colorado.edu/cgibin/ion-p?page=input_data_for_ spectra.ion
Qualitative Data and Online Interviews
If an interview is not retrievable in audio or print form, cite the interview only in the text (not in the reference list)
and provide the month, day, and year in the text. If an audio file or transcript is available online, use the following
model, specifying the medium in brackets (e.g. [Interview transcript, Interview audio file]):
Butler, C. (Interviewer) & Stevenson, R. (Interviewee). (1999). Oral History 2 [Interview transcript]. Retrieved from
Johnson Space Center Oral Histories Project Web site: http:// www11.jsc.nasa.gov/history/oral_histories/oral_
histories.htm
Online Lecture Notes and Presentation Slides
When citing online lecture notes, be sure to provide the file format in brackets after the lecture title (e.g. PowerPoint
slides, Word document).
Hallam, A. Duality in consumer theory [PDF document]. Retrieved from Lecture Notes Online Web site:
http://www.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ501/Hallam/
index.html
Roberts, K. F. (1998). Federal regulations of chemicals in the environment [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from
http://siri.uvm.edu/ppt/40hrenv/index.html
Nonperiodical Web Document, Web Page, or Report
List as much of the following information as possible (you sometimes have to hunt around to find the information;
don't be lazy. If there is a page like http://www.somesite.com/somepage.htm, and somepage.htm doesn't have the
information you're looking for, move up the URL to http://www.somesite.com/):
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of document. Retrieved from http://Web address
Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., Soderland, L., & Brizee, A. (2010, May 5). General
format. Retrieved from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
NOTE: When an Internet document is more than one Web page, provide a URL that links to the home page or entry
page for the document. Also, if there isn't a date available for the document use (n.d.) for no date.
Computer Software/Downloaded Software
Do not cite standard office software (e.g. Word, Excel) or programming languages. Provide references only for
specialized software.
Ludwig, T. (2002). PsychInquiry [computer software]. New York: Worth.
Software that is downloaded from a Web site should provide the software’s version and year when available.
Hayes, B., Tesar, B., & Zuraw, K. (2003). OTSoft: Optimality Theory Software (Version 2.1) [Software]. Available
from http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/hayes/otsoft/
E-mail
E-mails are not included in the list of references, though you parenthetically cite them in your main text: (E.
Robbins, personal communication, January 4, 2001).
Online Forum or Discussion Board Posting
Include the title of the message, and the URL of the newsgroup or discussion board. Please note that titles for items
in online communities (e.g. blogs, newsgroups, forums) are not italicized. If the author's name is not available,
24
provide the screen name. Place identifiers like post or message numbers, if available, in brackets. If available,
provide the URL where the message is archived (e.g. "Message posted to..., archived at...").
Frook, B. D. (1999, July 23). New inventions in the cyberworld of toylandia [Msg 25]. Message posted to
http://groups.earthlink.com/forum/messages/00025.html
Blog (Weblog) and Video Blog Post
Include the title of the message and the URL. Please note that titles for items in online communities (e.g. blogs,
newsgroups, forums) are not italicized. If the author’s name is not available, provide the screen name.
J Dean. (2008, May 7). When the self emerges: Is that me in the mirror? [Web log comment]. Retrieved from
http://www.spring.org.uk/the1sttransport. (2004, September 26).
Psychology Video Blog #3 [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqM90eQi5-M
Wikis
Please note that the APA Style Guide to Electronic References warns writers that wikis (like Wikipedia, for example)
are collaborative projects which cannot guarantee the verifiability or expertise of their entries.
OLPC Peru/Arahuay. (n.d.). Retrieved from the OLPC Wiki: http://wiki.laptop. org/go/OLPC_Peru/Arahuay
Audio Podcast
For all podcasts, provide as much information as possible; not all of the following information will be available.
Possible addition identifiers may include Producer, Director, etc.
Bell, T. & Phillips, T. (2008, May 6). A solar flare. Science @ NASA Podcast. Podcast retrieved from
http://science.nasa.gov/podcast.htm
Video Podcasts
For all podcasts, provide as much information as possible; not all of the following information will be available.
Possible addition identifiers may include Producer, Director, etc.
Scott, D. (Producer). (2007, January 5). The community college classroom [Episode 7]. Adventures in Education.
Podcast retrieved from http://www.adveeducation.com
For more help with citing electronic sources, please use these links:
• Documenting Electronic Sources
• APA style web site's coverage of electronic references
• APA Frequently Asked Questions
Reference List: Other Non-Print Sources
Interviews, Email, and Other Personal Communication
No personal communication is included in your reference list; instead, parenthetically cite the communicator's name,
the phrase "personal communication," and the date of the communication in your main text only.
(E. Robbins, personal communication, January 4, 2001).
A. P. Smith also claimed that many of her students had difficulties with APA style (personal
communication, November 3, 2002).
Motion Picture
Basic reference list format:
Producer, P. P. (Producer), & Director, D. D. (Director). (Date of publication). Title of motion picture [Motion
picture]. Country of origin: Studio or distributor.
Note: If a movie or video tape is not available in wide distribution, add the following to your citation after the
country of origin: (Available from Distributor name, full address and zip code).
A Motion Picture or Video Tape with International or National Availability
Smith, J. D. (Producer), & Smithee, A. F. (Director). (2001). Really big disaster movie [ Motion picture]. United
States: Paramount Pictures.
A Motion Picture or Video Tape with Limited Availability
Harris, M. (Producer), & Turley, M. J. (Director). (2002). Writing labs: A history [Motion picture]. (Available from
Purdue University Pictures, 500 Oval Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907)
Television Broadcast or Series Episode
Producer, P. P. (Producer). (Date of broadcast or copyright). Title of broadcast [ Television broadcast or Television
series ]. City of origin: Studio or distributor.
25
Single Episode of a Television Series
Writer, W. W. (Writer), & Director, D. D. (Director). (Date of publication). Title of episode [Television series
episode]. In P. Producer (Producer), Series title. City of origin: Studio or distributor.
Wendy, S. W. (Writer), & Martian, I. R. (Director). (1986). The rising angel and the falling ape [Television series
episode]. In D. Dude (Producer), Creatures and monsters. Los Angeles, CA: Belarus Studios.
Television Broadcast
Important, I. M. (Producer). (1990, November 1). The nightly news hour [Television broadcast]. New York, NY:
Central Broadcasting Service.
A Television Series
Bellisario, D.L. (Producer). (1992). Exciting action show [Television series]. Hollywood: American Broadcasting
Company.
Music Recording
Songwriter, W. W. (Date of copyright). Title of song [Recorded by artist if different from song writer]. On Title of
album [Medium of recording]. Location: Label. (Recording date if different from copyright date).
Taupin, B. (1975). Someone saved my life tonight [Recorded by Elton John]. On Captain fantastic and the brown
dirt cowboy [CD]. London, England: Big Pig Music Limited.
For more about citing audiovisual media, see pages 209-210 of the APA Publication Manual 6th Edition, second
printing.
For information about citing legal sources in your reference list, see the Westfield State College page on Citing
Legal Materials in APA Style.
Additional Resources
It's always best to consult the Publication Manual first for any APA question. If you are using APA style for a class
assignment, it's a good idea to consult your professor, advisor, TA, or other campus resources for help with using
APA style—they're the ones who can tell you how the style should apply in your particular case. For extraordinary
questions that aren't covered clearly in the style manual or haven't been answered by your teacher or advisor, contact
the Writing Lab for help at (765) 494-3723 or email by using our OWL tutor email form.
Print Resources
Here are some print resources for using APA style. Click The Purdue OWL does not make any profit from nor does
it endorse these agencies; links are merely offered for information. Most of these books are probably available in
your local library. From the American Psychological Association:
• Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition) (ISBN 13:
•
•
•
•
978-1-4338-0561-5; ISBN 10: 1-4338-0561-8)
Mastering APA Style: Instructor's Resource Guide (ISBN: 1557988900)
Mastering APA Style: Student's Workbook and Training Guide (ISBN: 143380557X)
Presenting Your Findings: A Practical Guide for Creating Tables (ISBN: 143380705X)
Displaying Your Findings: A Practical Guide for Creating Figures, Posters, and
Presentations (ISBN: 1433807076X)
From other publishers:
• Writing With
• Writing With
Style: APA Style Made Easy (ISBN: 084003167X)
Style: APA Style for Social Work (ISBN: 084003198X)
Online Resources from the APA
•
•
APA Style Website
APA Style Blog
Other Online Resources: Documenting and Referencing Sources
•
•
Using APA Style to Cite and Document Sources (from Bedford St. Martin's Online!)
Citing Legal Materials in APA Style (Westfield State College)
26
Types of APA Papers
There are two common types of papers written in fields using APA Style: the literature review and the experimental
report. Each has unique requirements concerning the sections that must be included in the paper.
Literature Review
A literature review is a summary of what the scientific literature says about your specific topic or question. Often
student research in APA fields falls into this category. Your professor might ask you to write this kind of paper to
demonstrate your familiarity with work in the field pertinent to the research you hope to conduct.
A literature review typically contains the following sections:
• title page
• introduction section
• list of references
Some instructors may also want you to write an abstract for a literature review, so be sure to check with them when
given an assignment. Also, the length of a literature review and the required number of sources will vary based on
course and instructor preferences.
NOTE: A literature review and an annotated bibliography are not synonymous. If you are asked to write an
annotated bibliography, you should consult the Publication Manual for the APA Format for Annotated
Bibliographies.
Experimental Report
In many of the social sciences, you will be asked to design and conduct your own experimental research. If so, you
will need to write up your paper using a structure that is more complex than that used for just a literature review. We
have a complete resource devoted to writing an experimental report in the field of psychology here.
This structure follows the scientific method, but it also makes your paper easier to follow by providing those
familiar cues that help your reader efficiently scan your information for:
• why the topic is important (covered in your introduction)
• what the problem is (also covered in your introduction)
• what you did to try to solve the problem (covered in your methods section)
• what you found (covered in your results section)
• what you think your findings mean (covered in your discussion section)
Thus an experimental report typically includes the following sections:
• title page
• abstract
• introduction
• method
• results
• discussion
• references
• appendixes (if necessary)
• tables and/or figures (if necessary)
Make sure to check the guidelines for your assignment or any guidelines that have been given to you by an editor of
a journal before you submit a manuscript containing the sections listed above.
As with the literature review, the length of this report may vary by course or by journal, but most often it will be
determined by the scope of the research conducted.
Other Papers
If you are writing a paper that fits neither of these categories, follow the guidelines about General Format, consult
your instructor, or look up advice in the Publication Manual.
When submitting a manuscript to a journal, make sure you follow the guidelines described in the submission
policies of that publication, and include as many sections as you think are applicable to presenting your material.
Remember to keep your audience in mind as you are making this decision. If certain information is particularly
pertinent for conveying your research, then ensure that there is a section of your paper that adequately addresses that
information.
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Contributors:Elizabeth Angeli, Jodi Wagner, Elena Lawrick, Kristen Moore, Michael
Anderson, Lars Soderlund, Allen Brizee, Russell Keck.
Summary:
APA (American Psychological Association) is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. This
resource, revised according to the 6th edition, second printing of the APA manual, offers examples for the general
format of APA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the reference page. For more information,
please consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition, second printing.
APA Stylistics: Avoiding Bias
Researchers who use APA often work with a variety of populations, some of whom tend to be stereotyped by the use
of labels and other biased forms of language. Therefore, APA offers specific recommendations for eliminating bias
in language concerning race, disability, and sexuality.
Make Adjustments to Labels
Although you should avoid labeling whenever possible, it is sometimes difficult to accurately account for the
identity of your research population or individual participants without using language that can be read as biased.
Making adjustments in how you use identifiers and other linguistic categories can improve the clarity of your
writing and minimize the likelihood of offending your readers.
In general, you should call people what they prefer to be called, especially when dealing with race and ethnicity. But
sometimes the common conventions of language inadvertently contain biases towards certain populations - e.g.
using "normal" in contrast to someone identified as "disabled." Therefore, you should be aware of how your choice
of terminology may come across to your reader, particularly if they identify with the population in question.
You can find an in-depth discussion of this issue and specific recommendations for how to appropriately represent
people in your text on the APA website on the following pages:
• Removing Bias in Language: Disabilities
• Removing Bias in Language: Race & Ethnicity
• Removing Bias in Language: Sexuality
Avoid Gendered Pronouns
While you should always be clear about the sex identity of your participants (if you conducted an experiment), so
that gender differences are obvious, you should not use gender terms when they aren't necessary. In other words,
you should not use "he," "his" or "men" as generic terms applying to both sexes.
APA does not recommend replacing "he" with "he or she," "she or he," "he/she," "(s)he," "s/he," or alternating
between "he" and "she" because these substitutions are awkward and can distract the reader from the point you are
trying to make. The pronouns "he" or "she" inevitably cause the reader to think of only that gender, which may not
be what you intend.
To avoid the bias of using gendered pronouns:
• Rephrase the sentence
• Use plural nouns or plural pronouns - this way you can use "they" or "their"
• Replace the pronoun with an article - instead of "his," use "the"
• Drop the pronoun - many sentences sound fine if you just omit the troublesome "his"
•
from the sentence
Replace the pronoun with a noun such as "person," "individual," "child," "researcher,"
etc.
For more about addressing gender in academic writing, visit the OWL's handout on non-sexist language use.
Find Alternative Descriptors
To avoid unintentional biases in your language, look to the parameters of your research itself. When writing up an
experimental report, describe your participants by the measures you used to classify them in the experiment, as long
as the labels are not offensive.
Example: If you had people take a test measuring their reaction times and you were interested in looking at the
differences between people who had fast reaction times and those with slow reaction times, you could call the first
group the "fast reaction time group" and the second the "slow reaction time group."
Also, use adjectives to serve as descriptors rather than labels. When you use terms such as "the elderly" or "the
amnesiacs," the people lose their individuality. One way to avoid this is to insert an adjective (e.g., "elderly people,"
28
"amnesic patients"). Another way is to mention the person first and follow this with a descriptive phrase (e.g.,
"people diagnosed with amnesia"), although it can be cumbersome to keep repeating phrases like this.
.
APA Stylistics: Basics
Writing in APA is more than simply learning the formula for citations or following a certain page layout. APA also
includes the stylistics of your writing, from point of view to word choice.
Point of View and Voice
When writing in APA Style, you rarely use the first person point of view ("I studied ..."). First person is not often
found in APA publications unless the writer is a senior scholar who has earned some credibility to speak as an
expert in the field.
You should use the third person point of view ("The study showed ...) unless you are co-authoring a paper with at
least one other person, in which case you can use "we" ("Our finding included ..."). In general, you should
foreground the research and not the researchers.
However, it is a common misconception that foregrounding the research requires using the passive voice
("Experiments have been conducted ..."). This is inaccurate.
APA Style encourages using the active voice ("We conducted an experiment ..."). The active voice is particularly
important in experimental reports, where the subject performing the action should be clearly identified (e.g. "We
interviewed ..." vs. "The participants responded ...").
Consult the OWL handout for more on the distinction between passive and active voice.
Clarity and Conciseness
Clarity and conciseness in writing are important when conveying research in APA Style. You don't want to
misrepresent the details of a study or confuse your readers with wordiness or unnecessarily complex sentences.
For clarity, be specific rather than vague in descriptions and explanations. Unpack details accurately to provide
adequate information to your readers so they can follow the development of your study.
Example: "It was predicted that marital conflict would predict behavior problems in school-aged children."
To clarify this vague hypothesis, use parallel structure to outline specific ideas:
"The first hypothesis stated that marital conflict would predict behavior problems in school-aged children. The
second hypothesis stated that the effect would be stronger for girls than for boys. The third hypothesis stated that
older girls would be more affected by marital conflict than younger girls."
To be more concise, particularly in introductory material or abstracts, you should pare out unnecessary words and
condense information when you can (see the OWL handout on Conciseness in academic writing for suggestions).
Example: The above list of hypotheses might be rephrased concisely as: "The authors wanted to investigate whether
marital conflict would predict behavior problems in children and they wanted to know if the effect was greater for
girls than for boys, particularly when they examined two different age groups of girls."
Balancing the need for clarity, which can require unpacking information, and the need for conciseness, which
requires condensing information, is a challenge. Study published articles and reports in your field for examples of
how to achieve this balance.
Word Choice
You should even be careful in selecting certain words or terms. Within the social sciences, commonly used words
take on different meanings and can have a significant effect on how your readers interpret your reported findings or
claims. To increase clarity, avoid bias, and control how your readers will receive your information, you should make
certain substitutions:
• Use terms like "participants" or "respondents" (rather than "subjects") to indicate how
•
•
individuals were involved in your research
Use terms like "children" or "community members" to provide more detail about who
was participating in the study
Use phrases like "The evidence suggests ..." or "Our study indicates ..." rather than
referring to "proof" or "proves" because no single study can prove a theory or hypothesis
As with the other stylistic suggestions here, you should study the discourse of your field to see what terminology is
most often used.
29
Avoiding Poetic Language
Writing papers in APA Style is unlike writing in more creative or literary styles that draw on poetic expressions and
figurative language. Such linguistic devices can detract from conveying your information clearly and may come
across to readers as forced when it is inappropriately used to explain an issue or your findings.
Therefore, you should:
• minimize the amount of figurative language used in an APA paper, such as metaphors
•
•
and analogies unless they are helpful in conveying a complex idea
avoid rhyming schemes, alliteration, or other poetic devices typically found in verse
use simple, descriptive adjectives and plain language that does not risk confusing your
meaning
APA Headings and Seriation
Headings
APA Style uses a unique headings system to separate and classify paper sections. There are 5 heading levels in
APA. The 6th edition of the APA manual revises and simplifies previous heading guidelines. Regardless of the
number of levels, always use the headings in order, beginning with level 1. The format of each level is illustrated
below:
APA Headings
Level Format
1
Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Headings
2
Left-aligned, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
3
Indented, boldface, lowercase heading with a period.
4
Indented, boldface, italicized, lowercase heading with a period.
5
Indented, italicized, lowercase heading with a period.
Thus, if the article has four sections, some of which have subsection and some of which don’t, use headings
depending on the level of subordination. Section headings receive level one format. Subsections receive level two
format. Subsections of subsections receive level three format. For example:
Methods (Level 1)
Site of Study (Level 2)
Participant Population (Level 2)
Teachers. (Level 3)
Students. (Level 3)
Results (Level 1)
Spatial Ability (Level 2)
Test one. (level 3)
Teachers with experience. (Level 4)
Teachers in training. (Level 4)
Test two. (Level 3)
Kinesthetic Ability (Level 2)
In APA Style, the Introduction section never gets a heading and headings are not indicated by letters or numbers.
Levels of headings will depend upon the length and organization of your paper. Regardless, always begin with level
one headings and proceed to level two, etc.
Seriation
APA also allows for seriation in the body text to help authors organize and present key ideas. For numbered
seriation, do the following:
Based on the four generations of usability testing on the Purdue OWL, the Purdue OWL Usability Team
recommended the following:
1. Move the navigation bar from the right to the left side of the OWL pages.
2. Integrate branded graphics (the Writing Lab and OWL logos) into the text on the OWL
homepage.
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3. Add a search box to every page of the OWL.
4. Develop an OWL site map.
5. Develop a three-tiered navigation system.
For lists that do not communicate hierarchical order or chronology, use bullets:
In general, participants found user-centered OWL mock up to be easier to use. What follows are samples of
participants' responses:
• "This version is easier to use."
• "Version two seems better organized."
• "It took me a few minutes to learn how to use this version, but after that, I felt more
comfortable with it."
Authors may also use seriation for paragraph length text.
For seriation within sentences, authors may use letters:
Based on the research conducted by the usability team, OWL staff have completed (a) the OWL site map; (b)
integrating graphics with text on the OWL homepage; (c) search boxes on all OWL pages except the orange OWL
resources (that is pending; we do have a search page); (d) moving the navigation bar to the left side of pages on all
OWL resources except in the orange area (that is pending); (e) piloting the first phase of the three-tiered navigation
system, as illustrated in the new Engagement section.
Authors may also separate points with bullet lists:
Based on the research conducted by the usability team, OWL staff have completed
• the OWL site map;
• integrating graphics with text on the OWL homepage;
• search boxes on all OWL pages except the orange OWL resources (that is pending; we do
•
•
have a search page);
moving the navigation bar to the left side of pages on all OWL resources except in the
orange area (that is pending);
piloting the first phase of the three-tiered navigation system, as illustrated in the new
Engagement section.
APA Tables and Figures 1
The purpose of tables and figures in documents is to enhance your readers' understanding of the information in the
document. Most word processing software available today will allow you to create your own tables and figures, and
even the most basic of word processors permit the embedding of images, thus enabling you to include tables and
figures in almost any document.
General Guidelines
Necessity. Visual material such as tables and figures can be used quickly and efficiently to present a large amount of
information to an audience, but visuals must be used to assist communication, not to use up space, or disguise
marginally significant results behind a screen of complicated statistics. Ask yourself this question first: is the table
or figure necessary? For example, it is better to present simple descriptive statistics in the text, not in a table.
Relation of Tables or Figures and Text. Because tables and figures supplement the text, refer in the text to all
tables and figures used and explain what the reader should look for when using the table or figure. Focus only on the
important point the reader should draw from them, and leave the details for the reader to examine on her own.
Documentation. If you are using figures, tables and/or data from other sources, be sure to gather all the information
you will need to properly document your sources.
Integrity and Independence. Each table and figure must be intelligible without reference to the text, so be sure to
include an explanation of every abbreviation (except the standard statistical symbols and abbreviations).
Organization, Consistency, and Coherence. Number all tables sequentially as you refer to them in the text (Table
1, Table 2, etc.), likewise for figures (Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.). Abbreviations, terminology, probability level values
must be consistent across tables and figures in the same article. Likewise, formats, titles, and headings must be
consistent. Do not repeat the same data in different tables.
Tables
Table Checklist
• Is the table
necessary?
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Is the entire table single- or double-spaced (including the title, headings, and notes)?
Are all comparable tables presented consistently?
Is the title brief but explanatory?
Does every column have a column heading?
Are all abbreviations; special use of italics, parentheses, and dashes; and special symbols
explained?
Are all probability level values correctly identified, and are asterisks attached to the
appropriate table entries? Is a probability level assigned the same number of asterisks in
all the tables in the same document?
Are the notes organized according to the convention of general, specific, probability?
Are all vertical rules eliminated?
If the table or its data are from another source, is the source properly cited?
Is the table referred to in the text?
Tables
Data in a table that would require only two or fewer columns and rows should be presented in the text. More
complex data is better presented in tabular format. In order for quantitative data to be presented clearly and
efficiently, it must be arranged logically, e.g. data to be compared must be presented next to one another
(before/after, young/old, male/female, etc.), and statistical information (means, standard deviations, N values) must
be presented in separate parts of the table. If possible, use canonical forms (such as ANOVA, regression, or
correlation) to communicate your data effectively.
Image Caption: Table 1
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Table Structure
The following image illustrates the basic structure of tables.
Image Caption: Table 2
Numbers. Number all tables with arabic numerals sequentially. Do not use suffix letters (e.g. Table 3a, 3b, 3c);
instead, combine the related tables. If the manuscript includes an appendix with tables, identify them with capital
letters and Arabic numerals (e.g. Table A1, Table B2).
Titles. Like the title of the paper itself, each table must have a clear and concise title. When appropriate, you may
use the title to explain an abbreviation parenthetically.
Example: Comparison of Median Income of Adopted Children (AC) v. Foster Children (FC)
Headings. Keep headings clear and brief. The heading should not be much wider than the widest entry in the
column. Use of standard abbreviations can aid in achieving that goal. All columns must have headings, even the stub
column (see example structure), which customarily lists the major independent variables.
Body. In reporting the data, consistency is key: Numerals should be expressed to a consistent number of decimal
places that is determined by the precision of measurement. Never change the unit of measurement or the number of
decimal places in the same column.
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Specific Types of Tables
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) Tables. The conventional format for an ANOVA table is to list the source in the
stub column, then the degrees of freedom (df) and the F ratios. Give the between-subject variables and error first,
then within-subject and any error. Mean square errors must be enclosed in parentheses. Provide a general note to the
table to explain what those values mean (see example). Use asterisks to identify statistically significant F ratios, and
provide a probability footnote.
Image Caption: Table 3 ANOVA Table
34
Regression. Conventional reporting of regression analysis follows two formats. If the study is purely applied, list
only the raw or unstandardized coefficients (B). If the study is purely theoretical, list only the standardized
coefficients (β). If the study was neither purely applied nor theoretical, then list both standardized and
unstandardized coeifficents. Specify the type of analysis, either hierarchical or simultaneous, and provide the
increments of change if you used hierarchical regression.
Image
Caption: Table 4 Regression Table
Notes in Tables
There are three types of notes for tables: general, specific, and probability notes. All of them must be placed below
the table in that order.
General notes explain, qualify or provide information about the table as a whole. Put explanations of abbreviations,
symbols, etc. here.
Example: Note. The racial categories used by the US Census (African-American, Asian American, Latinos/-as,
Native-American, and Pacific Islander) have been collapsed into the category “non-White.” E = excludes
respondents who self-identified as “White” and at least one other “non-White” race.
Specific notes explain, qualify or provide information about a particular column, row, or individual entry. To
indicate specific notes, use superscript lowercase letters (e.g. a, b, c), and order the superscripts from left to right, top
to bottom. Each table’s first footnote must be the superscript a.
Example: a n = 823. b One participant in this group was diagnosed with schizophrenia during the survey.
Probability notes provide the reader with the results of the texts for statistical significance. Asterisks indicate the
values for which the null hypothesis is rejected, with the probability (p value) specified in the probability note. Such
notes are required only when relevant to the data in the table. Consistently use the same number of asterisks for a
given alpha level throughout your paper.
Image Caption: Sample Table Notes
If you need to distinguish between two-tailed and one-tailed tests in the same table, use asterisks for two-tailed p
values and an alternate symbol (such as daggers) for one-tailed p values.
35
Image Caption: More Table Notes
Tables from Other Sources
If using tables from a source, copy the structure of the original exactly, and cite the source in accordance with APA
style.
APA Tables and Figures 2
Figures
Figure Checklist
• Is the figure necessary?
• Is the figure simple, clean, and free of extraneous detail?
• Are the data plotted accurately?
• Is the grid scale correctly proportioned?
• Is the lettering large and dark enough to read? Is the lettering
•
•
•
compatible in size with the
rest of the figure?
Are parallel figures or equally important figures prepared according to the same scale?
Are terms spelled correctly?
Are all abbreviations and symbols explained in a figure legend or figure caption? Are the
symbols, abbreviations, and terminology in the figure consistent with those in the figure
caption? In other figures? In the text?
Are the figures numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals?
Are all figures mentioned in the text?
•
•
As tables supplement the text, so should each figure.
36
Types of Figures
Graphs are good at quickly conveying relationships like comparison and distribution. The most common forms of
graphs are scatter plots, line graphs, bar graphs, pictorial graphs, and pie graphs. For more details and specifics on
what kind of information, relations, and meaning can be expressed with the different types of graphs, consult your
textbook on quantitative analysis. Spreadsheet programs, such as Microsoft Excel, can generate the graphs for you.
Scatter plots are composed of individual dots that represent the value of a specific event on the scale established by
the two variables plotted on the x- and y-axes. When the dots cluster together, a correlation is implied. On the other
hand, when the dots are scattered randomly, no correlation is seen.
Image Caption: Scatter Plot Graph
Line graphs depict the relationship between quantitative variables. Customarily, the independent variable is plotted
along the x-axis (horizontally) and the dependent variable is plotted along the y-axis (vertically). See example Figure
1...
37
Bar graphs come in three main types: 1) solid vertical or horizontal bars, 2) multiple bar graphs, and 3) sliding bars.
In solid bar graphs, the independent variable is categorical, and each bar represents one kind of datum, e. g. a bar
graph of monthly expenditures. A multiple bar graph can show more complex information than a simple bar graph,
e. g. monthly expenditures divided into categories (housing, food, transportation, etc.). In sliding bar graphs, the bars
are divided by a horizontal line which serves as the baseline, enabling the representation of data above and below a
specific reference point, e. g. high and low temperatures v. average temperature.
Image Caption: Bar Graph
38
Image Caption: Bar Graph by Type
39
Pictorial graphs can be used to show quantitative differences between groups. Pictorial graphs can be very
deceptive: if the height of an image is doubled, its area is quadrupled. Therefore, great care should be taken that
images representing the same values must be the same size.
Circle (pie) graphs are used to represent percentages and proportions. For the sake of readability, no more than five
variables should be compared in a single pie graph. The segments should be ordered very strictly: beginning at
twelve o’clock, order them from the largest to the smallest, and shade the segments from light to dark (i. e. the
smallest segment should be the darkest). Lines and dots can be used for shading in black and white documents.
Image Caption: Circle (or Pie) Graph
Charts are used to represent the components of larger objects or groups (e. g. a tribal hierarchy), the steps in a
process (as in a flow-chart), or the schematics of an object (the components of a cell phone).
Image Caption: Chart
40
Drawings and photographs can be used to communicate very specific information about a subject. Thanks to
software, both are now highly manipulable. For the sake of readability and simplicity, line drawings should be used,
and photographs should have the highest possible contrast between the background and focal point. Cropping,
cutting out extraneous detail, can be can be very beneficial for a photograph. Use software like GraphicConverter or
Photoshop to convert color photographs to black and white before printing on a laser printer. Otherwise most
printers will produce an image with poor contrast.
Image Caption: Photograph
Preparing Figures
In preparing figures, communication and readability must be the ultimate criteria. Avoid the temptation to use the
special effects available in most advanced software packages. While three-dimensional effects, shading, and layered
text may look interesting to the author, overuse, inconsistent use, and misuse may distort the data, and distract or
even annoy readers. Design properly done is inconspicuous, almost invisible, because it supports communication.
Design improperly, or amateurishly, done draws the reader’s attention from the data, and makes him or her question
the author’s credibility.
The APA has determined specifications for the size of figures and the fonts used in them. Figures of one column
must be between 2 and 3.25 inches wide (5 to 8.45 cm). Two-column figures must be between 4.25 and 6.875 inches
wide (10.6 to 17.5 cm). The height of figures should not exceed the top and bottom margins. The text in a figure
should be in a san serif font (such as Helvetica, Ariel, or Futura). The font size must be between eight and fourteen
point. Use circles and squares to distinguish curves on a line graph (at the same font size as the other labels). (See
examples above.)
Captions and Legends
For figures, make sure to include the figure number and a title with a legend and caption. These elements appear
below the visual display. For the figure number, type Figure X. Then type the title of the figure in upper and
lowercase letters. Follow the title with a legend that explains the symbols in the figure and a caption that explains
the figure:
Figure 1. How to create figures in APA style. This figure illustrates effective elements in APA
style figures.
Captions serve as a brief, but complete, explanation and as a title. For example, “Figure 4: Population” is
insufficient, whereas “Figure 4: Population of Grand Rapids, MI by race (1980)” is better. If the figure has a title in
the image, crop it.
41
Graphs should always include a legend that explains the symbols, abbreviations, and terminology used in the figure.
These terms must be consistent with those used in the text and in other figures. The lettering in the figure should be
of the same type and size as that used in the figure.
APA Abbreviations
In APA, abbreviations should be limited to instances when a) the abbreviation is standard and will not interfere with
the reader’s understanding and b) if space and repetition can be greatly avoided through abbreviation.
There are a few common trends in abbreviating that you should follow when using APA, though there are always
exceptions to these rules. When abbreviating a term, use the full term the first time you use it, followed immediately
by the abbreviation in parentheses.
According to the American Psychological Association (APA), abbreviations are best used only
when they allow for clear communication with the audience.
Exceptions: Standard abbreviations like units of measurement and states do not need to be written out. APA also
allows abbreviations that appear as words in Meriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary to be used without
explanation (IQ, REM, AIDS, HIV).
Do not use periods or spaces in abbreviations of all capital letters, unless it is a proper name or refers to participants
using identity-concealing labels:
MA, CD, HTML, APA
P. D. James, J. R. R. Tolkien, E. B. White or F.I.M., S.W.F.
Exceptions: Use a period when abbreviating the United States as an adjective (U.S. Marines or U.S. Senator)
Use a period if the abbreviation is Latin abbreviation or a reference abbreviation:
etc., e.g., a.m. or Vol. 7, p. 12, 4th ed.
Do not use periods when abbreviated measurements:
cd, ft, lb, mi, min
Exceptions: Use a period when abbreviated inch (in.) to avoid confusion.
Units of measurement and statistical abbreviations should only be abbreviated when accompanied by numerical
values:
7 mg, 12 mi, M = 7.5
measured in milligrams, several miles after the exit, the means were determined
Only certain units of time should be abbreviated.
Do not abbreviate:
day, week, month, year
Do abbreviate:
hr, min, ms, ns, s
To form the plural of abbreviations, add s alone without apostrophe or italicization.
vols., IQs, Eds.
Exception: Do not add s to pluralize units of measurement (12 m not 12 ms).
Abbreviations in Citations
Citations should be as condensed as possible, so you should know the basic rules of abbreviation endorsed by the
APA to provide your readers with reference information.
Always abbreviate the first and middle names of authors, editors, etc.
Shakespeare, W., Chomsky, N.
Use the following abbreviations within citations (take note of capitalization):
APA Citation Abbreviations
Book Part
Abbreviation
edition
ed.
revised edition
Rev. ed.
Second Edition
2nd ed.
Editor(s)
Ed. or Eds.
Translator(s)
Trans.
42
No date
Page(s)
n.d.
p. or pp.
Volume(s)
Vol. or Vols.
Number
No.
Part
Pt.
Technical Report Tech. Rep.
Supplement
Suppl.
Statistics in APA
When including statistics in written text, be sure to include enough information for the reader to understand the
study. Although the amount of explanation and data included depends upon the study, APA Style has guidelines for
the representation of statistical information:
• Do not give references for statistics unless the statistic is uncommon, used
•
•
•
unconventionally, or is the focus of the article
Do not give formulas for common statistics (i.e. mean, t test)
Do not repeat descriptive statistics in the text if they’re represented in a table or figure
Use terms like respectively and in order when enumerating a series of statistics; this
illustrates the relationship between the numbers in the series.
Punctuating Statistics
Use parentheses to enclose statistical values:
...proved to be statistically significant (p = .42) with all variables.
Use parentheses to enclose degrees of freedom:
t(45) = 4.35
F(3, 87) = 2.11
Use brackets to enclose limits of confidence intervals:
89% CIs [3.45, 2.7], [-6.0, 3.89], and [-7.23, 1.89]
Use standard typeface (no bolding or italicization) when writing Greek letters, subscripts that function as identifiers,
and abbreviations that are not variables.
Use boldface for vectors and matrices:
V, ∑
Use italics for statistical symbols (other than vectors and matrices):
t, F, N
Use an italicized, uppercase N in reference to number of subjects or participants in the total sample.
N = 328
Use an italicized, lowercase n in reference to only a portion of the sample.
n = 42
APA Changes 6th Edition
The American Psychological Association (APA) updated its style manual in the summer of 2009. This resource
presents the changes made between the fifth and sixth editions. Please note that the first printing of the APA sixth
edition contained misprints; if you are using the APA manual, make sure you are using at least the second printing
of the sixth edition.
Traditionally, psychologists were the main users of APA, but recently, students and writers in other fields began
using APA style. Therefore, the sixth edition was written with a broader audience in mind. The changes made to the
sixth edition reflect this broader audience.
This resource was created following the APA manual’s “What’s New in APA,” is organized according to the APA
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manual chapters, and highlights updates to the sixth edition that most concern student writers instead of those
interested in publishing manuscripts. For a more complete discussion of the changes, please visit this site.
Levels of Heading
Headings are used to help guide the reader through a document. The levels are organized by levels of subordination,
and each section of the paper should start with the highest level of heading.
Fifth Edition (Section 3.31 in the APA manual)
APA Headings
Level Format
5
CENTERED UPPERCASE HEADINGS
1
Centered Uppercase and Lowercase Headings
2
Centered, Italicized, Uppercase and Lowercase Headings
3
4
Left-aligned, Italicized, Uppercase and Lowercase Side Heading
Indented, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period.
Sixth Edition (3.03)
APA Headings
Level
1
2
Format
Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Headings
Left-aligned, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
3
Indented, boldface, lowercase heading with a period.
4
Indented, boldface, italicized, lowercase heading with a period.
5
Indented, italicized, lowercase heading with a period.
For example, in a scientific report following APA style, a report contains three sections: Method, Results, and
Discussion. Each of these sections start with level 1 headings:
Methods (Level 1)
Site of Study (Level 2)
Participant Population (Level 2)
Teachers. (Level 3)
Students. (Level 3)
Results (Level 1)
Spatial Ability (Level 2)
Test one. (level 3)
Teachers with experience. (Level 4)
Teachers in training. (Level 4)
Test two. (Level 3)
Kinesthetic Ability (Level 2)
Reducing Bias in Language (3.11)
Using precise language is expected in scientific writing, and the sixth edition offers new ways in which to talk about
research participants (note that “subjects” is still an acceptable term to use, but “participants” is more representative
of the individuals’ roles in the research project).
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Refer to participants at the appropriate level of specificity. The manual provides the example of using women
and men to refer to all human beings instead of only using man. Man is appropriate to use when referring to one man
but not when referring to a population that includes men and women.
Refer to participants how they wish to be called. Try to avoid labels if possible, but if this is not avoidable, be
respectful. Focus on the people and not the label. For example, instead of labeling a group “the elderly" or "the
arthritic," labels in which individuals are lost, try “older adults" or "a woman with arthritis."
Acknowledge participants’ participation while still following the rules in your field. For example, a cognitive
psychology student might use the term “subjects” in her research report, but a nursing student might use the term
“patients” to refer to those who participated in his research. Whatever term you choose to use, be sure you are
consistent throughout your paper and with your field’s guidelines.
The Mechanics of Style
Spacing (4.01). Use two spaces after periods instead of one. More space in between sentences allows for easier
reading and comprehension.
Fifth edition: “Previous research has shown that patients are interested in palliative care. This research project
explores how to discuss palliative care with patients.”
Sixth edition: “Previous research has shown that patients are interested in palliative care. This research project
explores how to discuss palliative care with patients.”
Approximations (4.31-32). Use words to express approximations of days, months, and year.
“I started spelunking about four years ago.”
Reporting statistics (4.35, 44, and 10). Use a zero before the decimal point with numbers less than one when the
statistic can be greater than one.
0.56kg
Do not use a zero before the decimal point when the number cannot be greater than one.
r = .015
Include effect sizes and confidence intervals with statistics. This will allow the reader to more fully understand the
conducted analyses.
Use brackets to group together confidence interval limits in both the body text and tables (5.15).
“95% Cls [-7.2, 4.3], [9.2, 12.4], and [-1.2, -0.5]” (p. 94)
Displaying Results
The sixth edition includes a section (5.01) on the purpose of displaying data. This section can help you decide when
and how to display your data. For example, your data might show that you are exploring data and information, or
your data may serve a storage purpose for later retrieval.
More than likely, though, your data will serve either a communication purpose to show you have discovered
meaning in data and you want to show/communicate to others this meaning.
Figures. Figures include graphs, charts, maps, drawings, and photographs. As a general rule, only include figures
when they add to the value of the paper. If the figure merely repeats what is written in the paper, do not include it, as
it does not add any new information to the paper.
The sixth edition also emphasizes the importance of clearly labeling electrophysiological, radiological, and genetic
data.
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References
Direct Quotations (6.01-21)
The sixth edition provides explicit rules for direct quotations and states that you must credit the source when
“paraphrasing, quoting an author directly, or describing an idea that influenced your work” (p. 170).
If the quotation is less than 40 words, incorporate the quotation into the text and place quotation marks round the
quotation. Cite the source immediately after the quotation and continue with the sentence.
Porter (1998) states, “The internetworked classroom has the potential (not yet realized) to empower students” (p. 5),
and this research project examines this potential.
If the quotation you are using falls at the end of the sentence, enclose the quotation with quotation marks without
including the quotation’s original punctuation. Here’s a sentence as it appears in the original text:
“Semantic frames/domains represent one of the two major organizing principles for conceptual structure” (Croft &
Cruse, 2004, p. 32).
Here’s what the sentence looks like when quoted within a text:
In arguing for frame semantics, Croft and Cruse (2004) assert, “Semantic frames/domains represent one of the two
major organizing principles for conceptual structure” (p. 32).
If the quotation has more than 40 words, use a block quotation. Begin the quotation on a new line and indent a halfinch from the left margin. Double-space the entire quotation, and at the end of the quotation, provide citation
information after the final punctuation mark.
John Nicholson (1820) anticipated this effect when discussion farming methods in the nineteenth century:
Perhaps it would be well, if some institution were devised, and supported at the expense of the State, which would
be so organized as would tend most effectually to produce a due degree of emulation among Farmers, by rewards
and honorary distinctions conferred by those who, by their successful experimetnal efforts and improvements,
should render themselves duly entitled to them. (p. 92)
The Reference List
References that appear in the text must appear in the references list in alphabetical order by the author’s last name,
with the exception of personal communication; only cite personal communication in the text, not in the reference
list.
Electronic sources (6.31). Because electronic publishing has become a standard in research, the sixth edition
provides an overview of electronic sources and how to reference them, specifically with URLs and DOIs.
URLs, more commonly known as a web address, locate information housed on the Internet. The fifth edition
specified that references to electronic sources should refer to the article’s or document’s URL. However, they are
prone to “breaking” or deleting, and to resolve issues associated with the unstable nature of URLs, publishers have
started using DOIs with articles.
While citing from a webpage, you may not be able to find a page number to refer to, i.e., there is no pagination.
Instead, refer to the paragraph number from which you are citing where you would usually insert a page number by
using “para.” instead of “p.”. Be sure to include the author’s/s’ name/s and year, too, if applicable.
Copyright ©1995-2011 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site
constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.
46
MLA Research Paper
This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/). When printing this page, you
must include the entire legal notice at bottom.
Contributors:Tony Russell, Allen Brizee, Elizabeth Angeli.
Summary:
MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the
liberal arts and humanities. This resource, updated to reflect the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
(7th ed.) and the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (3rd ed.), offers examples for the general
format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page.
MLA Formatting and Style Guide
Please use the example at the bottom of this page to cite the Purdue OWL in MLA.
General Format
MLA style specifies guidelines for formatting manuscripts and using the English language in writing. MLA style
also provides writers with a system for referencing their sources through parenthetical citation in their essays and
Works Cited pages.
Writers who properly use MLA also build their credibility by demonstrating accountability to their source material.
Most importantly, the use of MLA style can protect writers from accusations of plagiarism, which is the purposeful
or accidental uncredited use of source material by other writers.
If you are asked to use MLA format, be sure to consult the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7th
edition). Publishing scholars and graduate students should also consult the MLA Style Manual and Guide to
Scholarly Publishing (3rd edition). The MLA Handbook is available in most writing centers and reference libraries;
it is also widely available in bookstores, libraries, and at the MLA web site. See the Additional Resources section of
this handout for a list of helpful books and sites about using MLA style.
Paper Format
The preparation of papers and manuscripts in MLA style is covered in chapter four of the MLA Handbook, and
chapter four of the MLA Style Manual. Below are some basic guidelines for formatting a paper in MLA style.
General Guidelines
•
•
•
•
Type your paper on a computer and print it out on standard, white 8.5 x 11-inch paper.
Double-space the text of your paper, and use a legible font (e.g. Times New Roman).
Whatever font you choose, MLA recommends that the regular and italics type styles
contrast enough that they are recognizable one from another. The font size should be 12
pt.
Leave only one space after periods or other punctuation marks (unless otherwise
instructed by your instructor).
Set the margins of your document to 1 inch on all sides.
47
•
•
•
•
Indent the first line of paragraphs one half-inch from the left margin. MLA recommends
that you use the Tab key as opposed to pushing the Space Bar five times.
Create a header that numbers all pages consecutively in the upper right-hand corner, onehalf inch from the top and flush with the right margin. (Note: Your instructor may ask
that you omit the number on your first page. Always follow your instructor's guidelines.)
Use italics throughout your essay for the titles of longer works and, only when absolutely
necessary, providing emphasis.
If you have any endnotes, include them on a separate page before your Works Cited page.
Entitle the section Notes (centered, unformatted).
Formatting the First Page of Your Paper
•
•
•
•
•
•
Do not make a title page for your paper unless specifically requested.
In the upper left-hand corner of the first page, list your name, your instructor's name, the
course, and the date. Again, be sure to use double-spaced text.
Double space again and center the title. Do not underline, italicize, or place your title in
quotation marks; write the title in Title Case (standard capitalization), not in all capital
letters.
Use quotation marks and/or italics when referring to other works in your title, just as you
would in your text: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as Morality Play; Human Weariness
in "After Apple Picking"
Double space between the title and the first line of the text.
Create a header in the upper right-hand corner that includes your last name, followed by a
space with a page number; number all pages consecutively with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3,
4, etc.), one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin. (Note: Your instructor
or other readers may ask that you omit last name/page number header on your first page.
Always follow instructor guidelines.)
On the next page is a sample of the first page of a paper in MLA style:
48
Image Caption: The First Page of an MLA Paper
Section Headings
Writers sometimes use Section Headings to improve a document’s readability. These sections may include
individual chapters or other named parts of a book or essay.
Essays
MLA recommends that when you divide an essay into sections that you number those sections with an arabic
number and a period followed by a space and the section name.
1. Early Writings
2. The London Years
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3. Traveling the Continent
4. Final Years
Books
MLA does not have a prescribed system of headings for books (for more information on headings, please see page
146 in the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd edition). If you are only using one level of
headings, meaning that all of the sections are distinct and parallel and have no additional sections that fit within
them, MLA recommends that these sections resemble one another grammatically. For instance, if your headings are
typically short phrases, make all of the headings short phrases (and not, for example, full sentences). Otherwise, the
formatting is up to you. It should, however, be consistent throughout the document.
If you employ multiple levels of headings (some of your sections have sections within sections), you may want to
provide a key of your chosen level headings and their formatting to your instructor or editor.
Sample Section Headings
The following sample headings are meant to be used only as a reference. You may employ whatever system of
formatting that works best for you so long as it remains consistent throughout the document.
Numbered:
1. Soil Conservation
1.1 Erosion
1.2 Terracing
2. Water Conservation
3. Energy Conservation
Formatted, unnumbered:
Level 1 Heading: bold, flush left
Level 2 Heading: italics, flush left
Level 3 Heading: centered, bold
Level 4 Heading: centered, italics
Level 5 Heading: underlined, flush left
MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics
Guidelines for referring to the works of others in your text using MLA style are covered in chapter six of the MLA
Handbook and in chapter seven of the MLA Style Manual. Both books provide extensive examples, so it's a good
idea to consult them if you want to become even more familiar with MLA guidelines or if you have a particular
reference question.
Basic In-Text Citation Rules
In MLA style, referring to the works of others in your text is done by using what is known as parenthetical citation.
This method involves placing relevant source information in parentheses after a quote or a paraphrase.
General Guidelines
• The source information required in a parenthetical citation depends (1.) upon the source
•
medium (e.g. Print, Web, DVD) and (2.) upon the source’s entry on the Works Cited
(bibliography) page.
Any source information that you provide in-text must correspond to the source
information on the Works Cited page. More specifically, whatever signal word or phrase
you provide to your readers in the text, must be the first thing that appears on the lefthand margin of the corresponding entry in the Works Cited List.
In-Text Citations: Author-Page Style
MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the page
number(s) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear in the text, and a complete reference should
appear on your Works Cited page. The author's name may appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses
following the quotation or paraphrase, but the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, not in the
text of your sentence. For example:
Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful
feelings" (263).
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Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings"
(Wordsworth 263).
Wordsworth extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (263).
Both citations in the examples above, (263) and (Wordsworth 263), tell readers that the information in the sentence
can be located on page 263 of a work by an author named Wordsworth. If readers want more information about this
source, they can turn to the Works Cited page, where, under the name of Wordsworth, they would find the following
information:
Wordsworth, William. Lyrical Ballads. London: Oxford U.P., 1967. Print.
In-text Citations for Print Sources with Known Author
For Print sources like books, magazines, scholarly journal articles, and newspapers, provide a signal word or phrase
(usually the author’s last name) and a page number. If you provide the signal word/phrase in the sentence, you do
not need to include it in the parenthetical citation.
Human beings have been described by Kenneth Burke as "symbol-using animals" (3). Human
beings have been described as "symbol-using animals" (Burke 3).
These examples must correspond to an entry that begins with Burke, which will be the first thing that appears on the
left-hand margin of an entry in the Works Cited:
Burke, Kenneth. Language as Symbolic Action: Essays on Life, Literature, and Method. Berkeley: U of California P,
1966. Print.
In-text Citations for Print Sources with No Known Author
When a source has no known author, use a shortened title of the work instead of an author name. Place the title in
quotation marks if it's a short work (e.g. articles) or italicize it if it's a longer work (e.g. plays, books, television
shows, entire websites) and provide a page number.
We see so many global warming hotspots in North America likely because this region has “more
readily accessible climatic data and more comprehensive programs to monitor and study
environmental change . . . ” (“Impact of Global Warming” 6).
In this example, since the reader does not know the author of the article, an abbreviated title of the article appears in
the parenthetical citation which corresponds to the full name of the article which appears first at the left-hand margin
of its respective entry in the Works Cited. Thus, the writer includes the title in quotation marks as the signal phrase
in the parenthetical citation in order to lead the reader directly to the source on the Works Cited page. The Works
Cited entry appears as follows:
“The Impact of Global Warming in North America.” GLOBAL WARMING: Early Signs. 1999. Web. 23 Mar. 2009.
We'll learn how to make a Works Cited page in a bit, but right now it's important to know that parenthetical citations
and Works Cited pages allow readers to know which sources you consulted in writing your essay, so that they can
either verify your interpretation of the sources or use them in their own scholarly work.
Author-Page Citation for Classic and Literary Works with Multiple Editions
Page numbers are always required, but additional citation information can help literary scholars, who may have a
different edition of a classic work like Marx and Engels's The Communist Manifesto. In such cases, give the page
number of your edition (making sure the edition is listed in your Works Cited page, of course) followed by a
semicolon, and then the appropriate abbreviations for volume (vol.), book (bk.), part (pt.), chapter (ch.), section
(sec.), or paragraph (par.). For example:
Marx and Engels described human history as marked by class struggles (79; ch. 1).
Citing Authors with Same Last Names
Sometimes more information is necessary to identify the source from which a quotation is taken. For instance, if two
or more authors have the same last name, provide both authors' first initials (or even the authors' full name if
different authors share initials) in your citation. For example:
Although some medical ethicists claim that cloning will lead to designer children (R. Miller 12),
others note that the advantages for medical research outweigh this consideration (A. Miller 46).
Citing a Work by Multiple Authors
For a source with three or fewer authors, list the authors' last names in the text or in the parenthetical citation:
Smith, Yang, and Moore argue that tougher gun control is not needed in the United States (76).
The authors state "Tighter gun control in the United States erodes Second Amendment rights"
(Smith, Yang, and Moore 76).
51
For a source with more than three authors, use the work's bibliographic information as a guide for your citation.
Provide the first author's last name followed by et al. or list all the last names.
Jones et al. counter Smith, Yang, and Moore's argument by noting that the current spike in gun
violence in America compels law makers to adjust gun laws (4).
Or
Legal experts counter Smith, Yang, and Moore's argument by noting that the current spike in gun
violence in America compels law makers to adjust gun laws (Jones et al. 4).
Or
Jones, Driscoll, Ackerson, and Bell counter Smith, Yang, and Moore's argument by noting that
the current spike in gun violence in America compels law makers to adjust gun laws (4).
Citing Multiple Works by the Same Author
If you cite more than one work by a particular author, include a shortened title for the particular work from which
you are quoting to distinguish it from the others.
Lightenor has argued that computers are not useful tools for small children ("Too Soon" 38),
though he has acknowledged elsewhere that early exposure to computer games does lead to
better small motor skill development in a child's second and third year ("Hand-Eye
Development" 17).
Additionally, if the author's name is not mentioned in the sentence, you would format your citation with the author's
name followed by a comma, followed by a shortened title of the work, followed, when appropriate, by page
numbers:
Visual studies, because it is such a new discipline, may be "too easy" (Elkins, "Visual Studies"
63).
Citing Multivolume Works
If you cite from different volumes of a multivolume work, always include the volume number followed by a colon.
Put a space after the colon, then provide the page number(s). (If you only cite from one volume, provide only the
page number in parentheses.)
. . . as Quintilian wrote in Institutio Oratoria (1: 14-17).
Citing the Bible
In your first parenthetical citation, you want to make clear which Bible you're using (and underline or italicize the
title), as each version varies in its translation, followed by book (do not italicize or underline), chapter and verse. For
example:
Ezekiel saw "what seemed to be four living creatures," each with faces of a man, a lion, an ox,
and an eagle (New Jerusalem Bible, Ezek. 1.5-10).
If future references employ the same edition of the Bible you’re using, list only the book, chapter, and verse in the
parenthetical citation.
Citing Indirect Sources
Sometimes you may have to use an indirect source. An indirect source is a source cited in another source. For such
indirect quotations, use "qtd. in" to indicate the source you actually consulted. For example:
Ravitch argues that high schools are pressured to act as "social service centers, and they don't do
that well" (qtd. in Weisman 259).
Note that, in most cases, a responsible researcher will attempt to find the original source, rather than citing an
indirect source.
Citing Non-Print or Sources from the Internet
With more and more scholarly work being posted on the Internet, you may have to cite research you have completed
in virtual environments. While many sources on the Internet should not be used for scholarly work (reference the
OWL's Evaluating Sources of Information resource), some Web sources are perfectly acceptable for research. When
creating in-text citations for electronic, film, or Internet sources, remember that your citation must reference the
source in your Works Cited.
Sometimes writers are confused with how to craft parenthetical citations for electronic sources because of the
absence of page numbers, but often, these sorts of entries do not require any sort of parenthetical citation at all. For
electronic and Internet sources, follow the following guidelines:
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•
•
•
Include in the text the first item that appears in the Work Cited entry that corresponds to
the citation (e.g. author name, article name, website name, film name).
You do not need to give paragraph numbers or page numbers based on your Web
browser’s print preview function.
Unless you must list the website name in the signal phrase in order to get the reader to the
appropriate entry, do not include URLs in-text. Only provide partial URLs such as when
the name of the site includes, for example, a domain name, like CNN.com or Forbes.com
as opposed to writing out http://www.cnn.com or http://www.forbes.com.
Miscellaneous Non-Print Sources
Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo stars Herzog's long-time film partner, Klaus Kinski. During the
shooting of Fitzcarraldo, Herzog and Kinski were often at odds, but their explosive relationship
fostered a memorable and influential film.
During the presentation, Jane Yates stated that invention and pre-writing are areas of rhetoric
that need more attention.
In the two examples above “Herzog” from the first entry and “Yates” from the second lead the reader to the first
item each citation’s respective entry on the Works Cited page:
Herzog, Werner, dir. Fitzcarraldo. Perf. Klaus Kinski. Filmverlag der Autoren, 1982. Film.
Yates, Jane. "Invention in Rhetoric and Composition." Gaps Addressed: Future Work in Rhetoric and Composition,
CCCC, Palmer House Hilton, 2002. Print.
Electronic Sources
One online film critic stated that Fitzcarraldo is "...a beautiful and terrifying critique of
obsession and colonialism" (Garcia, “Herzog: a Life”).
The Purdue OWL is accessed by millions of users every year. Its “MLA Formatting and Style
Guide” is one of the most popular resources (Stolley et al.).
In the first example, the writer has chosen not to include the author name in-text; however, two entries from the
same author appear in the Works Cited. Thus, the writer includes both the author’s last name and the article title in
the parenthetical citation in order to lead the reader to the appropriate entry on the Works Cited page (see below). In
the second example, “Stolley et al.” in the parenthetical citation gives the reader an author name followed by the
abbreviation “et al.,” meaning, “and others,” for the article “MLA Formatting and Style Guide.” Both corresponding
Works Cited entries are as follows:
Garcia, Elizabeth. "Herzog: a Life." Online Film Critics Corner. The Film School of New Hampshire, 2 May 2002.
Web. 8 Jan. 2009.
Stolley, Karl. "MLA Formatting and Style Guide." The OWL at Purdue. 10 May 2006. Purdue University Writing
Lab. 12 May 2006 .
Multiple Citations
To cite multiple sources in the same parenthetical reference, separate the citations by a semi-colon:
. . . as has been discussed elsewhere (Burke 3; Dewey 21).
When a Citation Is Not Needed
Common sense and ethics should determine your need for documenting sources. You do not need to give sources for
familiar proverbs, well-known quotations or common knowledge. Remember, this is a rhetorical choice, based on
audience. If you're writing for an expert audience of a scholarly journal, for example, they'll have different
expectations of what constitutes common knowledge.
MLA Formatting Quotations
When you directly quote the works of others in your paper, you will format quotations differently depending on their
length. Below are some basic guidelines for incorporating quotations into your paper. Please note that all pages in
MLA should be double-spaced.
Short Quotations
To indicate short quotations (fewer than four typed lines of prose or three lines of verse) in your text, enclose the
quotation within double quotation marks. Provide the author and specific page citation (in the case of verse, provide
line numbers) in the text, and include a complete reference on the Works Cited page. Punctuation marks such as
periods, commas, and semicolons should appear after the parenthetical citation. Question marks and exclamation
53
points should appear within the quotation marks if they are a part of the quoted passage but after the parenthetical
citation if they are a part of your text. For example:
According to some, dreams express "profound aspects of personality" (Foulkes 184), though
others disagree.
According to Foulkes's study, dreams may express "profound aspects of personality" (184).
Is it possible that dreams may express "profound aspects of personality" (Foulkes 184)?
Mark breaks in short quotations of verse with a slash, /, at the end of each line of verse: (a space should precede and
follow the slash)
Cullen concludes, "Of all the things that happened there / That's all I remember" (11-12).
Long Quotations
For quotations that extend to more than four lines of verse or prose: place quotations in a free-standing block of text
and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, with the entire quote indented one inch from the left
margin; maintain double-spacing. Only indent the first line of the quotation by a half inch if you are citing multiple
paragraphs. Your parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark. When quoting verse,
maintain original line breaks. (You should maintain double-spacing throughout your essay.) For example:
Nelly Dean treats Heathcliff poorly and dehumanizes him throughout her narration:
They entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even in their room, and I had no more sense,
so, I put it on the landing of the stairs, hoping it would be gone on the morrow. By chance, or
else attracted by hearing his voice, it crept to Mr. Earnshaw's door, and there he found it on
quitting his chamber. Inquiries were made as to how it got there; I was obliged to confess, and in
recompense for my cowardice and inhumanity was sent out of the house. (Bronte 78)
When citing long sections of poetry, keep formatting as close to the original as possible:
In his poem "My Papa's Waltz," Theodore Roethke explores his childhood with his father:
The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy.
We Romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf;
My mother's countenance
Could not unfrown itself. (quoted in Shrodes, Finestone, Shugrue 202)
Adding or Omitting Words In Quotations
If you add a word or words in a quotation, you should put brackets around the words to indicate that they are not
part of the original text.
Jan Harold Brunvand, in an essay on urban legends, states: "some individuals [who retell urban
legends] make a point of learning every rumor or tale" (78).
If you omit a word or words from a quotation, you should indicate the deleted word or words by using ellipsis
marks, which are three periods ( . . . ) preceded and followed by a space. For example:
In an essay on urban legends, Jan Harold Brunvand notes that "some individuals make a point of
learning every recent rumor or tale . . . and in a short time a lively exchange of details occurs"
(78).
Please note that brackets are not needed around ellipses unless adding brackets would clarify your use of ellipses.
When omitting words from poetry quotations, use a standard three-period ellipses; however, when omitting one or
more full lines of poetry, space several periods to about the length of a complete line in the poem:
These beauteous forms, Through a long absence, have not been to me As is a landscape to a
blind man's eye:
....................
Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart; And passing even into my purer mind, With tranquil
restoration. . . (22-24, 28-30)
54
MLA Works Cited Page: Basic Format
According to MLA style, you must have a Works Cited page at the end of your research paper. All entries in the
Works Cited page must correspond to the works cited in your main text.
Basic Rules
•
•
•
•
•
Begin your Works Cited page on a separate page at the end of your research paper. It
should have the same one-inch margins and last name, page number header as the rest of
your paper.
Label the page Works Cited (do not italicize the words Works Cited or put them in
quotation marks) and center the words Works Cited at the top of the page.
Double space all citations, but do not skip spaces between entries.
Indent the second and subsequent lines of citations five spaces so that you create a
hanging indent.
List page numbers of sources efficiently, when needed. If you refer to a journal article
that appeared on pages 225 through 250, list the page numbers on your Works Cited page
as 225-50.
Additional Basic Rules New to MLA 2009
•
•
•
For every entry, you must determine the Medium of Publication. Most entries will likely
be listed as Print or Web sources, but other possibilities may include Film, CD-ROM, or
DVD.
Writers are no longer required to provide URLs for Web entries. However, if your
instructor or publisher insists on them, include them in angle brackets after the entry and
end with a period. For long URLs, break lines only at slashes.
If you're citing an article or a publication that was originally issued in print form but that
you retrieved from an online database, you should type the online database name in
italics. You do not need to provide subscription information in addition to the database
name.
Capitalization and Punctuation
•
•
Capitalize each word in the titles of articles, books, etc, but do not capitalize articles (the,
an), prepositions, or conjunctions unless one is the first word of the title or subtitle: Gone
with the Wind, The Art of War, There Is Nothing Left to Lose.
New to MLA 2009: Use italics (instead of underlining) for titles of larger works (books,
magazines) and quotation marks for titles of shorter works (poems, articles)
Listing Author Names
Entries are listed alphabetically by the author's last name (or, for entire edited collections, editor names). Author
names are written last name first; middle names or middle initials follow the first name:
Burke, Kenneth
Levy, David M.
Wallace, David Foster
Do not list titles (Dr., Sir, Saint, etc.) or degrees (PhD, MA, DDS, etc.) with names. A book listing an author named
"John Bigbrain, PhD" appears simply as "Bigbrain, John"; do, however, include suffixes like "Jr." or "II." Putting it
all together, a work by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would be cited as "King, Martin Luther, Jr.," with the suffix
following the first or middle name and a comma.
More than One Work by an Author
If you have cited more than one work by a particular author, order the entries alphabetically by title, and use three
hyphens in place of the author's name for every entry after the first:
Burke, Kenneth. A Grammar of Motives. [...]
---. A Rhetoric of Motives. [...]
55
When an author or collection editor appears both as the sole author of a text and as the first author of a group, list
solo-author entries first:
Heller, Steven, ed. The Education of an E-Designer. Heller, Steven and Karen Pomeroy. Design Literacy:
Understanding Graphic Design.
Work with No Known Author
Alphabetize works with no known author by their title; use a shortened version of the title in the parenthetical
citations in your paper. In this case, Boring Postcards USA has no known author:
Baudrillard, Jean. Simulacra and Simulations. [...]
Boring Postcards USA. [...]
Burke, Kenneth. A Rhetoric of Motives. [...]
MLA Works Cited Page: Books
When you are gathering book sources, be sure to make note of the following bibliographic items: author name(s),
book title, publication date, publisher, place of publication. The medium of publication for all “hard copy” books is
Print.
For more information, consult “Citing Nonperiodical Print Publications” in the MLA Handbook for Writers of
Research Papers, 7th edition (sec. 5.5, 148-81), or the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd
edition (sec. 6.6, 185-211).
Basic Format
The first-give author’s name or a book with a single author's name appears in last name, first name format. The basic
form for a book citation is:
Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication.
Book with One Author
Gleick, James. Chaos: Making a New Science. New York: Penguin, 1987. Print.
Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House. Denver: MacMurray, 1999. Print.
Book with More Than One Author
The first given name appears in last name, first name format; subsequent author names appear in first name last
name format.
Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring. Boston: Allyn, 2000. Print.
If there are more than three authors, you may choose to list only the first author followed by the phrase et al. (Latin
for "and others") in place of the subsequent authors' names, or you may list all the authors in the order in which their
names appear on the title page. (Note that there is a period after “al” in “et al.” Also note that there is never a period
after the “et” in “et al.”).
Wysocki, Anne Frances, et al. Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of
Composition. Logan, UT: Utah State UP, 2004. Print.
or
Wysocki, Anne Frances, Johndan Johnson-Eilola, Cynthia L. Selfe, and Geoffrey Sirc. Writing New Media: Theory
and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of Composition. Logan, UT: Utah State UP, 2004. Print.
Two or More Books by the Same Author
List works alphabetically by title. (Remember to ignore articles like A, An, and The.) Provide the author’s name in
last name, first name format for the first entry only. For each subsequent entry by the same author, use three hyphens
and a period.
Palmer, William J. Dickens and New Historicism. New York: St. Martin's, 1997. Print.
---. The Films of the Eighties: A Social History. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1993. Print.
Book by a Corporate Author or Organization
A corporate author may include a commission, a committee, or a group that does not identify individual members on
the title page. List the names of corporate authors in the place where an author’s name typically appears at the
beginning of the entry.
American Allergy Association. Allergies in Children. New York: Random, 1998. Print.
Book with No Author
List by title of the book. Incorporate these entries alphabetically just as you would with works that include an author
name. For example, the following entry might appear between entries of works written by Dean, Shaun and
Forsythe, Jonathan.
Encyclopedia of Indiana. New York: Somerset, 1993. Print.
56
Remember that for an in-text (parenthetical) citation of a book with no author, provide the name of the work in the
signal phrase and the page number in parentheses. You may also use a shortened version of the title of the book
accompanied by the page number. For more information see In-text Citations for Print Sources with No Known
Author section of In-text Citations: The Basics, which you can link to at the bottom of this page.
A Translated Book
Cite as you would any other book. Add "Trans."—the abbreviation for translated by—and follow with the name(s)
of the translator(s).
Foucault, Michel. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason. Trans. Richard Howard.
New York: Vintage-Random House, 1988. Print.
Republished Book
Books may be republished due to popularity without becoming a new edition. New editions are typically revisions
of the original work. For books that originally appeared at an earlier date and that have been republished at a later
one, insert the original publication date before the publication information. For books that are new editions (i.e.
different from the first or other editions of the book), see An Edition of a Book below.
Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble. 1990. New York: Routledge, 1999. Print.
Erdrich, Louise. Love Medicine. 1984. New York: Perennial-Harper, 1993. Print.
An Edition of a Book
There are two types of editions in book publishing: a book that has been published more than once in different
editions and a book that is prepared by someone other than the author (typically an editor).
A Subsequent Edition
Cite the book as you normally would, but add the number of the edition after the title.
Crowley, Sharon, and Debra Hawhee. Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. 3rd ed. New York:
Pearson/Longman, 2004. Print.
A Work Prepared by an Editor
Cite the book as you normally would, but add the editor after the title.
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Margaret Smith. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1998. Print.
Anthology or Collection (e.g. Collection of Essays)
To cite the entire anthology or collection, list by editor(s) followed by a comma and "ed." or, for multiple editors,
"eds" (for edited by). This sort of entry is somewhat rare. If you are citing a particular piece within an anthology or
collection (more common), see A Work in an Anthology, Reference, or Collection below.
Hill, Charles A., and Marguerite Helmers, eds. Defining Visual Rhetorics. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates, 2004. Print.
Peterson, Nancy J., ed. Toni Morrison: Critical and Theoretical Approaches. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1997.
Print.
A Work in an Anthology, Reference, or Collection
Works may include an essay in an edited collection or anthology, or a chapter of a book. The basic form is for this
sort of citation is as follows:
Lastname, First name. "Title of Essay." Title of Collection. Ed. Editor's Name(s). Place of Publication: Publisher,
Year. Page range of entry. Medium of Publication.
Some examples:
Harris, Muriel. "Talk to Me: Engaging Reluctant Writers." A Tutor's Guide: Helping Writers One to One. Ed. Ben
Rafoth. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2000. 24-34. Print.
Swanson, Gunnar. "Graphic Design Education as a Liberal Art: Design and Knowledge in the University and The
'Real World.'" The Education of a Graphic Designer. Ed. Steven Heller. New York: Allworth Press, 1998. 13-24.
Print.
Note on Cross-referencing Several Items from One Anthology: If you cite more than one essay from the same edited
collection, MLA indicates you may cross-reference within your works cited list in order to avoid writing out the
publishing information for each separate essay. You should consider this option if you have several references from
a single text. To do so, include a separate entry for the entire collection listed by the editor's name as below:
Rose, Shirley K., and Irwin Weiser, eds. The Writing Program Administrator as Researcher. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann, 1999. Print.
Then, for each individual essay from the collection, list the author's name in last name, first name format, the title of
the essay, the editor's last name, and the page range:
L'Eplattenier, Barbara. "Finding Ourselves in the Past: An Argument for Historical Work on WPAs." Rose and
Weiser 131-40. Print.
Peeples, Tim. "'Seeing' the WPA With/Through Postmodern Mapping." Rose and Weiser 153-67. Print.
57
Poem or Short Story Examples:
Burns, Robert. "Red, Red Rose." 100 Best-Loved Poems. Ed. Philip Smith. New York: Dover, 1995. 26. Print.
Kincaid, Jamaica. "Girl." The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories. Ed. Tobias Wolff. New York:
Vintage, 1994. 306-07. Print.
If the specific literary work is part of the an author's own collection (all of the works have the same author), then
there will be no editor to reference:
Whitman, Walt. "I Sing the Body Electric." Selected Poems. New York: Dover, 1991. 12-19. Print.
Carter, Angela. "The Tiger's Bride." Burning Your Boats: The Collected Stories. New York: Penguin, 1995. 154-69.
Print.
Article in a Reference Book (e.g. Encyclopedias, Dictionaries)
For entries in encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference works, cite the piece as you would any other work in a
collection but do not include the publisher information. Also, if the reference book is organized alphabetically, as
most are, do not list the volume or the page number of the article or item.
"Ideology." The American Heritage Dictionary. 3rd ed. 1997. Print.
A Multivolume Work
When citing only one volume of a multivolume work, include the volume number after the work's title, or after the
work's editor or translator.
Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria. Trans. H. E. Butler. Vol. 2. Cambridge: Loeb-Harvard UP, 1980. Print.
When citing more than one volume of a multivolume work, cite the total number of volumes in the work. Also, be
sure in your in-text citation to provide both the volume number and page number(s). (See Citing Multivolume
Works on the In-Text Citations – The Basics page, which you can access by following the appropriate link at the
bottom of this page.)
Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria. Trans. H. E. Butler. 4 vols. Cambridge: Loeb-Harvard UP, 1980. Print.
If the volume you are using has its own title, cite the book without referring to the other volumes as if it were an
independent publication.
Churchill, Winston S. The Age of Revolution. New York: Dodd, 1957. Print.
An Introduction, Preface, Foreword, or Afterword
When citing an introduction, a preface, a forward, or an afterword, write the name of the author(s) of the piece you
are citing. Then give the name of the part being cited, which should not be italicized or enclosed in quotation marks.
Farrell, Thomas B. Introduction. Norms of Rhetorical Culture. By Farrell. New Haven: Yale UP, 1993. 1-13. Print.
If the writer of the piece is different from the author of the complete work, then write the full name of the principal
work's author after the word "By." For example, if you were to cite Hugh Dalziel Duncan’s introduction of Kenneth
Burke’s book Permanence and Change, you would write the entry as follows:
Duncan, Hugh Dalziel. Introduction. Permanence and Change: An Anatomy of Purpose. By Kenneth Burke. 1935.
3rd ed. Berkeley: U of California P, 1984. xiii-xliv. Print.
Other Print/Book Sources
Certain book sources are handled in a special way by MLA style.
The Bible
Give the name of the specific edition you are using, any editor(s) associated with it, followed by the publication
information. Remember that your in-text (parenthetical citation) should include the name of the specific edition of
the Bible, followed by an abbreviation of the book, the chapter and verse(s). (See Citing the Bible on the In-Text
Citations – The Basics page, which you can access by following the appropriate link at the bottom of this page.)
The New Jerusalem Bible. Ed. Susan Jones. New York: Doubleday, 1985. Print.
A Government Publication
Cite the author of the publication if the author is identified. Otherwise, start with the name of the national
government, followed by the agency (including any subdivisions or agencies) that serves as the organizational
author. For congressional documents, be sure to include the number of the Congress and the session when the
hearing was held or resolution passed. US government documents are typically published by the Government
Printing Office, which MLA abbreviates as GPO.
United States. Cong. Senate. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Hearing on the Geopolitics of Oil. 110th
Cong., 1st sess. Washington: GPO, 2007. Print.
United States. Government Accountability Office. Climate Change: EPA and DOE Should Do More to Encourage
Progress Under Two Voluntary Programs. Washington: GPO, 2006. Print.
A Pamphlet
Cite the title and publication information for the pamphlet just as you would a book without an author. Pamphlets
and promotional materials commonly feature corporate authors (commissions, committees, or other groups that does
58
not provide individual group member names). If the pamphlet you are citing has no author, cite as directed below. If
your pamphlet has an author or a corporate author, put the name of the author (last name, first name format) or
corporate author in the place where the author name typically appears at the beginning of the entry. (See also Books
by a Corporate Author or Organization above.)
Women's Health: Problems of the Digestive System. Washington: American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists, 2006. Print.
Your Rights Under California Welfare Programs. Sacramento, CA: California Dept. of Social Services, 2007. Print.
Dissertations and Master's Theses
Dissertations and master's theses may be used as sources whether published or not. Cite the work as you would a
book, but include the designation Diss. (or MA/MS thesis) followed by the degree-granting school and the year the
degree was awarded.
If the dissertation is published, italicize the title and include the publication date. You may also include the
University Microfilms International (UMI) order number if you choose:
Bishop, Karen Lynn. Documenting Institutional Identity: Strategic Writing in the IUPUI Comprehensive Campaign.
Diss. Purdue University, 2002. Ann Arbor: UMI, 2004. Print.
Bile, Jeffrey. Ecology, Feminism, and a Revised Critical Rhetoric: Toward a Dialectical Partnership. Diss. Ohio
University, 2005. Ann Arbor: UMI, 2006. AAT 3191701. Print.
If the work is not published, put the title in quotation marks and end with the date the degree was awarded:
Graban, Tarez Samra. "Towards a Feminine Ironic: Understanding Irony in the Oppositional Discourse of Women
from the Early Modern and Modern Periods." Diss. Purdue University, 2006. Print.
Stolley, Karl. "Toward a Conception of Religion as a Discursive Formation: Implications for Postmodern
Composition Theory." MA thesis. Purdue University, 2002. Print.
format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page.
MLA Works Cited: Periodicals
Periodicals (e.g. magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals) that appear in print require the same medium of
publication designator—Print—as books, but the MLA Style method for citing these materials and the items
required for these entries are quite different from MLA book citations.
For more information on citing periodicals, consult “Citing Periodical Print Publications” in the MLA Handbook for
Writers of Research Papers, 7th edition (sec. 5.4, 136-48), or the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly
Publishing, 3rd edition (sec. 6.5, 174-85).
Article in a Magazine
Cite by listing the article's author, putting the title of the article in quotations marks, and italicizing the periodical
title. Follow with the date of publication. Remember to abbreviate the month. The basic format is as follows:
Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Periodical Day Month Year: pages. Medium of publication.
Poniewozik, James. "TV Makes a Too-Close Call." Time 20 Nov. 2000: 70-71. Print.
Buchman, Dana. "A Special Education." Good Housekeeping Mar. 2006: 143-48. Print.
Article in a Newspaper
Cite a newspaper article as you would a magazine article, but note the different pagination in a newspaper. If there is
more than one edition available for that date (as in an early and late edition of a newspaper), identify the edition
following the date (e.g., 17 May 1987, late ed.).
Brubaker, Bill. "New Health Center Targets County's Uninsured Patients." Washington Post 24 May 2007: LZ01.
Print.
Krugman, Andrew. "Fear of Eating." New York Times 21 May 2007 late ed.: A1. Print.
If the newspaper is a less well-known or local publication, include the city name and state in brackets after the title
of the newspaper.
Behre, Robert. "Presidential Hopefuls Get Final Crack at Core of S.C. Democrats." Post and Courier [Charleston,
SC] 29 Apr. 2007: A11. Print.
Trembacki, Paul. "Brees Hopes to Win Heisman for Team." Purdue Exponent [West Lafayette, IN] 5 Dec. 2000: 20.
Print.
A Review
To cite a review, include the title of the review (if available), then the abbreviation "Rev. of" for Review of and
provide the title of the work (in italics for books, plays, and films; in quotation marks for articles, poems, and short
stories). Finally, provide performance and/or publication information.
Review Author. "Title of Review (if there is one)." Rev. of Performance Title, by Author/Director/Artist. Title of
Periodical day month year: page. Medium of publication.
59
Seitz, Matt Zoller. "Life in the Sprawling Suburbs, If You Can Really Call It Living." Rev. of Radiant City, dir.
Gary Burns and Jim Brown. New York Times 30 May 2007 late ed.: E1. Print.
Weiller, K. H. Rev. of Sport, Rhetoric, and Gender: Historical Perspectives and Media Representations, ed. Linda
K. Fuller. Choice Apr. 2007: 1377. Print.
An Editorial & Letter to the Editor
Cite as you would any article in a periodical, but include the designators "Editorial" or "Letter" to identify the type
of work it is.
"Of Mines and Men." Editorial. Wall Street Journal east. ed. 24 Oct. 2003: A14. Print.
Hamer, John. Letter. American Journalism Review Dec. 2006/Jan. 2007: 7. Print.
Anonymous Articles
Cite the article title first, and finish the citation as you would any other for that kind of periodical.
"Business: Global Warming's Boom Town; Tourism in Greenland." The Economist 26 May 2007: 82. Print.
"Aging; Women Expect to Care for Aging Parents but Seldom Prepare." Women's Health Weekly 10 May 2007: 18.
Print.
An Article in a Scholarly Journal
In previous years, MLA required that researchers determine whether or not a scholarly journal employed continuous
pagination (page numbers began at page one in the first issue of the years and page numbers took up where they left
off in subsequent ones) or non-continuous pagination (page numbers begin at page one in every subsequent issue) in
order to determine whether or not to include issue numbers in bibliographic entries. The MLA Handbook for Writers
of Research Papers 7th edition (2009) eliminates this step. Always provide issue numbers, when available.
Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal Volume.Issue (Year): pages. Medium of publication.
Bagchi, Alaknanda. "Conflicting Nationalisms: The Voice of the Subaltern in Mahasweta Devi's Bashai Tudu."
Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature 15.1 (1996): 41-50. Print.
Duvall, John N. "The (Super)Marketplace of Images: Television as Unmediated Mediation in DeLillo's White
Noise." Arizona Quarterly 50.3 (1994): 127-53. Print.
An Article in a Special Issue of a Scholarly Journal
When an article appears in a special issue of a journal, cite the name of the special issue in the entry’s title space, in
italics, and end with a period. Add the descriptor “Spec. issue of” and include the name of the journal, also in italics,
followed by the rest of the information required for a standard scholarly journal citation.
Web entries should follow a similar format.
Burgess, Anthony. “Politics in the Novels of Graham Greene.” Literature and Society. Spec. issue of Journal of
Contemporary History 2.2 (1967): 93-99. Print.
Case, Sue-Ellen. “Eve's Apple, or Women's Narrative Bytes.” Technocriticism and Hypernarrative. Spec. issue of
Modern Fiction Studies 43.3 (1997): 631-650. Web. 10 Feb. 2010.
MLA Works Cited: Electronic Sources (Web Publications)
MLA lists electronic sources as Web Publications. Thus, when including the medium of publication for electronic
sources, list the medium as Web.
It is always a good idea to maintain personal copies of electronic information, when possible. It is good practice to
print or save Web pages or, better, using a program like Adobe Acrobat, to keep your own copies for future
reference. Most Web browsers will include URL/electronic address information when you print, which makes later
reference easy. Also, you might use the Bookmark function in your Web browser in order to return to documents
more easily.
Important Note on the Use of URLs in MLA
MLA no longer requires the use of URLs in MLA citations. Because Web addresses are not static (i.e. they change
often) and because documents sometimes appear in multiple places on the Web (e.g. on multiple databases), MLA
explains that most readers can find electronic sources via title or author searches in Internet Search Engines.
For instructors or editors that still wish to require the use of URLs, MLA suggests that the URL appear in angle
brackets after the date of access. Break URLs only after slashes.
Aristotle. Poetics. Trans. S. H. Butcher. The Internet Classics Archive. Web Atomic and Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, 13 Sept. 2007. Web. 4 Nov. 2008. ‹http://classics.mit.edu/›.
Abbreviations Commonly Used with Electronic Sources
If publishing information is unavailable for entries that require publication information such as publisher (or
sponsor) names and publishing dates, MLA requires the use of special abbreviations to indicate that this information
60
is not available. Use n.p. to indicate that neither a publisher nor a sponsor name has been provided. Use n.d. when
the Web page does not provide a publication date.
When an entry requires that you provide a page but no pages are provided in the source (as in the case of an onlineonly scholarly journal or a work that appears in an online-only anthology), use the abbreviation n. pag.
Basic Style for Citations of Electronic Sources (Including Online Databases)
Here are some common features you should try and find before citing electronic sources in MLA style. Not every
Web page will provide all of the following information. However, collect as much of the following information as
possible both for your citations and for your research notes:
• Author and/or editor names (if available)
• Article name in quotation marks (if applicable)
• Title of the Website, project, or book in italics. (Remember that some Print publications
•
•
•
•
•
have Web publications with slightly different names. They may, for example, include the
additional information or otherwise modified information, like domain names [e.g. .com
or .net].)
Any version numbers available, including revisions, posting dates, volumes, or issue
numbers.
Publisher information, including the publisher name and publishing date.
Take note of any page numbers (if available).
Date you accessed the material.
URL (if required, or for your own personal reference).
Citing an Entire Web Site
It is necessary to list your date of access because web postings are often updated, and information available on one
date may no longer be available later. Be sure to include the complete address for the site.
Remember to use n.p. if no publisher name is available and n.d. if no publishing date is given.
Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site. Version number. Name of institution/organization
affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available). Medium of publication. Date of
access.
The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U, 2008. Web. 23 Apr. 2008.
Felluga, Dino. Guide to Literary and Critical Theory. Purdue U, 28 Nov. 2003. Web. 10 May 2006.
Course or Department Websites
Give the instructor name. Then list the title of the course (or the school catalog designation for the course) in italics.
Give appropriate department and school names as well, following the course title. Remember to use n.d. if no
publishing date is given.
Felluga, Dino. Survey of the Literature of England. Purdue U, Aug. 2006. Web. 31 May 2007.
English Department. Purdue U, 14 May 2009. Web. 20 Apr. 2009.
A Page on a Web Site
For an individual page on a Web site, list the author or alias if known, followed by the information covered above
for entire Web sites. Remember to use n.p. if no publisher name is available and n.d. if no publishing date is given.
"How to Make Vegetarian Chili." eHow.com. eHow, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2009.
An Image (Including a Painting, Sculpture, or Photograph)
Provide the artist's name, the work of art italicized, the date of creation, the institution and city where the work is
housed. Follow this initial entry with the name of the Website in italics, the medium of publication, and the date of
access.
Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. Museo National del Prado.
Web. 22 May 2006.
Klee, Paul. Twittering Machine. 1922. Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Artchive. Web. 22 May 2006.
If the work is cited on the web only, then provide the name of the artist, the title of the work, the medium of the
work, and then follow the citation format for a website. If the work is posted via a username, use that username for
the author.
brandychloe. "Great Horned Owl Family." Photograph. Webshots. American Greetings, 22 May 2006. Web. 5 Nov.
2009.
61
An Article in a Web Magazine
Provide the author name, article name in quotation marks, title of the Web magazine in italics, publisher name,
publication date, medium of publication, and the date of access. Remember to use n.p. if no publisher name is
available and n.d. if not publishing date is given.
Bernstein, Mark. "10 Tips on Writing the Living Web." A List Apart: For People Who Make Websites. A List Apart
Mag., 16 Aug. 2002. Web. 4 May 2009.
An Article in an Online Scholarly Journal
For all online scholarly journals, provide the author(s) name(s), the name of the article in quotation marks, the title
of the publication in italics, all volume and issue numbers, and the year of publication.
Article in an Online-only Scholarly Journal
MLA requires a page range for articles that appear in Scholarly Journals. If the journal you are citing appears
exclusively in an online format (i.e. there is no corresponding print publication) that does not make use of page
numbers, use the abbreviation n. pag. to denote that there is no pagination for the publication.
Dolby, Nadine. “Research in Youth Culture and Policy: Current Conditions and Future Directions.” Social Work
and Society: The International Online-Only Journal 6.2 (2008): n. pag. Web. 20 May 2009.
Article in an Online Scholarly Journal That Also Appears in Print
Cite articles in online scholarly journals that also appear in print as you would a scholarly journal in print, including
the page range of the article. Provide the medium of publication that you used (in this case, Web) and the date of
access.
Wheelis, Mark. "Investigating Disease Outbreaks Under a Protocol to the Biological and Toxin Weapons
Convention." Emerging Infectious Diseases 6.6 (2000): 595-600. Web. 8 Feb. 2009.
An Article from an Online Database (or Other Electronic Subscription
Service)
Cite articles from online databases (e.g. LexisNexis, ProQuest, JSTOR, ScienceDirect) and other subscription
services just as you would print sources. Since these articles usually come from periodicals, be sure to consult the
appropriate sections of the Works Cited: Periodicals page, which you can access via its link at the bottom of this
page. In addition to this information, provide the title of the database italicized, the medium of publication, and the
date of access.
Note: Previous editions of the MLA Style Manual required information about the subscribing institution (name and
location). This information is no longer required by MLA.
Junge, Wolfgang, and Nathan Nelson. “Nature's Rotary Electromotors.” Science 29 Apr. 2005: 642-44. Science
Online. Web. 5 Mar. 2009.
Langhamer, Claire. “Love and Courtship in Mid-Twentieth-Century England.” Historical Journal 50.1 (2007): 17396. ProQuest. Web. 27 May 2009.
E-mail (including E-mail Interviews)
Give the author of the message, followed by the subject line in quotation marks. State to whom to message was sent,
the date the message was sent, and the medium of publication.
Kunka, Andrew. "Re: Modernist Literature." Message to the author. 15 Nov. 2000. E-mail.
Neyhart, David. "Re: Online Tutoring." Message to Joe Barbato. 1 Dec. 2000. E-mail.
A Listserv, Discussion Group, or Blog Posting
Cite Web postings as you would a standard Web entry. Provide the author of the work, the title of the posting in
quotation marks, the Web site name in italics, the publisher, and the posting date. Follow with the medium of
publication and the date of access. Include screen names as author names when author name is not known. If both
names are known, place the author’s name in brackets. Remember if the publisher of the site is unknown, use the
abbreviation n.p.
Editor, screen name, author, or compiler name (if available). “Posting Title.” Name of Site. Version number (if
available). Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher). Medium of publication.
Date of access.
Salmar1515 [Sal Hernandez]. “Re: Best Strategy: Fenced Pastures vs. Max Number of Rooms?” BoardGameGeek.
BoardGameGeek, 29 Sept. 2008. Web. 5 Apr. 2009.
MLA Works Cited: Other Common Sources
Several sources have multiple means for citation, especially those that appear in varied formats: films, DVDs,
videocassettes; published and unpublished interviews, interviews over email; published and unpublished conference
62
proceedings. The following section groups these sorts of citations as well as others not covered in the print,
periodical, and electronic sources sections.
An Interview
Interviews typically fall into two categories: print or broadcast published and unpublished (personal) interviews,
although interviews may also appear in other, similar formats such as in email format or as a Web document.
Personal Interviews
Personal interviews refer to those interviews that you conduct yourself. List the interview by the name of the
interviewee. Include the descriptor Personal interview and the date of the interview.
Purdue, Pete. Personal interview. 1 Dec. 2000.
Published Interviews (Print or Broadcast)
List the interview by the name of the interviewee. If the name of the interview is part of a larger work like a book, a
television program, or a film series, place the title of the interview in quotation marks. Place the title of the larger
work in italics. If the interview appears as an independent title, italicize it. Determine the medium of publication
(e.g., print, Web, DVD) and fill in the rest of the entry with the information required by that medium. For books,
include the author or editor name after the book title.
Note: If the interview from which you quote does not feature a title, add the descriptor Interview (unformatted) after
the interviewee’s name. You may also use the descriptor Interview by to add the name of the interview to the entry if
it is relevant to your paper.
Gaitskill, Mary. Interview with Charles Bock. Mississippi Review 27.3 (1999): 129-50. Print.
Amis, Kingsley. “Mimic and Moralist.” Interviews with Britain’s Angry Young Men. By Dale Salwak. San
Bernardino, CA: Borgo, 1984. Print.
Online-only Published Interviews
List the interview by the name of the interviewee. If the interview has a title, place it in quotation marks. Cite the
remainder of the entry as you would other exclusive Web content. Place the name of the Website in italics, give the
publisher name (or sponsor), the publication date, the medium of publication (Web), and the date of access.
Remember that if no publisher name is give, insert the abbreviation n.p.
Note: If the interview from which you quote does not feature a title, add the descriptor Interview (unformatted) after
the interviewee’s name. You may also use the descriptor Interview by to add the name of the interview to the entry
if it is relevant to your paper.
Zinkievich, Craig. Interview by Gareth Von Kallenbach. Skewed & Reviewed. Skewed & Reviewed, 2009. Web. 15
Mar. 2009.
Speeches, Lectures, or Other Oral Presentations (including Conference
Presentations)
Provide the speaker’s name. Then, give the title of the speech (if any) in quotation marks. Follow with the name of
the meeting and organization, the location of the occasion, and the date. Use the descriptor that appropriately
expresses the type of presentation (e.g., Address, Lecture, Reading, Keynote Speech, Guest Lecture, Conference
Presentation). Remember to use the abbreviation n.p. if the publisher is not known; use n.d. if the date is not known.
Stein, Bob. Computers and Writing Conference. Purdue University. Union Club Hotel, West Lafayette, IN. 23 May
2003. Keynote Address.
Published Conference Proceedings
Cite published conference proceedings like a book. If the date and location of the conference are not part of the
published title, add this information after the published proceedings title. The medium of publication is Print.
Remember to use the abbreviation n.p. if the publisher is not known; use n.d. if the date is not known.
LastName, FirstName, ed. Conference Title that Includes Conference Date and Location. Place of publication:
Publisher, Date of Publication. Print.
LastName, FirstName, ed. Conference Title that Does Not Include Conference Date and Location. Conference Date,
Conference Location. Place of publication: Publisher, Date of Publication. Print.
To cite a presentation from a published conference proceedings, begin with the presenter’s name. Place the name of
the presentation in quotation marks. Follow with publication information for the conference proceedings.
LastName, FirstName. “Conference Paper Title.” Conference Title that Includes Conference Date and Location. Ed.
Conference Editor(s). Place of publication: Publisher, Date of Publication. Print.
A Painting, Sculpture, or Photograph
Include the artist's name. Give the title of the artwork in italics. Provide the date of composition. If the date of
composition is unknown, place the abbreviation n.d. in place of the date. Finally, provide the name of the institution
that houses the artwork followed by the location of the institution.
Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800. Museo del Prado, Madrid.
63
For photographic reproductions of artwork (e.g. images of artwork in a book), cite the bibliographic information as
above followed by the information for the source in which the photograph appears, including page or reference
numbers (plate, figure, etc.).
Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800. Museo del Prado, Madrid. Gardener's Art Through the Ages. 10th
ed. By Richard G. Tansey and Fred S. Kleiner. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace. 939. Print.
For artwork in an online format, consult “An Image (Including a Painting, Sculpture, or Photograph)” by following
the link Works Cited: Electronic Sources at the bottom of this page.
Films or Movies
List films (in theaters or not yet on DVD or video) by their title. Include the name of the director, the film studio or
distributor, and the release year. If relevant, list performer names after the director’s name. Use the abbreviation
perf. to head the list. List film as the medium of publication. To cite a DVD or other video recording, see “Recorded
Films and Movies” below.
The Usual Suspects. Dir. Bryan Singer. Perf. Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri, Stephen Baldwin, and
Benecio del Toro. Polygram, 1995. Film.
To emphasize specific performers (perf.) or directors (dir.), begin the citation with the name of the desired
performer or director, followed by the appropriate abbreviation.
Lucas, George, dir. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Twentieth Century Fox, 1977. Film.
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. Use the abbreviation perf. to head the list. End the entry with the
appropriate medium of publication (e.g. DVD, VHS, Laser disc).
Ed Wood. Dir. Tim Burton. Perf. Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette. Touchstone,
1994. DVD.
Broadcast Television or Radio Program
Begin with the title of the episode in quotation marks. Provide the name of the series or program in italics. Also
include the network name, call letters of the station followed by the city, and the date of broadcast. End with the
publication medium (e.g. Television, Radio). For television episodes on Videocassette or DVD refer to the
“Recorded Television Episodes” section below.
"The Blessing Way." The X-Files. Fox. WXIA, Atlanta. 19 Jul. 1998. Television.
Recorded Television Episodes (e.g. DVD, Videocassette)
Cite recorded television episodes like films (see above). Begin with the episode name in quotation marks. Follow
with the series name in italics. When the title of the collection of recordings is different than the original series (e.g.,
the show Friends is in DVD release under the title Friends: The Complete Sixth Season), list the title that would be
help researchers locate the recording. Give the distributor name followed by the date of distribution. End with the
medium of publication (e.g. DVD, Videocassette, Laser disc).
Note: The writer may choose to include information about directors, writers, performers, producers between the title
and the distributor name. Use appropriate abbreviations for these contributors (e.g. dir., writ., perf., prod.).
"The One Where Chandler Can't Cry." Friends: The Complete Sixth Season. Writ. Andrew Reich and Ted Cohen.
Dir. Kevin Bright. Warner Brothers, 2004. DVD.
Sound Recordings
List sound recordings in such a way that they can easily be found by readers. Generally, citations begin with the
artist name. They might also be listed by composers (comp.) or performers (perf.). Otherwise, list composer and
performer information after the album title.
Use the appropriate abbreviation after the person’s name and a comma, when needed. Put individual song titles in
quotation marks. Album names are italicized. Provide the name of the recording manufacturer followed by the
publication date (or n.d., if date is unknown). List the appropriate medium at the end of the entry (e.g. CD, LP,
Audiocassette). For MP3 recordings, see the “Digital Files” section below.
Note: If you know and desire to list the recording date, include this information before the manufacturer name. Use
the abbreviation for “recorded” (Rec.) and list the recording date (dd mm year format) before the manufacturer
name.
Foo Fighters. In Your Honor. RCA, 2005. CD.
Nirvana. "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Nevermind. Geffen, 1991. Audiocassette.
Beethoven, Ludwig van. The 9 Symphonies. Perf. NBC Symphony Orchestra. Cond. Arturo Toscanini. RCA, 2003.
CD.
Spoken-Word Albums
Treat spoken-word albums the same as musical albums.
64
Hedberg, Mitch. Strategic Grill Locations. Comedy Central, 2003. CD.
Digital Files (PDFs, MP3s, JPEGs)
Determine the type of work to cite (e.g. article, image, sound recording) and cite appropriately. End the entry with
the name of the digital format (e.g. PDF, JPEG file, Microsoft Word file, MP3). If the work does not follow
traditional parameters for citation, give the author’s name, the name of the work, the date of creation, and the
medium of publication. Use Digital file when the medium cannot be determined.
Beethoven, Ludwig van. Moonlight Sonata. Crownstar, 2006. MP3.
Smith, George. “Pax Americana: Strife in a Time of Peace.” 2005. Microsoft Word file.
Bentley, Phyllis. “Yorkshire and the Novelist.” The Kenyon Review 30.4 (1968): 509-22. JSTOR. PDF file.
MLA Additional Resources
It's always best to consult the current MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers for any MLA question. If you
are using MLA style for a class assignment, it's also a good idea to consult your professor, advisor, TA, or other
campus resources for help. They're the ones who can tell you how the style should apply in your particular case.
For extraordinary questions that aren't covered clearly in the style manual or haven't been answered by your teacher
or advisor, contact the Writing Lab for help at (765) 494-3723 or email us at this form.
Print Resources from the Modern Language Association
MLA Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd Edition (ISBN-13: 978-0-87352-297-7)
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th Edition (ISBN-13: 978-1-60329-024-1)
Contributors:Tony Russell, Allen Brizee, Elizabeth Angeli.
Summary:
MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the
liberal arts and humanities. This resource, updated to reflect the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
(7th ed.) and the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (3rd ed.), offers examples for the general
format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page.
MLA Abbreviations
There are a few common trends in abbreviating that you should follow when using MLA, though there are always
exceptions to these rules. For a complete list of common abbreviations used in academic writing, see Chapter 7 of
the MLA Handbooks for Writers of Research Papers, 7th edition, and Chapter 8 of the MLA Style Manual and Guide
to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd edition.
This guide provides only a very small portion of the abbreviations suggested by MLA. Each section cross-references
the appropriate sections and page numbers of the MLA Handbooks for Writers of Research Papers and the MLA
Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing.
Uppercase Letter Abbreviations
Do not use periods or spaces in abbreviations composed solely of capital letters, except in the case of proper names:
US, MA, CD, HTML
P. D. James, J. R. R. Tolkien, E. B. White
Lowercase Letter Abbreviations
Use a period if the abbreviation ends in a lower case letter, unless referring to an internet suffix, where the period
should come before the abbreviation:
assn., conf., Eng., esp.
.com, .edu, .gov (URL suffixes)
Note: Degree names are a notable exception to the lowercase abbreviation rule.
PhD, EdD, PsyD
Use periods between letters without spacing if each letter represents a word in common lower case abbreviations:
a.m., e.g., i.e.
Other notable exceptions:
mph, os, rpm, ns
For more on upper- and lowercase letter abbreviation designations, see Section 7.1. Introduction (234) of the MLA
Handbooks for Writers of Research Papers, 7th edition, or Section 8.1. Introduction (261-62) of the MLA Style
Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd edition.
65
Abbreviations in Citations
Condense citations as much as possible using abbreviations.
Time Designations
Remember to follow common trends in abbreviating time and location within citations. Month names longer than
four letters used in journal and magazine citations:
Jan., Sept., Nov.
For more information on time designations, see Section 7.2. Time Designations (235) of the MLA Handbooks for
Writers of Research Papers, 7th edition, or Section 8.2. Time Designations (262-63) of the MLA Style Manual and
Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd edition.
Geographic Names
Geographic names of states and countries in book citations when the publisher's city is not well known or could be
confused with another city. Abbreviate country, province, and state names.
Logan, UT; Manchester, Eng.; Sherbrooke, QC
For more information on time designations, see Section 7.3. Geographic Names (236-40) of the MLA Handbooks for
Writers of Research Papers, 7th edition, or Section 8.3. Geographic Names (264-69) of the MLA Style Manual and
Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd edition.
Scholarly Abbreviations
List common scholarly abbreviations as they appear below:
• Anon. for anonymous
• C. or ca. for circa
• Comp. for compiler
• Fwd. for foreword
• Jour. for journal
• Lib. for library
• Sec. or sect. for section
• Ser. for series
• Var. for variant
• Writ. for written by or writer
For more information on scholarly abbreviations, see Section 7.4. Common Scholarly Abbreviations and Reference
Words (240-47) of the MLA Handbooks for Writers of Research Papers, 7th edition, or Section 8.3. Common
Scholarly Abbreviations and Reference Words (269-82) of the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly
Publishing, 3rd edition.
Publisher Names
Shorten publisher's names as much as possible in book citations. You only need to provide your readers with enough
information for them to identify the publisher. Many publishers can be identified by only acronyms or a shortened
version of their names.
MLA suggests a few rules for you to follow when abbreviating publishers:
• Omit articles, business abbreviations (like Corp. or Inc.), and descriptive words (e.g.
•
•
•
•
Press, Publishers, House)
Cite only the last name of a publisher with the name of one person (e.g. Norton for W. W.
Norton) and only the last name of the first listed for a publisher with multiple names (e.g.
McGraw for McGraw-Hill)
Use standard abbreviations when possible (e.g. Assn. or Soc.)
Use the acronym of the publisher if the company is commonly know by that abbreviation
(e.g. MLA, ERIC, GPO)
Use only U and P when referring to university presses (e.g. Cambridge UP or U of
Chicago P)
Here is a short list of publisher abbreviations that you might use. Consult Chapter 7 of the MLA Handbook for a
more complete list.
• Acad. for Educ. Dev. (Academy for Educational Development, Inc.)
• Gale (Gale Research, Inc.)
• Harper (Harper and Row, Publishers, Inc. & HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.)
66
• Little (Little, Brown and Company, Inc.)
• MIT P (The MIT Press)
• NCTE (The National Council of Teachers of English)
• SIRS (Social Issues Resources Series)
• UMI (University Microfilms International)
For more information on publisher names, see Section 7.4. Publishers’ Names (247-49) of the MLA Handbooks for
Writers of Research Papers, 7th edition, or Section 8.3. Publishers’ Names (282-85) of the MLA Style Manual and
Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd edition.
MLA Tables, Figures, and Examples
The purpose of visual materials or other illustrations is to enhance the audience's understanding of information in the
document and/or awareness of a topic. Writers can embed several types of visuals using the most basic word
processing software: diagrams, musical scores, photographs, or, for documents that will be read electronically,
audio/video applications.
General Guidelines
•
•
•
•
•
Collect sources. Gather the source information required for MLA Documentation for the
source medium of the illustration (e.g. print, web, podcast).
Determine what types of illustrations best suit your purpose. Consider the purpose of
each illustration, how it contributes to the purpose of the document and the reader's
understanding, and whether or not the audience will be able to view and/or understand
the illustration easily.
Use illustrations of the best quality. Avoid blurry, pixilated, or distorted images for
both print and electronic documents. Often pixilation and distortion occurs when writers
manipulate image sizes. Keep images in their original sizes or use photo editing software
to modify them. Reproduce distorted graphs, tables, or diagrams with spreadsheet or
publishing software, but be sure to include all source information. Always represent the
original source information faithfully and avoid unethical practices of false representation
or manipulation.
Use illustrations sparingly. Decide what items can best improve the document's ability
to augment readers' understanding of the information, appreciation for the subject, and/or
illustration of the main points. Do not provide illustrations for illustrations' sake.
Scrutinize illustrations for how potentially informative or persuasive they can be.
Do not use illustrations to boost page length. In the case of student papers, instructors
often do not count the space taken up by visual aids toward the required page length of
the document. Remember that texts explain, while illustrations enhance. Illustrations
cannot carry the entire weight of the document.
Labels, Captions, and Source Information
Illustrations appear directly embedded in the document, except in the case of manuscripts that being prepared for
publication. (For preparing manuscripts with visual materials for publication, see Note on Manuscripts below.) Each
illustration must include, a label, a number, a caption and/or source information.
• The illustration label and number should always appear in two places: the document
•
•
main text (e.g. see fig. 1) and near the illustration itself (Fig. 1).
Captions provide titles or explanatory notes.
Source information documentation will always depend upon the medium of the source
illustration. If you provide source information with all of your illustrations, you do not
need to provide this information on the Works Cited page.
Source Information and Note Form
For source information, MLA lists sources in note form. These entries appear much like standard MLA
bibliographic entries with a few exceptions:
• Author names are in First_Name Last_Name format.
67
• Commas are substituted for periods (except in the case of the period that ends the entry).
• Publication information for books (location: publisher, year) appears in parentheses.
• Relevant page numbers follow the publication information.
Note: Use semicolons to denote entry sections when long series of commas make these sections difficult to ascertain
as being like or separate. (See examples below.) The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers 7th edition
states that if the table or illustration caption provides complete citation information about the source and the source
is not cited in the text, authors do not need to list the source in the Works Cited list.
Examples - Documenting Source Information in "Note Form"
Book
Tom Shachtman, Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999) 35. Print.
Website (using semicolons to group like information together)
United States; Dept. of Commerce; Census Bureau; Manufacturing, Mining, and Construction Statistics; Housing
Units Authorized by Building Permits; US Dept. of Commerce, 5 Feb. 2008; Web; 23 Dec. 2008; table 1a.
In this example, the commas in Manufacturing, Mining, and Construction Statistics prompt the need for semicolons
in order for the series information to be read easily. Even if Manufacturing, Mining, and Construction Statistics had
not appeared in the entry, the multiple "author names" of United States, Dept. of Commerce, and Census Bureau
would have necessitated the use of a semicolon before and after the title and between ensuing sections to the end of
the entry.
Furthermore, the publisher and date in a standard entry are separated by a comma and belong together; thus, their
inclusion here (US Dept. of Commerce, 5 Feb. 2008) also necessitates the semicolons.
MLA Documentation for Tables, Figures, and Examples
MLA provides three designations for document illustrations: tables, figures, and examples (see specific sections
below).
Tables
• Refer to the table and its corresponding numeral in-text. Do not capitalize the word table.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
This is typically done in parentheses (e.g. "(see table 2)").
Situate the table near the text to which it relates.
Align the table flush-left to the margin.
Label the table Table and provide its corresponding Arabic numeral. No punctuation is
necessary after the label and number (see example below).
On the next line, provide a caption for the table, most often the table title. Use standard
capitalization rules.
Place the table below the caption, flush-left, making sure to maintain basic MLA style
formatting (e.g. one-inch margins).
Below the title, signal the source information with the descriptor Source, followed by a
colon, then provide the correct MLA bibliographic information for the source in note
form (see instructions and examples above). Use a hanging indent for lines after the first.
If you provide source information with your illustrations, you do not need to provide this
information on the Works Cited page.
If additional caption information or explanatory notes is necessary, use lowercase letters
formatted in superscript in the caption information or table. Below the source
information, indent, provide a corresponding lowercase letter (not in superscript), a
space, and the note.
Labels, captions, and notes are double-spaced.
68
Table Example
In-text reference:
In 1985, women aged 65 and older were 59% more likely than men of the same of age to reside in a nursing home,
and though 11,700 less women of that age group were enrolled in 1999, men over the same time period ranged from
30,000 to 39,000 persons while women accounted for 49,00 to 61,500 (see table 1).
Table reference:
Table 1 Rate of Nursing Home Residence Among People Age 65 or Older, By Sex and Age Group, 1985, 1995,
1997, 1999a
Image Caption: Example Table
Source: Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics, Older Americans 2008: Key Indicators of WellBeing, Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics, Mar. 2008, Web, table 35A.
a. Note: Rates for 65 and over category are age-adjusted using the 2000 standard population. Beginning in 1997,
population figures are adjusted for net underenumeration using the 1990 National Population Adjustment Matrix
69
from the U.S. Census Bureau. People residing in personal care or domiciliary care homes are excluded from the
numerator.
Figures
•
•
•
•
•
All visuals/illustrations that are not tables or musical score examples (e.g. maps,
diagrams, charts, videos, podcasts, etc.) are labeled Figure or Fig.
Refer to the figure in-text and provide an Arabic numeral that corresponds to the figure.
Do not capitalize figure or fig.
MLA does not specify alignment requirements for figures; thus, these images may be
embedded as the reader sees fit. However, continue to follow basic MLA Style
formatting (e.g. one-inch margins).
Below the figure, provide a label name and its corresponding arabic numeral (no bold or
italics), followed by a period (e.g. Fig. 1.). Here, Figure and Fig. are capitalized.
Beginning with the same line as the label and number, provide a title and/or caption as
well as relevant source information in note form (see instructions and examples above). If
you provide source information with your illustrations, you do not need to provide this
information on the Works Cited page.
Figures Example
In-text reference:
Some readers found Harry’s final battle with Voldemort a disappointment, and recently, the podcast, MuggleCast
debated the subject (see fig. 2).
Figure caption (below an embedded podcast file for a document to be viewed electronically):
Fig. 2. Harry Potter and Voldemort final battle debate from Andrew Sims et al.; “Show 166”; MuggleCast;
MuggleNet.com, 19 Dec. 2008; Web; 27 Dec. 2008.
Examples
• The descriptor Example only refers to musical illustrations (e.g. portions of a musical
•
•
•
score). Example is often abbreviated Ex.
Refer to the example in-text and provide an Arabic numeral that corresponds to the
example. Do not capitalize example or ex.
Supply the illustration, making sure to maintain basic MLA Style formatting (e.g. oneinch margins).
Below the example, provide the label (capitalized Example or Ex.) and number and a
caption or title. The caption or title will often take the form of source information along
with an explanation, for example, of what part of the score is being illustrated. If you
provide source information with your illustrations, you do not need to provide this
information on the Works Cited page.
Note on Manuscripts
Do not embed illustrations (tables, figures, or examples) in manuscripts for publication. Put placeholders in the text
to show where the illustrations will go. Type these placeholders on their own line, flush left, and bracketed (e.g.
[table 1]. At the end of the document, provide label, number, caption, and source information in an organized list.
Send files for illustrations in the appropriate format to your editor separately. If you provide source information with
your illustrations, you do not need to provide this information on the Works Cited page.
Copyright ©1995-2011 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site
constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.
70
TYPING INSTRUCTIONS FOR RESEARCH PAPERS
For specific assignments, follow the directions for the assignment from your teacher/professor. For
standard instructions see below:
Title Page: Place your full title in larger font (16-20) in the center of the page. Include the standard- your
name, teacher’s name, course, name of school and date. Add additional information as your teacher
requires.
Margins:
Nothing should intrude in the margins except:
APA-short title and page number
MLA-student’s last name and page number
This would be in the header in Microsoft Word
Left margin-1.5 inches (this is for binding purposes, so that no text is lost)
Right margin-1 inch
Top and bottom margins-1 inch
Fonts Should be standard font in size 10 or 12 like Times, Times New Roman, or Geneva. Your teacher
may require a particular font. Your paper is double spaced except for single spaced Quotations and the
Bibliography/Reference entry unless your teacher has different requirements. Always follow the specific
requirements of your teacher or professor.
71
Research Paper: Note Card Rubric
Topic:
Name:
Period:
Grading Criteria
Date:
4 3 2 1 0
A B C D F
Met requirement of 10 cards per page
One idea per card
Source code & page number appears in upper left-hand corner
Heading (what note is about) appears in center top of card
Student name appears at the bottom of the card
Total Points Earned
Grade Earned:
72
Research Paper: Working Bibliography Rubric
Topic:
Name:
Period:
Grading Criteria
Date:
4
A
3
B
2
C
1
D
0
F
Double the number of sources as needed for final paper
Sources in proper APA or MLA format
Sources in alphabetical order by author
Sources in online, print, and data-base forms
Actual copies of source are printed out and available to teacher
Total Points Earned
Grade Earned:
73
Explanation of Research Paper Grading Rubric
Assessment Areas are graded on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest grade if the
research paper meets the following criteria:
Quality of Research
• Primary sources
• Most up-to-date and current sources
• Facts and statistics to support thesis
• Thorough use of source
• Meeting required number of sources
• Sources used equally
No Plagiarism
• Follow MLA or Author-Date (APA) format from manual
• All use of sources are well documented
• Quotations are marked with quotation marks and documented
• Facts and statistics are documented
• Common knowledge does not need to be documented
• Documentation within paper is given through parenthetical notation
Vocabulary
• Terminology suited to topic, grade level, or ability level
• Spell and use terminology properly
• Use correct form for homonyms
• Use sentence variety with effective word choice
Focus/Organization
• Logical order of sequence
• Paragraphs deal with one subject
• Logical transitions
• Clear purpose
• Clarity of ideas
• Topics dealt with completely
Mechanics
• Follow prescribed format of research paper
• Effective word choice
• Correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization
• Proper grammar
• Complete sentences
Parenthetical Notations
• Follow prescribed use of either MLA or Author-Date (APA)
• All use of source material must be documented
• Documented material must be included in bibliography
74
Thesis/Introduction
• Clear focus of paper is expressed in the thesis
• Introduction lays out a road map of the paper
• Purpose of pare is clear in the introduction
• Topics to be covered are included in the introduction
Body
•
•
•
•
•
•
Follows research paper format as directed
Proper length to cover topic
Meets the requirements
Is well documented with parenthetical notations
Topics are well covered and well sourced
No sub-titles are needed if paragraphs have clear topic sentences
Conclusion
• Shows that you proved your thesis
• Included your reaction to the main topic
• Is clear to the reader that you met your purpose of the paper
• Is the last paragraph of the paper
Bibliography
• Follow standards from manual
• Choose either MLA or Author-Date and stay with that form
• Alphabetical order of sources
• Double space between listings of sources
• Meet minimum number of sources
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Jim Thorpe Area School District
Research Paper Checklist and Rubric
The following items must be included in your research paper. Items checked indicate
problem areas where there is room for improvement.
THESIS_______________PROVED THESIS___________ INTRODUCTION_________
PAGE NUMBERS________ SPELLING_______________ PUNCTUATION__________
CONCLUSION___________TITLE PAGE______________SOURCES_______________
PLAGIARISM___________ PARENTHETICAL NOTATION_______________________
BIBLIOGRAPHY_________FOLLOWED INSTRUCTIONS IN GUIDE_______________
CORRECT GRAMMAR, MECHANICS AND WORD USAGE_______________________
Grading Rubric
Assessment Area
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Quality of Research
No Plagiarism
Vocabulary
Focus/Organization
Mechanics
Parenthetical notations
Thesis/Introduction
Body
Conclusion
Bibliography
Totals
Comments
76
JIM THORPE AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT
RESEARCH PAPER GUIDE, 2012 Edition
Reference List
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