Modern Languages Association - The Works Cited Page
Works Cited pages are extremely important because they show to your reader the sources you used in the research of your essay. They are also important because it allows the reader to find more information about the subject, check the validity of your claims and quotations, and ensure that you are using other’s ideas to support your idea independently (thus avoiding plagiarism). This page is meant to be primarily a resource page for this essay, and students should purchase a new edition of the MLA Handbook, available at the campus bookstore. Citations are always changing, and with the influx of modern media such as internet and e-mail, students should be aware of the latest appropriate ways to cite information.
Documenting Books in a List of Works Cited
(taken from http://iit.ches.ua.edu/peek447/MLA_email_attachment_mar2.htm)
Here are the basics! List all entries in alphabetical order. Basic documentation for books will include the author, title, and publication information. However, full documentation may include any or all of the following in this order:
1. Author. (Give the last name first.)
2. Title. (Underline the full title. Use a colon to separate the main title from the subtitle. Capitalize the first word in the title and all words that follow except preposition, conjunctions, and articles [i.e., "a," "an," "the"].)
3. Editor, Translator, or Compiler. (Example: "Trans. Richard Howard.")
4. Edition. (Example: "6th ed.")
5. Volume number. (Example: "Vol. 3.")
6. Series name.
7. Place of publication, name of the publisher, and date of publication. (Abbreviate the publisher by omitting end words such as "Press," "Publications," and "Inc." Represent "University Press" as "UP," without any period, space, or quotation marks.)
8. Inclusive page numbers (for an essay or chapter within a book).
One author:
Roe, Frederick William. The Social Philosophy of Carlyle and Ruskin. London: Kennikat, 1921.
Two or more authors:
McCoy, Kathleen, and Judith Harlan. English Literature from 1785. New York: HarperCollins, 1992.
Edited books: Edited books by a single author should be listed by the name of the author, not the editor.
Carlyle, Thomas. Past and Present. 1843. Ed. Richard D. Altick. New York: New York UP, 1965.
Or if there is no author:
Todd, Margo, ed. Reformation to Revolution: Politics and Religion in Early Modern England. New York: Routledge, 1995.
An essay or chapter in an anthology:
Lovejoy, Arthur O. "On the Discrimination of Romanticisms." Essays in the History of Ideas.
Baltimore: John Hopkins UP, 1948. 228-53.
Article in a reference work: List the author first, if known. For a well-known reference work, document only the edition and date.
Thompson, John. "Milton, John." Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed. 1985.
Article in a monthly magazine:
Bethell, Tom, and Irvin Matus. "Looking for Shakespeare." The Atlantic Oct. 1991: 43-82.
Article in a newspaper: Underline the name of the newspaper; omit initial articles (i.e., "a," "an," "the"); add the name of the city in brackets after the name of the title, if it does not appear within the title. After the date, note if the paper if a particular edition (e.g., "late ed." or "eastern ed."). If the article appears on discontinous pages, give the first page, followed by a plus sign.
Thomas, Craig, and Susan Nedza. "Drunk Driving: Should Emergency Physicians Report Blood Alcohol Levels of Crash Victims?" Washington Post. 14
Dec. 1998.
Examples – Non-Print (Internet, film & media)
World Wide Web site: Basic documentation of a World Wide Web site will include the following items in this order: author, title (underlined), institution or organization associated with the site, date of access, and the URL (in angle brackets). If no title exists, include a description, such as "Home page" (neither underlined nor enclosed in quotation marks):
Jones, Tod E. Matthew Arnold and the Jesus Seminar. 25 Apr. 1999. <http://www.geocities.com/ Athens/Aegean/6354/ma2.html>.
A Film or Video Recording: When documenting a film or video recording, begin with the title, which is underlined, then include the name of the director, the distributor, and the year in which the film was released. Other pertinent information, such as the names of the writer, performers, and producer--if added--should be included between the title and the name of the distributor:
The Wolf Man. Perf. Claude Rains, Bela Lugosi, and Lon Chaney Jr. Dir. George Waggner. Universal Pictures, 1941.
An Interview
Not all interviews are non-print media. Some appear in periodicals or books. If this is the case, present the title of the interview in quotation marks, after the name of the person interviewed, and follow the bibliographical guidelines provided on this website. For non-print sources, follow the examples below.
Example of an interview on a television program:
Jay Lennow. Interview with Rudolphus Juliano. The Jay Lennow Show. MBC. WXYZ, New York. 15 Apr. 2000.
Example of an interview on a radio program:
Lush Rimbaugh. Interview with Jeff Clinton. The Lush Rimbaugh Hour. WMAD, Washington D.C. 24 Nov. 1997.
When documenting an interview that you, the author, conducted, begin with the name of the person interviewed rather than the name of the interviewer.
Talker, Bea A. Personal interview. 10 Oct. 2000.
Faraway, Johnny. Telephone interview. 4 June 1998.