COM 110 Oral Communication as Critical Inquiry

This is a brief guide to citing sources using the Modern Language Association (MLA) style.  The following examples are based on the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook. 

Important changes to MLA for the 8^th edition:

• The 8th edition focuses on principles of documenting sources, rather than strict guidelines
• Volume and issue numbers are identified (vol. 24, no.2, rather than 24.2)
• City of publication and media type do not need to be identified

For more information, see What's New in the Eighth Edition.

A printable version of this style sheet is available at the bottom of this page.

Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date.

Example:

Gleick, James. Chaos: Making a New Science. Penguin, 1987.

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal, Volume, Issue, Year, pages.

Example:

Bagchi, Alaknanda. "Conflicting Nationalisms: The Voice of the Subaltern in Mahasweta Devi's Bashai Tudu." Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, vol. 15, no. 1, 1996, pp. 41-50.

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Periodical, Day Month Year, pages.

Example:

Buchman, Dana. "A Special Education." Good Housekeeping, Mar. 2006, pp. 143-48.

Author’s last name, First name. “Title.” Journal Title, Volume, Issue, Date: pp-pp. Title of the Database, doi: (if applicable). Date accessed.

Example:

Langhamer, Claire. “Love and Courtship in Mid-Twentieth-Century England.” Historical Journal, vol. 50, no. 1, 2007, pp. 173-96. ProQuest, doi:10.1017/S0018246X06005966. Accessed 27 May 2009.

Author’s Last name, First name. “Title of the Article or Individual Page.” Title of the website, Name of the publisher, Date of publication, URL.

Example:

White, Lori. “The Newest Fad in People Helping People: Little Free Pantries.” Upworthy, Cloud Tiger Media, 3 Aug. 2016,
www.upworthy.com/the-newest-fad-in-people-helping-people-little-free-pantries?g=2&c=hpstream.

• If more than one author, give their names in the same order as on the title page, but reverse the first and last name of only the first author.
• If there are more than 3 authors, list only the 1^st and include “, et al.” after the author’s name.
• If the article’s author is anonymous, do not use Anon. or Anonymous. Start the entry with the title and ignore initial articles (e.g., The, A, An, etc.) when alphabetizing.
• If you need to write out the full date, abbreviate months that are more than 4 letters long.
• When giving page numbers for articles that are not on consecutive pages, list the first page followed by a plus sign.

Confused by an entry?  Don’t see anything that matches the item you have in hand?  Contact a reference librarian at -7189 or borrow the MLA Handbook from the library--we have a copy on reserve and a copy on 3rd floor (Call #: 808.02 M69 2016).