North Harris College Library

MLA Citation Examples
 

 


General Guidelines

Use the title Works Cited, centered, on your list of references.  Alphabetize entries by author’s last name.  If there is no author’s name, alphabetize by the title, disregarding initial A, An, or The.  Leave one space or two spaces, depending on your instructor’s guidelines, after periods separating sections of a citation.  In each entry, indent the second and subsequent lines 0.5".  Double space between lines in each entry and between each citation.  To save space here, only the examples in boxes are double-spaced.

                 

BOOKS/ARTICLES IN BOOKS - Sample Book with One Author

                       ‚                                                                                                                  ƒ                        „                 …

Doyal, Lesley.  What Makes Women Sick: Gender and the Political Economy of Health.  New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1995.              

                            

KEY:

author  ‚ title  ƒ city of publication  „ publisher  … year of publication

 

two or three authors

Lyon, Jeff, and Peter Gorner.  Altered Fates: Gene Therapy and the Retooling of Human Life.  New York: Norton, 1995.

more than three authors (or editors)

Kee, Howard Clark, et al.  The Cambridge Companion to the Bible.  Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge UP, 1997.

edited work

Wekesser, Carol, ed.  Genetic Engineering: Opposing Viewpoints.  San Diego: Greenhaven, 1996.

section of an edited work or work in an anthology

Beer, John.  “Influence and Independence in Blake.”  Interpreting Blake.  Ed. Michael Phillips.  Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge UP, 1978.

          196-261.

article reprinted in a book collection

Singer, Peter. “Xenotransplantation and Speciesism.”  Transplantation Proceedings 24 (1992): 728-32. Rpt. in Taking Sides: Clashing

          Views on Controversial Bioethical Issues. Ed. Carol Levine. Guilford: Dushkin, 1993. 232-38.

article in a general encyclopedia

Rubenstein, Irwin.  “Genetic Engineering.”  The World Book Encyclopedia.  1996 ed.

 

GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS - Sample U.S. Document

                                                                                          ‚                                                                                                 ƒ

United States. Cong. Office of Technology Assessment.  Federal Technology Transfer and the Human Genome Project.  Washington:

             „      …

          GPO, 1990.                          

 


KEY:

author or issuing government & agency ‚ title  ƒ city of publication  „ publisher  … year of publication         

 

PERIODICALS - Sample Magazine Article

                             ‚                                                                                                                                                            ƒ  

Wechsler, Henry.  “Alcohol and the American College Campus: A Report from the Harvard School of Public Health.”  Change

             „                      …

          Jul.-Aug. 1996: 20-26.         

 


 KEY:

author ‚ article title  ƒ periodical title  „ publication date  … page numbers       

 

Sample Journal Article

                          ‚                                                 ƒ                                      „              …             

McMahan, Jeff.  “Cloning, Killing, and Identity.”  Journal of Medical Ethics 25 (1999): 77-86.

                       

KEY:

author  ‚ article title  ƒ periodical title  „ volume & publication year  … page numbers     

                       

newspaper article

Goldberg, Carey.  “Egg Auction On Internet Is Drawing High Scrutiny.”  New York Times 28 Oct. 1999, late ed.: A26.

 

continued on backà

 

 

ONLINE SOURCES*

 

A distinction is made between World Wide Web Sites, accessible to anyone, and subscription databases, accessed through a library.

 

Note:  The citation examples for sources from online subscription databases represent an abbreviated form of MLA style approved by the North Harris College English faculty.  Database citations include the same information as for the print version of the work—author, title, journal name, etc.  In addition, these citations include the database title; name, city, and state abbreviation of subscribing library; and access date.

In regard to page numbers, sometimes the database indicates only the beginning page of the print version and the total number of pages.  See magazine article and newsletter - anonymous article examples below for an indication of how to cite pages in this case.   

 

Sample Journal Article from Online Subscription Database

                                ‚                                                                                                                                      ƒ                                              „                       

Muirhead, Marion.   “Articulation and Artistry: A Conversational Analysis of The Awakening.”   The Southern Literary Journal 33 (2000):

            …     †                                      p                                                     q                                

          42+.  Literature Resource Center.  North Harris Coll. Lib., Houston, TX.  29 April 2002.

 


KEY:

author  ‚ article title  ƒ periodical title  „ volume  & publication date  … page numbers  † database title

p name, city & state of subscribing library q  access date

 

magazine article from online subscription database

Hansen, John-Erik Stig.  “The Significance of the Human Genome.”  America 22 Oct. 1994: 15, 3pp.  ProQuest-All Databases.  North

          Harris Coll. Lib., Houston, TX.  26 Mar. 1999.

newsletter – anonymous article -- from online subscription database

“Women, Work, and Stress.”  Harvard Women's Health Watch Sept. 2000: 1, 2pp.  Health Source—Consumer Edition.  North Harris Coll.

          Lib., Houston, TX.  29 April 2002.

newspaper article from online subscription database

Weiss, Rick.  “Identical Sheep Take Cloning a Step Further.”  Houston Chronicle 8 Mar. 1996, 3 star ed.: 10.  ProQuest-All Databases.

          North Harris Coll. Lib., Houston, TX.   26 Mar. 1999.

 

Sample Book from Online Subscription Database

                                ‚                                                 ƒ                                                     m                 n                                                          o

Murray, Thomas H.  The Worth of a Child.  Berkeley: U of California P, 1996.  netLibrary.  North Harris Coll. Lib., Houston, TX.  12 Jan.

 

          2000.

                                                                                                                                                                                                             

KEY:

author  ‚ book title  ƒ publication information for print version (as listed in online citation) m database title n name, city, and state abbreviation of library   oaccess date.

 

work reprinted as a book chapter or as an article in an anthology or reference book , from online subscription database

Gordon, Walter L.  “Steinbeck’s ‘Flight’: Journey to or from Maturity?”  Studies in Short Fiction 3 (1966): 453-455.  Rpt. in
          Short Stories for Students 3.  Literature Resource Center.  North Harris College Lib., Houston, TX.  30 April 2002.

 

[Note: Complete publication information for Studies in Short Fiction and Short Stories for Students should normally be part of the citation.  However, this information is not given in the online source.  Your professor may require that you look this up elsewhere.]

 

WORLD WIDE WEB SITES

 

Sample Professional Web Page

                            ‚                                                                                 ƒ                                 „                         …

“Survey Results.”  Ethics Updates: Punishment and the Death Penalty.  Lawrence M. Hinman.  March 14, 2002.  1 May 2002 

             †                

          <http://ethics.acusd.edu/Applied/deathpenalty>.

 


KEY:

title of page (link) within web site  ‚ title of site  ƒ author of site  „ date of publication or last update … access date

† electronic address

 

magazine article directly from the magazine’s World Wide Web site (not from a subscription database)

Marcus, David L.  “Students are Skipping Spring-Break Partying to Help Out.”  U.S. News Online 22 Mar. 1999.  25 May 1999
           <http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/990329/29spri.htm>.

U.S. document from government site on World Wide Web

United States. Dept. of Justice.  Drug Enforcement Administration.  An Overview of Club Drugs.  Feb. 2000.  6 June 2000
           <http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/intel/20005intellbrief.pdf>.

 

*For more information on citing online sources see: http://nhclibrary.nhmccd.edu/research/citing

 

mn/updated cj 6/6/02