MLA Formatting J. Grimshaw, 2014 Updated 2017

How do you write a reference? You will need to give references for every citation, quotation and supporting fact. You will enter the reference in a list of works cited (bibliography/mediagraphy).

The Easy Way: Websites It is a good idea to list your date of access because web postings are often updated, and information available on one date may no longer be available later. When using the URL, be sure to include the complete address for the site except for the https://. 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), URL, DOI or permalink. Date of access (if applicable). For example: The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U, 2008, owl.english.purdue.edu/owl. Accessed 23 Apr. 2008.

Elements of Reference The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U, 2008, owl.english.purdue.edu/owl. Accessed 23 Apr. 2008. In this example, there is no editor, author, or compiler name. It is not available; no need to include it. The Purdue OWL Family of Sites is the Name of the site. It is written in italics (underline if hand written). There is no version number. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U is the Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher). Followed by a comma. The date of resource creation is 2008. If there is no date of creation, you might put the date of the last update. Followed by a comma owl.english.purdue.edu/owl is the URL (avoid writing URLs that are longer than one line. Accessed 23 Apr. 2008 is the date you accessed the information. It is necessary to write this for online material. Notice the format for the date: Day Month (letters) Year

The Fun Way: Videos Try to find as much information about the video as you can. Examples: Online Album Beyoncé. “Pray You Catch Me.” Lemonade, Parkwood Entertainment, 2016, www.beyonce.com/album/lemonade-visual-album/ Films or Movies Lucas, George, director. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Twentieth Century Fox, 1977.

The Scholarly Way: Journals 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. Include a URL, DOI, or permalink to help readers locate the source. Example (Online Scholarly Journal): Dolby, Nadine. “Research in Youth Culture and Policy: Current Conditions and Future Directions.” Social Work and Society: The International Online-Only Journal, vol. 6, no. 2, 2008, www.socwork.net/sws/article/view/60/362. Accessed 20 May 2009. p.s.: Start with the author’s last name, follow with the first name. Always put the date you accessed the material.

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 URL and the date of access. Example: Wheelis, Mark. "Investigating Disease Outbreaks Under a Protocol to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention." Emerging Infectious Diseases, vol. 6, no. 6, 2000, pp. 595-600, wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/6/6/00-0607_article. Accessed 8 Feb. 2009.

The Old-Fashioned Way: Books Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date. Example: Gleick, James. Chaos: Making a New Science. New York: Penguin, 1987. Note: If there are 2-3 authors: Grimshaw, Jennica, François Roy, and Eric Dahl. If there are 4+ authors: Grimshaw, Jennica et. al.

And you throw them all into a…. Works Cited Page And you throw them all into a…. A works cited page is like a bibliography or a mediagraphy. This is where you give the sources you cited in your work. This will allow your readers to have full access to your reference sources. Don’t forget to list your sources in alphabetical order!

Now what? In-Text Citations! Show that you have used information from a source in your work (by quoting or paraphrasing) by providing an in-text citation After using the information or quote in your work, you must write the following: Web: First piece of information in your works cited entry, such as the author, title, etc. (Forbes.com) Video: Author’s last name and title (Garcia, “Herzog: a Life”) Journal/Book: Author’s last and page number (Grimshaw 26) The rest of the information will be found on the Works Cited Page

Work Cited The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U, 2008, owl.english.purdue.edu/owl. Accessed 27 Sept. 2017.