1. What the Heck is a “Citation?”
quick txt: research info 4 the busy student

2. Today you will learn how to…
Break down the elements of a citation (i.e. journal title, article title, publication date)
Place them in correct MLA order
Use correct MLA punctuation and formatting to create a works cited page

3. Why Cite?
In scholarly research writing it is necessary to document the sources of information you use to discover or support particular concepts, positions, propositions and arguments that you make.
Helps readers identify & relocate the source of
information.
Adds credibility to your work. Shows that your
position is well researched.
Give credit where credit’s due. Acknowledge the
author of an original concept or theory.

4. Two Components to Citing a Document
In-Text Citation The in-text citation is placed after the quoted text or paraphrased idea. It is a brief “placeholder” intended to refer the reader to the second component of citing a document, the works cited page.
Works Cited Page The works cited page is a page listing the full information for all of the documents (books, articles, etc) that you cited in your essay. Both have to be written in a specific format, so as to make them appear uniform and consistent, and to ensure all of the necessary information is present.

5. The purpose of an in-text citation is to refer your reader to the full citation in your works cited page.
Essay Body
The Republicans used the tactic of accusing
the opponent of dishonesty more in the presidential campaign than any other. Bush accused Kerry of untruthfulness in nearly 55% of his attacks (Buell and Sigelman 234).

6. Works Cited Page Appears at the End
Buell, Emmett H., and Lee Sigelman. Attack politics: negativity
in presidential campaigns since Lawrence, Kan.:
University Press of Kansas, 2008.
Dunlap, Riley E, and Aaron M McCright. “A Widening gap:
Republican and Democratic views on climate change.”
Environment 50.5:26. Research Library. ProQuest. Rio Hondo
Community College. 21 October 2008
<
“HIV/AIDS.” Planned Parenthood. 15 April Planned
Parenthood Federation of America. 21 October 2008
<
safer-sex/hiv-aids-4264.htm>.

7. Research Sources ENCYCLOPEDIAS BOOKS MAGAZINE ARTICLES
Provide short entries/articles for an overview of the topic and its main
ideas .
BOOKS
Give more information for an in-depth exploration of one or more aspects of the topic.
(Example: Case study books, textbooks)
MAGAZINE ARTICLES
As short as encyclopedia articles, but instead of an overview, magazines narrow the focus to one or two specific aspects of a topic.
PERIODICAL DATABASES or
PRINT

8. Research Sources NEWSPAPER ARTICLES AND THE LIST GOES ON… INTERVIEWS
PERIODICAL DATABASES or
PRINT
NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
Very brief news reports that focus on current events or topics currently in the news.
AND THE LIST GOES ON…
INTERVIEWS
BLOGS
DOCUMENTARY FILMS
STATISTICS
GOVERNMENT REPORTS
WEB SITES
JOURNAL ARTICLES
Lengthy scholarly research studies on an extremely focused aspect of a subject.

9. How to Cite a Book Author (last name, first name) Period.
Title (underlined)
City where book was published. If there’s more than one city listed, use the city that is geographically closest to you.
Colon :
Publisher’s name
Comma ,
Year of publication
Page numbers (if relevant)

10. Where to find book information
On the physical book, locate the publisher information on the title page, a couple of pages in.
Online, you can find all of this information in the library catalog record for the book.
Book Title
Authors (note there are 2)
City of Publication
Publisher’s Name
Year of Publication

11. Putting it all together
Attack politics : negativity in presidential campaigns since 1960.
Emmett H. Buell Jr. and Lee Sigelman
Lawrence, Kan. : University Press of Kansas, c2008.

12. Putting it all together
1st author’s name reversed
Book title underlined
Emmett H. Buell Jr. and Lee Sigelman
Buell, Emmett H., and Lee Sigelman.
Attack politics : negativity in presidential campaigns since 1960.
Attack politics : negativity in presidential campaigns since 1960.
Lawrence, Kan. : University Press of Kansas, c
2008.
Note the second line is indented

13. The purpose of an in-text citation is to refer your reader to the full citation in your works cited page.
Essay
The Republicans used the tactic of accusing the opponent of dishonesty more in the 2004 presidential campaign than any other. Bush accused Kerry of untruthfulness in nearly 55% of his attacks (Buell and Sigelman 234).
Works Cited
Buell, Emmett H., and Lee Sigelman. Attack politics: negativity in presidential campaigns since Lawrence, Kan.: University Press of Kansas, 2008.
Dunlap, Riley E, and Aaron M McCright. “A Widening gap: Republican and Democratic views on climate change.” Environment 50.5:26. Research Library. ProQuest. Rio Hondo Community College. 21 October 2008 <

14. How to Cite a Journal Article
Author. (last name, first name)
“Article title.” (in quotation marks)
Journal title. (underlined)
Either date of publication (as much as is available) or volume and issue numbers:
Page numbers article appeared in the print version.
Database you used to view the article. (underlined)
Creator of the database.
Institution that subscribes to the database. (usually Rio Hondo)
Date you retrieved the article from this database
<Web address for the database>. (enclosed in angled parentheses <>)
Period.
Colon:

15. Putting it all together
Date of Publication and
Volume and Issue #’s
Only include ONE of these in your citation
Journal Title
Database Company Name
ProQuest
Page # article begins on in print version.
Article Title
Authors
A Widening Gap: Republican and Democratic Views on Climate Change
Riley E Dunlap, Aaron M McCright.
Sep/Oct 2008
Environment 50 5 26 . .
Dunlap, Riley E., and Aaron M. McCright
“A Widening Gap: Republican and Democratic Views on Climate Change ” . : . .
Environment
ProQuest Research Library.
Rio Hondo Community College. 21 October 2008 <

16. Putting it all together
Dunlap, Riley E, and Aaron M McCright. “A Widening gap: Republican and Democratic views on climate change.” Environment 50.5:26. Research Library. ProQuest. Rio Hondo Community College. 21 October 2008 <

17. How to cite a Web site Author’s name (if given) Period.
“Web page title” (in quotations) Period.
Web site title (underlined) Period.
Date of publication or update (if given) Period.
Name of organization sponsoring site Period.
Date you last accessed this page
<Full Web page address> Period.

18. When in doubt, web page title can be found in blue bar.
In this case, Planned Parenthood is obviously the Web site title, but when in doubt, check the Web page address.
When in doubt, web page title can be found in blue bar.
But this is more likely the intended Web page title.
If no author or date is listed at the top, check the bottom.

19. Full name of sponsoring organization
Date of publication and last update. If it’s available, it’s at the bottom of the page.
Full name of sponsoring organization
Still no author!!

20. Putting it all together
“HIV/AIDS.” Planned Parenthood. 15 April Planned Parenthood Federation of America. 21 October 2008 <

21. Putting it all together: Works Cited Page
Buell, Emmett H., and Lee Sigelman. Attack politics: negativity in presidential campaigns since Lawrence, Kan.: University Press of Kansas, 2008.
Dunlap, Riley E, and Aaron M McCright. “A Widening gap: Republican and Democratic views on climate change.” Environment 50.5:26. Research Library. ProQuest. Rio Hondo Community College. 21 October 2008 <
“HIV/AIDS.” Planned Parenthood. 15 April Planned Parenthood Federation of America. 21 October 2008 <

22. In-text citations take elements from your works cited page
Buell, Emmett H., and Lee Sigelman. Attack politics: negativity in presidential campaigns since Lawrence, Kan.: University Press of Kansas, 2008.
Dunlap, Riley E, and Aaron M McCright. “A Widening gap: Republican and Democratic views on climate change.” Environment 50.5:26. Research Library. ProQuest. Rio Hondo Community College. 21 October 2008 <
“HIV/AIDS.” Planned Parenthood. 15 April Planned Parenthood Federation of America. 21 October 2008 <
(Buell and Sigelman 235). (Dunlap and McCright 28). (“HIV/AIDS”).

23. The purpose of an in-text citation is to refer your reader to the full citation in your works cited page.
Essay
The Republicans used the tactic of accusing the opponent of dishonesty more in the 2004 presidential campaign than any other. Bush accused Kerry of untruthfulness in nearly 55% of his attacks (Buell and Sigelman 234).
Works Cited
Buell, Emmett H., and Lee Sigelman. Attack politics: negativity in presidential campaigns since Lawrence, Kan.: University Press of Kansas, 2008.
Dunlap, Riley E, and Aaron M McCright. “A Widening gap: Republican and Democratic views on climate change.” Environment 50.5:26. Research Library. ProQuest. Rio Hondo Community College. 21 October 2008 <

24. Common Pitfalls Solutions
No author listed Skip author & start with title.
3 or more authors List only the first author’s name, and the phrase et al. for the rest.
Multiple cities Use only one city. The of publication one geographically closest to you.

25. Common Pitfalls Solutions
Journal title vs. article title Generally, the more descriptive of the two is the article title.
Hard to find information Don’t limit yourself to
on Web page the information on the page. Look at the Web site’s home page too. If there is a lot of missing information, start to question the web site’s credibility.

26. Your Bible for MLA Style Citations
MLA handbook for writers of research papers
4th Floor Circulating (to check out)
2nd Floor Reference (to stay in library)
LB2369.G

27. quick txt: research info 4 the busy student
Thank you!
QUESTIONS?
quick txt: research info 4 the busy student