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MLA Style: List of Works Cited. A vidcast lecture brought to you by Derek Sherman in
cooperation with Purdue Online Writing Lab.
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Core Elements to Citing:
There are eight elements to citing a source in MLA's eighth edition. The following are
the core elements to citing.
Author, Title of Source, Container, Version, Volume and/or Issue Number, Publisher, Publication
Date, and Location.
The goal of this video is to provide you with a basic understanding of these terms as well
as how to put together a citation using this information for a Works Cited page.
For in-text citations, please the additional in-text citations video provided on OWL's
YouTube page.
Author.
The author is usually prominently displayed on the source that you are consulting.
For example, on a database article, the author will usually appear on the first information
page or directly on the first page of the source.
Therefore, the author will often be near the title of the work. Once you have found the
author, now is the time to begin working on citing the author's name.
You will need to start your works cited entry with the author's last name followed by a
comma and then the author's first name followed by a period.
See that in this example, the author's last name is written first followed by a comma.
After the comma the author's first name is written and followed by a period.
Title of Source.
The title of the source, like the author, is usually prominently displayed on the work
and is in a larger font for easy visibility.
On a database article, the title is the first item listed on the information page. On a
book, the title is mostly on the front cover or spine of the book.
When you go to cite the title, make sure you have already cited the author. Once you are
ready to begin the citation of the source title, you need to make sure you follow three
rules.
First, make sure you use standardized capitalization.
Second, if it is the name of a larger work, for example a book, you will need to italicize
the title.
Third, if it is the name of a smaller work contained within a larger work, for example
a chapter in a book, an article, etc., you will need to make sure it is in quotation
marks.
After placing the title of the source, make sure you have ending punctuation. Meaning,
you need to place a period, exclamation point, or question mark.
Notice that this example has a smaller work contained within a larger work. Therefore
the title of the work is in quotation marks rather than in italics.
So, the title starts with the opening quotation marks, followed by the title in standardized
capitalization.
Once the title is written, the ending punctuation is placed and followed by the closing quotation
marks.
Container.
The container is simply the larger source that your article or chapter is contained
within.
Examples of containers include: a book that is a collection, a periodical, a television
series, a website, or even an issue of a comic book.
So, if you are citing an entire book, then you would not have to place anything in this
position, because you have already cited the container.
However, if you are citing a smaller work within a larger work, then the container citation
is necessary, so that the reader can access your source.
If citing a container, make sure it is always italicized and follows standardized capitalization
protocol.
When writing the container in your citation, make sure you place a comma after the container,
especially since the next information describes this container.
In this example, is italicized and is directly after the title of the smaller work.
Once the container is written with standard capitalization rules, a comma is placed after
the title.
Other contributors.
Other contributors is not something unusual in citations, but you may not have called
it this before.
This portion of a citation does not apply to all works, but it is still important to
note in case you do have a work that utilizes other contributors.
This portion of a citation occurs if you are working with a source that is adapted, directed,
illustrated, edited, or translated by someone else.
Additionally, works that include an introduction by, narrated by, or a performance by are included
in the other contributors section as well.
Notice in this example that after the container comes the other contributors portion.
The other contributors portion starts with "edited by" and is followed by the author's
first name and then last name.
After the author's last name, a comma is placed.
Version.
Not all sources will have a version, but if they do, it could fall under one of the following
categories:
a numbered edition, a revised edition, an authorized Bible version, an updated edition,
an expanded edition, or a director's cut.
Most of your journal citations will not contain a version; however, if you do have a source
that contains a version, it would look like the following.
Notice in this example that there is no other contributors so if there are no other contributors,
you skip that portion of the citation.
Notice that we are using the entire container in this citation rather than a chapter or
portion.
So the container is in italics, in standardized capitalization followed by a period.
The edition then follows the container. If you do have an edition, you would need to
write it as follows:
"5th ed." followed by a comma.
Volume and Issue Number.
Volume and issue number are not new things to enter in MLA citation; however, the way
they are written is different compared to previous edition.
Most sources that will contain a volume and/or issue number include multi-volume book sets,
journal issues, comic books,
and seasons of a television series, which are written out as season number followed
by the episode number.
For a journal article, the volume and issue can usually be found on the first printed
page of a journal article or it will appear in the corner of the first page of the article.
However, journals are different, so you may have to hunt for this part.
In this example, we see that there is a volume number and an issue number, which are written
differently than previous editions of MLA.
In the eighth edition of MLA, you need to place the volume and issue number directly
after the container and they are separated by a comma rather than by parentheses.
So, you will need to write out the volume as "vol." followed by the number,
which is then followed by a comma.
After that comma, place the number issue, which is written out as "no." followed
by the number.
Once the number is typed, you need to place another comma, so that you may continue describing
the container.
Publisher.
Publishers are simply the organization that is responsible for making the source available
to the public, so think book publisher.
Book publishers can easily be found on the copyright page, which is usually located on
the left-hand side of the page after the title page.
However, you can also find book publishers on the spine, front, or back cover of a book
as well.
For web sources, the publisher could range from museums, libraries, universities and
their departments.
To find the publisher, look down at the bottom of a home page or on an information page provided
by the website.
The publisher in this example is written directly after the other contributors portion because
there is no edition or volume and/or issue number.
The publisher is simply written out and followed by a comma, so that you may continue further
describing the container.
Date.
Date is a staple in MLA citations because it lets your reader know that you have an
updated source or that you are using a specific historical source.
Depending on the type of the source, the date can be found in a variety of locations.
For example, a journal article that is downloaded from a library's database, should have the
date on the information page or the first page.
Additionally, the date can be found on the copyright page in a published book.
If you are citing a website, the date should be easily located, so your citation should
carry the entire date.
Day, month, year.
Notice in this example that the date is written directly after the publisher. The date is
followed by a comma.
In this journal citation, the date is directly after the volume and issue number.
If you have a date with a month attached, make sure the month is abbreviated with the
exception of four-letter months.
In both examples, regardless, the date is followed by a comma so that the container
can continue being described.
Location.
Specifying the location of a work depends on the medium the source is located.
If you are citing a specific page, you will need to write "p." followed by the page
number; however, if you have multiple pages, you will need to write "pp." followed
by the page range.
The first example shows what a page range would look like written out with the "pp."
followed by the range of numbers.
In this second example, there is only a page, so only "p." is placed and followed
by the page number.
However, there is also something known as a DOI or Digital Object Identifier, which
is used for journal articles.
The DOI will be located on the information page of the printed article or will be found
on the first page of the article.
If the article you have has a DOI, please make sure you provide the name of the database
where you accessed the source.
Therefore, you put the name of the database in italics with standardized capitalization
followed by a comma, which is then followed up by the DOI.
In this example, we see that the DOI is preceded by the name of the database.
Therefore, the database is followed by a comma.
Once the comma is written the DOI number is placed and the citation is concluded with
the placement of a period.
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Thank you for watching this Purdue Online Writing Lab video production.
For additional citation videos or writing help, please make sure you visit the Purdue
OWL's YouTube page or website at owl.english.purdue.edu
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