English 100 (Susan St. John): Citing Your Sources (MLA)

• Citing Your Sources
• In-Text Citations and End Notes
• Citing Online Resources
• Citing Images
• Citing Songs and Performances
• Citing Books
• Citing Periodicals (Articles)

What are citations?

A citation is a reference to the source of information your research comes from. For this class, many of your citations will come from books, articles, web pages, images, music, and newspapers.

Different citation styles?

There are many citation styles. The three most popular citation styles at WCC are:

• MLA - Primarily used for the humanities (English, history, etc).
• APA - Primarily used for science disciplines (biology, anthropology, etc)
• Chicago - Primarily used for humanities (art, literature, etc)

For this class, you will use MLA style.

To properly cite sources in the MLA style, you will need to use a combination of In-Text and End Notes (Works Cited) citations.

What are in-text citations?

An in-text citation is a reference made within the body of your paper or text. These citations allow the reader to know where a specific idea or data came from. The in-text citation is an abbreviation of the full citation found at the end of the paper (also known as endnotes/work cited). In-text citations are easy to identify because they are generally found in parenthesis after a sentence and consist of the author/creator's last name and the page number. Example: (Silva 34) = Author's name is Silva. This information or idea is found on page 34.

What are end notes (Works Cited)?

Following the text of your paper is a page titled "Works Cited." This page contains full bibliographic citations of the resources you referenced in-text. 

For example, your full citation listed in your "Works Cited" might read:

Silva, Noenoe. The Power of the Steel-Tipped Pen: Reconstructing Native Hawaiian Intellectual History. Duke University Press, 2017.

While your in-text citation will read: (Silva 39)

Further Examples of In-Text Citations:

In-Text Citation General: (Author's Last Name Page Number)

• In-Text Citation No Author Format: ("Shortened Title of Article" Page Number) or (Shortened Title of Book Page Number)
• In-Text Citation Multiple Authors: (Last Name and Last Name Page Number)
• In-Text Citation Multiple Works by the Same Author: ("Shortened Title of Article" Page Number) or (Shortened Title of Book Page Number)
• In-Text Citation Electronic Sources/Web Page: (Author's last name, "Shortened title of article")

Here's how to create full citations and in-text citations for online resources including database articles, eBooks, and websites.

Journal Article in a Database

Author's name (Last, First). "Title of Article." Publication, volume, number, date, pages (pp.). Database Name, URL.

Example 1: Laudan, Rachel. "Homegrown Cuisines or Naturalized Cuisines? The History of Food in Hawaii and Hawaii's Place in Food History." Food, Culture & Society, vol.19, issue 3, Sept 2016, pp.437-459. Academic Search Complete, http://wccproxy.lib.hawaii.edu:2048/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=117876527

In-Text Citation: (Laudan 437)

Article on a Website

Author's name (Last, First). "Title of Article." Publication, Day Month (abbreviated) Year, URL.

Example 1: Adams, Sam. "Is M3gan Scary, Hilarious, or Neither?" Slate, 6 Jan 2023, https://slate.com/culture/2023/01/megan-movie-horror-how-scary-dancing-memes.html.

In-Text Citation*: (Adams "Is M3gan...")

*For websites, use the format (Author's Last Name and Abbreviated Title of Article)

Book on a Website

Author's name (Last, First). "Title of Book." Publisher, Year, Website/Database Name, URL. 

Example 1: Smith, George O. "Hellflower." Pyramid Books, 1953, Project Gutenberg, https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/69762/pg69762-images.html

In-Text Citation*: (Smith "Hellflower") or (Smith 10)

*Abbreviated title (if no page numbers) or page number

Listed below are MLA citation examples for images:

Work of Art Viewed in Person

Artist's Name (Last, First). Title of Piece. Year Created, Location.

Example: Walden, Lionel. Marine View - Windward Oʻahu. circa 1920, Honolulu Museum of Art, Hawaiʻi.

Work of Art Viewed Online

Artist's Name (Last, First). Title of Piece. Year Created, Website Name, URL.

Example: Walden, Lionel. Marine View - Windward Oʻahu. circa 1920, Honolulu Museum of Art, https://honolulumuseum.org/collections/35428/.

Image Found in a Book

Artist's Name (Last, First). Title of Piece. Year Created, Location of Piece. Title of Book, by Author (First & Last Name), Publisher, Year, page number.

Example: Walden, Lionel. Walden, Lionel. Marine View - Windward Oʻahu. circa 1920, Honolulu Museum of Art. Encounters with Paradise: Views of Hawaii and Its People, 1778-1941, by David W. Forbes, University of Hawaiʻi Press, 1992, p.30.

Listed below are MLA citation examples for songs and performances:

Song from an Album

Artist Name. "Song Title." Album Title, Record Company, year published. Format (CD, Vinyl, etc).

Example: UB40. "Red Red Wine." Labour of Love, A&M Records, 1983. Cassette tape.

Song on a Website

Artist Name. "Song Title." Website or App Name, URL.

Example: UB40. "Red Red Wine." YouTube, https://youtu.be/WcubRzV7VEs.

Concert Attended in Person

Artist Name. "Title of Concert." Day Month Year attended, Venue Name, Location.

UB40. The "Reunited Tour." 28 Jan 2015, Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu.

Listed below are MLA citation examples for physical books:

Basic Book (Physical)

Last Name, First. Title of Book. Publisher, date published.

Example: Berger, John. Ways of seeing. Penguin Books, 1972.

Edited Book (Physical)

Last Name, First., editor. Title of Book. Publisher, date published.

Example: Harjo, Joy., editor. When the Light of the World was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: a Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry. W.W. Norton & Company, 2020.

Selection From an Editor Work or Anthology (Physical)

Last Name, First of Author. "Title of the Selection." Title of the Anthology. Edited by First and Last Name, edition (if any), Publisher, Date, Page(s).

Example: Holt, John Dominis. "Kaʻili Pau." When the Light of the World was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: a Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry. Edited by Joy Harjo, First edition, W.W. Norton & Company, 2020, pp.130-141.

Version/Numbered Edition (Physical)

Last Name, First. Title. Edition, Publisher, Year.

Example: Holtgrew-Bohling, Kristin. Large Animal Clinical Procedures for Veterinary Technicians. 2nd ed., Elsevier, 2016.

Use the citation below for periodicals (magazines, newspapers, and journals):

Article in a Newspaper

Author Name (Last, First). "Title of Article." Publication Name, Day Month Year, page number(s).

Example: "'The Eddie' is a no go as conditions change, organizers say." Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 10 Jan 2023, p. A1.

A Review

• Cite as you would a newspaper or journal article and include after the title of the review, the phrase "Review of" and the totle of the reviewed work. 

Example 1 (if the title of the reviewed work not in the 'review title': 

Example 2 (if the title of the reviewed work is in the 'review title':

Editorial

• Cite as you would a newspaper or journal article and include the designation, "Editorial" or "Letter."

Example: 

Journal Article

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

Example: Ing-Tsai, Tiffany. "The 1873 Election in Hawaiʻi Between Prince William Charles Lunalilo and the Other Candidate." The Hawaiian Journal of History, vol. 50, 2016, pp.53-73.

In-Text Citation: (Ing-Tsai 54)

Article in a Magazine

Author's name (Last, First). "Title of Article." Title of Periodical, Day Month Year, pages. 

Example:

In-Text Citation: ()

Tips

• If there is no known author, start the citation with the title of the article.