Cit: in-text citations.

Different academic disciplines (such as psychology, history and science) use different forms of documentation. Upon beginning any research project that requires secondary sources, ask your teacher which form you should use. The rules listed here are not as detailed as the ones you may have to use at later stages of your education, but they include the most important rules for documenting research papers. They are based on the rules established by an organization called the MLA (Modern Language Association) for use by professional scholars in the humanities, especially English.

Parenthetical citation is the easiest form of documentation. Instead of writing notes, the writer uses brief references in the text to let the reader trace the source to the bibliography. It is possible, but seldom appropriate, to use notes and parenthetical citation in the same paper.

Place the page or line number in a parenthesis after your quotation:

What linguist David Crystal calls “New Englishes” (502) developed around the world in the second half of the twentieth century.

Place end punctuation outside the parenthesis, even if the sentence ends with a period in the source. Use no abbreviations such as “p.” or “pp.” Leave one blank space between the quotation marks and the parenthesis:

WRONG: “teacher.” (114) [period inside quotation marks]

WRONG: “teacher” (p. 114) [unnecessary “p.” and no period to end the sentence]

WRONG: “teacher”(114). [no space between quotation marks and citation]

RIGHT: “teacher” (114).

If it is clear from your context (as in the example above) to whom you refer, cite only the page number. If you do not mention the source of information you are citing, your citation should briefly identify the source:

The poet Ben Jonson seems to have introduced the word “plagiarism” into English, from a Latin word for a kidnapper or body-snatcher (Donaldson 16).

Keep citations brief, with the minimum of information that would allow a reader to find the source in your bibliography. If you must include the author’s name in the citation, usually the last name is enough. Use no comma or abbreviation:

WRONG: (Donaldson, 16).

WRONG: (Donaldson, p. 16).

RIGHT: (Donaldson 16).

If your bibliography includes more than one source by the same author, write the author’s name, a comma, the title (or a short version of the title), and the page number. Put a comma after the author’s name but not after the title:

In 1850 there were only eight graduate students in the United States (Graff, Professing Literature 26).

SFG: put your sources in the foreground.

Do not force your reader to guess how you have used your sources. Especially if you are citing an interpretation or a judgment, name the source in your sentence:

Source hidden in background: Hamlet is a controversial play which has been called “an artistic failure” (Eliot 178).

Even though the writer has honestly identified the source, the reader does not know what it is.

BETTER (source in foreground): Hamlet is a controversial play. At one extreme is T. S. Eliot, who called it “an artistic failure” (178).

Maintain an objective tone, even if you disagree strongly with your source. Concentrate on the ideas, not the person who expresses them:

INAPPROPRIATE: Eliot wrote a narrow-minded essay to put down Hamlet.

BETTER: Eliot’s judgment is based on a questionable standard of artistic success.

If you are citing statistics or other factual data, it is less important to name the source in your sentence. If the identity of the source is significant, you can include a phrase like “A recent Consumer Reports study showed” or “According to Department of Education statistics.”

For more information on introducing quotations smoothly, see QI (Quoting Literature).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bib: bibliography.

Provide a bibliography in proper form.

Unless you are citing only primary sources (for instance, in an English paper on stories in your textbook), parenthetical citation requires a bibliography. With notes, a bibliography is optional; ask your teacher if you need one. If so, it follows endnotes on a separate page.

Number pages of bibliographies as you would number any other page. Center the heading “Works Cited” (without quotation marks) one inch from the top of the page. There are other kinds of bibliographies (such as lists of works consulted), but “Works Cited” is appropriate for most research papers. Leave one blank line after the heading. Double-space throughout the bibliography. Alphabetize all entries by the first word (usually the author’s last name). Start entries at the left margin. If they are longer than one line, indent all subsequent lines one-half inch.

Sample Bibliography

Microsoft Word:

Format > Paragraph > Indentation > Special > Hanging > By > 0.5"

Format > Paragraph > Spacing > Double

Google doc:

Format > Line & paragraph spacing > Double

Format > Align & indent > Indentation options > Special indent > Hanging > Apply

Sample Bibliography Entries

NOTE: The list below is intended for viewing on a full screen. Viewing it in different formats (e.g., tablet, split-screen, telephone) may affect spacings and line breaks.

Print and Video Sources

For each entry, use the following format:

A book with one author.

Ferllini, Roxana. Silent Witness: How Forensic Anthropology is Used to Solve the World’s Toughest

Crimes. Buffalo: Firefly, 2002. Print.

An edited book.

Canini, Mikko, ed. Genetic Engineering. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2006. Print.

A co-authored book. List the last name first only for the first author’s name. After a comma, write the second author, first name first. If there are more than two authors, you may name the first and add “et al.” (“and others”) after the first name.

Pilcher, Tim, and Brad Brooks. The Essential Guide to World Comics. London: Collins, 2005. Print.

A translated book.

Mochulsky, Konstantin. Dostoevsky: His Life and Work. Trans. Michael A. Minihan. Princeton:

Princeton UP, 1967. Print.

A republished book. Give the original publication date after the title. Many books you study in school were written long ago. It is useful for your readers to know both the original date of publication and the bibliographical information about the modern edition you cite.

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. 1847. New York: Bantam, 1981. Print.

Two or more books by the same person. Use three hyphens for all but the first book. Alphabetize by the first word of the title (not counting “a,” “an” or “the”).

Sandbrook, Dominic. Seasons in the Sun: The Battle for Britain, 1974-1979. London: Allen Lane,

2012. Print.

---. Who Dares Wins: Britain, 1979-1982. London: Allen Lane, 2019. Print.

A work in an anthology or collection. Include the range of pages.

Yoon, Paul. “Once the Shore.” The Best American Short Stories 2006. Eds. Ann Patchett and

Katrina Kenison. Boston: Houghton, 2006. 1-19. Print.

For selections that are reprints of previously published work, include the original publication information, if it is available. Use the abbreviation “Rpt.” for “Reprinted.”

Granville-Barker, Harley. Prefaces to Shakespeare: Hamlet. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1946. 38-

46. Rpt. as “Place Structure and Time Structure” in Hubler, Edward, ed. Hamlet. New York:

Signet, 1963. 212-20.

Cross-references. If you include two or more works from one collection, you do not need to recopy all the bibliographical information about the collection. Just list the collection itself, and indicate that each piece you list comes from it. You need not repeat “Print.”

Bevington, David, ed. Twentieth Century Interpretations of Hamlet. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice, 1968.

Print.

Eliot, T. S. “Hamlet and His Problems.” The Sacred Wood. London: Methuen, 1920. 87-94. Rpt. in

Bevington 22-26. Print.

Knights, L. C. An Approach to Hamlet. London: Chatto, 1960. 55-69. Rpt. in Bevington 64-72. Print.

An introduction, preface or afterword.

Craik, T. W. Introduction. Twelfth Night. By William Shakespeare. London: Arden Shakespeare,

1975. Print.

An article in a reference book. List unsigned articles by title. If an article is signed, list its author first (often articles in reference books are signed by initials which are identified elsewhere in the book). If the reference book lists articles alphabetically, omit page numbers. When citing familiar reference books (like encyclopedias), omit full bibliographical information but identify the edition.

MacDonald, Kevin. “Ancient African Civilizations.” Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and

African American Experience. Eds. Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. 2nd ed.

Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004. 91-100. Print.

“The Civil War.” Encyclopedia Americana. 1980 ed. Print.

A government publication. First write the government name (e.g., United States) and the agency. Then write the other bibliographical information. If you list two publications from the same source, list them alphabetically by bureau. If you list two publications from the same bureau, use two sets of three hyphens and alphabetize them by title.

United States. Census Bureau. Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2010. Washington: GPO,

2010. Print.

---. ---. Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2012. Washington: GPO, 2012. Print.

An article in a newspaper. List unsigned articles by title. If an article continues for several pages, list only the first page followed by a plus. Abbreviate all months except May, June and July.

Perez, Rob. “Slow Wheels of Justice.” Honolulu Star-Advertiser 23 July 2014: A1+. Print.

An article in a magazine. Abbreviate all months except May, June and July.

Von Drehle, David. “The Case Against Summer Vacation.” Time. 2 Aug. 2010: 36-42. Print.

An article in a professional journal. As you advance in school and undertake college-level assignments, you may need to do research in scholarly journals. Intended for experts, these journals are usually published less often than magazines. Some journals number each issue; the essay by Edwards listed below appears in issue 36 of Shakespeare Survey. Other journals consider all the issues for one year as a volume. These journals either begin each issue at page 1 or number all issues in an annual volume continuously. In the entry below for Mills’s article, the number 37.1 means the essay appeared in volume 37, issue 1 of Children’s Literature in Education. Always list the pages of the entire article, not just the pages you cite.

Edwards, Philip. “Tragic Balance in Hamlet.” Shakespeare Survey 36 (1983): 43-54. Print.

Mills, Alice. “Harry Potter and the Terrors of the Toilet.” Children’s Literature in Education

37.1 (2006): 1-13. Print.

Movies and television shows. For movies, only title, director, distributor and year are necessary, but you may include other information, such as names of performers, if it is pertinent to your paper.

From Here to Eternity. Dir. Fred Zinnemann. Perf. Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah

Kerr, Frank Sinatra, and Donna Reed. Columbia, 1953. Video.

“Spirits of the Forest.” Nature. PBS. KHET, Honolulu. 31 July 1997. Video.

An interview.

Coon, David P. Telephone interview. 25 Feb. 1997.

Kingston, Maxine Hong. Personal interview. 11 Oct. 1982.

Sample Bibliography Entries: Electronic Sources

If you have questions about citations which the Keables Guide does not answer, ask your teacher or librarian for help.

Use the following order:

An entire website.

Bartleby.com: Great Books Online. Ed. Steven H. van Leeuwen. 2005. Web. 30 Nov. 2009.

A page from a website. In the example below, 1900 is not the date when Walt Whitman wrote or first published his poem “O Captain! My Captain!” It is the date of the edition of Leaves of Grass used on Bartleby.com.

Whitman, Walt. “O Captain! My Captain!” Leaves of Grass. 1900. Bartleby.com: Great Books

Online. Ed. Steven H. van Leeuwen. 2005. Web. 30 Nov. 2009.

A website with an author.

Grayson, Ian. “Testing Time for Schools, Students.” Cable News Network. 2 Sep. 2005. Web.

30 Nov. 2009.

A website with no author.

“Kenya.” The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. 3 Aug. 2010. Web. 30 Aug. 2010.

E-books.

An e-book from a web source. For example, a text you found on a website.

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. London: J. M. Dent, 1906. Google Books. Web. 30 Nov. 2012.

An e-book from an electronic file. For example, an e-book downloaded to an electronic device.

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Amazon Digital Services, n.d. Kindle File.

An e-book from an electronic database. After the author, title, and bibliographical information, include the name of the database (“ebrary” in the example below), the publisher (“ProQuest”), the medium (“Web”), and the date of access.

Austen, Jane. Emma. Delhi: Global Media, 2007. ebrary. ProQuest. Web. 30 Nov. 2010.

Other electronic sources.

A scholarly journal article, found in an online database. In the example below, the article comes from issues 3-4 of volume 45 of the Journal of Library Administration. Academic Search Premier is the database, and EBSCO is the publisher.

Safley, Ellen. “Demand for E-books in an Academic Library.” Journal of Library Administration

45.3/4 (2006): 445-57. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 30 Nov. 2009.

A magazine article found in an online database. The New Yorker lists each issue by day (26 Apr. 2010). Other magazines may be dated differently (for example, by month). MasterFILEPremier is the database and EBSCO is the publisher.

Auletta, Ken. “Publish or Perish.” The New Yorker 26 Apr. 2010: 24-31. MasterFILEPremier.

EBSCO. Web. 12 Aug. 2010.

A magazine article found on the web.

Dockterman, Eliana. “Five Ways to Fix College Admissions.” Time 1 May 2014: n.p. Web. 15

Aug. 2014.

A newpaper article found in an online database. If the edition is specified, indicate it as in the example below (“late ed.”). Indicate section and page number (“E44”). If the article covers more than one page, use “+” (for example, “E44+”) instead of listing every page. In the example, LexisNexis Scholastic is the database publisher.

Kakutani, Michiko. “The Course of Social Change Through College Admissions.” New York

Times 25 Nov. 2005: late ed. E44. LexisNexis Scholastic. Web. 30 Nov. 2009.

A newspaper article found on the web. In the example below, New York Times is the title of the newspaper and New York Times (not italicized) is the publisher.

Lieber, Ron. “Four Stand-Out College Essays About Money.” New York Times. New York

Times, 9 May 2014. Web. 15 Aug. 2014.

An online government publication. List the government (“United States”), the bureau, and the title of the publication, followed by place, publisher and date of publication.

United States. Census Bureau. The 2009 Statistical Abstract. Washington: GPO, 2009. Web. 5

Oct. 2009.

An image. List the following information: author’s name (if available); the title (italicized if it is a work of art) or a description of the image; the date when the work was created, if known; the medium (“Online image”); (for works of art) the institution and city where the original work is held, if known; the website (italicized); “Web”; date of access.

Delacroix, Eugène. Arabs Skirmishing in the Mountains. 1863. Online image. National Gallery

of Art, Washington DC. Web. 30 Nov. 2006.

“China.” 2006. Map. China Country Page, US Dept. of State. Web. 30 Nov. 2010.

An online video. The first example below starts with the name of the organization that created the video. The second starts with the author. If no producer or author is listed, begin with the title of the video.

A podcast.

Google Developers. “Using the JavaScript Client Library with Google Calendar.” YouTube. Google

Developers: 1 Apr. 2008. Web. 21 Jan. 2010.

Khan, Sal. “French Revolution Part 1: From the Convocation of the Estates General to the Storming

of the Bastille.” Khan Academy. 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2012.

Hamilton, Jon. “From Primitive Parts, a Highly Evolved Human Brain.” Podcast. NPR.org 9

Aug. 2010. Web. 30 Nov. 2010.

A blog post. If no author is identified, start with the title of the blog post in quotation marks. If it has no title, take a phrase from the opening line.

Pell, Dave. “Immersed in Too Much Information, We Can Sometimes Miss the Big Picture.” All

Tech Considered. NPR.org. 11 Aug. 2010. Web. 30 Nov. 2010.

An e-mail. List the writer, last name first. Take the title from the subject line. Date of message, medium (“E-mail”).

Iwashita, Val T. “Sullivan Center for Innovation and Leadership.” 15 May 2012. E-mail.

An online interview.

Khan, Sal. Interview by Neal Conan. Talk of the Nation. NPR. Washington, DC. 23 Oct. 2014.

Web. 15 July 2014.