MLA Citation Format

Source:
http://www.lesley.edu/library/guides/citation/mla.html

For In-text citations:
Example A
"There are two basic types of sociodramatic play training: outside intervention and inside intervention" (Christie 29).
By putting the author's last name, Christie, and the page number, 29, in parentheses after your quotation about play training, you are telling the reader where you found this information.

Example B
Christie states that "there are two basic types of sociodramatic play training: outside intervention and inside intervention" (29).
Because you have mentioned the author's name in your sentence, you do not have to repeat it in the parentheses.

Example C
Margaret Sanger was thought to be primarily responsible for the introduction of birth control in this country (Kennedy 251).
or
David Kennedy says that Margaret Sanger was primarily responsible for the introduction of birth control in this country (251).

Sentences in your own words about the idea(s) of an author are treated in much the same way. Here there are no quotation marks because you are describing an author's idea, not quoting word-for-word. This is called "paraphrasing" and is as important to cite correctly as if it were a direct quote.


For a Works Cited Page:
Citations should be arranged in alphabetical order by the first element of the citation, usually the author's last name.

Printed book with one author

Kennedy, David. Birth Control in America: The Career of Margaret Sanger. New Haven: Yale UP, 1970.

Printed book with two or more authors (Cite authors as they appear on title page, not necessarily in alphabetical order.)

Wellek, Rene, and Austin Warren. Theory of Literature. 3rd ed. New York: Harcourt, 1962.

Online book

(When citing an online resource, follow the basic format for a print source, and then add online retrieval information. If the URL, or Web address, is more than one line, don’t break at a hyphen; only break after a slash.)

Pinson, Linda, and Jerry Jinnett. Steps to Small Business Start-up: Everything You Need to Know to Turn Your Idea Into a Successful Business. Chicago: Dearborn, A Kaplan Professional Company, 2000. NetLibrary, Lesley University Libraries, Cambridge, MA. March 31, 2003 .

Chapter, short story, or poem from a book or a work in a collection (an anthology, a casebook, or a group of essays)

O’Connor, Flannery. “Everything That Rises Must Converge.” Mirrors: An Introduction to Literature. Ed. John R. Knott, Jr. and Christopher R. Reaske. San Francisco: Canfield, 1975. 58-67.

Print or PDF article in a scholarly journal

Christie, James F. “Sociodramatic Play Training.” Young Children 37 (1982): 25-32.


Scholarly journal article on the Web

MacLean, A. Peter, and Peters, Ray Dev. “Graduate Student Couples: Dyadic Satisfaction in Relation to Type of Partnership and Demographic Characteristics.” Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science 17.1 (1995): 13 pars. 22 April 2004
.

Online encyclopedia article with no author

“Western Painting.” Encyclopaedia Brittanica. 2004. Encyclopedia Brittanica
Online. Lesley University Libraries, Cambridge, MA. 7 April 2004 .

Web page

Vandergrift, Kay E. “Social History of Children’s Literature.” Kay E. Vandergrift’s Special Interest Page. September 1995. SCILS, Rutgers U. 1 April, 2004
< http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~kvander/HistoryofChildLit/index.html>.

Personal E-mail

Kennedy, Edward. “Budget Preparation Meeting.” E-mail to John Kerry. 10 March 1996.