CIT ING SOURCESWh en you write an informative, explanatory, or persuasive
text, you should cite, or name, the sources of the information you present. You need to cite sources for all ideas, statements, quotations, and facts that are not common knowledge. One reason for citing your sources is to allow your readers to check a source and judge how believable or important a piece of information is.
Another reason to cite your sources is to avoid plagiarism. Plagiarism is the act of taking an author’s words or ideas and presenting them as your own. Plagiarism is against the law. You must cite a source not only for words you quote directly but also for facts or ideas you take from it.
IN-TEX T CITATIONSIn-text citations are sources that you cite within the body
of your paper. You should include in-text citations for sources from which you use information in your paper. Insert the author’s last name or the title of the work (if the author’s last name is not available) and a page reference in parentheses after the information. For online sources without page numbers, use the title of the Web site. Always put the period outside the parentheses. See the example of an in-text citation on the next page.
NEvery in-text citation must connect to one of the entries
in your Works Cited list. This connection should be by the author’s last name or the title of the work—whichever is listed first in the entry in parentheses. For example, the in-text citation shown below in parentheses refers to the author’s last name and the page number where the information was found; the Works Cited entry for that source begins with the author’s last name. This connection helps readers easily locate sources in a Works Cited list.
In-Te xt Citation:Su ndiata would later be known by such titles as “Lord Lion,” “Lion of Mali,” and “Father of the Bright Country” (Koslow 12).
Wo rks Cited:Ko zlow, Phi lip. Mali: Crossroads of Africa. New York: Chelsea House, 1995. Print.
The chart on the next two pages explains how to cite different sources within the body of your paper, as recommended by the Modern Language Association of America (MLA). These guidelines relate to both print and digital sources.
Author named in textInsert the page number in parentheses. If there is no page number (as with many Web sources), simply leave off the citation in parentheses.
According to Philip Koslow, Sundiata would be known by such titles as “Lord Lion,” “Lion of Mali,” and “Father of the Bright Country” (12).
Work with two (or three) authorsInsert each author’s last name in parentheses before the page number.
Sundiata faced one of his biggest challenges when he was a young child. He had been born with a disability. He crawled around like a baby until he was seven years old (McKissack and McKissack 49).
Work with more than three authorsGive the last name of the first author listed, followed by et al. (“and others”) and the page number.
The Gold of Africa Museum contains probably the most important collection of gold artworks, including precious masks, crocodiles, birds, a gold crown, and human figures, from Mali and other African nations (Pinchuck et al. 131).
Work with no author or editorUse the title or a shortened version of the title, and give the page number. If there is no page number (as with some Web pages), include only the title of the work.
According to legend, when Sundiata learned that Dankaran Touman was to be king because Sundiata was disabled, he took an iron rod and used the rod to stand upright (“Sundiata”).
W ORKS CITED LISTUse your source cards and note cards to document, or
record, the publishing information about your sources in a Works Cited list. This list will appear at the end of your paper. The list should be alphabetized by the authors’ last names. If a work has no author, alphabetize it by the title.
There are online programs that can help you build your Works Cited list. Enter “Works Cited generator” in your search engine to find such a program.
More than one work by the same authorUse the author’s last name, the title or a shortened version of the title, and the page number.
After Sundiata’s death, Mali lacked strong leadership for several decades. (McKissack, The Royal Kingdoms 56).
More than one source at a timeInclude both sources and their page numbers, separated by a semicolon.
Much of what we know about Sundiata comes from griots, the African storytellers (Koslow 12; Eisner 3).
The chart on the following pages shows the proper style to use for different types of sources in a Works Cited list or bibliography, as recommended by the MLA.
Book with one author Koslow, Philip. Mali: Crossroads of Africa. New York: Chelsea House, 1995, Print.
Book with two or three authors (If a book has more than three authors, name only the first author, followed by et al. )
McKissack, Pat, and Fredrick McKissack. The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa. New York: H. Holt, 1994. Print.
Book with editor(s) Lehman, David, and Heather McHugh, eds. The Best American Poetry 2007. New York: Scribner’s, 2007. Print.
Book with an organization or a group as author or editor
Adobe Creative Team. Adobe Photoshop CS3 Classroom in a Book. Berkeley: Adobe, 2007. Print.
Work from an anthology Desai, Anita. “Games at Twilight.” 1978. The Penguin Book of International Women’s Stories. Ed. Kate Figes. London: Penguin, 1996. 204-11. Print.
Introduction in a published book
Jackson, Peter. Introduction. The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film. By J. W. Rinzler. New York: Del Rey, 2007. iii. Print.
Encyclopedia article “Jazz.” The New Encyclopaedia Britannica: Micropaedia. 15th ed. 1998. Print.
Weekly magazine article Sacks, Oliver. “A Bolt from the Blue.” New Yorker 23 July 2007: 38–42. Print.
Newspaper articleIf no author is named, begin the entry with the title of the article.
Long, Ray, and Jeffrey Meitrodt. “Some Budget Progress Made.” Chicago Tribune 26 July 2007, B3 sec. Print.
Online newspaper article Include a URL only when the reader cannot locate the source without it or when your teacher requires it.
Onion, Amanda. “Americans Embracing ‘Green’ Cleaning.” ABC News. ABC News Internet Ventures, 30 Jan. 2006. Web. Aug. 2007. <http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Business/ story?id=1544322>.
Online magazine article Include a URL only when the reader cannot locate the source without it or when your teacher requires it.
Parks, Bob. “Robot Buses Pull In to San Diego’s Fastest Lane.” Wired Magazine. July 2007. Web. 25 Oct. 2007. <http://www.wired.com/cars/ futuretransport/magazine/15-08/st_robot>.
Web pageInclude a URL only when the reader cannot locate the source without it or when your teacher requires it.
Everett, Glenn. “Utilitarianism.” The Victorian Web. Ed. George P. Landow. U Scholars Programme, Natl. U of Singapore, 11 Oct. 2002. Web. 18 May 2007.
Radio or TV program “Jungles.” Planet Earth. Dir. Alastair Fothergill. Discovery Channel. 19 Nov. 2006. Television.
Videotape or DVD For a videotape (VHS) version, replace “DVD” with “Videocassette.”
An Inconvenient Truth. Dir. Davis Guggenheim. Paramount, 2006. DVD.
