ENG 200: Intro to Literary Studies

Basic examples of common citations. See the guides linked above for additional examples and explanation.

Book

Elements: 

(1) Minot, Stephen.
(2) 
(3) Three Genres.
(4) 
(5) 
(6) 
(7) Pearson,
(8) 2003.
(9) 

Citation: Minot, Stephen. Three Genres. Pearson, 2003.

Chapter in Edited Book

Elements: 

(1) Young, Willie.
(2) “Knowing the Unknowable."
(3) Poker and Philosophy
(4) Eric Bronson (editor)
(5) 
(6) 
(7) Carus Publishing Company,
(8) 2006, 
(9) pp. 41-57. (In this case, location refers to the page numbers where the chapter can be found)

Citation: Young, Willie. "Knowing the Unknowable." Poker and Philosophy, edited by Eric Bronson, Carus Publishing Company, 2006, pp. 41-57.

Online Journal Article

Elements: 

(1) Collins, Ross.
(2) "Writing and Desire: Synthesizing Rhetorical Theories of Genre and Lacanian Theories of the Unconscious." 
(3) Composition Forum
(4) 
(5) Volume 33
(6) 
(7) 
(8) Spring 2016
(9) compositionforum.com/issue/33/writing-desire.php. (In this case, location refers to the URL or DOI of the online article.)

Citation: Collins, Ross. "Writing and Desire: Synthesizing Rhetorical Theories of Genre and Lacanian Theories of the Unconscious." Composition Forum, vol. 33, Spring 2016, compositionforum.com/issue/33/writing-desire.php.

Webpage

(1) Hollmichel, Stephanie.
(2) "The Reading Brain: Differences between Digital and Print."
(3) So Many Books,
(4) 
(5) 
(6) 
(7) 
(8) 25 Apr. 2013
(9) somanybooksblog.com/2013/04/25/the-reading-brain-differences-between-digital-and-print/. (In this case, the Location refers to the webpage URL.)

Citation: Hollmichel, Stephanie. "The Reading Brain: Differences between Digital and Print." So Many Books, 25 Apr. 2013, somanybooksblog.com/2013/04/25/the-reading-brain-differences-between-digital-and-print/.

Examples from Excelsior Online Writing Lab (OWL) used under a Creative Commons Attribution-4.0 International License.

MLA 8th edition provides 9 core elements (or containers) to complete any works cited entry. To build a citation, fill in these core elements with the information you have about a source. If any element is missing or not applicable, you can skip that element.

The 9 Core Elements

(1) Author.
(2) “Title of source.”
(3) Title of Container,
(4) Other contributors,
(5) Version, 
(6) Number, 
(7) Publisher,
(8) Publication date,
(9) Location.

Notes:

For sources that are part of a larger work, you include core element (2) “Title of source.”
​        ( e.g. journal articles from a journal, essays or chapters from a book, webpages from a website)

For sources that are self-contained, you skip core element (2).
        (e.g. books, websites, or journals)

Other contributors include people such as editors, translators, or directors.