A reference is the source of information you used in writing your essay. Each reference you create for a source is added to the Works Cited list (or Bibliography), which is simply an organized list of the references used in your essay.
Example of a reference:
Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights. 1847. Revised ed., Penguin Classics, 2002.
The references in the Works Cited are always in alphabetical order of the first entry, in this case B for Brontë.
A citation is the device you use to show the exact place in your text where you have used the ideas or words of another person. The video below shows how it works.
Credit: Tarn McDonald
Link to MLA Style Center on AI Referencing & Citation
If you choose to use generative AI tools for course assignments, you have to think about how you acknowledge and cite the output of those tools in your work. You should always check with your teacher or Librarian before using AI for coursework.
AI is developing fast and things will change quickly. The MLA Style Center has released preliminary guidelines.
Here are some fundamental rules for citing AI generated content:
Be flexible in your approach to citing AI-generated content. Current guidelines will always lag behind the current state of technology, and the way that technology is applied. If you are unsure of how to cite something, include a note in your text that describes how you used a certain tool. You can always consult your teacher and/or Librarian about this too.
When in doubt, remember that we cite sources for two primary purposes:
- first, to give credit to the author or creator;
- second, to help others locate the sources you used in your research.
Book with one author
Last name, First name. Title of source. Publisher, date of publication.
Example: Fleming, Thomas. Liberty! The American Revolution. Viking. 1997
Intext citation; (Fleming 38)
Book by multiple authors
Last name, First, and First name, Last. Title of Source. Publisher, date of publication
Example: Thorn, Roger and June Cartwright. The Hummingbird House. Macmurray, 1999.
Intext citation: (Thorn and Cartwright 123)
Sometimes you might need to refer to two books or articles by the same author. In this case it is necessary to distinguish one work from the next by including a shortened title (in quotation marks) with the citation as well as the page number.
- Provide the author's name for the first title only.
- Then list the different works alphabetically, by title (ignore words like "the" and "an.").
- Replace the author's name with --- (3 hyphens) for the second and following titles.
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Example: Bailey originally argued for the use of the death penalty for rape, armed robbery and murder (“Bring Back Hanging” 3), but he later softened his views and now only supports capital punishment for first degree murder (“A Rationale for Capital Punishment” 19). |
Your Works Cited references will look like this:
Bailey, Samuel. “Bring back hanging”. Penguin Books, 2014.
---. “A rationale for Capital Punishment”. HarperCollins, 2013.
Images / charts / maps are labeled as follows: Fig. 1, Fig. 2, etc
The reference: Artist. Title (or description) of Source. Name of container, publisher, publication date. URL
Example (painting):
Fig. 1. Turner, J.M.W. “Rain, Steam, and Speed – The Great Western Railway.” The National Gallery, London, 2016.
Intext- citation: (see Fig. 1)
Works Cited:
Turner, J.M.W. "Rain, Steam, and Speed - The Great Western Railway." The National Gallery, London, 2016, www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/joseph-mallord-william-turner-rain-steam-and-speed-the-great-western-railway. Accessed 19 Dec. 2022.
TABLES: Any source that is an information source consisting of rows and columns with data is cited as a Table.
Tables are also numbered. Call them Table 1, Table 2 etc.
Tables must:
have the word Table .. (number) followed by the title at the top of the Table.
have the word Source: under the table followed by the full MLA citation.
Example:
Table 1 Annual Maximum and Minimum Temperatures for London
|
Mar |
April |
May |
June |
July |
Aug |
Sept |
Oct |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
°C Max |
11.0 |
13.8 |
17.7 |
21.4 |
23.6 |
23.1 |
20.1 |
15.6 |
|
°C Min |
3.4 |
5.7 |
8.6 |
11.8 |
13.8 |
13.3 |
10.9 |
7.7 |
Source: "London Climate Data." Climate London, Climate-Data.org, 12 Apr. 2022. Accessed 15 Oct. 2023.
You do NOT have to repeat this source reference in your Works Cited.
Article from an online database: You may have ONE or TWO containers to document here, depending on whether the source article comes from a journal, or was written by the database company.
Last name, First. Title of Source. Title of Container 1 (e.g. name of journal). Volume, number, date of publication, location (pg #s). Title of Container 2 (database). URL
Example: Langhamer, Clare. "Love and Courtship in Victorian England." Historical Journal. Vol 5o. No 1. pp. 173-86. ProQuest. www.dx.doi.org/10.1028nbt1029.
Personal Interview:
Name of subject. Personal Interview. Date
Example: Whitehurst, Daniel. Personal Interview. 5 Mar 2003.
Email interview:
Author. "Subject Line." Message to your name. Date.
Example: Depp, Johnny. "Re: Your Artistic Vision." Message to Erica Jonsdottr. 1 Dec 2003.
Online Video:
Last Name, First (of the uploader). "Video Title." Title of Container. Role of relevant contributors, first and last names. Publisher, publication date, Location.
EX: Run4u. "See Spot Run." YouTube. 1 Feb 2005. http://youtube.com/29343290348
EX: "Gene Map of Brain Offers Hope." The News Hour with Jim Lehrer. Producer, Muhammad Ahmed. PBS. 2 Feb 2010. http://www.pbs.org/autism
DVD:
For Films, documentaries, etc. The names you include depend on your focus: Director if you're discussing the film in general, actors if you're looking at performance, Screenwriter if you're looking at dialogue, etc.
Last Name, First (role). Title of Film. Studio/Distributor. Year published.
EX: Scorsese, Martin (director). Shutter Island. Paramount, 2010.
Here is an example of an indirect source:
You're reading your Econ textbook, and it quotes Paul Krugman saying something brilliant about economic theory. You want to use that quotation in your essay. Here's how you do it:
1) Createa reference for the Econ textbook in the Works Cited list. This is the source where you found the quotation:
Ziogas, Constantine. Economics for the IB Diploma. Oxford University Press, 2014.
2) In your essay, use the quotation and add an in-text citation. It mentions the author you're quoting, PLUS where the quote came from.
One Nobel Prize-winning economist argues that Keynesian "trickle down" theory left the country in economic tatters (Krugman, qtd in Ziogas 38).
Author of quoted source. "Title of article or speech." Title of publication (if available). "Title of Handout." Handout. Name of course. (Name of teacher). Name of school. Date of handout.
Example: King, Martin Luther Jr. . "I Have a Dream." Famous Speeches for Analysis. Handout. Language and Literature, (Darren Rix). BHA, Mar 2024.
If the author is named, include it. Otherwise, just use the title of the page. Also be careful: there are different types of websites: Online newspapers/magazines, blogs, etc.
Author. "Title of Source." Title of Website. Publisher, date published. URL
EX: Clapton, Jennifer. "Exercise Yourself to Death?" WebMD. 22 Feb 2018. http://webmd.com/health
EX: Krugman, Paul. "A Ranting Old Guy with Nukes." New York Times. New York Times Company. 03 March 2018. http://nytimes.com/krugman
When using sources in another language , you must translate names and titles into their English versions. Put the translation in parenthesis behind the original. See below for examples.
