Citing Resources: MLA Guidelines for
Electronic and Print Sources 2011
An Abbreviated Guide for Scottsdale Community College Students
While MS Word 2007 and other online resources including databases offer automatic MLA formatting tools for
citations, the results are not always accurate or complete. If you use these tools, it is important to double check their
accuracy against a style sheet such as this.
I. Electronic
A. Sources from SCC Library Databases/Subscription Services
Magazine Article from a Database
Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Magazine Title date: page
number(s). Name of Database. Web. Date accessed.
Journal Article from a Database
Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Title of Publication
Note date in the
following manner:
day abbreviated
month year.
e.g., 28 Aug. 2008
volume.issue (year): page number(s). Name of Database. Web.
Date accessed.
Newspaper Article from a Database
Last Name, First Name. “Article Title.” Newspaper (omit a, an, the) date,
edition (if available): page number(s) (include section letter, if
available). Name of Database. Web. Date accessed.
Book from Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center
Last Name, First Name. “Article Title.” Title of Book. Ed. First Name Last
Name. City: Publisher, Year. Opposing Viewpoints Resource
Capitalize all
words in titles of
sources with the
exception of
articles,
prepositions, and
conjunctions that
do not begin the
title.
Center. Web. Date accessed.
Journal Article from Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center
Last Name, First Name. “Article Title.” Title of Journal volume.issue
(year): page number(s). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center.
For online resources
that do not provide
page numbers, use
n. pag.
Web. Date accessed.
Article from CQ Researcher
Last Name, First Name. “Article Title.” CQ Researcher volume.issue (year): page number(s).
CQ Press. Web. Date accessed.
Scottsdale Community College Writing Center
Oct. 2011
B. Online Resources Cited Only on Web (Not from a Database)
Scholarly Journal Online
Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Title of Journal volume.issue (year): page number(s)
if available. Web. Date Accessed. <URL (if necessary to locate article or required by
instructor)>.
Web Site
Title of Web Site. Ed. Editor’s name (if available). Sponsoring Agency, Institution or Publisher,
date of last update or publication. Web. Date Accessed. <URL (if necessary to locate
article or required by instructor)>.
Document or Web page within a Web Site/Online Periodical
Last Name, First Name. “Title of Web Page.” Title of Web Site or
Periodical. Sponsoring Agency or Publisher, date of last update or
publication. Web. Date accessed.
If no publisher is
listed, use N.p. If
no date of
update is listed,
use n.d.
Scholarly Project
Last Name, First Name, ed. (if available). Name of Project or Database. Name of Sponsoring
Institution, date of last update or publication. Web. Date accessed.
Online Book with Print Publication Information (E-book or Scanned Book from Online
Database)
Last Name, First Name. Title. Ed. First Name Last Name (if available).
If article skips
City: Publisher, year originally published. Name of Database (if
available). Web. Date accessed.
pages, write
beginning page
number and plus
sign (4+).
Government Publication Online
Government. Department Name. Office, Agency or Bureau Name. Title. Date of publication (if
available). Web. Date accessed.
A Work on the Web Cited with Publication Data for another Medium besides Print
Title of Work. Dir. First Name Last Name. Perf. First Name Lat Name (if applicable). Original
Publisher, year. Title of Website, Service or Database. Web. Date accessed.
Scottsdale Community College Writing Center
Oct. 2011
II. Print
A. Books
Book by Single Author
Last Name, First Name. Title of Book: Subtitle (if available). City: Publisher, year. Print.
Two or More Works by the Same Author
--. Title. City: Publisher, year. Print. (Use same pattern for all types of citations.) See page 6 for
example in context of Works Cited page.
Book by Two or More Authors (with Example of Series Name)
Last Name, First Name, and First Name Last Name. Title. City: Publisher, year. Print. Series
Name (if available).
Book by More Than Three Authors (with Example of Later Edition)
Last Name, First Name, et al. Title. 2nd ed. City: Publisher, year. Print.
An Anthology (or Compilation)
Last Name of Editor, First Name, ed. (or comp.)Title. City: Publisher,
year. Print.
Work in an Anthology
Last Name, First Name. “Work Title.” Anthology Title. Ed. Editor’s First
and Last Name. Vol. # (if available). City: Publisher, year. Page
number(s) of entire piece. Print.
To include more than
one work from an
anthology, cite the
anthology itself as an
edited book. Then
cross reference it in
abbreviated citations
of individual works.
See page 6 for an
example.
Article in Reference Book Arranged Alphabetically
Last Name, First Name (if available). “Title of Entry.” Title of Reference Book. Edition. Date.
Print.
B. Other Print Sources
Magazine Article
Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Magazine Title date: page number(s). Print.
Journal Article
Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Title of Publication volume.issue (year): page
number(s). Print.
Newspaper Article
Last Name, First Name. “Title.” Newspaper (omit a, an, the) date, edition (if available): section
and page number(s) (including section letter, if available). Print.
Scottsdale Community College Writing Center
Oct. 2011
B. Other Print Sources (Cont.)
Government Publication with No Author
Government. Agency Name. Title of Document. City: Publisher, year. Print.
A Review
Last name, First Name of Review Author (if available). “Title of Review” (if available). Rev. of
Title of Work Reviewed, by First Name Last Name of Work Author. Title of Publication
Date: page number(s). Print.
Published Interview
Last Name of Interviewee, First Name. Interview by Interviewer’s Name (if available). “Title of
Article.” Title of Publication Date: page number(s). Print.
An Introduction, Preface, Forward or Afterword.
Last Name, First Name. Name of section cited (i.e., Forward). Title of Complete Work. By First
Name Last Name of Work’s author. City: Publisher, date. Page number(s). Print.
III. Miscellaneous
Interview Conducted by Researcher
Last Name of Person Interviewed, First Name. Personal (or telephone or e-mail) interview.
Date of interview.
Television or Radio Program
“Title of Episode or Segment (if available).” Title of Program. Name of Network. Call letters of
station, City (if available). Broadcast date. TV.
Cite a television or radio show on DVD or videocassette as above but include original release date if
relevant as well as medium.
Streaming Video or Audio on the Web
Title of Work. Dir. First Name Last Name. Perf. First Name Last Name
(if applicable). Original Publisher, year. Title of Website, Service
or Database. Web. Date accessed.
Film
Title. Dir. Director’s First Name Last Name. Perf. Performer’s Name(s).
Use italics to denote
the title of a feature
film, audiobook or
album. Use “quotation
marks” to indicate a
short film, song, poem
or lecture.
Distributor, year. Film (or DVD).
Scottsdale Community College Writing Center
Oct. 2011
IV. Parenthetical (In-Text) Citations
Students using MLA format briefly credit a source with parenthetical citations in the text of an essay
and also provide complete access information for each source in the Works Cited list.
For example, the same source will appear in the text of your paper (indicating author and page
number, if available)...
Gil Evans and Miles Davis collaborated on “Sketches of Spain,” recorded in November 1958 and March
1960 (Raether 535).
or
Keith Raether notes that “Sketches of Spain,” recorded in November 1958 and March 1960, resulted from
collaboration between Gil Evans and Miles Davis (535).
…as well as in your Works Cited list (providing all citation information):
Raether, Keith. “Coltrane’s Sound.” Southern Review 43.3 (Summer 2007): 534-47. Wilson Web. Web. 26
Aug. 2008.
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For in-text citations of a work with no author, use an abbreviation of the title: (“Jazz in Arizona” 4).
For an electronic source that numbers its screens or paragraphs rather than pages, give the
author’s last name and par. or screen separated by a comma: (Guilder,
screen 4) or (Miles, par. 17).
Parenthetical citations
appear before the
If a work has no page, screen or paragraph numbers, cite the title and
punctuation that
author within the text, eliminating the need for parenthetical citation:
concludes the sentence
Kurosawa’s Rashomon was one of the first Japanese films to attract a
(name #).
Western audience.
For multiple titles from the same author, use name and abbreviated title: (Saunders, “History of
Jazz” 24).
Provide credit for indirect sources as well: (qtd. in Saunders 17).
V. Formatting the Works Cited Page
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Place the page number in the upper right corner ½ inch from the top of the page and continue
numbering from the body of the paper (use a header).
Center the title, Works Cited, one inch from the top of the page in plain font (no bold, italic,
underlined or large fonts).
Use one-inch margins on all sides.
Use hanging indention for all entries (begin each entry flush with left margin; subsequent
lines begin ½ inch from left margin).
Alphabetize entries by first word in entry, ignoring “a,” “an,” “the,” or “Rev.”
Double space the entire Works Cited document both between and within entries.
SEE REVERSE FOR A MODEL W ORKS CITED PAGE
Scottsdale Community College Writing Center
Oct. 2011
A Model Works Cited Page for Scottsdale
Community College Students
Your Last Name 6
Works Cited
Garrick, David, ed. Jazz Age 1920s. 5 Jan. 2008. Web. 21 Aug. 2008.
“’The Great Gatsby’ Betty Field, Macdonald Carey.” Motion Picture
Television Photo Archive. 1948. Academic Search Premier.
Web. 21 Aug. 2008.
Horowitz, Joseph. Artists in Exile: How Refugees from 20th Century
Note hanging indent.
First line against the
margin; subsequent
lines tabbed in 5 spaces.
War and Revolution Transformed the American Performing
Arts. New York: HarperCollins, 2008. Print.
---. Classical Music in America: A History of Its Rise and Fall.
New York: Norton, 2005. Print.
Kelly, Joseph, ed. The Seagull Reader. New York: Norton, 2001.
Multiple works by the
same author.
Alphabetized by title
of work.
Print.
Lawrence, D. H. “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter.” Kelly 150168. Print.
Abbreviated anthology entry
(Lawrence); refers to Kelly
entry.
Leslie, Jimmy. "The 2008 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage
Festivals" Guitar Player 42.9 (Sept. 2008): 48-49. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 21
Aug. 2008.
McKenzie, Andrea. “Jazzing It Up: the 1920s.” Children’s Literature. University of
Waterloo, n.d. Web. 21 Aug. 2008.
Olsen, Tillie. “I Stand Here Ironing.” Kelly 254-262. Print.
Ratliff, Ben. “Echoes of Monk, 50 Years Later.” New York Times 7 Sept. 2008, late
edition: AR 62.