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MLA - List Of References

At the end of your essay or assignment, acknowledge the sources in which you found your information by using either a reference list or a bibliography.  A reference list includes all the information necessary to identify and retrieve each work (books, journals etc.) you have referred to in the text.  In contrast, a bibliography includes works for background or further reading as well as those you have referred to in the text.  Arrange entries in alphabetical order, according to the surname of the first author. Generally, an entry in a reference list or bibliography has three main divisions: author, title, and publication information - each followed by a full stop and two spaces. Underline the titles of independently published works, and use quotation marks for the titles of works published within larger works. For more information, see Gibaldi, Chapter 4.
Note: the second and subsequent lines of each reference should be indented.  For consistency, use the tab or indent button, or set up a table.

Works with one author
Reverse the author's name by putting his/her family name first, followed by a comma and given name or initials. Use a full stop followed by two spaces to separate the author's name, the title and the publication details:

Beare, Richard. Mathematics in Action: Modelling the Real World Using Mathematics. Bromley: Chartwell-Bratt, 1997.

Frye, Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays. Princeton: Princton UP, 1957.

Works with two or three authors
Give the authors' names in the same order as they appear on the title page. Reverse only the name of the first author:

Eggins, Suzanne, and Diane Slade. Analysing Casual Conversation. London: Cassell, 1997.

Marquart, James W., Sheldon Ekland Olson, and Jonathan R. Sorensen. The Rope, the Chair and the Needle: Capital Punishment in Texas, 1923-1990. Austin: U of Texas P, 1994.

Works with more than three authors
If there are more than three authors, you may list all the authors in full, or list only the first author, followed by et al. Choose one method and be consistent:

Quirk, Randolph, et al. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman, 1985.
or
Quirk, Randolph, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman, 1985.

Corporate author
Cite the book by the coporate body responsible for the work, even if the corporate author is the publisher:

American Medical Association. The American Medical Association Encyclopedia of Medicine. New York: Random, 1989.

No author named
Begin the reference with the title of the work. Do not use Anonymous or Anon.:

Encyclopedia of Virginia. New York: Somerset, 1993.

Multi-volume title
When citing a work that consists of two or more volumes, include the total number of volumes after the title:

Sadie, Stanley, ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 20 vols. London: Macmillan, 1980.

Works with an editor or compiler
Begin the reference with the name of the editor or compiler, followed by a comma and ed. or comp.:

Feldman, Paula R., ed. British Women Poets of the Romantic Era. Baltimore: John Hopkins UP, 1997.

Spafford, Peter, comp. and ed. Interference: The Story of Czechoslovakia in the Words of Its Writers. Cheltenham: New Clarion, 1992.

Edition of a work
Specify the edition of a work, other than first editions:

Hyde, Margaret O., and Elizabeth Held Forsyth. Suicide: The Hidden Epidemic. Rev. ed. New York: Watts, 1986.

More than one work by the same author
When listing more than one work by the same author, give the name in the first reference only. For subsequent references, type three hyphens, followed by a full stop and the work's title. If the person responsible for the work is an editor, compiler, etc., then place a comma after the three hyphens, followed by the appropriate abbreviation (ed., comp., trans.):

Frye, Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1957.

---. The Double Vision: Language and Meaning in Religion. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 1991.

---, ed. Sound and Poetry. New York: Columbia UP, 1957.

Journal article
Include the volume, issue, year, and pages, as appropriate. Place the article title, followed by a full stop, in quotation marks. Separate the volume and issue by a full stop. Place the year in parentheses, and use a colon to separate the year from any page numbers.

Craner, Paul M. "New Tool for an Ancient Art: The Computer and Music." Computers and the Humanities 25 (1991): 303-13.

Hallin, Daniel C. "Sound Bite News: Television Coverage of Elections, 1968-1988." Journal of Communication 42.2 (1992): 5-24.

Newspaper article
Use the same format as you would for a journal article, but include the day and month instead of the volume and issue information.

Kitney, Geoff. "NATO under Pressure for Peace Gesture." The Sydney Morning Herald 12 May 1999: 11.

Videos and movies
Begin a film entry with the title, and include the director, distributor and year of release. Other relevant information (e.g. performers and producer) may also be included:

It's a Wonderful Life. Dir. Frank Capra. Perf. James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, and Thomas Mitchell. RKO, 1946.

For videos, DVDs, laser discs, slides or filmstrips, include the original release date and the medium before the name of the distributor:

It's a Wonderful Life. Dir. Frank Capra. Perf. James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, and Thomas Mitchell. 1946. DVD. Republic, 1998.

An article on CDRom
Use the following format:

Author’s name (if given).  “Title of article.”  Title of the Product.  CDROM.  Place of publication: Publisher, Date of publication.

Mersch, Emile. "Mary, Mother of Jesus." The Catholic Church on CDROM. CDROM. Emmitburg, Merryland: Harmony Media Inc., 1996.

The Internet
Use the following general format for Internet sites:

Author/editor (if given).  Title of database/project/website.  Electronic publication information (e.g. version, date of electronic publication, name of resposible body).  Date of access .

The History Channel Online. 1998. History Channel. 19 June 1998 . 

If you are using a either database that contains articles, or an online journal, use the following format:

Author of article.  "Title of article."  Journal Title Volume.Issue Date: Page numbers.  Name of computer service or database supplier, where applicable.  Date of access .

Dove, Rita. "Lady Freedom Among Us." The Electronic Text Center. Ed. David Seaman. 1998. Alderman Lib., U of Virginia. 19 June 1998 .

Elam, Diane. "Disciplining Women: Feminism or Women's Studies." Surfaces 5.101 (1995): 11 pp. 24 June 1998 .