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Citing Sources - MLA 9th Edition

Citing Articles

General Format

Author(s). “Article Title.” Title of Journal, Magazine, or Newspaper, [in italics] vol., no., publication date, pp. #-#. Name of database, [in italics] https://doi.org/DOI, [or if no DOI] permalink, [or if no permalink] URL. Accessed Date [in format Day Mon. Year]

Examples

Journal article by three or more authors from an online database with DOI 

Papworth, Andrew, et al. "Is Climate Change the Greatest Threat to Global Health?" Geographical Journal, vol. 18, no. 4, Dec. 2015, pp. 413-22. Academic Search Complete, https://doi.org/10.1111/geoj.12127. Accessed 19 Apr. 2017.

Report in an online database

Adams, Jill U. "Energy and Climate Change." CQ Researcher Online, library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqr_ht_climate_change_2016. Accessed 23 May 2017.

Magazine article (print source)

Schuur, Ted. "The Permafrost Prediction." Scientific American, vol. 315, no. 6, Dec. 2016, pp. 56-61.

 

Citing Web Sources

General Format

Author(s). “Webpage or Post Title.” [in quotation marks] Title of Website, [in italics] Company or organization responsible for the site, contributor that posted video, date of publication or latest update, URL. Accessed Date. [Day Mon Year]

Examples

AI prompt/output

"Prompt" prompt. Name of AI Tool, version, Publisher, Date, URL.

Webpage with no author

"Future of Climate Change." Climate Change Science, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Dec. 2016, www.epa.gov/climate-change-science/future-climate-change. Accessed 20 Apr. 2017.

YouTube video clip with name of person/organization that posted or uploaded the video

"How to Feed the World in 2050: Actions in a Changing Climate." YouTube, uploaded by CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), 28 Mar. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjtIl5B1zXI. Accessed 20 Apr. 2017.

Map or chart (born digital)

Rate of Temperature Change in the United States, 1901–2015." United States Environmental Protection Agency, Aug. 2016, www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-us-and-global-temperature#. Accessed 1 Apr. 2017.

Citing Books

General Format

Author(s). “Chapter/Selection Title.” [in quotation marks] [if using a part of the book] Book Title. [in italics] Author/editor of book, Vol. no., Publisher, Year of Publication, pp. page numbers. [if using a part of the book] Name of the eBook database, [for online source] DOI, permalink URL or Web address. [for online source] Accessed Date. [Day Mon Year] [for online source]

Examples

Print book with two authors

Kahrl, Fredrich, and David Roland-Holst. Climate Change in California: Risk and Response. U of California P, 2012.

E-book from an online database with more than two authors

O'Brien, Karen L., et al. Adapting to Climate Change: Thresholds, Values, Governance. Cambridge UP, 2009. EBSCO eBook Collection, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=286489&site=ehost-live. Accessed 18 May 2017.

Selection from an encyclopedia in an online database 

Coulson, Martin. "Sustainability." Encyclopedia of Environmental Change, edited by John A. Matthews, vol. 3, SAGE Reference, 2014, pp. 1068-69. Gale Virtual Reference Library, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GVRL&sw=w&u=oran78789&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CCX6105103787&it=r&asid=f441f6c1 b0290a9999e2bfdfdec41004. Accessed 6 Apr. 2017.

Formatting Your Works Cited Page

  1. Insert a blank page at the end of your paper.
    • Tip: if you use Insert > Pages > Blank Page to do this, rather than hitting "enter" until your cursor is on a new page, your cited works will remain on their own page at the end of your document - even if you add or remove text from the body of your essay later.
  2. Center the words "Works Cited" at the top of the document.
    • If you are only citing one work, type "Work Cited" instead.
  3. List citations alphabetically by the first word of the citation (ignore a, an, or the).
  4. Format your citations to be double-spaced.
  5. Format your citations with a hanging indent by selecting the text, then going to Paragraph > Indents and Spacing > Indentation > Special > Hanging. 
  • Tip: if you enter the bibliographic information of your cited works into NoodleTools, you can export an automatically-created and correctly-formatted Works Cited page. What's NoodleTools, you ask? Read on!