East Greenwich High School - Garno: MLA 8th Edition

Learn how to set up your MLA style paper below! 

Alphabetize each entry in a works cited list by the first letter, ignoring the articles A, An, and The. Indent subsequent lines of entries one-half inch. Citations should be double-spaced.

The MLA 8th edition no longer uses publication type to format citations. Instead it provides a list of core elements which should be presented when available in the following order. Each element is followed by the punctuation mark shown unless it is the final element. All citations should end with a period.

1. Author (followed by a period) where there is no known author do not include one.
2. Title of Source (followed by a period)(Titles that require italics: books, magazines, journals, movies, website, databases, TV series. Titles that require quotation marks: short stories, articles, songs, a webpage as part of a larger website. )
3. Title of Container (followed by a comma) A container is the larger souce in which the items appears. A website may contain mulitple pages. A magazine may contain multiple articles.
4. Other contributors (followed by a comma) Only used if necessary.
5. Version or Edition (followed by a comma) Only include if listed.
6. Number (followed by a comma) This applies to multi-volume books like encyclopedias.
7. Publisher(followed by a comma) Do not include for magazines, newspapers, and journals. Do not include for websites if the name of the publisher and the website are the same.
8. Publication Date (followed by a comma) If there are multiple dates use the date on the source you consulted.
9. Location (followed by a period) Include the URL, permalink, page or page range. Use p. to show an item is only on one page; use pp. to show the page range.

When the work is part of a larger whole, the larger whole is a container. For example if citing an article in a journal, the journal is a container. Works can have multiple containers. For example an article in a journal may also be in a database, in this case both the journal and the database are containers for that article. All containers for a work should be included in the citation. Core elements 3 – 9 should be listed for each container followed by a period to mark the end of elements related to that container.

Follow the formats below to cite your source in MLA 8th edition: 

Print Book with one Author:

Example: 

Brinkley, Alan. The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People. 7th ed., McGraw Hill, 2014, p. 525.

Author's last name, Author's first name. Title.  Edition,  Publisher, Year of Publication, Page number. 

 

EBook:

Example:

Hardy, Thomas. Far From the Madding Crowd.  The Floating Press, 2009, eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), pp. 7-10.

Author's last name, Author's first name. Title. Publisher, Year  of Publication. Database Title (Publisher of Database), page or page range.

To Cite an eBook from the EBSCO eBook Collection click on the "cite" link on the right. Scroll down till you get to MLA. Copy and paste the information under MLA.  You will need to add the page or page range to the information you copy and paste if that information if available.

 

Magazine or Newspaper Article from an Online Database (Explora or EBSCO) :

Example:

Shaw, Allyson. "Unicorns of the Sea." National Geographic Kids, no. 467, Feb. 2017, p. 24. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

             direct=true&db=mih&AN=120435375.

Author's last name, Authors first name.   "Article Title." Journal Title. Edition, Date,  Page. Name of Database. Location.

To cite an article from Explora or EBSCO you will be using the "cite" link on the right hand side of the screen and when the window opens choosing MLA.

 

Webpage from a website with an author:

Example:

Poncelet, Barbara. "Mom Am I Fat?: Helping Your Teen Have a Positive Body Image." Verywell.com, About Inc., 20 Apr.

               2016, www.verywell.com/mom-am-i-fat-3200843. 

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Page or Document." Title of Website, Name of Organization Affiliated with the Website, Date of copyright or

                date last modified/updated, URL. 

 Note: Date of access is now optional in MLA 8th edition. If no publication date is included, we recommend including the date you last accessed the site. Write the information as Accessed Day Month Year followed by a period.

 

Webpage From a Website With Unknown Author:

Example:

"How to Teach Yourself Guitar." eHow, Demand Media, www.ehow.com/how_5298173_teach-yourself-guitar.html. Accessed 24 June 2016.

"Title of Page or Document." Title of Website, Name of Organization Affiliated with the Website, Date of copyright or date last modified/updated, URL. Accessed date

In the example above there is no publication date for the website so an accessed date is provided.

 

Video from Discovery Education Video:

Example:

“Narwhals.” Discovery Education, BBC. All Rights Reserved. , 2009, app.discoveryeducation.com/learn/videos/a20bfd31-f732-48cb-8744-532a8da9b

              c29.

Title. Database, Publisher. Date, location.

To cite a Discovery Education video find the "citation" tab and choose information under MLA.

 

Video from Youtube:

Example:

RotoBaller. “RotoBaller MLB: Top Fantasy Baseball Catcher Dynasty League Prospects for

           2016.” YouTube, commentary by Raphael Rabe, 27 Mar. 2016, youtu.be/gK645_7TA6c.

Last Name, First Name of video creator or Username of Creator. "Title of Video."  Title of the Hosting Website, Contributors if given, Month Year   

           of Publication, URL of video. 

Note: Date of access is now optional in MLA 8th edition. If no publication date is included, we recommend including the date you last accessed the site. 

Before your hand in your works cited page, check yourself: 

• Do you have the required number of sources for your project?
• Are your source organized in alphabetical order? 
• Is the second line of each source indented? 
• Is each source single spaced?
• Are your entries correctly punctuated? 
• There should be no number or bullets on your works cited page 

A works cited page allows your readers to verify the sources you have used to gather research. Most importantly, it gives credit to the authors and researcher whose work you've used. A detailed works cited helps to avoid plagiarism! 

• Be sure to use academic quality sources! If you can't verify the quality of the source with the CRAAP test, don't use it!
•  Don't just add sources to make your biography look long. Only add the ones you've actually used in your paper or project.
• Make note of bibliographic information as you reasearch! This will save you time when you create the works cited page at the end.