FORMAT OF YOUR PAPER
DOCUMENTING SOURCES WITHIN YOUR TEXT
LIST OF WORKS CITED AT THE END OF YOUR PAPER
EXAMPLE OF WORKS CITED PAGE
 
 

FORMAT OF YOUR PAPER

1.  Double space your entire paper, including long quotes..  Set margins for 1" all around.

2.  If your instructor does not require a title page for your research paper, on the very first page type the following format: your last name and the page number in the upper right corner.  Type your name, your instructor's name, the course, and the date flush with the left margin and center your title.  Do not underline your own title.

3.  Number all pages consecutively, including the Works Cited page, throughout your essay in the upper right corner of each page, one half inch from the top with your last name and the page number.  (* If you are using a word processor, insert a header on your first page, command the computer to place your last name and the page number in the right hand corner of all consecutive pages before typing your paper.)
 

The first page of your paper should look like this:

                                                                                                                Lee 1

Carrie M. Lee

Professor Brown

EG 11

15 September 2000

                                                        Imagery and Allusion in Doctor Faustus

        Immediately after your title,  indent five spaces and begin typing your essay.  Continue typing

your entire paper double-spaced up to and including the Works Cited page.

1.  You must include all parenthetical references before the final punctuation of your sentence.

2.  Your references should clearly point to a source in your Works Cited page.

3.  Your reference should include the author's last name and the page number from the source-- no comma is needed before the page number.   (Note:  Many electronic sources do not have page numbers; therefore, page numbers cannot be included in the reference.)

Example:   You need to be careful that your research paper is not "just a series of quotations, strung

loosely together" (Clark 80).

• If you mention the author's last name within your sentence, you only need to include the page number.

• If you are using more than one work by the same author, include the title of the particular work to which you are referring.  (You may abbreviate long titles in your parenthetical reference).

happens in school,"  we can see that the student/teacher relationship is an important consideration in

education (Shaughnessy, Errors and Expectations 275).

(Note:  Bear in mind that you will give complete bibliographical information for your reference in your Works Cited page at the end of your research paper.)

4.  When referring to parts of a poem, give the line numbers.

Example:  In Seamus Heaney's poem, "Digging," the speaker states, "Between my finger and my

thumb / the squat pen rests. / I'll dig with it" (29-31).

(Note:  When citing fewer than four lines of poetry in your paper, use the back slash to denote the end of the line of the original text.)

5.  When referring to parts of a play, give the act, scene, and line numbers.

Example:  See note below.

        Caliban, in Shakespeare's The Tempest, exclaims:

                Why, as I told thee, 'tis a custom with him,

                I' th' afternoon to sleep: there thou mayst brain him,

                Having first seized his books, or with a log

                Batter his skull, or paunch him with a stake,

                Or cut his wezand with thy knife.  (3.2.78-82)

(Note:  If the quoted passage is more than four typed lines in your text, set it off from your text by beginning a new line, indenting the passage 10 spaces, and typing it double spaced without quotation marks.)

6.  When referring to an electronic source, include the author's name, if known, or the title of the article.

Example:  New York is a city that stays open 24 hours a day (Wong par. 4).

(Note:  This information is from an electronic source without page numbers.  If the source uses numbered paragraphs or section numbers,  abbreviate as "par." or "sec." with the number or use a full word ["screen"]. Otherwise, use no page numbers at all.  If the source has no author, use the complete title or a shortened form of the title.)

7.  When documenting sources in your text and Works Cited page, certain sources are underlined or italicized (the titles of book, periodicals, newspapers, long poems, etc.), while other sources are put into quotation marks (the titles of articles, short stories, short poems, etc.).
 
 
 

2.  Center the title Works Cited at the top of the page.

3.  Alphabetize all of the works that you have cited in your paper by the authors' last names or the first word of the title if there is no author.

4.  Begin each entry even with the left margin.  If the entry runs more than one line, double space, and indent the following lines five spaces (tab key) from the left margin.

5.  Books, periodicals and World Wide Web sources are the most common sources for reference materials.  Web sources can be divided into two categories:  portable databases (CD-ROMS, diskettes, and magnetic tapes) and online databases (referring to all information available through computer services or networks).  Online databases are becoming increasingly common sources of reference materials.  The following list contains source items you will need to include on your Works Cited page from different sources.  Many electronic sources do not include all the items listed below, but  you should include as many items from the source as are available to you.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

BOOKS

PERIODICALS

WEB SOURCES

Author's name	Author's name	Author's name
Title of a part of the book, poem, or short story	Title of  the article	Title of the article, poem, short story or subject title
Title of the book	Title of the periodical	Title of the book
Name of editor, compiler or translator	Series number or name	Name of editor, compiler or translator
Edition used	Volume number	Publication information, version, etc.
Volume used	.	.
Name of the series	.	Title of scholarly project, database, periodical, or professional or personal site
Place of publication  Name of publisher  Date of publication	Date of publication	Date of electronic publication
Page numbers	Page numbers	Page numbers, or paragraph or section (if they are numbered)
Any other information	.	Complete http web address of source

The following is an example of a Works cited page and some typical entries.  For the purposes of the Works Cited example, after each entry is a pair of brackets identifying the source---DO NOT INCLUDE THIS BRACKETED INFORMATION IN YOUR WORKS CITED PAGE.  For additional examples and formats for electronic sources not included here, refer to the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 5th ed., by Joseph Gibaldi (1999).  Copies are available in the Writing Center, I-101 or visit the MLA web site at :   mla.org

PRINTED SOURCES
BOOK BY A SINGLE AUTHOR
BOOK BY TWO AUTHORS
BOOK BY THREE AUTHORS
BOOK BY THE SAME AUTHOR
ANTHOLOGY OR COMPILATION
WORK IN AN ANTHOLOGY
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
ARTICLE FROM AN ENCYCLOPEDIA
ARTICLE IN A SCHOLARLY JOURNAL
ARTICLE IN A MONTHLY MAGAZINE
GOVERNMENT PAMPHLET
PERSONAL INTERVIEW

NON PRINTED SOURCES
NON PERIODICAL INFORMATION FROM CD-ROM
SOUND RECORDING (LP, CASSETTE, CD)
RADIO INTERVIEW
 

ELECTRONIC SOURCES
ARTICLE FROM AN ONLINE NEWSPAPER OR PERIODICAL
PERSONAL OR PROFESSIONAL WEB SITE WITH AN AUTHOR
PERSONAL OR PROFESSIONAL WEB SITE WITH NO AUTHOR
PERSONAL E-MAIL

Lee 9

Altenbernd, Lynn, ed.  Anthology:  An Introduction to Literature.  New York:  Macmillan,

        1977. [An anthology or compilation]

Andrews, Edmund L.  "Sweeping Revision in Communications is on the Horizon."

        New YorkTimes.  26 October 1994: A1. [Newspaper article]

Butler, Eugenia, Mary Ann Hickman, and Lalla Overby. Correct Writing.  Lexington: Heath,

          1980. [Book by three authors]

Davis, Miles.  'Round About Midnight.  Columbus, CK 40610, 1988.  [Sound recording]

Elbow, Peter.  Embracing Contraries:  Explorations in Learning and Teaching.  New York: Oxford

        UP, 1986. [Note:"UP" stands for University Press]

---.  Writing without Teachers.  New York: Oxford UP, 1973.  [Two or more books by the
        same author--Elbow wrote this book and the one above.  List alphabetically by title]

Erdrich, Louise.  Love Medicine.  New York:  Bantam, 1984.  [Book by a single author]

"Fossils:  The Life of the Past."  The Random House Encyclopedia.  1990 ed.  [An article from
        an encyclopedia]

Heaney, Seamus. "Digging."  An Introduction to Literature: Fiction, Poetry, Drama. Eds. Sylvan

        Barnet, Morton Berman, and William Burto.  9th ed. Glenview:  Scott, 1989.  456-57.
        [A work in an anthology ]

Inside 3-D Studio.  CD-ROM.  Indianapolis: New Riders Publishing, 1994.  [Non periodical
        information from a Portable database/CD-ROM]

Lotman, Yury M.  "The Text within the Text."  PLMA  109 (1994): 377-84.  [Article in a
        scholarly journal]

Morrison, Toni.  Interview.  All Things Considered.  Natl. Public Radio.  WNYC, New York.  16

        Feb. 1986.[Radio interview]

Safire, William.  "On Language:  Bundling."  New York Times Magazine. 11 June 2000.

        14 June 2000.<http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20000611mag

        -onlanguage.html>. [Article in an online newspaper or periodical]

Schell, Jonathan.  "Our Fragile Earth."  Discover.  Oct. 1989: 44-50.  [Article in a monthly
        magazine]

Strunk, William, Jr., and E. B. White.  The Elements of Style.  3rd ed.  New York: Macmillan,

        1979.  [Book by two authors]

United States.  Dept. of Agriculture.  Nutritive Value of Foods.  Washington: GPO, 1981.
        [Government pamphlet]

Williams, James.  Personal interview.  9 Sept. 1994. [Interview]

Wong, Mai.  "New York City At Night."  16 April 1997.  5 June 1997.

        <http:www.nyu.edu/~wong/newyork.html>. [Personal or professional web
        site with an author.  Note:  The first date is date of publication and the second
        date is date of access]

"Working in the 20th Century."  29 Oct. 1997.  17 Nov.1997.<http:www.cwo.com/

        ~work/abbc.html>.  [Personal or professional web site with no author]

Zern, Ed.  "Re:  Writing Center Workshops."  E-mail to John Parbst.  16 Oct. 1997.
        [Personal e-mail]

Prepared by John Parbst
Updated by Maureen Sandford
September, 2000