Citing your Sources
You will most likely be using APA (American Psychological Association) Style. Use the examples below as a helpful guide.
How to cite an article from a library database (such as Academic Search Complete or Criminal Justice Abstracts)
Here's how you can use the database generated citation:
Step 1: Once you've accessed the full article, click the circled icon. (It will say "Cite").
Step 2: A box will pop up that has an alphabetized list of all citation styles, complete with the full, ready-made citation; scroll down a bit and you'll see MLA. Feel free to copy and paste that into your source list.
Step 3: Double check your citations to make sure they are correct and follow the current editions standard for APA
However, you may have used a database that does not have a citation generator tool. If this is the case, you can follow this example:
Format
Author Last, First. "Title of article." Title of Publication, Vol.#, no. #, year, page-range (p.pp.), Database, permalink/doi. Accessed date.
Example
Dolby, Nadine. “Research in Youth Culture and Policy: Current Conditions and Future Directions.”
Social Work and Society: The International Online-Only Journal, vol. 6, no. 2, 2008,
www.socwork.net/sws/article/view/60/362. Accessed 20 May 2009.
Some other common sources you may have to cite:
Format
Author Last, First. Title of site. Publisher, Creation Date, Web address. Accessed Date.
Example
Smith, John. The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U,
2008, owl.english.purdue.edu/owl. Accessed 23 Apr. 2008.
Format
Author Last, First M.. "Title of Article." Title of Newspaper, Date, page-range (if available), Database
(if applicable), www.someaddress.com/full/url/
Example
Brubaker, Bill K.. "New Health Center Targets County's Uninsured Patients." Washington Post, 24
May 2007, p. LZ01.
Format
Author Last Name, First. Book Title. Publisher, Publication Date, Database (if applicable),
Permalink/DOI (if applicable)
Example
Jones, William. Writing for the New Age. Big City Publishers, 2019, ProQuest,
www.proquest/search.com.
General MLA rules to keep in mind
1. All of your sources should have a hanging indentation.
Example:
Author Last, First. "Some Long Article Name." Journal of Citations, vol. 1, no. 2,
pp. 1-5. https://www.doi.org/10.123456.78
2. The first authors' names should be inverted (i.e., last names should be provided first).
3. Give the last and first name and middle initial for all authors of a particular unless there are 3 or more authors.
Format:
Author Last, First, and Author First Last. Title. Publisher. Date.
Example:
Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring. Allyn and Bacon, 2000.
Example:
Lorans, Katy et al. The New Place: Higher Ed Tutoring. Utah State UP, 2021.
4. Reference list entries should be alphabetized by the last name of the first author of each work.
5. For multiple articles by the same author, or authors listed in the same order, list the entries in chronological order, from earliest to most recent.
(From OWL Purdue)
1. MLA follows the Author Last Name, Page formatting.
Example:
2. When a source has no known author, use a shortened title of the work instead of an author name.
For example, To the Lighthouse would be shortened to Lighthouse.
3. When you cite a work that appears inside a collection of works (anthology, encyclopedia, etc), cite the author of the original source.
4. For a source with two authors, list the authors’ last names in the text or in the parenthetical citation:
Example:
5. For a source with three or more authors, list only the first author’s last name, and replace the
additional names with et al.
Example:
MLA Formatting Guide
They have simplified explanations and examples of the most commonly used source types for APA, MLA, Chicago, IEEE, AMA, and ASA citation styles. The information provided will be based on the most recent version of those style guides.
Has the most recent MLA style guide, examples, and paper formats. This is subscribed to through the college, you have to be signed into your account in order to access the materials.
Tips for formatting your paper, and a citation generator**
**The citation generator can be helpful in getting started BUT should always be checked against an official citation style guide.
