The purpose of a bibliography or works cited list is to give credit to an author and to help the reader find the material that was used in the report. The following examples are for the types of resources most commonly used in research at the Palo Alto Middle Schools.
Begin each entry flush with the left margin; if an entry runs more than one line, indent the subsequent line or lines one-half inch (or five spaces) from the left margin. This format is sometimes called hanging indention.
Alphabetize entries by author's last name, or if none, by first significant word in title.
NOTE: On some computers, the formatting of the following examples does not look as it should. If you are experiencing this problem, or if you would like a printable version of this information, look at the PDF format of the citation examples.
Printed
Resources
Book with One Author
AuthorLastname, AuthorFirstname. Book Title. Publication City: Publishing
Company,
Year
Published.
Maculay, David. The New Way Things Work. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, 1998.
Book with Two or
Three Authors
Author1Lastname, Author1Firstname, and Author2Firstname Author2Lastname. Book Title.
Publication City: Publishing
Company, Year Published.
Wilkinson, Philip and Michael Pollard. The Master Builders. New York: Chelsea House, 1994.
Book with One,
Two or Three Editors
Editor1Lastname, Editor1Firstname, and Editor2Firstname Editor2Lastname, eds. Book Title.
Publication City: Publishing
Company, Year Published. (*Note: "eds."
becomes
"ed."
if only one editor.)
Feldman, Paula
R., ed. British Women Poets of the Romantic Era. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
UP, 1997.
Book with More
than Three Authors (or editors)
Author1Lastname, Author1Firstname, et al. Book Title. Publication City: Publishing Company, Year
Published.
Brandes, Kathleen, et al., eds. Vanishing
Species. New York: Time-Life
Books, 1976.
Single Work from
an Anthology
AuthorLastname, AuthorFirstname. " Title of Work." Anthology Title. Ed. EditorFirstname EditorLastname
Publication
City: Publishing Company, Year Published. Page numbers inclusive.
Tracy, Robert. "Traffic." Forever Sisters. Ed. Claudia O’Keefe. New
York: Pocket Books, 1999.
160-174.
Journal Article
AuthorLastname, AuthorFirstname. "Article
Title." Journal Title Issue
Volume (Year
of Publication):
Page Numbers Inclusive.
Knuth, Anne. "Drawing Connections." School Library Journal 48 (2002): 50-53.
Magazine Article
(if no author is listed, begin with article title)
AuthorLastname, AuthorFirstname. "Article
Title." Magazine Title Date Month Year: Page Numbers
Inclusive.
Kelly, Niall. "The Man Who Built the White House--Twice." American History Dec. 2000: 46-54.
Newspaper Article
(if no author is listed, begin with article title)
AuthorLastname, AuthorFirstname. "Article
Title." Newspaper Name Date
Month Year,
Special
Edition if applicable: section and page(s).
Kavanaugh, Jennifer. "Drawing Pictures of the Future." Palo Alto Weekly 6 Dec. 2000: 7.
Encyclopedia
Article (if no author is listed, begin with article title)
AuthorLastname, AuthorFirstname. "Article
Title." Encyclopedia Name. Year
Published ed.
Weishampel, David B. "Dinosaur." The World Book Encyclopedia. 2000 ed.
Pamphlet
Same
as book.
Interview
IntervieweeLastname, IntervieweeFirstname. Type of Interview such as personal
interview
or
phone
interview or E-mail interview. Date
of interview dd Mmm. yyyy.
Schiff, Adam. E-mail interview. 24 Oct. 2002.
Online Resources
Magazine or Newspaper
Article from the Internet (if no author is listed, begin with article
title)
AuthorLastname, AuthorFirstname. "Article
Title." Newspaper or Magazine Title Date
Published
dd Mmm.
yyyy. Date Retrieved dd Mmm. yyyy <URL>.
Tedeschi, Bob. "Pet Supplies
Find Sales on Internet." New York Times on the Web 28 Oct. 2002.
18 Mar. 2007 <http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/28/technology/28ECOM.
html>.
Encyclopedia Article
from the Internet (if no author is listed, begin with article title)
AuthorLastname, AuthorFirstname. "Article
Title." Encyclopedia Title.
Date Published (if known).
Date Retrieved dd Mmm.
yyyy <URL>.
Beasley, Maurine H."Roosevelt,
Eleanor." World Book Online Reference Center. 24 Nov. 2003
<http://www.worldbookonline.com>.
Article from an
Online Subscription Service (Such as Gale or SIRS)
AuthorLastname, AuthorFirstname. "Article
Title." Original Source, such as newspaper
or magazine
Date Published Mmm. yyyy if
known: page numbers inclusive.
Database used. Date Retrieved
dd Mmm. yyyy <URL>.
Maddren, Gerry. "Against
All Odds." Cricket Feb.
1998:21-23. SIRS Discoverer. 6
Feb. 2003
<http://www.sirs.com/>.*
*Abbreviated MLA form
acceptable for middle school students in Palo Alto Unified School District
Professional
or Personal Website (if no author is listed, begin with page title)
AuthorLastname, Author Firstname. Page title. Date Published or revised Mmm. yyyy if
known.
Organization
associated with the site (if given). Date retrieved dd Mmm.
yyyy <URL>.
Taylor, Jennifer. Ancient Greek Civilizations. 1999. eMuseum Minnesota State University Mankato.
7 Feb. 2003 <http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/prehistory/aegean/>.
Image from the
Internet (if no artist is listed, begin with "Description")
ArtistLastname, Artist Firstname. "Description
or title of image." Date
of image (if known). Online image.
Title of Web site. Date Retrieved dd Mmm. yyyy <URL>.
Smith, Greg. "Rhesus
Monkeys in the Zoo."
Online image. Monkey
Picture Gallery. 3
May 2005
<http://monkeys.online.org/rhesus.jpg>.
If you need to know how to cite a type of resource that is not listed below, or if your teacher would like you to use a format other than MLA, please ask your teacher or librarian for assistance, or see the online resources on the Palo Alto Middle School Libraries Research Center–Bibliography Resources: http://staff.pausd.org/~middlelibrary/bibliohelp.html
Information is based on MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (2006) by Joseph Gibaldi.
