MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers: Citation Guide

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Mississippi State University Libraries
http://library.msstate.edu/li/

The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers has been a standard citation guide for
the humanities for decades. The 6th edition, published in 2003, contains updated
information on citing electronic resources. This brief guide provides examples of citation
styles for various sources that are commonly used in humanities research. It is not a
replacement for the MLA Handbook.

Two copies of the 6th edition of the MLA Handbook (call number REF LB2369 .G53 2003)
are available at the Ready Reference Desk, located on the 2nd floor of Mitchell Memorial
Library. All material cited in this guide is available in the print or electronic collections of
Mississippi State University Libraries.

Book or Monograph, Single Author:

Minter, David L. William Faulkner, His Life and Work. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1997.

Book or Monograph, More Than One Author:

Moore, Harry T., and Albert Parry. Twentieth-Century Russian Literature. Carbondale:
Southern Illinois UP, 1974.

Chapter From a Book:

Use this format when a book consists of chapters written by various individuals. Note that
the name of the chapter is placed in quotation marks, and the page numbers of the chapter
are included after the publication information. The name(s) of the editor(s) of the work must
also be stated.

Barlow, Judith E. “Building Characters: Eugene O’Neill’s Composition Process.” Eugene

O’Neill in China. Ed. Haiping Liu and Lowell Swortzell. New York: Greenwood, 1992.
149-155.

Article From a Journal:

The title of the article is placed in quotation marks, and the journal that contains the article is
underlined. These are followed by the volume number, the year of publication, and the page
numbers.

Downie, J.A. “Defoe’s Early Writings.” Review of English Studies 46 (1995): 225-230.
Article From a Journal, Accessed Through an Electronic Database:
In addition to the information required for all journal articles, journal articles accessed
through an electronic database should include the following information: the name of the
database, the company that provides the database, the library that subscribes to the
database, the date the article was accessed, and the web address of the database provider
(if available).

Ford, Karen J. “Do Right to Write Right: Langston Hughes’s Aesthetics of Simplicity.”
Comparative Literature 38 (1992): 436-456. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO.
Mississippi State U, Mitchell Memorial Lib. 2 Feb. 2004 <http://www.epnet.com/>.

Newspaper Article, No Author

Note that if a newspaper has more than one edition, the edition must be given after the
date.

“Century’s Top Novels in English.” USA Today 21 July 1998, final ed.: D8.

Newspaper Article, From an Electronic Database

Grant, Steve. “Mark Twain House Gets a Subtle Addendum.” Washington Post 29 Oct.
2003, final ed.: C11. Academic Universe: News. Lexis-Nexis. Mississippi State U,
Mitchell Memorial Lib. 15 Jan. 2004 <http://www.lexis-nexis.com/>.

Website (or a portion of a website):

The rules for citing websites vary, depending on such issues as whether the entire website
is being cited or just a portion of the website. Consult the paper copy of the MLA Handbook,
6th ed., for more details.

Stasz, Clarice. “Jack [John Griffith] London.” The Jack London Collection. 2003. Berkeley
Digital Library SunSITE. U of California, Berkeley. 2 Feb. 2004
<http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/ London/jackbio.html>.

This guide was developed by Brad Brazzeal on February 16, 2004, and last modified on
July 17, 2007. Please send any comments to bbrazzeal@library.msstate.edu.