citation https://librarywp.whatcom.edu/guides Tue, 07 Jul 2026 22:22:49 +0000 en hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.4 https://librarywp.whatcom.edu/guides/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/cropped-librarylogo-32x32.png citation https://librarywp.whatcom.edu/guides 32 32 MLA Citations https://librarywp.whatcom.edu/guides/mla9/ Mon, 22 Sep 2025 22:57:17 +0000 https://librarywp.whatcom.edu/infolit/?page_id=280 Use the Modern Language Association (MLA) citation style for English and Humanities disciplines.

Basic Structure

Last Name, First Name. Title of Resource. Publication Info, Year.

Library Support

In-Text References

Authors, dates, and page numbers can be cited in-text in several different ways.

Example 1: James Fenmore Cooper writes, “It was in the scene of strife and bloodshed that the incidents we shall attempt to relate occurred” (11).
Example 2: “It was in the scene of strife and bloodshed that the incidents we shall attempt to relate occurred” (Cooper 11).
Example 3: Walker (2000) compared reaction times favorably to his predecessor.

Works Cited section

  • Use the title Works Cited centered at the top of the page
  • Alphabetize by author last name, use a hanging indent, and double space
Example of a formatted "Works Cited" page with entries in alphabetical order with all second lines indented.

Examples of Specific Types of Resources

Books and eBooks

Formula:

Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Year.

Examples:

Burkhardt, Joanna M. Teaching Information Literacy Reframed 50+ Framework-Based Exercises for Creating Information-Literate Learners. Neal-Schuman, 2016.

Chapter in an anthology or edited book

Formula

Last name, First name. “Title of Chapter.” Title of Book, edited by Editor’s Name(s), Publisher, Year, Page range of chapter.

Example

Turan, Anusuya Chinsamy. “Paleontology: The Knowledge in the Bones.” On Discovery: How Knowledge Is Produced across the Disciplines, Ed. Jonathan Jansen, Cambridge University Press, 2025, pp. 129-139.

Articles (journals, trades, newspapers, magazines)

Format

Author(s). “Title of Article”. Journal/Magazine/Newspaper Title, Publication Info [vol, no. year, pp]. URL or DOI (preferred).

Example

Lever, Aldo. “Liberalism, Democracy, and the Ethics of Voting.” Politics, vol. 29, no. 3, 2009, pp. 223-227.

Websites

Formula

Author(s). “Title.” Title of website, Publication info (date or date updated). URL (optional include date accessed if it is likely to help readers)

Example

Roser, Max, and Estebgan Ortiz-Ospina. “Literacy.” Our World In Data, 20 Sep 2018, https://ourworldindata.org/literacy

Videos (e.g. YouTube, Tik Toks)

Formula

Author/Uploader. “Title of video.” Platform, Date uploaded, URL.

Example

University of Chicago. “European Cartographers and the Ottoman World, 1500—1750”. YouTube, 12 Dec 2007, Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watchz.

Images and Artwork

Vincent van Gogh, artist. “Starry Night.” MoMA Learning, 1889, retrieved 10 Jan 2018.

Annotated Biographies

Annotations should be appear after the citation entry. Your annotations should be indented.

]]> APA 7 citation style https://librarywp.whatcom.edu/guides/apa7/ Thu, 31 Aug 2023 18:31:16 +0000 https://librarywp.whatcom.edu/infolit/?page_id=582 Use APA citation style when writing for business, social sciences, health, and education fields. The official guide is published by the American Psychological Association.

The full book can be found by visiting a librarian or available for check-out in the Stacks (BF 76.7 .P83 2020)

1. Reference list citation

APA reference list entries contain four main components: author, date, title, and source.

Author. (Date). Title. Source.

Many authors collaborate on publications. APA style allows you to list up to 20 authors for a source in the references list. List by last name and first initial.

Smith, J., Jones, B. E., Brown, K. E., Doe, J., Chan, L., Garcia, S. M., ... Zhang, Z. Z. (Date). Title. Source.

2. In-text citation

APA format generally requires the author-date method of citation. If there is one or two authors, list names (Smith, 2019) and (Brown & Jones, 2019).

For three or more authors, list the first author’s name and et al (Smith et al., 2019).

3. Formatting your APA style paper

Titles of papers are in bold with a blank line before your name.

References (page title) in bold.

Make a hanging indent for your reference list.

More information at the APA Style: Student Title Page Guide

Sample papers in Word and PDF

A gif showing how to make a Hanging Word indent in Word

4. Frequently used sources:

Books and eBooks

Samanez-Larkin, G. R. (Ed.). (2019). The aging brain: Functional adaptation across adulthood. American Psychological Association. https://psycnet.apa.org:443/PsycBOOKS/toc/16123

Sacred texts

The Bhagavad Gita. (E. Easwaran, Trans.; 2nd ed.). (2007). The Blue Mountain Center of Meditation.
King James Bible. (2017). King James Bible Online. https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/ (Original work published 1769)

Journal articles 

Zhao, W., Garcia-Oscos, F., Dinh, D., & Roberts, T. F. (2019). Inception of memories that guide vocal learning in the songbird. Science, 366(6461), 83–89. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaw4226

If a journal article does not have a DOI, end the citation after the page numbers. If an article is open access, you may choose to link directly to the article’s full text.

Derry, K. (2018). Myth and monstrosity: Teaching indigenous films. Journal of Religion & Film, 22(3), Article 7. https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2013&context=jrf

Magazine and newspaper articles

Include a URL if it goes to the full text for free. Note the newspaper or magazine title is italicized.

Gibson, J. (2019, October 9). SF College zoo works to become more inclusive. The Gainesville Sun. https://www.gainesville.com/story/news/local/2019/10/09/sf-college-zoo-works-to-become-more-inclusive/2570723007/

Webpages

Include the name of the website unless it is the same as the author. Italicize the name of the webpage.

Corcodilos, N. (n.d.). Keep your salary under wraps. Ask the Headhunter. https://www.asktheheadhunter.com/keep-salary-wraps
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (2010, February 1). Facing down PTSD, vet is now soaring high. https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/index.asp

Class materials

If the audience for the paper being written can access materials like those in your class, these can be included in the references list.

Matthews, D. (2019). [Lecture notes on evaluating  Internet resources]. Canvas at Whatcom Community College.
]]> Use “cited in” and “cited by” in OneSearch https://librarywp.whatcom.edu/guides/how-to-track-citations-in-onesearch/ Thu, 18 May 2023 04:53:19 +0000 https://wcclibrary.reclaim.hosting/abbyk/?p=4242

In OneSearch, the library’s catalog, you can find peer-reviewed articles, books, movies, and news articles.

Enter your search words or a description of a topic. You can also enter the title of an article you already have. Use the options limit or filter the number and type of results you get.

At the bottom of an article record, under citations, you can find other sources citing this article or cited in this article. Choosing Find sources citing this takes you to a list of articles that have cited the article you were first interested in, meaning those authors thought it was important.

If you go back to the article and choose to Find sources cited in this article, you will get a list of articles that were cited in the article you were first found, usually included in the References or Bibliography section of the article.

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