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How to cite a book in a bibliography using MLA (Modern Language Association) manual

The most basic entry for a book consists of the author's name, the book title, publisher city, publisher name, year of publication, and medium. Last Name, First Name. Book Title. Publisher City: Publisher Name, Year Published. Medium. Smith, John. The Sample Book. Pittsburgh: BibMe, 2008. Print. Fisher, Leonard Everett. Alexander Graham Bell. New York: Atheneum Books, 1999. Print. For a book written by two or more authors, list them in order as they appear on the title page. Only the first author's name should be reversed, while the others are written in normal order. Separate author names by a comma, and place the word "and" before the last author's name. For books with three or more authors, you may either include each author in the citation or only include the first author, followed by the abbreviation "et al." Smith, John, Jane Doe, and Bob Anderson. The Sample Book. Pittsburgh: BibMe, 2008. Print. Smith, John, et al. The Sample Book. Pittsburgh: BibMe, 2008. Print. The full title of the book, including any subtitles, should be italicized and followed by a period. The publication information can generally be found on the title page of the book. If it is not available there, it may also be found on the copyright page. State the publication city and then a colon. If there are multiple cities listed, include only the first city.

How to cite a website in a bibliography using MLA


The most basic entry for a website consists of the author name(s), page title, website title, sponsoring institution/publisher, date published, medium, and date accessed. Last Name, First Name. "Page Title." Website title. Sponsoring Institution/Publisher, Publication Date. Medium. Date Accessed. Smith, John. "Obama inaugurated as President." CNN.com. Cable News Network, 21 Jan. 2009. Web. 1 Feb. 2009. Smith, John, Jane Doe, and Bob Anderson. "Obama inaugurated as President." CNN.com. Cable News Network, 21 Jan. 2009. Web. 1 Feb. 2009. Smith, John, et al. "Obama inaugurated as President." CNN.com. Cable News Network, 21 Jan. 2009. Web. 1 Feb. 2009.

If no author is available, begin the citation with the page title. "Obama inaugurated as President." CNN.com. Cable News Network, 21 Jan. 2009. Web. 1 Feb. 2009. The page title should be placed within quotation marks. Place a period after the page title within the quotation marks. The page title is followed by the name of the website, which is italicized, followed by a period. Include the sponsoring institution or publisher, along with a comma, after the website title. The sponsoring institution/publisher can usually be found at the bottom of the website in the footer. If no sponsoring institution/publisher is available, include the abbreviation "N.p." instead. Smith, John. "Obama inaugurated as President." CNN.com. N.p., 21 Jan. 2009. Web. 1 Feb. 2009. Next state the publication date of the page. The complete date should be written in the international format (e.g. "day month year"). Month names should be abbreviated, except for May, June, and July, and followed by a period. In some cases, a specific date might not be available, and the date published may only be specific to a month or even year. Provide whatever date information is available. If there is no date available, substitute the abbreviation "n.d." instead. Smith, John. "Obama inaugurated as President." CNN.com. Cable News Network, Jan. 2009. Web. 1 Feb. 2009. Smith, John. "Obama inaugurated as President." CNN.com. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 1 Feb. 2009. Cite the medium in which the article was published (which for a website is "Web") and a period. End your citation with the date on which you accessed the website (also formatted using the international format of "day month year") and a period. You may choose to include the web address of the page, but only when the reader needs the URL to access the page or otherwise required by your teacher. Although MLA guidelines previously recommended including URLs in a bibliography entry, that is no longer the case. In general, URLs are subject to change and can become outdated, refer to a session in use, and be very long. Users are more likely to find an article now by searching titles or author names. If you choose to include a URL, place it after the date of access (and its subsequent period) by enclosing it in angle brackets. Place a period after the angle brackets. Smith, John. "Obama inaugurated as President." CNN.com. Cable News Network, 21 Jan. 2009. Web. 1 Feb. 2009. <http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/01/21/obama_inaugurated/index.html>. Alexander Graham Bell: Biography. About.com:Inventors. The New York Times Co., 2010. Web. 20 Feb. 2010. < http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bltelephone2.htm>.

How to cite an encyclopedia/dictionary in a bibliography using MLA


The most basic entry for an encyclopedia/dictionary consists of the author name(s), article title, encyclopedia/dictionary name, year published, and medium. Last Name, First Name. "Article title." Encyclopedia/Dictionary name. Year Published. Medium. Smith, John. "Internet." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2009. Print.

In-text Citation Rules


MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the page number(s) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear in the text, and a complete reference should appear on your Works Cited page. The author's name may appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation or paraphrase, but the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your sentence. For example:
Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263). Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Wordsworth 263). Wordsworth extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (263).

Bell not only invented the telephone he also devised a metal detector, the first of its kind . . . (Fisher 16).

IntextCitationsforPrintSourceswithNoKnownAuthor

When a source has no known author, use a shortened title of the work instead of an author name. Place the title in quotation marks if it's a short work (e.g. articles) or italicize it if it's a longer work (e.g. plays, books, television shows, entire websites) and provide a page number.
We see so many global warming hotspots in North America likely because this region has more readily accessible climatic data and more comprehensive programs to monitor and study environmental change . . . (Impact of Global Warming 6).

The year 1877 was a busy one for Bell. In 1877, he formed the Bell Telephone Company, and in the same year married Mabel Hubbard and embarked on a yearlong honeymoon in Europe (Alexander Graham Bell).

Web Sources
With more and more scholarly work being posted on the Internet, you may have to cite research you have completed in virtual environments. When creating in-text citations for electronic, film, or Internet sources, remember that your citation must reference the source in your Works Cited. Sometimes writers are confused with how to craft parenthetical citations for electronic sources because of the absence of page numbers, but often, these sorts of entries do not require any sort of parenthetical citation at all. For electronic and Internet sources, follow the following guidelines:

Include in the text the first item that appears in the Work Cited entry that corresponds to the citation (e.g. author name, article name, website name, film name). You do not need to give paragraph numbers or page numbers based on your Web browsers print preview function. Unless you must list the website name in the signal phrase in order to get the reader to the appropriate entry, do not include URLs in-text. Only provide partial URLs such as when the name of the site includes, for example, a domain name, like CNN.com or Forbes.com as opposed to writing out http://www.cnn.com or http://www.forbes.com.

Source:
MLACitationguide.Bibme.org.Bibme.n.d.Web.9.Jan.2010.<http://www.bibme.org/citation guide>.

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