How would you feel if you went to the doctor with back pain that left you unable to function? After running a few tests, the doctor breaks the news to you: back surgery is needed in order to repair a ruptured disc.

The problem with this diagnosis? It’s completely wrong.

A handful of visits to a chiropractor would align your spine. No surgery needed.

Why were you misdiagnosed? Because your doctor plagiarized much of his work, including his dissertation. He faked his way through med school and ended up forging some of his licenses. Thus, he knows very little about medicine. His patients pay the price.

Sure, this is an extreme example, but it happens. People (like this guy) have been caught practicing medicine illegally, and still others (like this guy) have been caught performing surgeries as fake doctors.

I know–you’re saying that practicing medicine illegally and even plagiarizing in med school is a heckuva lot more serious than plagiarizing your argumentative essay in English class.

Yes and no. Your chosen career may never put someone’s life at risk. But if you plagiarize, your degree is just as fake as the fake doctor who forged his medical license.

Convinced of the seriousness of plagiarism? Here’s what you should know about avoiding plagiarism in your writing.

Q&A: What You Should Know About Avoiding Plagiarism

Q: What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is taking someone else’s words or ideas and trying to pass them off as your own. In the simplest of terms, plagiarism is stealing.

In the simplest of terms, plagiarism is stealing.
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I’m sure you know that using someone else’s paper and submitting it as your own is plagiarism. But you can also plagiarize by doing any one of the following:

• Omitting quotation marks around direct quotes.
• Forgetting to include proper citation for paraphrases, summaries, or quotes.
• Changing only a few words of a quote and writing a paraphrase that is too close to the original statement.

Remember, it’s not only the written word that can be plagiarized. You also can’t use ideas from media–such as artwork, music, or video–without providing proper attribution.

Q: Why do students resort to intentional plagiarism?

Some students plagiarize simply because they don’t want to do the work. Others plagiarize because they run out of time to write an essay.

Still others turn to plagiarism because they don’t understand the assignment. They’re struggling and likely staring at a blank page and end up plagiarizing because they know they need to turn in something.

To avoid a situation where you’re out of time or so confused that you don’t have time to ask for help, start your assignment early.

If you don’t procrastinate, you’ll have time to take good notes when researching, prewrite, draft, and revise. You’ll also have time to get help from your prof, the writing center, or a Kibin editor if you need it.

Q: What if I accidentally plagiarize?

Accidental plagiarism occurs when you incorrectly cite a source. For instance, you may, for the most part, be citing correctly, but you might miss an in-text citation for one of your sources (but include it on the Works Cited or References page).

If you’re in a first-year college composition class and just learning about citations, your prof is probably going to be pretty forgiving. Sure, you might lose a few points for the error. It’s doubtful, however, that you’d fail the paper or be kicked out of college for plagiarizing.

On the other hand, if you’re writing a PhD dissertation or submitting a paper for publication and forget a citation, people won’t be so forgiving.

Q: Can I be thrown in jail for plagiarism?

If you’re caught plagiarizing, you might fail the paper, fail the course, or even get kicked out of college. You won’t be thrown in jail.

Outside of the classroom, plagiarism could mean the loss of your job or a ruined career. And although it’s highly unlikely that you’d be criminally charged for plagiarism, it is possible.

Q: If I intentionally plagiarize, how will my prof even know?

Let’s say your prof is reading a first-year student’s college essay about parenting styles and reads the following sentence:

Studies showed the reciprocal nature of parents’ and children’s emotion dysregulation and how it escalated during experimental play sessions.

Most first-year college students don’t write this way. Your prof knows this.

What if your prof reads a sentence like this?

The available evidence suggests that there is a clear link between parenting styles and children’s capacities for emotion regulation.

This sentence sounds a bit more realistic and could possibly be written by a first-year college student.

However, keep in mind that your professors read lots of papers. They know whether this type of writing looks like your writing and can spot clear changes in wording and sentence structure.

Probably one of the easiest ways for students to plagiarize is to do a Google search and then plagiarize one of the sources that appears in the list of search results.

Ironically enough, probably one of the easiest ways that profs can determine whether a student has plagiarized is by completing a similar Google search.

If a sentence looks suspicious (as in the examples above), pasting the suspicious wording into the search box will reveal whether the information is plagiarized.

In the case of the sentences above, they are taken from the article Harsh Parenting in Relation to Child Emotion Regulation and Aggression.

Of course, if profs aren’t relying on their own detective skills to catch plagiarism, they might also require you to turn in your sources with your research paper. They might even have you submit your paper to a plagiarism checker website.

Q: How do I actually avoid plagiarism?

The easiest way to avoid plagiarism is to make sure that you’re citing correctly. Not sure whether the information is common knowledge (and therefore doesn’t need to be cited)? Play it safe and cite anyway. It’s better to cite than plagiarize.

If you want a little more help with citation and avoiding plagiarism, read How to Avoid Plagiarism in Your Essay Writing.

Interested in practicing citation and getting a little more help actually avoiding plagiarism? Try reviewing one (or more) of these example essays about plagiarism to see whether students have cited correctly.

Worried That You’re Plagiarizing?

Have a completed essay where you’ve reworked citations a million times but are still worried about whether you’ve cited everything and done so correctly?

Here are a few quick tips to help you with avoiding plagiarism:

• Read through your paper again. Mark everything you learned from your research. If you learned it from a source, it needs to be cited.
• All direct quotes must be enclosed in quotation marks and contain appropriate citations.
• Cite all paraphrases, summaries, and quotes.
• Citation requires both an in-text citation and a corresponding References page (if you’re citing in APA format) or Works Cited (if you’re citing in MLA format).

Still worried? Send your paper to an editor at Kibin. While we don’t check for plagiarism — after all, you know how to avoid that! — we can make sure your citations and references are polished to perfection.

The new 8th edition MLA Handbook (MLA 8) makes creating references on a Works Cited page so much easier than the 7th edition guidelines. You’ll be singing, too—once I walk you through it, that is!

The 7th edition MLA Handbook (MLA 7) was pretty darn complicated, listing a specific format for each conceivable type and variation of source material. It forced you to find the “right” format for each source. Or—if you’re anything like me—stressed you out as you tried to frantically cobble together several format elements to make it “work.”

MLA 7 didn’t accommodate new types of media very well either—how do you cite a Tweet? Or a reader comment at the bottom of an online news article? Or a YouTube video?

The good news is, MLA 8 makes the answers to all of those questions easy. In fact, it’s so digital-age-friendly that you can stop wishing for a magic wand to make your Works Cited page magically appear—or ruby slippers to click to make yourself disappear!

Using MLA 8 instead of MLA 7 is like becoming besties with the Good Witch Glinda instead of the Wicked Witch of the East. (Oof, sorry, MLA 7—should I be watching the skies for tornadoes and flying monkeys?)

So what’s the big change? It boils down to a shift in rules. MLA 7 was all about the rules. MLA 8 is more like a guiding set of principles, providing flexible guidelines that you can use for sources published in any type of media—including new, unpredictable media types.

This post is your stress-free guide to MLA essay format (8th edition). It covers everything you need to know, from formatting to referencing.

Ready? Kick off those ruby slippers, and let’s go.

Did you know? 

MLA stands for Modern Language Association 

Getting the Formatting Just Right for Your MLA Essay

From line spacing and the use of the serial comma to the title section, MLA is pretty specifc about how things should look in your MLA essay. Here’s a quick rundown of the basic elements.

Basic formatting

• Set all of your margins at one inch and your font type to Times New Roman, size 12.
• Set the whole document to be double-spaced (including the title section and Works Cited page) with no extra spaces between paragraphs.
• Indent the first line of each paragraph one half-inch, and use only one space between sentences.

Finally, use the serial comma. Love it or hate it, the serial comma is required in MLA. A serial comma (also known as the Oxford comma) is the final comma before the coordinating conjunction ( “and,” “or,” and “but”) in a list of three or more things.

Here’s a quick example. I included a serial comma before the “and”:

The Tin Man, the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, and Dorothy followed the Yellow Brick Road.

The title section

In MLA format, you don’t need a whole title page. You just need a title section. In the upper left corner of your first page, type the following (keeping it double-spaced, of course!):

Your Name

Your Professor’s Name

The Class Title

The Date**

**The date format for MLA is day month year. So for example, if the current date is March 1, 2017, for MLA purposes, you would write this: 1 March 2017.

You also need an actual page header with your last name and page number, right justified. The page numbering should start on the first page and continue all the way through the very last page of your Works Cited.

Then, you also need to think up a snappy title. If you want to figure this out later, for now you can just type “Title.” (Don’t worry—I get it. Titles are hard, snappy or otherwise. But this post might help: How to Write Good Essay Titles That Are…Good).

Here’s how your paper should look so far:

For more formatting details, and examples of what the formatting looks like, check out the Purdue OWL’s General Format guide for papers and its MLA Sample Paper.

With me so far? See, no ruby slippers needed.

Creating In-Text Citations in MLA Essay Format

Any piece of information that came from your research—and not from your own brain, as mushy as it might be from all this MLA stuff—needs to be cited in order to identify the source of that information.

In other words, academic integrity is important. It means giving credit to authors when you use their ideas. This ensures you won’t get in trouble for plagiarism, not even the unintentional kind.

(See How to Avoid Plagiarism in Your Essay Writing for tips on appropriately citing information.)

All right, ready to start citing those sources? Click your heels together to say yes, but no disappearing on me.

Citing your sources is done using in-text citations. Beyond giving credit to the original author, in-text citations also align with the sources in your Works Cited (which we’ll get to in a bit!). This makes it easy for readers to find your original sources if they want to explore them.

In MLA, in-text citations include the author’s last name and the page number where the information appears in the source. In the example below, “Smith” is the author and “79” is the page number.

Research shows that flying monkeys really do hate little dogs (Smith 79).

Easy enough, eh?

If you include the author’s name in the text of a sentence, the page number still goes in parentheses at the end of the sentence. Here’s an example:

In My Love for the Wicked Witch, Smith was sincere when he said, “It tore me apart to see her melt” (17).

Also notice that the citation appears after the quotation marks and the period is placed after the citation—like so, “Quote in quotation marks” (Author #).

Have a source with no author? No problem. The title then serves in the same role as the author. Pretend the Smith source above didn’t have a listed author. The in-text citations for the above book source would look like this:

Research shows that flying monkeys really do hate little dogs (My Love for the Wicked Witch 79).

In My Love for the Wicked Witch, the author was sincere in saying, “It tore me apart to see her melt” (17).

Tip: If a source has no author and you must use the title, use italics for longer works (e.g., books, plays, entire websites, TV shows,. movies). But use quotation marks for shorter works (e.g., book chapters, articles, a page on a website, episodes of a TV show).

Have a source with two authors? Use this format:

“Quote in quotation marks” (Author and Author #).

Three or more authors? This one’s a little bit different. You only need the first listed author, followed by “et al.”—like so:

“Quote in quotation marks” (Author et al. #).

OR

According to Author et al., Dorothy’s ruby slippers were “all the rage” (#). (Because come on, who wouldn’t love red sparkly shoes?)

To see even more examples for various situations and source types, check out the Purdue OWL’s MLA In-Text Citation guide. It’s super-duper helpful and almost like having a magic wand!

Preparing your Works Cited Page in MLA Essay Format

Setting up your Works Cited page before you write your essay makes your life a whole lot easier. This allows you to fluidly add in-text citations and the corresponding reference entries in the Works Cited as you use each source in your essay. Sounds like a lot less hassle and confusion later, no?

Bonus: When you finish your essay, the Works Cited page is already done too! All without a wand OR ruby slippers.

Clearly I’m biased on how you approach this, but you can also certainly make your Works Cited after your paper is complete if you wish.

Either way you do it, just make sure “Works Cited” begins at the top of the first blank page after the last paragraph of your essay. Also make sure it’s centered. In other words, after your final paragraph, go to the top of the next page. Then use “Works Cited” (no bold, no italics) at the top of it, centered. It should look like this:

It’s critical that readers can find the information you used—and that’s the purpose of your Works Cited page. It provides a map that leads directly to the exact sources of your information.

Phew! Now we’re ready to dive into the biggest changes in MLA 8. Ready? I promise to make it as painless as possible!

MLA 8 and the “Core Elements”

Remember those hair-pulling, pillow-throwing days of trying to figure out how to format a source that didn’t fit a predefined source type in MLA? Well, if you don’t, trust me, they weren’t fun! Either way, those days are officially over thanks to MLA 8.

The authors of MLA 8 were all about creating reliability and flexibility.

Instead of having different guidelines for different source types, in their wizard-like wisdom, the authors of MLA 8 provided a flexible set of core elements. That way, you can pick the most appropriate elements and skip elements that aren’t relevant.

So now, without further ado, I introduce to you the “core elements.” I’ve made a pretty little table to help you visualize how MLA lays this all out.

Here are the core elements:

Notice the punctuation after each element? This is the same punctuation you will use in your Works Cited entry after the corresponding piece of info.

Now, don’t get discouraged if you’re fuzzy on the details. Let’s break this down.

Sometimes sources are located within a larger source. To account for this, the table above has two containers, Container 1 and Container 2.

For example, a journal article within a database would require using both containers. In that situation, the journal information would go into Container 1, and the database info would go into Container 2.

For many sources, you might only need Container 1—the details of each source will help you determine that. But before we get too much into the weeds, let’s plant the seeds first, shall we?

Let’s look at each core element in order so that you know exactly how to use each one.

Author

The author is usually what it sounds like—it’s the name of the person (or persons) who created the work. However, this definition is flexible.

For example, if the focus is on the translation of a book, and not the content and ideas of the book itself, the translators’ names are used in the “author” position. If the focus is on the performance of a particular actor, rather than the TV episode itself, the actor’s name is used in the “author” position.

As in former MLA Handbook editions, if the author information is missing, the organization that created the work is listed as author.

And if all else fails and no author can be attributed, then that position is skipped. The entry begins with the title of the source instead.

In MLA format, the first and second authors listed for a source are written like this: Smith, John, and Tim Jones.

For three or more authors, you only need the first author, followed by “et al.” Like this, for example: Smith, John, et al.

Citing 3 or more authors in MLA 8th edition? Use only first author last name + et al.
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For more variations, multiple works by the same author, etc., see the Purdue OWL’s Works Cited Page guide—and use the links on the left to find various situations. But remember, these are just examples. The core elements should be your guide to referencing your sources.

Title of source

The title of the source is the title of the work you’re most directly referencing. In other words, it’s the particular work within the container—such as an article within a periodical or an essay within an anthology.

But sometimes your source is self-contained, meaning it’s its own thing. In other words, it’s not a smaller part of a larger source. Books, websites (if citing the website as a whole), music albums, plays, a painting—these are all examples of self-contained works.

This means when you plug info into containers, Container 1 wouldn’t have a “Title of container.” Instead, you’d jump right to the next piece of info, “Other contributors.”

Important here is that ALL titles, regardless of their original formatting, are standardized. All titles are in title case with a colon used before any subtitle, even if the original title uses a dash or some other way to break up the main title and the subtitle. Titles should look like this:

This Is the Main Title: This Is the Subtitle

Title of container

The title of the container is simply the “whole” work that contains the subordinate work you’re specifically referencing. It may be an academic journal, a newspaper, a website, an album, or a regular radio episode series.

And more complicated situations follow the same pattern, or repeat the pattern. If past issues of a periodical are found in an online database, then the format would include Container 2, for example.

Other contributors

Other contributors refers to other people who contributed to the work, if that person’s contribution is important to the purpose of what you’re writing. You can start this section by describing the nature of the person’s contribution: Translated by, Edited by, etc.

Version, number, and publisher

• Version is pretty self-explanatory: if a source comes in various versions or editions, you indicate which one. For journal articles, for example, version is the volume number, which would require the abbreviation “vol.” before the number.

• Number is also self-explanatory: issue number, episode number, etc. The abbreviation “no.” is used in front of things like journal issue number or TV episode number.

• Publisher is fairly self-explanatory too. If the publisher is the same as the title of the container, omit the publisher name. For example, if you found an article on a website, the website itself might also be the publisher. Also note that, in MLA 8, the city of publication is no longer needed.

Publication date

The publication date should be written with the day first, the abbreviated month second, and the year third (Example: 17 Mar. 2017 instead of March 17, 2017).

If the source lists different dated information—such as a season or a span of months for a publication that covers several months—use that information instead. If not all of the information is provided, you include what is provided, even if it’s only the year.

One caveat here on websites. The copyright date or “last updated” date is NOT the same as a publication date. Many sites do not list a publication date. That’s okay. In such cases, you simply omit the publication date.

Citing a website in MLA 8th ed.? Copyright/”last updated” dates are NOT the publication date.
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Location

The location of a work is dependent on the specific work. This could be the actual location of a painting, an album number, the page range for an article in a journal, or a web address. For any online sources, you must include the URL (but always omit the “http://.” This was optional in MLA 7, but mandatory in MLA 8. If the work has been assigned a doi, you should include that instead of the URL.

Key Points to Ensure You Rock Your MLA Essay Format

The key thing to remember is this: If your source has one of the core elements, list it in the Works Cited entry, and then go to the next element. If it doesn’t have a core element, skip it.

Let’s look at some examples—then you can safely toss those ruby red slippers to the back of your closet.

In MLA 8, if source has a core element, put it in the Works Cited entry. If it doesn’t, skip it.
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Before you dive into the examples (because I know you’re absolutely dying to, right?!), keep this in mind for ALL SOURCE TYPES. Yes, it’s really that important that I felt the need to put it in all bold caps. Ready?

For all titles (titles of sources or titles of Container 1 or Container 2), use italics for longer works and quotation marks for shorter works.

• Longer works: Books, plays, albums, anthologies, TV shows, journal titles, websites, magazines, newspapers, etc.

• Shorter works: Chapters, songs, articles in anthologies, TV show episodes, journal articles, title on the page of a website, magazine articles, newspaper articles, etc.

All right—now we’re ready. Deep breaths. Trust me, you totally got this!

Works Cited Examples for MLA Essay Format

Example #1: Book

Let’s say we’re citing a book called Memoir of My Life: The Dark Secrets of Always Being Good by Glinda G. W. North.

Here’s how the entry in your Works Cited would look if you’re just considering the placement and look of the core elements. (Note: The details in parentheses are simply to help define the element for you. They’re not part of the entry itself.)

Author. Title of Source (Book title in italics; books are self-contained). Other contributors, Version (edition), Number (volume #), Publisher, Publication date, Location (pages, URL, or doi). Container 2 title, Other contributors, Version (edition), Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location.

Remember, you only need to include the details that apply to the specific source. So you may not need all of the core elements.

Here’s what our table would like with the publication details plugged into the containers for book by Glinda North:

In your Works Cited, then, your entry for the book would look like this:

North, Glinda G. W. Memoir of My Life: The Dark Secrets of Always Being Good. Yellow Brick, 1958.

Example #2: Chapter in an anthology/book

What if you’re just citing a chapter or a book, or a work within an anthology? You’d use a very similar format to the book entry above, but more details would be included.

Here’s how the entry in your Works Cited would look if you’re just considering the placement and look of the core elements.

Author. “Title of Source” (Title of source in quotation marks, chapter name). Title of Container 1 (Title of book in italics). Other contributors, Version (edition), Number (volume #), Publisher, Publication date, Location (pages, URL, or doi). Container 2 title, Other contributors, Version (edition), Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location.

Again, you only need those elements that apply. In this instance, we have two added elements: 1) the title of Container 1 and 2) another contributor (an editor).

Here’s what our table would like with the publication details for an article in an anthology plugged into the containers:

In your Works Cited, then, your entry for the chapter would look like this:

Greenwitch, Grenada. “Being Green in a World of White Witches.” The Making of the Wicked Witch of the West, edited by Sukie Eastwick, Witches Unite, 1966, pp. 133-48.

Example #3: Journal article in print

For a journal article where you use a physical copy of the article from the actual physical journal (hey, sometimes everything isn’t available on the web!), here’s how the entry in your Works Cited would look if you’re just considering the placement and look of the core elements.

Author. “Title of Source” (Journal article title in quotation marks). Title of Container (Name of Journal in Italics), Version (vol. #), Number (issue no.), publication date, location (page range).

Here’s what our table would like with the publication details for a journal article in print plugged into the containers:

In your Works Cited, then, your entry for the journal article in print would look like this:

Gale, Henry. “How a Tornado Knocked My Niece Clear Out of Kansas.” Kansas Quarterly, vol. 12, no. 3, 1940, pp. 38-45.

Example #4: Journal article online

For a journal article published in a journal and then housed in a database, you’ll need both Container 1 and Container 2. Now, pretend the article used above is actually available online in the StormData database.

Here’s how the entry in your Works Cited would look if you’re just considering the placement and look of the core elements.

Author. “Title of Source” (Journal article title in quotation marks). Title of Container 1 (Name of journal in italics), Version (vol. #), Number (issue no.), publication date, location (page range, if article also appears in print). Title of Container 2 (database name), Location (URL or doi). Access date (optional, not included when doi or stable URL is used).

Here’s what our table would like with the publication details plugged into the containers:

In your Works Cited, then, your entry for the journal article in a database would look like this:

Gale, Henry. “How a Tornado Knocked My Niece Clear Out of Kansas.” Kansas Quarterly, vol. 12, no. 3, 1940, pp. 38-45. StormData, www.stormdata.org/stable/1399140.

Note: The above URL is a stable URL, so like a doi, it will never change. Thus, you would not need to provide an access date under any circumstances.

Example #5: Blog post

We’re about to get super meta here. For an example of a newer media format, here’s how you would cite this very blog. For any blog post, you’ll likely only need Container 1.

Here’s how the entry in your Works Cited would look if you’re just considering the placement and look of the core elements that are relevant here.

Author. “Title of Source” (Blog post title in quotation marks). Title of Container 1 (Website name in italics). URL. Date of access.

Here’s how our table would look with the publication details plugged into the containers:

In your Works Cited, then, your entry for the chapter would look like this:

S., Erin. “The Stress-Free Guide to MLA Essay Format.” Kibin.com, 1 Mar. 2017, www.kibin.com/blog/essay-writing-blog/the-stress-free-guide-to-mla-essay-format-8th-edition. Accessed 1 Mar. 2017.

A few important notes here:

1. Kibin is also the publisher. But since the publisher name and the title of Container 1 (Kibin.com) are essentially the same thing, the publisher is not listed separately.
2. I’ve included the date of access (Accessed 1 Mar. 2017), but this is NOT a mandatory element in MLA. You only need to include access dates if your instructor requires you to do so. The date of access and the published date are the same as well for this particular source, but this would be rare in real life. See, very meta!

If you need more help with using the core elements, Purdue OWL provides the definitions and examples for each element in its guide for creating a Works Cited list.

Now Do It!

Now that you know what everything means, you can start documenting your sources.

Here’s a few final things to remember:

• Arrange the entries in alphabetical order based on the first word of each entry (ignoring articles—i.e., “a,” “an,” and “the”).
• Left align the first line of each entry, and use a hanging ½ inch indent for all subsequent lines of the same source.
• Use title case for all titles, which means prepositions and articles are not capitalized unless they are the first/last word of the title or the first word after a colon.

Here’s how your Works Cited page should look:

To make your own Works Cited entries easier and stress-free, use the pretty little table shown in the examples above to fill in source details for your own MLA essay. You can grab some blank copies of it here to fill in the core elements until you’re ready to put your Works Cited together.

EasyBib also makes referencing your sources easy and has links for each of the core elements. That’s about as close to a magic wand as you’ll get!

For more details on the changes in MLA 8, read it straight from the witch’s mouth on the Modern Language Association’s Webpage.

Once you’ve wrapped up your paper and your Works Cited page, you can always have a second set of eyes looks things over by sending your paper to a Kibin editor—your own magical secret weapon for catching any MLA 8 errors!

Now fly like monkeys and cite! Cite, my pretties, cite!

However, it is going to be inherently difficult to convince your reader to agree with you if you don’t have proof.  Unless you can support your argument in a clear and concise way, it won’t matter if you come in peace, or phone home, or have an army of little green men on your side.

Sorry, I’ll stop.

TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER!

Okay, that’s the last one. Promise.

You can claim something, but unless you have quotes, facts, and figures to back it up, it’s just an opinion.

You can claim something, but unless you have facts to back it up, it’s just an opinion.
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Next, you can include lots of quotes, claims, and outside information, but unless it comes from a source with a previously established reputation, your reader won’t take it seriously. You may believe your dad when he swears he saw a UFO when he was 12 years old, but that doesn’t mean I do.

Or maybe you have information from a reputable source, but unless you can prove it by showing me that source, then I can’t be sure that you didn’t make it up.

Writing a reputable academic work involves a hierarchy of reliability.

This is the hierarchy:

• First, you must be able to back up your claim with research
• Second, you have to ensure the research is sound and your sources are credible.
• Finally, you must be able to show the reader your sources, so that they can make an informed decision.

This is where the bibliography comes in. It offers you the chance to back up every claim you make with a list of the sources of your information.

So, what is a bibliography? Why do you need one? Let’s take a closer look.

What Is a Bibliography?

Biblio- means “relating to a book or books,” while –graphy is any “descriptive science.

When we put the two together, we get a rudimentary definition of a bibliography. It is a description of the books used during your research process.

The point of a bibliography is to make your readers aware of the sources you used throughout your work on a project. That means it must include all of the sources you used while researching the topic, whether you quoted from those sources or not.

In general, the bibliography will be a list. This list will clearly and completely compile your sources at the end of your work so readers can easily see where your research comes from.

In general, each reference in your bibliography will include:

• The name of the author(s)
• The title of the resource
• The publisher’s information, including names, locations, and dates
• The page numbers

Depending on the referencing system you use, you may need to include more information, but you will rarely, if ever, include less. We will talk more about making sense of the various systems later.

Now that you know what a bibliography is, why do you really need one?

Why Do You Need a Bibliography?

As we talked about in the introduction, a bibliography is necessary to prove that your research came from reputable sources. This usually includes scholars, academics, historians, scientists and the like.

This typically excludes Aunt Debra after her third Manhattan, the Wikipedia post authored by the freshman at Timbuktu Community College, or any firsthand account from your frat brother Kyle.

However, a bibliography is not solely for protecting your reader against misinformation. It also has the back of all those writers who came before you. It can also protect your writing from others.

When the ideas in your essay end up being lauded as the best of the century, do you want some pipsqueak on the other side of the country copying them into his own essay and claiming them as his own?

So, one of the main purposes of a bibliography is to give credit where credit is due. Avoid plagiarism by including all of your research material in your bibliography. Let your readers know where the basis for your ideas came from in a neat list at the end of your work.

This will also help future researchers. When students fifty years from now are looking into the same subject, they may consult your work. It will be very helpful for them to have a clear list of all of your sources.

This list should include all the research material that you consulted throughout your research and writing process, whether you quoted directly from it or not.

Next, let’s discuss the difference between a bibliography and a works cited page.

How Is a Bibliography Different from a Works Cited or References List?

It is commonly believed that a works cited page, a reference list, and a bibliography are all essentially the same thing. While it’s true that they are similar, sharing many of the same features, there will be times in your academic career when you are asked to provide both a reference list and a bibliography at the end of your work.

So, there has to be a difference.

All works cited and reference lists can be considered bibliographies. However, not all bibliographies can be considered works cited or reference lists. So, what exactly is the difference?

A reference list or works cited, named differently depending on the referencing system, is a list of all of the resources that were directly used in your work. This includes any works that you pulled quotes from to use in your essay. This also includes any works that you may have paraphrased while writing your piece.

Anything cited in your paper should show up on these lists.

These lists are extremely important, because they protect the work of other writers from plagiarism and ensure the integrity of your own writing process.

A bibliography will include these same sources as well, but it will go one step further. The difference between a bibliography and a reference list is that the bibliography includes all works that were used at any point in the research process.

Perhaps, at the beginning of the research phase, you read a book or two about UFO sightings around the world. These books provided you with interesting background knowledge for further research. However, you found all of the claims in the books to be unsubstantiated, so you decided not to include any of them in your final project.

Unlike when putting together a works cited or references page, these books should be included in the bibliography.

This may seem pointless, but when writing a longer work, every resource provides context for your other resources. So, they all must be included in the list of sources you consulted throughout the process, which we now know is called a bibliography.

Because the resources listed in a bibliography are used to varying degrees, your professor will sometimes ask you to write an annotated bibliography for your project.

An annotated bibliography is exactly the same as a normal bibliography, but it asks you to take it a step further. After each reference in an annotated bibliography, you will write a short explanation of the source. Within these explanations, you will discuss whether or not you found the source to be accurate and relevant and how, or if, you used it in your actual writing.

This may seem like a lot of information, but there are great sources out there to help you make sense of it all.

Read How to Write an Annotated Bibliography that Works

What Are Some Resources to Help With a Bibliography?

There are many different referencing systems for citing your work both within your writing and in your bibliography. Each has its own subtle differences.

Choosing one can depend on various factors, including the field of study and the eccentricity of your professor. It is important to confirm with your professor which referencing system is the best for your project.

Once you narrow your focus, it can still be a headache to make sense of them all. Here is a quick list of the most frequently used systems along with a link that will help you learn the ends and outs of using each correctly.

• Modern Language Association (MLA)
• American Psychological Association (APA)
• Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS)
• Harvard System of Referencing

Here are a couple of posts on the Kibin blog that can help you:

• How to Write MLA Citations Without Going Crazy
• How to Write APA Citations in 4 Easy Steps

There are various helpful websites around the interwebs that will help you when it comes time to flesh out that beautiful bibliography. Here are a couple of my favorites:

• EasyBib: Free Bibliography Generator
• The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)

Writing a bibliography may seem a bit complicated, but it really isn’t. Don’t let the process freak you out. Take the time to talk to your professor, read through these resources, and take a look at a few example bibliographies.

For the sake of convenience, I’ve provided a short sample bibliography below. In it you will see a few examples of references related to UFO research.

This example includes three books that could be used in the process of researching extraterrestrials. This bibliography is formatted in MLA style, so a few subtle things will change depending on the referencing system you use.

However, you will notice that the general information I included and many features, such as listing the references in alphabetical order, will be the same no matter which referencing system you use.

Wrapping Up

At first glance, bibliographies can seem pointless. But, as you can see, there are many reasons to create one including protecting your writing and the work of the writers who came before you.

Also, by including a thorough bibliography at the end of your work, you complete that hierarchy of reliability that we talked about at the very beginning of this blog post.

Now that you understand the ins and outs of a good bibliography, you are ready to write your own. Along the way, you may even prove that aliens are using iPhones to phone home.

You can check out some examples of annotated bibliographies in the Kibin database before you get started on your own.

After you write your bibliography, you can send it over to one of our expert editors to make sure your citations (and content) are out-of-this-world good.

The sun shone brightly.

Then one day a dark cloud overshadowed the world. A professor asked the student to write an annotated bibliography. The student grew pale.

She thought she had mastered all things related to citation. She didn’t want to learn how to write anything so terrible sounding as an annotated bibliography.

She closed her eyes tightly and wished her fairy godmother would magically write the annotated bibliography for her.

POOF! Her fairy godmother appeared!

“I will grant your wish….well, sorta,” said the fairy godmother.  “I will not write the annotated bibliography for you, but I will teach you how to write one, thus enabling you to use the skill in your future courses.”

She wrote this blog post to teach all students how to write an annotated bibliography that works.

What Is an Annotated Bibliography?

An annotated bibliography is simply a bibliography with annotations. Okay, that doesn’t help much, does it?

Really, though, that’s all it is. You know how to write a Works Cited or Reference page, right? If you’ve mastered this, the next step is to simply add the annotations.

Annotations include a summary of the work, a critique of the author or credibility of the source, and a discussion of whether or not the source will be useful to your research.

Why Write an Annotated Bibliography?

I’m sure you’re saying, “Give me one good reason why I should write an annotated bibliography.” I’ll do better than that. I’ll give you three!

1. It’s a course assignment. If you want to do well in the course, you need to do it. Enough said.

2. An annotated bibliography helps you become a better researcher.

In order to write an annotated bibliography, you need to be able to summarize the source. This means you’ll need to take the time to read it carefully. You can’t just find a source and add it to the list without reading it.

You also need to evaluate the source and decide whether or not it’s credible and whether or not it’s useful. Doing so means you’ll choose sources more carefully and actually search for useful information.

No more picking the first few websites that show up on a Google search and trying to make them fit.

3. An annotated bibliography saves you time.

If you’re writing a research paper with three sources, it’s pretty easy to remember what you read in each source. If, on the other hand, you’re writing a longer research paper and using 10 or more sources, it’s not that easy.

Imagine you’re on page 5 of your research essay, and you remember reading the perfect quote about binge drinking in…um…well, you read it in one of your sources, somewhere.

Unless you have some magic fairy dust to help remember everything you’ve read, you’ll likely spend 25 minutes looking for that perfect quote.

Trust me, writing an annotated bibliography may seem like a major pain now, but once you see how much time it will save you, and once you see a good grade on your paper, you’ll be happy you wrote it.

Before You Begin Writing

Do your research!

You can’t exactly write an annotated bibliography without sources, so start researching!

If you’re not sure where to find sources read 5 Best Resources to Help with Writing a Research Paper.

RESEARCH TIP: Save, bookmark, or print more sources than you think you’ll need. Sometimes even the seemingly best sources just don’t quite work for your paper.

Read and take notes.

You don’t have to spend hours taking notes on every little detail, but you should mark the following, as you’ll need them to write your annotations:

• The main ideas of the source
• Questions or comments about the argument’s or author’s credibility
• Key points or quotes that you might include in your paper
• Whether or not the source will be useful in your research paper

Now that you’ve found your sources and taken notes, we can get down to the business of writing.

Remember, there will be no waiving of fairy godmother wands to magically produce a completed annotated bibliography. You will need to write your own.

So let’s get started.

How to Write an Annotated Bibliography that Works

Not all annotated bibliographies are written in the same way. Some include primarily summary and informative annotations. Others include a critique of sources. Most annotated bibliographies contain some combination of elements and can vary in word count.

Don’t assume you know which type you should be writing. Ask your professor about the exact requirements for your assignment.

Follow these 3 steps to learn about the basics of how to write an annotated bibliography.

Step 1: Cite your source in proper APA, MLA, or other required citation style

Each of your entries will begin with a full bibliographic entry.

This entry looks just like the entry you’d include on a regular Works Cited or Reference page. Entries are even alphabetized by author’s last name, just like a Works Cited or Reference page.

Here’s an example I created to show you what the citation will look like.

APA format

Robertson, A. (2012). Why fairy tales are important. Psychology Today. (13)2, 210-222.

MLA format – 7th edition

Roberston, Ann. “Why Fairy Tales are Important.” Psychology Today. 13.2 (2012): 210-222.  Print.

MLA format – 8th edition

Roberston, Ann. “Why Fairy Tales Are Important.” Psychology Today, vol. 13, no. 2, 2012, pp. 210-222.

Need some help with APA or MLA?  Read How to Write APA Citations in 4 Easy Steps and How to Write MLA Citations Without Going Crazy.

Step 2: Summarize the source

A summary explains the main ideas of the source.

Someone else should be able to read your summary and know exactly what the source is about.

This isn’t the time to tell readers whether or not you like the source. Be objective. Just state what the source is about. No more, no less.

Here’s an example of what a summary of an article might look like.

Robertson’s article argues that fairy tales are important because they teach children moral tales of right and wrong and provide children an outlet for their emotions. Fairy tales also allow children to develop their imagination and critical thinking as they journey with characters to magical lands.

Step 3: Evaluate the source

Here’s your chance to write a brief paragraph or two to tell readers what you think of the source and how it fits into your own research. I’ve color coded the questions you should ask, so that you can clearly see what’s going on in my example below.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Is the author credible?
• What did I like or not like about the source?
• Are the arguments effective?
• Does the author support her arguments?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses?
• How might I incorporate this source into my paper?

Answering these types of questions will help you formulate an effective critique and evaluation of each source.

Here’s an example of what your evaluation might look like.

Dr. Robertson is a well-known children’s psychologist who also has elementary education experience. Her articles are published in a number of peer-reviewed journals, and her work is considered credible.

The article will be an excellent source for my paper because it includes recent studies about children’s appreciation for fairy tales and features a detailed discussion of why fairy tales are beneficial to children. Robertson even includes interviews with children that I may be able to use in my introduction.

That wasn’t as bad as you thought, was it? Just three quick steps and you have an annotated bibliography!

If you need a quick way to remember the steps in writing an annotated bibliography, just remember CSE: Cite, Summarize, Evaluate.

Putting It All Together

Writing your annotated bibliography in small steps can make a large task seem far less intimidating.

Now that you know how to write each part of an annotated bibliography, the final step is to put it all together and make sure it’s in proper format.

These sample APA and MLA annotations will help guide you.

They Lived Happily Ever After

At the end of the day, the student learned how to write an annotated bibliography.

She knew she needed to write an appropriate MLA or APA citation followed by a summary and evaluation of the source.

The student worked diligently to write an annotated bibliography then had a Kibin editor review her work.

Both the fairy godmother and the student were delighted when the student received her final grade.

And they all lived happily ever after.

Useful Resources to Help Write an Annotated Bibliography

Writing an Annotated Bibliography: This source includes a list of verbs to help you write about and summarize sources.

Annotated Bibliography: Tips for Writing: This source includes an overview of how to write an annotated bibliography and a template to help you write annotations.

Finally, this short video provides a basic overview of an annotated bibliography.

Good luck!

Can you plagiarize on accident? What counts as plagiarism? What are you going to do?

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?

All right. Knock off your caps lock already. Keep calm and read on. I’ve got answers for you. Let me teach you how to avoid plagiarism in your writing.

What Is Plagiarism Exactly?

No one wants to speak up in class and ask the seemingly obvious question: What is plagiarism? How can I know how to avoid plagiarism if I don’t know what it is?

Read on, and I’ll give you what you need to know.

First of all, Merriam-Webster describes plagiarism as the “the act of using another person’s words or ideas without giving credit to that person,” but you probably already looked that up, and it doesn’t exactly lay it out for you. I mean, your research essay or book report is going to be full of another person’s ideas, right?

Plagiarism can be any of the following:

• Using someone’s exact quote without quotation marks
• Copying someone else’s work word for word from start to finish
• Not properly attributing the quote to the author using your appropriate style guide
• “Paraphrasing” too closely to the original text

So, that’s all fine and dandy, but what’s the big deal about avoiding plagiarism? Is there really such a thing as an original idea anyway?

Why Plagiarism Can Be Deadly

Plagiarism can quite literally kill your grades, even if you have committed an act of plagiarism on accident. But, what’s the problem? Why are instructors so worked up about plagiarism?

If you think about someone’s writing or idea as intellectual property, then re-using that idea or writing without attribution is a lot like stealing. Stealing is illegal, and plagiarism has similar repercussions.

Don’t think you can pull a fast one on your instructor by plagiarizing on purpose, either. There are plenty of free plagiarism checkers online now, so it is not difficult for a teacher or professor to bust you.

Plagiarism is not the easy way out of writing an essay.

Though you might not think that the information you included without attribution in your paper about the history of silkworms really constitutes stealing, think again. Your instructors want you to use your own work so you can get a grade that is truly representative of the work you did for the class.

Now that I’ve told you all the horror stories associated with plagiarism, let’s turn the flashlights off, get away from the campfire, and go back to the drawing board.

How to Avoid Plagiarism – 3 Easy Methods

Let’s talk about how to avoid plagiarism.

To avoid plagiarizing, you have several options: paraphrasing, using quotation marks, and citing your sources.

To avoid plagiarizing, you have options: paraphrasing, using quotation marks, and citing sources.
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For formal papers, a combination of those methods is often necessary.

Method 1. Paraphrasing

When writing a research paper of any sort, you will likely end up paraphrasing a lot. Once you have collected all your sources, you will use the information you learned to draw conclusions about your topic.

This method is super useful because, as we all know, you can’t just quote sources back to back to back to back. That would get you the same bad grade that plagiarizing would. Can’t have that. No sir.

Instead, you can paraphrase. Paraphrasing is a lot like summarizing except that, instead of condensing the information in the source, you just reword the information.

Here is a quote from the Gettysburg Address to use as an example:

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

If I wanted to paraphrase that, it might look something like this:

The founders of this nation were devoted to freedom and equality when they formed the United States 47 years before the Gettysburg Address.

Essentially, the two sentences mean the same thing, even though Abe Lincoln might have been more eloquent than I am. Remember that, depending on the style guide you are using, you still have to cite the source of your paraphrase in the text and/or on your essay’s reference page.

But, the point here is don’t plagiarize.

If you were to just say that our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty without any quotation marks or attribution or anything, you’ve just plagiarized, friend.

Also remember that you can’t just paraphrase for your whole essay either (aww, shucks). You have to intertwine your ideas with the ideas presented in your source material.

(Read 10 Examples of Paraphrasing for a Smarter, Better Essay)

Method 2. Using Quotation Marks

The second way to learn how to avoid plagiarism is to use quotation marks. This method is relatively straightforward, but you need know to where you need quotation marks and when you can leave them out.

Say you are going to use the opening line of Edgar Allen Poe’s poem, “The Raven.” How much of the sentence should you quote? If you are just referencing a few words, do you need to quote them? Let’s look at some examples.

For this example, we will use the following sentence:

“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary…”

If you wanted to use textual evidence to prove that the speaker in the poem was tired when he encountered the raven, you might say something like this:

It is important to note that the speaker is “weak and weary,” which may have contributed to his or her irritation at the raven.

Because the words “weak” and “weary” represent an important thought in the text, the phrase needs to be quoted directly.

However, if you were explaining why that quote is important, you wouldn’t write something like this:

Though the raven sat “upon a” bust peacefully, the speaker quickly becomes irritated with the raven’s presence, possibly due to his or her lack of sleep.

Here, because “upon a” doesn’t really convey an important idea and is a commonly used phrase, you don’t need to quote it just because the words happen to appear in the poem you are writing about.

Look! You’re one step closer to learning how to avoid plagiarism! It will soon be a thing of the past for you.

Method 3. Citing Your Sources

Hopefully, your instructor told you which citation manual you should be using, usually, MLA, APA, or Chicago. Using one of those style guides, you need to make sure that all the sources you used to construct your argument or research paper are appropriately included. You will likely have to include in-text as well as full citations.

(Need more help with MLA? Read How to Write MLA Citations Without Going Crazy)

If you don’t include your citations, and you used a source that is not listed, even if you were paraphrasing, that is still plagiarism. If, after paraphrasing, quoting, and citing, you’re still concerned about plagiarism in your work, check your paper with this handy plagiarism checker!

Once your paper is drafted, head over to Kibin for some essay editing help, so we can make sure your citations are correct, your quotations are seamless, and your paraphrases are grammatically sound.

Good luck!

D’oh!

Writing a research paper without providing appropriate citations is pretty similar, actually. Just as directions or an address would help your friends find the restaurant so that they can check it out, citations help your readers find the sources you consulted so that they can read them, too.

But citations serve one more important purpose, and that’s giving credit where credit is due. When you borrow an idea from someone else, you should always provide an appropriate citation to show that the idea is not your own.

There are lots of ways to cite sources, and how you handle it depends on your discipline — not your behavior, but your field of study. If you’re reading this post, your instructor has probably asked you to use the MLA citation format, and my crystal ball says that you’re probably writing a paper for English class — a literary analysis essay, perhaps? — or an essay for another course in the humanities.

Okay, okay, so I don’t have a crystal ball. But I do know that MLA, which stands for Modern Language Association, is the preferred citation format for papers related to language, literature, and related disciplines.

If you’ve never written MLA citations before, you’re probably feeling a little lost. Never fear! Like anything new, MLA citation format can be intimidating until you understand the system.

That’s why I’ve created this handy infographic to help you learn not only why MLA citation format matters, but also how to create MLA citations and where to put them. Best of all, it helps you knock out both parts of the citation — the Works Cited entry and the in-text citation — in just 4 quick steps.

Are you feeling ex-cited about MLA citation format? Well, probably not. But if you’re excited to cite your sources quickly and correctly so that you can get that paper off your plate and go hang out with your friends, then read on!

MLA Citation Format Made Easy (infographic)

“You’re bound to get idears if you go thinkin’ about stuff.” — Tom Joad in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath

So you have to write a paper for your English class, and your teacher has asked you to include MLA citations for your sources. And maybe that freaks you out just a little (….or a lot).

Well then, you think. I just won’t use any sources and will instead rely on my own idears!

So you start thinkin’ about stuff, and you do have some great ideas. Then, you start to quote the book as support, and…oh. OH. You have to cite the book even if you don’t consult any other sources?

Yup. Sorry, Charlie!

And if you have to cite the book (or essay, or poem, or almost any other piece of literature you’re analyzing) anyway, what are three or four or fourteen more sources? Drawing on the expertise of other writers to support your ideas will only improve your odds of writing a killer paper (and getting a killer grade).

But you have to cite those sources.

Don’t let citation intimidation keep you from thinkin’ about stuff and giving the Joads (or any other subject) the treatment they deserve. Let me teach you how to write MLA citations (and your Works Cited, too!) in just four easy steps.

What are MLA Citations, and Who Uses Them?

A citation, at its heart, is like an address. Just as a postal address helps someone find a specific location, a proper citation helps a reader find a specific source.

Just as a postal address helps you find a location, a citation helps you find a source.
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So I can just paste the web address or title of a book in my paper, right? you might think.

Nope! You’ve got to be more specific. Pasting a book title or web address in your paper is like texting your friends a years-old picture of the trees and grass around you and expecting them to find the park where you’re waiting.

They might stumble upon you eventually, or they might show up to the wrong park altogether.

If you give your friends the address of the park, though, Siri or Google or the CIA can help them pinpoint your location in seconds.

Citations work the same way. If you give your readers the ‘address’ of the source, they can locate it quickly. Even more importantly, they can locate the right edition or version of the source to make sure page numbers match up, translations are the same, and so forth.

Just as the pieces of a postal address are arranged in a specific way, the pieces of a citation are, too. And just as every country has a slightly different format for postal addresses (see for yourself!), most disciplines — or subjects — have slightly different formats for citations.

So let’s talk about MLA citations, specifically, including who uses them and what “MLA” means, anyway.

MLA stands for “Modern Language Association,” which is a professional organization for teachers and scholars of language, literature, and the humanities.

This organization publishes its own handbook for formatting papers and — relevant to your interests — citing sources.

Many students first encounter MLA style in their high-school or college English classes, although students (and professionals) in other language, literature, and (some) humanities disciplines also use MLA.

Every MLA citation has two parts:

1. the in-text citation, which appears after a sentence containing information from another source, and
2. the Works Cited entry, which appears in the list of resources at the end of your paper (known as — spoiler alert — the Works Cited).

Why two parts?

The in-text citation is a form of shorthand that helps the reader find the longer entry (that contains much more information) in the Works Cited.

Going back to the directions analogy, it’s kind of like saying “the park on 4th and Main” so that your friends can find it on a map of your city. The in-text citation is more informal than a full address and includes less information, but it gives the reader enough context to find the entry in the Works Cited.

Now that you know what MLA citations are and why you need to use them, check out these four easy steps for writing your own citations.

Four Easy Steps for Writing MLA Citations

The process of citing your sources is much easier when you write both the in-text citation and the Works Cited entry at the same time. This way, you build your source list as you go, and you ensure that you don’t accidentally include in-text citations without associated entries in the Works Cited (which is a pretty frequent issue I encounter during editing).

With that in mind, you can knock out both parts of an MLA citation in just four easy steps.

Step 1. Decide what type of source you’re dealing with

When you’re writing a literary analysis or another type of research paper or essay, you might consult a pretty wide range of resources: books, articles in scholarly journals, web pages, and more.

In order to construct your citation, you need to determine exactly what kind of source you have. This is important because citing the Bible, for instance, is a little different from citing any other book, and citing a CD is a little different from citing an MP3.

Step 2. Find the appropriate structure/plug in information

Once you know what type of source you are citing, you should locate the correct structure for the Works Cited entry. There are loads of great places to look, including

1. The Purdue OWL’s Works Cited resources

2. The Bedford/St. Martin’s Research and Documentation online handbook

3. If you’re totally stuck on a hard-to-cite source, see if your library has a physical copy of or online subscription to the official MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, which is the most comprehensive MLA resource available.

4. Sometimes our ways of accessing information change more quickly than the handbook is updated. For instance, the MLA doesn’t yet have guidelines for citing mobile apps, but Hans Mundahl at Ed Social Media has written a great blog post with 7 tips for citing apps using existing MLA guidelines.

To save you a little time, I’ll also share the structures for the most common sources you’re likely to encounter in your research.

Book

Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publishing location: Publisher, Year of Publication.        Medium of publication.

Journal article

Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article in Title Case.” Title of Journal Volume.Issue                (Year): Pages. Medium of publication.

Web page

Last Name, First Name. “Title of Web Page.” Title of Web Site. Name of publisher/sponsor      of site, Date site was created. Medium of publication. Date of access.

After finding the right structure, you simply plug in the information from your source. It’s not so different from plugging in the different parts of an address, if you think about it.

Step 3. Add entry to Works Cited

Once you’ve plugged in your information, you’re ready to add the entry to your Works Cited page.

To give you an idea of what your Works Cited should look like as it comes together, I put together an example Works Cited that includes a book, a journal article, and a web page entry. I also added some handy-dandy annotations with tips for formatting your page.

Step 4. Write in-text citation

After you’ve added the entry to your Works Cited, all that’s left to do is write your in-text citation. Compared to the rest of these steps — which really weren’t so bad, were they? — this part is gravy.

First, remember that you need an in-text citation any time you quote, summarize, or paraphrase information from another source. (Not sure of the difference? Check out the Purdue OWL’s explanation.)

The in-text citation follows the quotation or paraphrased information immediately, before you even stick a period at the end of a sentence.

A basic in-text citation contains the author’s last name and the page number on which you found the information, which applies only if your source — a journal article, a book — has page numbers.

Let’s take a peek at a few examples.

Say you’re citing a line from The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, which you’ve already added to your Works Cited, of course. The in-text citation would come right after the quotation, and the ending punctuation comes after the citation:

“Their eyes were inward and quiet, and their eyes, too, were lucent in the evening, lucent in dusty faces” (Steinbeck 135).

Daaaang. That was easy!

Now, let’s pretend you’re paraphrasing from Jackson Benson’s journal article cited above:

Scholar Jackson Benson felt that the latter half of the novel’s dedication, “To Tom, who lived it,” made the novel seem more exciting as he assumed it was a reference to Tom Joad (151).

Hey, wait a minute, you might be thinking. Why are the name and page number separate?

This just gives you one more way to cite your information. In this case, identifying the author in the text of the sentence makes sense. And since we did so, you can include just the page number in the parenthetical citation. Neat, huh?

There’s one more important consideration: what about those sources without named authors, like the web page in the example Works Cited? In cases like these, your parenthetical citation starts with the first element of the Works Cited entry. In most cases, this will be the title of the source:

“The novel has an unusual structure: chapters that present historical and social information that led to the present situation (‘intercalary chapters’) are interspersed with chapters of narration that focus on specific characters and develop the plot” (“1939, The Grapes of Wrath”).

Notice that the citation not only lacks an author, but it also doesn’t include a page number; this is just fine since the web page doesn’t have them.

Additional Resources

It’s important to know how to write MLA citations and find their structures on your own, and with the tutorial above, you should be well on your way.

But while you’re learning the ropes (or just citing a ton of sources), there are a few handy automated citation builders that can make the process of writing citations faster and easier. You can even use them to verify that you’re on the right track as you create your own.

Bibme is one great citation generator — and it’s free! It has an easy-to-use interface that allows you to create a citation based on a search, or you can enter your information manually. If you’re citing a source with many different editions and publishers, such as a 75-year-old novel, it’s best to use the manual entry mode.

Citefast is another free citation generator. You select your source type, enter/search for your source information, view your generated citations and then export or copy/paste them into your Works Cited. Like Bibme, Citefast provides the option to search for your source or enter the information manually.

As you can see in the screen grabs above, both of these generators also generate in-text citations for you, too; you have to add the page number, though!

Last but not least, you can test your smarts by playing ten rounds of MLA Master Blaster, a fun citation game from Williams College Libraries.

I hope you’re feeling pretty confident in your ability to write MLA citations. Don’t forget to have a Kibin editor check your work and help you put the final polish on your paper.

Happy writing!