Writing with Style Writing and Style Manual 
Poway Unified School District


 

MLA FORMAT 
FOR BIBLIOGRAPHY ENTRIES

Book Entries | Periodical Entries | Encyclopedias | Electronic and Online Resources


Book Entries
Author(s).  Book Title.  City of Publication: Publisher, most recent copyright year.

Book by One Author
Handy, Charles.  The Age of Unreason.  Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1990.  

Book by Two or Three Authors
Lawrence, Jerome, and Robert Lee.  Inherit the Wind.  Toronto: Bantam Publishing Co., 1955. 

Book by More than Three Authors
Hastings, Marie et al.  Biogenetics.  Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1985.

Book by a Corporate Author
American Diabetes Association.  Living with Diabetes. New York:  Random House, 1994.   

Spacing Entries
While these examples are single-spaced, in your paper you must double-space within and between entries.

An Introduction, Preface, Foreword, or Afterward
Epstein, E.L.  Afterward.  Lord of the Flies.  By William Golding.  N.p:  Putnam,
     1954. 185-190.

A Translation
Derrida, Jacques.  The Gift of Death.  Trans. David Wills.  Chicago:  Univ. of Chicago Press, 1995.  

A Pamphlet
FDA.  Check the Date:  Dangers of Expired Prescription Drugs.  New York:  FDA, 2001. 

Entire Edited Anthology or Collection
Wieder, Jason ed.  Letters of the Civil War Era.  2 vols.  Athens:  Univ. of Georgia Press, 1993.  

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Abbreviations for Missing Information
N.p.  No place of publication
n.p.   No publisher
n.d.      No date of publication
n.pag.   No pages

Article, Story, or Essay in an Anthology or Reference Book
Author(s). “Article, Story, or Essay Title.”  Title of Anthology.  Name of the Translator, Editor,
      or Compiler of the anthology.  State:  Anthology Publisher, date.  page numbers of cited
      piece.

Toelken, Barre.  “Life and Death in the Navajo Coyote Tales.”  Recovering the Word:  Essays
     on Native American Literature
.  Eds.  Brian Swann and Arnold Krupat. Berkeley:  Univ. of
     California Press, 1990.  388-401. 

Previously Published Scholarly Article in a Collection
Author(s). “Article Title.” Title of Original Publication.  [Original publication citation].  Rpt. in
     Title of Current Publication
.  Editor’s Name.  [Current publication citation].  pages. 

Shield, Tamara.  “Feminist View of Jane Austen.”  British Authors 24 (1984): 232-38. Rpt. in
     Twentieth Century Literary Criticism.
Vol. 25. Ed. Dennis Poupard. Detroit: 
    
Gale Research, 1988. 399-402.  

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Periodical Entries
Author(s). “Article Title.”  Periodical Title.  Date: Inclusive pages. 

Magazine Article
Martinez, Rachelle P.  “What Can Be Done?”  Newsweek. 21 Mar.
     1988: 57-58.

Newspaper Article
Smith, Bernard.  “Earthquake Country.”  San Diego Union Tribune. 9
     Sept. 1996, final ed.:  A1+.

Scholarly Journal Article
Author(s). “Article Title.”  Periodical Title.  Volume # (Year): Inclusive pages.   

Draner, Marcena.  “Electronic Poetry.”  Computers and the Humanities. 29 (1992):  416-25.  

 

Encyclopedias
Author(s). “Article Title.”  Encyclopedia Title, edition.   

Horst, Joanna.  “Ellison, Ralph.”  Encyclopedia Britannica, 1992 ed.

“China.”  World Book Encyclopedia, 1995 ed. 

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ELECTRONIC AND ONLINE RESOURCES

If no author is given, begin with the title of the page or article and use a shortened form of the title for parenthetical citations. If any other information is missing (for example, date of last update or revision), simply leave it out and go on to the next item of information.

When citing a print source also found online, you must first give all the citation information for the print source and then add the online source information.

Personal Website or Homepage
Author(s). Home page. Date of posting/revision.  Name of sponsoring institution or organization.
      Date of access <electronic address or URL>.  

Hylton, Jeremy. Home page. 13 May 2002 <http://www.python.org/~jeremy/>.

Professional or Corporate Website  
Author(s). Name of Page. Date of posting/revision.  Name of sponsoring institution or 
     organization. Date of access <electronic address or URL>.

Gray, Terry. Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet.  6 May 2002. Palomar College. 13
     May 2002 <http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/default.htm>.

Article or Page on a Website  
Author(s). “Title of Article or Page.” Name of Web Site. Date of last update or revision.  Name
     of sponsoring institution or organization. Date of access <electronic address or URL>.

Mabillard, Amanda. "Shakespeare of Stratford." Shakespeare Online. 4 April 2002.  13 May
     2002 <http://www.shakespeare-online.com>.

“Ranch-Raised Fur: Captive Cruelty.” PETA Factsheets. People for the Ethical Treatment of
      Animals (PETA). 13 May 2002 <http://www.peta-online.org/ mc/facts/fswild3.html>.

Article in an Online Magazine  
Author(s). “Title of Article or Page.” Name of Magazine or Journal. Date of publication. Date
     of access <electronic address or URL>.

Huang, Greg and Sage Stossel. “Flashbacks: The Public and Private Worlds of Charles
     Dickens.” The Atlantic Unbound. 26 April 2002. 13 May 2002
     <http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/dickens.htm>.

Article in an Online Scholarly Journal  
Author(s). “Title of Article or Page.” Name of Magazine or Journal. Volume#:Issue# (Year of
      publication). Date of access <electronic address or URL>.

Rosenthal, Steven R., et al. “Developing New Smallpox Vaccines.” Emerging Infectious
     Diseases
(EID). 7:6(2001). 13 May 2002 <http://www. cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol7no6/
      rosenthal.htm>.

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Article in an Online Database or Encyclopedia 
Author(s). “Title of Article.” Name of Database. Date of last update or revision. Date of access
      <electronic address or URL>.

Kastan, David Scott.  "Shakespeare, William". Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia. 13
      May 2002 <http://encarta.msn.com>.

Article originally published in print, but taken from an Online Database (such as Gale Group,
      Infotrac, SIRS)

Magazine or Newspaper Article
Author(s). “Title of Article.” Name of Magazine or Newspaper.  Day Month Year. Page(s).
      Name of Database. Date of last update or revision. Date of access <electronic address or
      URL>.

Hobson, Katherine.  “Mind versus Face.” U.S. News & World Report. 1 April 2002. 61. Gale
     Group Student Resource Center. 23 May 2002 <http://www.galenet.com>.

“Bush Presses For Cloning Ban.” Los Angeles Times. 11 April 2002. A-17. Gale Group
     Student Resource Center. 23 May 2002 <http://www.galenet. com>.

Scholarly Journal Article
Author(s). “Title of Article or Page.” Name of Magazine or Journal. Volume#:Issue# (Year of
     publication). Name of Database. Date of Access <electronic address or URL>.

Larkin, Marilynn. “St John's Wort not Effective for Major Depression.” The Lancet.
     359:9314(2002). Gale Group Student Resource Center. 23 May 2002
     <http://www.galenet.com>.

Online or listserv posting  
Author(s). “Title of Post or Thread.” Online posting. Date of Post. Name of Bulletin Board or
      Listserv. Date of access <electronic address or URL>.  

 

“Father Lawrence – Tragic Hero.” Online posting. 24 April 2002. Sparks Notes. 13 May 2002
      <http://sparknotes.com>.

Burke, Louise. “Creative Ideas for Romeo and Juliet.” Listserv post. 11 Feb 2000.
      NCTE-Talk. 13 May 2002 <http://www.ncte.org/lists/nctetalk/ feb2000/msg01154. html>.

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E-mail  
Author. “Subject of E-mail.” E-mail to [name of recipient]. Date of e-mail.  

Sullivan, Peter. “Re: Homeless Shelters.” E-mail to Justin Price. 7 April 2002.

E-text  
Author(s). Name of Text. City: Publisher, Year. Name of Web Site. Date of last update or
      revision. Name of sponsoring institution or organization. Date of Access <electronic
      address>.  

Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.
     Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 13 May 2002 <http://classics.mit.edu/
     Shakespeare/romeo_juliet/index.html>.

Poe, E.A. “The Fall of the House of Usher.” The Short-Story: Specimens Illustrating Its
     Development
. Ed. Brander Matthews. New York: American Book Company, 1907. The
     Bartleby Project. 13 May 2002 <http://www.bartleby.com/195/10.html>.

CD-ROM
Author, if given. “Title of article.” Title of CD-ROM. Edition, release, or version. Publication
      medium (CD-ROM, diskette). City of Publication: Publisher’s Name, year of publication.  

Moulton, Gary E. “Lewis, Meriwether.” Information Finder. 1995. CD-ROM. Chicago:  
     World Book, 1995.

 

OTHER RESOURCES

Film, radio, or TV program
“Title of the Episode or Segment.” Narrator. Writer. Producer. Title of the Program or Series.  Name of the network. Call letters and city of the local station. Broadcast date.

The First Americans. Narr. Hugh Downs.  Writ. and prod. Craig Haffner.  NBC News
      Special. 
KNSD. San Diego. 6 April 1994.

Audio recording
Author or performer. “Title of Song.” Title of Recording. Performance group, conductor and
     soloists (classical recordings).Publisher or Record Label, Year.

Lennon, John and Paul McCartney. “Come Together.” Abbey Road. EMI Records, 1987.

Handel, Georg Friedrich. “Suite No. 1 F Major.” Water Music Concerto Grosso Op. 3 No. 3.
      London Festival Orchestra. Cond. Ross Pople. Arte Nova, 1995.

Film or video recording
Title. Director. Performers. Format (Videocassette, DVD). Studio or Publisher, Year.

Gone with the Wind. Dir. David O. Selznick. Perf. Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard,
     Olivia de Haviland. DVD. MGM, 1939.

Work of art
Artist. Title of Artwork. Name of Museum, City.

DaVinci, Leonardo. Mona Lisa. The Louvre, Paris.

Interview (conducted by you)
Name of person interviewed. Type of interview (Personal Interview, Telephone Interview). Day
     Month Year.

Gates, Bill. Telephone Interview. 4 Dec. 1999.

Lecture or speech
Speaker’s name. “Title of Speech” (or use a label such as Lecture, Address, or Speech).
     Occasion name or Conference Title. Location, City. Day Month Year.

Sanchez, Jill. “The Jazz Age.” Class lecture. Rancho Bernardo High School, San Diego. 19
     Nov. 1996.

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Updated 06/23/03 by D.Hogan
Poway Unified School District
©February 2003