Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House. MacMurray, 1999.
Noble, Safiya U. Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism. New York University Press, 2018.
MLA Style
The MLA or Modern Language Association style of citation is broadly used in the language arts and humanities. The style is currently in its 8th edition.
Purdue OWL MLA Style and Format Guide
This resource, updated to reflect the MLA Handbook (8th ed.), offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page. Check here for help citing more resources or make an appointment with an Oxford librarian!
Citing Resources
Why do we need to cite resources that we get information from?
To acknowledge that the information is from another source and is not our own. To give the reader necessary information to find the resource and do further research. To avoid plagiarism, or passing off the information as your own.
Icons are from the Noun Project and under Creative Commons licence (CCBY): books by sandra, article by Arfan Khan Kamol, website by Julynn B.
Books
MLA Style is designed to be flexible and adaptable to many kinds of sources - the citation format centers on the idea of "objects" and the "containers" they live in. Since books are self-contained, they don't usually have a "container" element - this makes them one of the easiest things to cite in MLA.
Some example citations are below, from the Purdue OWL MLA Guide. Follow the link for more examples!
How To Cite...
Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring. Allyn and Bacon, 2000.
Pratchett, Terry, and Neil Gaiman. Good Omens. Workman, 1990.
List only the first author followed by the phrase et al. (Latin for "and others") in place of the subsequent authors' names.
Wysocki, Anne Frances, et al. Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of Composition. Utah State UP, 2004.
Harris, Muriel. "Talk to Me: Engaging Reluctant Writers." A Tutor's Guide: Helping Writers One to One, edited by Ben Rafoth, Heinemann, 2000, pp. 24-34.
Smale, Maura A. "Always a Novice: Feminist Learning and Leadership Practice." Feminists Among Us: Resistance and Advocacy in Library Leadership, edited by Shirley Lew and Baharak Yousefi, Library Juice Press, 2017, pp. 7-27.
Articles
MLA Style is designed to be flexible and adaptable to many kinds of sources - the citation format centers on the idea of "objects" and the "containers" they live in. The container of an article is usually the journal, magazine, etc it was published in.
Some example citations are below, from the Purdue OWL MLA Guide. Follow the link for more examples!
How To Cite...
McAninch, David. "Seeing France’s Wild Mountains Through a Clouded, Classic Windshield." New York Times, 15 July 2019. nyti.ms/2GgMdkK. Accessed 16 Jul 2019.
Brubaker, Bill. "New Health Center Targets County's Uninsured Patients." Washington Post, 24 May 2007, p. LZ01.
In Print
Duvall, John N. "The (Super)Marketplace of Images: Television as Unmediated Mediation in DeLillo's White Noise." Arizona Quarterly, vol. 50, no. 3, 1994, pp. 127-53.
From an Online Database
Budd, John M. “Public Libraries, Political Speech, and the Possibility of a Commons.” Public Library Quarterly, vol. 38, no. 2, Apr. 2019, pp. 147–159. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/01616846.2018.1556232.
Krasikov, Sana. "What Children Remember From the War." Review of Last Witnesses: An Oral History of the Children of World War II, by Svetlana Alexievich. New York Times, 13 July 2019, nyti.ms/2JyKt8y. Accessed 15 July 2019.
Weiller, K. H. Review of Sport, Rhetoric, and Gender: Historical Perspectives and Media Representations, edited by Linda K. Fuller. Choice, Apr. 2007, p. 1377.
Websites
MLA Style is designed to be flexible and adaptable to many kinds of sources - the citation format centers on the idea of "objects" and the "containers" they live in. A website itself is a container, so think of pages on a website like chapters of a book.
Citing a web-based resource? MLA style recommends that you include your date of access, as the content may change over time.
Some example citations are below, from the Purdue OWL MLA Guide. Follow the link for more examples!
How To Cite...
“Mission and Vision - Oxford College Library - Emory University.” Oxford College Library, oxford.library.emory.edu/about/About-Oxford/mission-vision.html. Accessed 15 July 2019.
Manila, Ashley. “Coconut Cream Pie Smoothie Recipe.” eHow, ehow.com/how_12343061_coconut-cream-pie-smoothie.html. Accessed 15 July 2019.
"Libraries = Strong Communities: Celebrating National Library Week." Oxford Library Blog, Oxford College Library, 9 Apr. 2019, scholarblogs.emory.edu/oxford/events/libraries-strong-communities-celebrating-national-library-week/. Accessed 15 July 2019.
Images & Video
*Figures cited in-text must be both captioned and cited in the bibliography.
In-text citation:
(see fig. X)
(see fig. 3)
Caption:
*Include the bibliographic information, while replacing periods with commas.
Fig. X. Artist; Title; Creation Year; Institution, URL. (Licensing information/public domain information/fair use notation)
Fig. 3. Cézanne, Paul; Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses; 1890; The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435882. (Public Domain)
Fig. 5. Holley, Lauren; Atlanta Streetcar; 2014; Flickr, flickr.com/photos/atlantadowntown/16106577510/.
(CC BY 2.0)
Bibliography:
Last name, First name. Title of the work. Year. Website publisher, URL.
Cézanne, Paul. Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses. 1890. The Metropolitan Museum of
Art, metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435882.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to cite photos I took myself?
Yes, we recommend citing all photographs and images you use in your work, even if those you created yourself. See below for citation formatting examples. Remember to get the permission of all the people in the photo (or their guardians, if minors) before you use it in your work!
Crowl, Paige. "Happy Spinach." 28 Feb. 2017. Personal collection.
Garofalo, Christopher. "CSCE Contributor Gift Table." SmugMug, 12 April 2019, www.christophervisuals.com/OxfordCollege/CSCE/i-wP8vMbB/A.
Image has no known author?
Omit the author's name, and start with the title:
Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses. 1890. The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435882.
No creation date?
Include an access date instead:
Cézanne, Paul. Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses. The Metropolitan Museum of
Art, metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435882. Accessed 5 Nov. 2019.
Are you citing an image reproduced in a website article?
Read this post from the MLA Style Center for formatting guidelines.
Have you modified the image?
Fig. 3. Adapted from Artist; Title; Creation Year; Institution, URL.
Fig. 3. Adapted from Paul Cézanne; Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses; 1890; The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435882.
Read this post from the MLA Style Center for more information.
Are you using a video screenshot?
Fig. X. Still from Creator, Title of Video (minute:seconds).
Fig. 4. Still from Toledo Museum of Art, What is Visual Literacy? (4:31).
Read this post from the MLA Style Center for more information.
MLA Video Citation Examples
YouTube & Streaming Video:
Title. Platform, uploaded by Screen name, Day Month (abbreviated). Year, URL.
What is Information Literacy?.YouTube, uploaded by Modern Librarian Memoirs, 2 Nov. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbe6xBibOL4.
Audio
MLA Style is designed to be flexible and adaptable to many kinds of sources - the citation format centers on the idea of "objects" and the "containers" they live in. The person who created the audio file is the "author". The MLA recommends that "if the work has no creator—for example, if the file records children at a park singing “Happy Birthday” or dogs barking—leave the author element blank."
Some example citations are below, from the MLA Style Center. Follow the link for more examples!
How To Cite...
MLA Jug Band. “Handbook Hootenanny.” MP3 file, created 6 Apr. 2017.
Recording of dogs barking. MP3 file, created 5 Feb. 2011.
Salinas, Lois. Recording of live reading of Beowulf. 10 Jan. 2017. WAV file.
APA Style
The APA or American Psychological Association style of citation is mainly used for the social sciences. The style is currently in its 6th edition.
Purdue OWL: APA Formatting and Style Guide
This resource, updated to reflect the APA Handbook (6th ed.), offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the references page. Check here for help citing more resources or make an appointment with an Oxford librarian!
-
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association by The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association is the style manual of choice for writers, editors, students, and educators in the social and behavioural sciences. It provides invaluable guidance on all aspects of the writing process, from the ethics of authorship to the word choice that best reduces bias in language. Well-known for its authoritative and easy-to-use reference and citation system, the Publication Manual also offers guidance on choosing the headings, tables, figures, and tone that will result in strong, simple, and elegant scientific communication.ISBN: 1433805596Publication Date: 2009-07-15
Icons are from the Noun Project and under Creative Commons licence (CCBY): books by sandra, article by Arfan Khan Kamol, website by Julynn B.
Books
Some example citations are below, from the Purdue OWL APA Guide. Follow the link for more examples!
How To Cite...
Plath, S. (2000). The unabridged journals. K. V. Kukil (Ed.). New York, NY: Anchor.
Noble, S. U. (2018). Algorithms of oppression: How search engines reinforce racism. New York, NY: New York University Press.
Calfee, R. C., & Valencia, R. R. (1991). APA guide to preparing manuscripts for journal publication. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Artman, J., Sundquist, J., & Dechow, D. R. (2016). The craft of librarian instruction: Using acting techniques to create your teaching presence. Chicago, IL: Association of College and Research Libraries.
O'Neil, J. M., & Egan, J. (1992). Men's and women's gender role journeys: A metaphor for healing, transition, and transformation. In B. R. Wainrib (Ed.), Gender issues across the life cycle (pp. 107-123). New York, NY: Springer.
Articles
Some example citations are below, from the Purdue OWL APA Guide. Follow the link for more examples!
How To Cite...
McAninch, D. (2019, July 15). Seeing France’s Wild Mountains Through a Clouded, Classic Windshield. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/
Schwartz, J. (1993, September 30). Obesity affects economic, social status. The Washington Post, pp. A1, A4.
In Print
Scruton, R. (1996). The eclipse of listening. The New Criterion, 15(3), 5-13.
From an Online Database
Herbst-Samm, K. L., & Kulik, J. A. (2005). Volunteer support, marital status, and the survival times of terminally ill patients. Health Psychology, 24, 225-229. doi:10.1037/0278-6133.24.2.225
Krasikov, S. (2019, July 13). What Children Remember From the War. [Review of the book Last Witnesses: An Oral History of the Children of World War II, by S. Alexievich]. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/
Irwin, D. (2019, July 9). Wot I Think: Gato Roboto. [Review of the video game Gato Roboto, published by Devolver Digital, 2019]. Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved from https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2019/07/09/gato-roboto-review/
Websites
In APA style, individual webpages and documents hosted online are cited similarly to print content. Note, however, that the URL is typically included at the end of the entry. In APA style, you only need to include the date of access if the page's content will probably change over time (i.e. a wiki page).
Some example citations are below, from the Purdue OWL APA Guide. Follow the link for more examples!
How To Cite...
Oxford College Library. (n.d.). Mission and Vision - Oxford College Library - Emory University. [Web page]. Retrieved from https://oxford.library.emory.edu/about/About-Oxford/mission-vision.html
Manila, A. (n.d.). Coconut Cream Pie Smoothie Recipe. [Web page]. Retrieved from https://ehow.com/how_12343061_coconut-cream-pie-smoothie.html
Oxford College Library. (2019, April 9). Libraries = Strong Communities: Celebrating National Library Week. [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/oxford/events/libraries-strong-communities-celebrating-national-library-week/
Audio
Some example citations are below, from the Purdue Global Library. Follow the link for more examples!
How To Cite...
Callaghan, M. J. (2015). The depths of rain. On Bitter wind. TC Artists.
Clements, K. (Host). (2020). Understanding documentation [Audio podcast]. Academic Success Center, Purdue Global. https://bit.ly/understandingdocumentation
Kennedy, J. F. (1961). Presidential inaugural address [Speech audio recording]. American Rhetoric. https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkinaugural.htm
