Sunday, October 16, 2005

Common MLA Models

It's open season on research-based writing for college classes. The secret to writing correct bibliographic entries is to use a reference book such as Diane Hacker's A Writer's Reference (5th ed., with 2003 MLA update) or the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (Joseph Gibaldi, 6th ed.) and find the appropriate model or models for the source you are using. Sometimes you must combine elements from a couple of models.

Here are four MLA bibliographic citations that cover the sources most students use in their research papers: the scholarly article accessed via a database, the document from a government web site, the webpage from a larger web site, and a short work from an anthology.

Scholarly Article Accessed Via a Database

If you are using Hacker's A Writer's Reference as your guide, then you will wish to follow model no. 31 (360). To write this citation, you provide all the information that's available for the print version of the article, and then you add the necessary information about how you accessed it online. Example:

Koumans, Emilia H., et al. "Sexually Transmitted Disease Services at US Colleges and Universities." Journal of American College Health 53.5 (2005): 211-217. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. Hinckley Lib., Northwest Col., Powell, WY. 31 Mar. 2005 ‹http://www.epnet.com›.

Within the body of your paper, you would use the following intext citation: (Koumans et al. 212).

Document from a Government Web Site

When a webpage comes from a government-sponsored web site--such as the CDC--then you need to identify the government as the "corporate author" of the document. You would use Hacker's model at the top of page 366, the second example for no. 49. Example:

United States. National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HIV and Its Transmission. 22 Sep. 2003. 31 Mar. 2005 ‹http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pubs/ facts/transmission.htm›.

The intext citation for this source would be (United States); for subsequent citations, you could use an abbreviation (US). If you had more than one document from this same web site, then you need to add more information so readers can find the citation easily in your Works Cited list: (United States, HIV).

Webpage from a Larger Web Site

The model for a webpage (or a short work) from a larger web site is no. 28 in Hacker (358). Here's an example for a webpage without an author:

"HIV/AIDS: Antiretroviral Therapy (ART)." World Health Organization. 2005. 31 Mar. 2005 ‹http://www.who.int/hiv/topics/arv/en/›.

The appropriate intext citation for this webpage would be ("HIV/AIDS").

A Chapter or Section or Short Work from a Book/Anthology

The model for a work in an anthology is no. 10 in Hacker (352). Here's an example for a short story from an anthology:

Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily." Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. Robert DiYanni. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2004. 73-79.

The appropriate intext citation for this webpage would be (Faulkner 74).

Remember: When in doubt, contact your professor for guidance.

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