MLA Citation Guide
IN-TEXT CITATIONS
MLA style uses parentheticals to mark in-text citations. If the author’s
name is mentioned in a signal phrase, cite the page number. If not, cite the
author’s last name and page number. For example:
Hale’s analysis of Wordworth calls the poet a “genius” (10).
Wordsworth’s poetry has been called “genius” (Hale 10).
APA Citation Guide
IN-TEXT CITATION
APA style uses signal phrases and parentheticals to mark in-text citations.
Include the author’s last name, the year of publication, and (if using a
direct quotation or paraphrase) a page number. For example:
Godde and X (2012) report that “medical care made headway” (p. 52).
Scholarship shows treatment improved (Godde & X, 2012, p. 52).
PRINT SOURCES
PRINT SOURCES
Books: One Author
Last name, First name. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Year.
Bruce, Mary Hanford. Dr. Sally’s Voodoo Man. Phoenix: Integra Press, 2003.
Books: Multiple Authors
Last name, First name, and First name Last name. Title of Book. City of
Publication: Publisher, Year.
Kirszner, Laurie G., and Stephen R. Mandell. Practical Argument. Boston:
Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011.
Books: Edited Edition or Anthology
Last name, First name, and First name Last Name, eds. Title of Book. City of
Publication: Publisher, Year.
Willhardt, Mark and Alan Michael Parker, eds. Who’s Who in Twentieth
Century World Poetry. London: Routledge, 2000.
*If the book has one editor, replace “eds” with “ed.”
Academic Articles (print)
Last name, First name. “Article Title.” Journal Title Volume.Issue (Year):
pages.
Hale, Rob. “Wordsworth's ‘The Mad Mother’: The Poetics and Politics of
Identification.” The Wordsworth Circle 39.3 (2008): 108-114.
Books: One Author
Last name, initial(s). (Year). Title of book. Place of Publication: Publisher.
Ditzler, M. (2012). Fighting scots history. Monmouth, IL: Library Publishing.
Books: Multiple Authors
Last name, initial(s) & Last name, initial(s). (Year). Title of book. Place of
Publication: Publisher.
Timmerman, D. M. & Shiappa, E. (2010). Classical greek rhetorical theory and
the disciplining of discourse. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Books: Edited Edition or Anthology
Last name, initial(s) (Eds.). (Year). Title of book. (Edition number). Place of
Publication: Publisher.
Poling, Z. (Ed.). (2012). Poling is where the business office is located. (10th ed.).
Monmouth, IL: Library Publishing
Academic Articles (print)
Last name, initial(s). (Year). Article title. Journal Title, Volume(Issue), page
range.
Vivan, C. (2009). Three strikes and you’re out: reasons to eliminate sports
from schools. Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education, 2(2), 178-187.
PRIMARY SOURCES
Interview
Last name, First name. Personal, email or telephone interview. Day Mon.
Year.
Moschenross, Ian J. Personal interview. 8 Aug. 2012.
Lecture
Last name, First name. “Title of Lecture.” Lecture sponsor. Location. Day
Mon. Year. Medium.
Suda, Carolyn. “Music Appreciation.” Monmouth College. Austin Hall,
Monmouth College. 12 Apr. 2012. Lecture.
Survey
Last name, First name. “Name of survey.” Survey. Day Mon. Year of
survey.
Liedman, Kara. “Do you believe faculty meetings should be recorded
on camera if students request?” Survey. 8 Mar. 2011.
DIGITAL AND MULTIMEDIA SOURCES
Academic Articles (online)
Last name, First name, “Article Title.” Journal Title Volume. Issue (Year):
pages. Database Name. Web. Day Mon. Year of access.
Hale, Rob. “Wordsworth's ‘The Mad Mother’: The Poetics and Politics of
Identification.” The Wordsworth Circle 39.3 (2008): 108-114. MLA
International Bibliography. Web. 25 Oct. 2012.
Newspapers (online)
Last name, First name. “Title of Article.” Title of Newspaper. Sponsor
or publisher of website, Day Mon. Year of publication. Web. Day
Mon.Year of access.
Kane, Alex. “Reusable bottles save money and planet.” The Courier.
Monmouth College, 4 Mar. 2012. Web. 8 Aug. 2012.
Websites
Last name, First name or organization. Title of Website. Sponsor of
Website, latest update. Web. Day Mon. Year of access.
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities. The Walt Whitman Archive.
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln, August 2012. Web. 14 Nov. 2012.
Films
Title of Film. Dir. First name Last name. Perf. First name Last name and
First name Last name. Distributor, Release Year. Medium.
What College was Meant to Be. Dir. Wallace P. Hall. Perf. Scottie. Monmouth
College Production Studio, 1993. DVD.
PRIMARY SOURCES
Interview
Under APA guidelines, unpublished interviews are not necessary on a
reference page. However, they should be cited in the text, as follows:
(Initial. Last name, interview, Month DD, Year).
(C. Goble, interview, January 10, 2012).
-For published interview citation information, see the Bedford Handbook, pp. 667.
Survey
Under APA guidelines, unpublished surveys are not necessary on a
reference page. However, they should be cited in the text, as follows:
(Initial. Last name, interview, Month DD, Year).
(C. Goble, Introduction to Communication survey, January 10, 2012).
-Published surveys are treated like published interviews, cited in the bibliography:
Last name, first name. "Name of survey." Survey. DD Month Year.
Goble, Chris. “Introduction to Communication Survey.” Survey. 10
January 2012.
Lecture
Last name, first name. (Year, month). Title of lecture (if any). Lecture
presented at University, City, State.
Sargent, Thomas. (2012, April). Foundations of Education. Lecture
presented at Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois.
DIGITAL AND MULTIMEDIA SOURCES
Academic Articles (online)
Last name, initial(s). (Year). Article title. Journal Title, Volume(Issue), page
range. DOI (If there is no DOI available, include the URL of the article.)
Sostarecz, A., McQuaw, C. M., Wucher, A., & Winograd, N. (2004). Depth
profiling of Langmuir-blodgett films with a buckminsterfullerene probe.
Analytical Chemistry, 76(22), 6651-6658. doi:10.1021/ac0492665
Newspapers (online)
Last name, initial(s). (Year, Month Day). Article title. Newspaper. Retrieved
from URL
Kinigson, A. (2010, November 5). Trudi Peterson presents her “last
lecture”. The Courier. Retrieved from http://mccourier.com/
Websites
Author/organization. (Year, Month of publication or most recent
update). Title of section. In title of document. Retrieved from URL
Monmouth College. (2012, Jaunary). The MC Writing Center.
Monmouth College. Retrieved from http://examplecitation.edu
Films
Last name, initial. (Director), & Last name, initial. (Producer). (Year).
Film title [media]. Country: Studio.
Wallace, A. (Director), & Poling, Z. (Producer). (1993). What college was
meant to be [DVD]. United States: MC Production Studio.
Chicago Citation Guide
IN-TEXT CITATON
Chicago Style uses notes to mark in-text citations. Footnotes or endnotes
include full citation information in the first entry, and the author’s last
name, an abbreviated title, and a page number in subsequent references.
For example:
12. Stacy A. Cordery, Juliette Gordon Low: The Remarkable Founder of
the Girl Scouts (New York: Viking, 2012), 187.
14. Cordery, Juliette Gordon Low, 188.
PRINT SOURCES
Books: One Author
Last name, First name. Book Title. City of publication: Publisher, Year.
Cordery, Simon. Mother Jones: Raising Cain and Consciousness.
Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2010.
Books: 2-3 Authors
Last name, First name, First name Last name, and First name Last
name. Book Title. City of Publication: Publisher, Year.
Cordery, Stacy A., Lee White, Lee Hamilton, and George Liston Seay.
Alice: Government for the People; The Lee Hamilton Commentaries: America
and the Global Economy. Washington: Woodrow Wilson International
Center for Scholars, 2008.
For 4+ authors: First name Last name and others. See Bedford p. 702.
Work in an Edited Edition or Anthology
Author of work’s Last name, Author of work’s First name. “Title of
Chapter, story, etc.” In Book Title, edited by Editor’s First name
Editor’s Last name, pages. City: Publisher, Year of Publication.
Potter, Nelson T. “A Fragment of Religious Biography.” In Festschrift
in Honor of Charles Speel, edited by Thomas J.Sienkewicz and James E.
Betts, 1-10. Monmouth: Monmouth College, 1997.
Academic Articles (print)
Last name, First name. "Article Title." Journal Name Volume, no. Issue
(Year of Publication): pages article was found on.
Urban, William L. "Saint Mary and the dragon-killer." Marian Library
Studies 2, no. 4 (1970):33- 46.
DIGITAL AND MULTIMEDIA SOURCES
Academic Articles (online)
Last name, First name. “Title of Article.” Title of Journal Volume, no. Issue
(year): pages. URL.
Urban, William. “Monmouth College in the Civil War.” Journal of the
Illinois State Historical Society 71, no. 1 (1978): 13-21
http://www.jstor.org/stable/40191533.
Newspapers (online)
Last name, First name. “Title of the Article.” Name of Newspaper, Month
Day, Year. URL.
Oddo, Jennell. “Drag Show Raises Money for Trip.” The Courier,
November 18, 2012. http://mccourier.com/2011/11/18/drag-showraises-money-for-trip/.
Websites
Last name, First name. Title of the Website. URL.
Cordery, Stacy A. The Six Secrets the Girls Scouts Have Kept for a Century.
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/03/12/six-secrets-why-the-girlscouts-have-lasted-100-years/.
Movies
Title of Film. Format. Directed/Performed by First name Last name.
Original release year; City, State: Studio/Distributor, Video release year.
What College Was Meant to Be. VHS. Directed by Mauri Ditzler. 2004;
Monmouth, IL: Monmouth College Films, 2010.
How to Evaluate Sources
Authority / Credibility: Determining the author for a source is
important in deciding whether information is credible. The author
should show some evidence of being knowledgeable, reliable and
truthful.
 Who is the author (person, company, or organization)? If
it is a website, who is the sponsor?
 Does the source provide any information that leads you to
believe the author is an expert on the topic?
 Can you describe the author's background (experience,
education, knowledge)?
 Does the author provide citations? Do you think they are
reputable?
 If it is a website, is the URL .edu, .gov, or .org?
Accuracy: The source should contain accurate and up-to-date
information that can be verified by other sources.
 Can facts or statistics be verified through another source?
 Based on your knowledge, does the information seem
accurate? Does it match the information found in other
sources?
 Are there spelling or grammatical errors?
Scope / Relevance: It is important that the source meets the
information needs and requirements of your research assignment.
 To what extent does the source fit your research question?
 Is the source considered popular or scholarly?
 If the resource uses specialized terminology and language,
are you able to interpret it correctly?
Date: Some written works are ageless (e.g., classic literature) while
others (e.g., technological news) become outdated quickly. It is
important to determine if your source is up-to-date, if necessary.
 When was the source written and published?
 Has the information been updated recently?
 Is the source current and pertinent to your research?
Objectivity / Bias: Every author has an opinion. Recognizing this
fact is instrumental in determining if the information presented is
objective or biased.
 What is the purpose or motive for the source (educational,
commercial, entertainment, promotional, etc.)?
 Who is the intended audience?
 Is the author trying to persuade, promote or sell
something?
Style / Functionality: If the source is not professionally written,
its value and credibility may be diminished.
 Is the source well-written and organized?
 To what extent does it appear professional visually?
 If it is a website, can you navigate it easily? are links
broken?
See The Bedford Handbook pp. 517-69 or http://owl.english.
purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/ for more information on MLA.
See The Bedford Handbook pp. 638-69 or http://owl.english.
purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/05/ for more information on APA.
See The Bedford Handbook pp. 699-713 or http://owl.english.
purdue.edu/owl/resource/717/01/ for more information on Chicago.
Faculty may have specific expectations for citation,
so always check with your professors about their preferences.
This checklist is from the Hewes Library Research Process Guide.
Questions about evaluating sources? Contact a librarian at
reference@monmouthcollege.edu or visit the Writing Center,
3rd floor of Mellinger Mon-Thurs 3-5 and Sun-Thurs 7-10.