Referencing Guide

GUIDE TO REFERENCING IN YOUR ESSAYS MLA STYLE

GENERAL HINTS - IMPORTANT

1. Take this advice seriously. 2. Number the pages in your essay. 3. Use a font size of twelve. 4. Don't use coloured print. 5. Don't use subheadings within the essay. 6. Use double spacing.

CORRECT REFERENCING

There are TWO elements to correct referencing:

1) acknowledging your source within the essay, and

2) creating a list of ‘Works Cited', which comes at the end.

Different Disciplines use different methods for this. This can be annoying but it is an important part of scholarly practice. In English and Creative Writing, the method we usually use is called the MLA style. All work presented in the English Discipline should be in this style. This is a short guide to using this method.

FORMATTING TITLES

Major titles should be in italics or underlined, like This or This.  Major titles include:

• independently published works and large bodies of work (novels, books, feature films, whole television series, some long poems) have their titles italicized or underlined;

Minor titles should be in double inverted commas, like "This". Minor titles include:

• sections within larger works (stories, chapters, articles in journals, poems, individual television episodes, short poems in anthologies).

WITHIN THE ESSAY

You must acknowledge every idea, or quotation from another source, even if it is only a phrase. When referring to an author's ideas or directly quoting their words, only the author's name and the page number are necessary, e.g. (Silverman 143). Do not use ‘p.' or ‘pp.' or insert a comma.

If there is more than one entry by the same author in the list of Works Cited, they should be distinguished within the text by a shortened title after the author's name, e.g. (Silverman ‘Fragments,' 143). Otherwise, only the author and page number are required or desired. Avoid repeating the author's name if it has already been mentioned, e.g. ‘As Silverman argues, ‘blah, blah, blah' (143). [No need to repeat Silverman.]

If quoting from a Shakespearian play, give reference by Act, Scene, and Line, rather than by page, e.g. (III.ii.27-30). Other plays, such as contemporary works, should be referenced by page number if there are no line numbers.

Quotations longer than four lines should be indented and do not require inverted commas. Shorter quotations should not be indented and do require inverted commas.

CREATING A LIST OF ‘WORKS CITED' AT THE END

List only those texts to which you have made direct reference in your essay. This is NOT a list of everything you have read. It should include all primary texts as well as secondary sources. Even if you have not used any critical works you should still have a list of ‘Works Cited'.

When gathering your material, make sure you take note of the following:

For books

1. Author
2. Title of the Publication, Including Subtitle (italics or underline), taken from title page, not the cover
3. Place of publication (Usually a city: look behind the title page)
4. Publisher (eg Penguin, Routledge, W.W. Norton, Oxford U.P. [means "University Press"]).
5. Year of publication (look behind the title page)
6. Medium of publication (eg print, web etc) and date of access for online resources.

For chapters or essays in edited books

1. Author of the chapter/essay
2. "Title of the chapter" (in inverted commas)
3. Title of the Book (italics or underline), taken from the title page, not the cover
4. Editor of the book
5. Place of publication of the book
6. Year of publication of the book
7. First and last pages of the chapter
8. Medium of publication (eg print, web etc) and date of access for online resources.

For articles in journals

1. Author of the article
2. "Title of the article" (in inverted commas)
3. Title of the Journal (italics or underline)
4. Volume and issue numbers.
5. (Year of publication) (in brackets)
6. First and last pages on which the article appears.
7. Medium of publication (eg print, web etc) and date of access for online resources.

Here's how to format various kinds of sources.

Please take note of the punctuation.

A single-author book
Author's surname comma first name or initials full stop title [in italics] full stop place of publication colon
           publisher [shortened form: leave out terms like ‘Books', ‘Pty', ‘Ltd' and shorten University Press to UP]
          comma date of publication full stop medium of publication full stop

For example:
Sallis, Eva. Hiam. Sydney: Allen, 1998. Print.

A book that has been published in more than one edition
Author's surname comma first name or initials full stop title [in italics] full stop number of edition Ed full stop
          place of publication colon publisher comma date of publication full stop medium of publication full stop

For example:
Graff, Gerald and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say/I Say: The Moves that matter in Academic Writing. 2nd Ed.
           New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. Print.

A single-author book that has been republished
Author's surname comma first name or initials full stop title [in italics] full stop original date of publication
         full stop place of publication colon publisher comma date of publication full stop medium of publication

For example:
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. 1902. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1973. Print.

A chapter in a book edited by another
Author's surname comma first name or initials full stop "title" [of chapter in double inverted commas] full stop
         title [of book in italics] full stop Ed. editor's first name or initials followed by surname full stop place of
         publication colon publisher comma date of publication full stop page numbers of chapter or essay [no pp.]
         full stop medium of publication full stop

For example:
Silverman, Kaja. "Fragments of a Fashionable Discourse". Studies in Entertainment: Critical Approaches to Mass
          Culture. Ed. Tania Modleski. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1986. 139-52. Print.

A short story
Author's surname comma first name or initials full stop "title" [of story in double inverted commas] full stop title
          [of book in italics] author or editor's name full stop place of publication colon publisher comma date of
          publication full stop pagination full stop medium of publication full stop

For example:
Carey, Peter. "American Dreams". The Faber Book of Contemporary Australian Short Stories. London: Faber,
         1988. 331-342. Print.

A single-author journal article
Author's surname comma first name or initials full stop "title" [of article in double inverted commas] full stop title
          [of journal in italics] volume stop number [use Arabic numerals even if journal uses Roman] (year of
          publication) [in brackets] colon pagination full stop medium of publication full stop

For example:
Mulvey, Laura. "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema". Screen 16.3 (1975): 6-18. Print.
OR
Meyer, Rosalind S. "Mr Knightley's Education: Parallels in Emma". English Studies 79 (1998): 212-23.
          Web. 7 July 2012.

A journal article from an online database
Author's surname comma first name or initials full stop "title" [of article in double inverted commas] full stop
          title [of journal in italics] volume number full stop issue number (year of publication) [in brackets] colon
          pagination full stop title [of database in italics] full stop medium of publication full stop date of access
          full stop

For example:
Ringel, Faye. "The Art of Patricia McKillip: Music and Magic". Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts 16.3 (2005):
         178-190. Web. MLA International Bibliography. 18 February 2013.

More than one author, chapter in edited book. More than one author of book
Same as chapter in book except only the first author has the surname before the first name as it is just for the purpose of alphabetical order.

For example:
McRobbie, Angela, and Jenny Garber. "Girls and Subcultures". Resistance Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures
           in Post-War Britain. Ed. Stuart Hall and Tony Jefferson. London: Hutchinson, 1976. 209-22. Print.

 A translation
Same as a book, except translator's first name or initials followed by surname follows the title. Original publication date can be added before publication details.

For example:
Bashkirtseff, Marie. The Journal of Marie Bashkirtseff. Trans. Mathilde Blind. 1890. London: Virago, 1985. Print.

A short poem
Author's surname comma first name or initials full stop "title" [in double inverted commas] title [of collection
          of poems in italics] full stop Ed. editor's first name or initials followed by surname full stop place of
          publication colon publisher comma date of publication full stop pagination full stop medium of
          publication full stop

For example:
Plath, Sylvia. ‘The Colossus'. The Norton Anthology of Poetry. Ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter and Jon
          Stallworthy. New York: Norton, 1996. 1728. Print.

A long poem
As for short poem except title [in italics]

For example:
Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Paradise Lost and Selected Poetry and Prose. Ed. Northrop Frye. New York: Holt,
          1951. Print.

A film
Title (in italics) full stop director's name full stop (writer, performers and producer may be included here) the
          distributor comma date full stop medium of publication full stop

For example:
The Silence of the Lambs. Dir. Jonathan Demme. Columbia Tristar, 1991. Film.
OR
The Silence of the Lambs. Dir. Jonathan Demme. With Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins and Scott Glenn. Columbia
          Tristar, 1991. Film.

A television episode
"Title of the episode" [in double inverted commas and only if relevant] full stop title of series [in italics and if
          relevant] full stop the local station comma the city full stop the date of broadcast full stop medium of
          publication full stop

For example:
"Loose Ends". Blue Heelers. Channel 7, Adelaide. 9 February 2000. Television.

A play
Author's surname comma first name or initials full stop title [in italics] full stop [insert editor's name if there is
          one] place of publication colon publisher comma date of publication full stop

For example:
Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. Ed. Frank Kermode. London: Methuen, 1962. Print.

An article in a magazine.
Author's surname comma first name or initials full stop "title" [in double inverted commas] Title [in italics] full
          stop date full stop pagination full stop medium of publication full stop

For example:
Mayer, John. "Jimi Hendrix". Rolling Stone. July 2004. 38. Print.

An article in a newspaper.
Author's surname comma first name or initials full stop "title" [in double inverted commas] title [of paper in italics]
          date colon pagination full stop medium of publication full stop

For example:
Holgate, Ben. "Cannes Nominee is Danced to Her Seat". The Weekend Australian 16-17 May 1998: 10. Print.

An unpublished thesis/dissertation
Author's surname comma first name or initials full stop "title" [in double inverted commas] full stop Diss full stop
          name of conferring institution comma year of completion full stop medium of publication full stop

For example:
Boyle, Anthony T. "The Epistemological Evolution of Renaissance Utopian Literature: 1516-1657." Diss.
          New York U, 1983. Web. 16 December 2011.

A recorded song
Performer's name full stop "title of song" [in double inverted commas] full stop album title [in italics] recording
          label comma date full stop medium of publication full stop

For example:
Spice Girls. "Wannabe". SPICE. Virgin Records, 1996. CD.

A recorded album
Performer's name full stop title [in italics] producer [if significant] full stop recording company comma date
          full stop medium of publication full stop

For example:
Smashing Pumpkins. Melloncollie and the Infinite Sadness. Prod. Flood, Alan Mulder and Billy Corgan. Hut
           Recordings, 1995. CD.

A recorded file
Composer or performer's name full stop title [in italics] full stop name of recording manufacturer comma date
          of publication full stop medium of publication full stop

For example:
Beethoven, Ludwig van. Moonlight Sonata. Crownstar, 2006. MP3.

An internet site
Author's last name comma first name or initials full stop [if available] title [in italics] full stop name of 
          publishing organisation full stop date of publication full stop medium of publication full stop date
          accessed full stop

For example:
McCreary, Bear. Bear McCreary - Official Site. Webolution. 2013. Web. 19 February 2013.

A page within a website
Author's last name comma first name or initials full stop [if available] "title of web page" [in double inverted
          commas] full stop title [in italics] full stop name of publishing organisation full stop date of publication
          full stop medium of publication full stop date accessed full stop

For example:
McCreary, Bear. "The Walking Dead: Days Gone Bye". Bear McCreary - Official Site. Webolution. 2013. Web.
          19 February 2013.

A lecture
Author's last name comma first name or initials full stop "title" [in double inverted commas] full stop name of
          course full stop place delivered full stop date delivered/accessed full stop

For example:
Treagus, Mandy. "Great Expectations Lecture Two". Introduction to English: Ideas of the Real. University of 
          Adelaide. 15 Mar 2012.

NB: Some lecturers may require you to include the URLs of any online sources you access in your List of Works Cited. You can find information on the correct way to do this using MLA referencing here: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/ . This site also contains information on how to cite a range of nonstandard texts including images, interviews, emails and tweets.

Creating your "List of Works Cited"

Your List of Works Cited should appear on a new page at the end of your essay. You should cite only the works you have quoted, or to which you directly refer in your essay (not everything you may have read). The list should be in alphabetical order, with no bullets, numbering, subheadings or subdivisions, and in the paragraph style of ‘hanging indent.'

Example:

Works Cited

Dylan, Bob. Bringing it all Back Home. Prod. Tom Wilson. Columbia, 1965. LP.

Gonzalez, Paul. "The Original Counterculture Flick, Easy Rider, Returns." The Tech 115.25 (1995): 7. Web.
          17 October 2001.

Green, Jonathon. All Dressed Up: The Sixties and the Counter Culture. London: Pimlico, 1999. Print.

Klinger, Barbara. "The Road to Dystopia: Landscaping the Nation in Easy Rider." The Road Movie Book.
          Ed. Steven Cohen and Ina Rae Hark. London: Routledge, 1997. 179-203. Print.

Marwick, Arthur. The Sixties. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1998. Print.

McCarthy, Cormac. No Country for Old Men. London: Picador, 2005. Film.

Mulvey, Laura. "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema". Screen 16.3 (1975): 6-18. Web. 23 October 2001.

No Country for Old Men. Dir. Joel and Ethan Coen. Paramount, 2007. Film.

Ryan, Michael and Douglas Kellner. Camera Politica: The Politics and Ideology of Contemporary Hollywood Film.
          Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana UP, 1990. Print.

GUIDE TO REFERENCING IN YOUR ESSAYS MLA STYLE 
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