Penn State University Libraries - MLA Style

Full Text Articles from an Online Subscription Database

Many of the articles you will find first appeared in print in magazines, journals, newspapers, or reference books. The basic rule to follow is to cite the article as you would if you were looking at the original print publication, then add the name of the database used (italicized), the medium (Web), and the date you accessed the article. NO URLs.

Example 1: A scholarly journal article from JSTOR:

Moses, Cat. “The Blues Aesthetic in Toni Morrison's the Bluest Eye.” African American Review 33.4 (1999): 623-637.

JSTOR. Web. 5 Sept. 2003.

Example 2: Entry in an online encyclopedia:

Barnett, Tim, and Scott B. Droege. "Theory X and Theory Y." Encyclopedia of Management. Ed. Marilyn M. Helms. 5^th

ed. Detroit: Gale, 2006. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 10 Oct. 2007.

Example 3: A magazine article from ProQuest:

Gunther, Marc. “China Inc. Takes Off.” Fortune. 20 July 2009: 130. ProQuest. Web. 22 July 2009.

Note: ONLY add the database information if you got the FULL TEXT of the article online, not just the citation.

Note: MLA style recommends including the URLs for websites only if the source cannot be readily located without the URL.

A Complete Web Site

Begin with the name of the author, editor, or creator of the Web site (if given), then the title of the site (italicized), publisher or sponsor of the site (if not available, use N.p.), date of publication (if none, use, n.d.), medium (Web), and the date of your access.

Examples:

American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). ASCE, 2009. Web. 22 July 2009.

Thomas. Lib. of Congress, n.d. Web. 22 July 2009.

A Document within a Larger Web Site

Begin with the author's name (if given) and, in quotation marks, the title of the work. If no author is given, begin with the title of the material, in quotation marks. Continue with the title of the Web site as a whole (italicized), publisher or sponsor of the site (if not available, use N.p.), date of publication, as fully as available (if none, use, n.d.), medium (Web), and the date of your access.

Examples:

 “Alcoholism.” MedlinePlus. U.S. National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health. 21 July 2009. Web. 22

July 2009.

“H1N1 Flu (Swine flu).” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). CDC, 20 July 2009. Web. 22 July 2009.

“Maplewood, New Jersey.” Map. Google Maps. Google, 23 Nov. 2007. Web. 23 Nov. 2007.  

Quade, Alex. "Elite Team Rescues Troops behind Enemy Lines." CNN.com. Cable News Network, 19 Mar. 2007. Web.

19 Mar. 2007.

“This Day in History: March 18.” History.com. History Channel, 2008. Web. 5 Sept. 2008.

Tyre, Peg. “Standardized Tests in College?” Newsweek. Newsweek, 16 Nov. 2007. Web. 21 Nov. 2007.

An Article in a Free Online Scholarly Journal (NOT from a subscription database – see database tab for that)

Butler, Darrell L., and Martin Sellbom. “Barriers to Adopting Technology for Teaching and Learning.” Educause 

Quarterly 25.2 (2002): 22-28. Web. 3 Aug. 2002.

In-text citation example:

(Author(s) page)

(Smith and Li 42)

• If citing web sites, there are no pages to use, so only cite the author(s).

Entries go in alphabetical order by first author’s last name. Don’t group entries by type or year or anything else. Just put them in regular alphabetical order. (Don’t rearrange authors names within a single entry if there are two or more authors. The first author is always the primary author; authors are listed in order of the rank. Don’t change that order.)

The full reference list is double-spaced, with no extra space between entries. Don’t single space unless your professor specifically instructs you to do that.

The first line of each entry uses the full line across the page, from the left margin through to the right.

The second and subsequent lines of each entry take a hanging indent of ½ inch. (Hint: Use the “hanging” indent feature under “special” in the “indentation” block of the Paragraph box under “Page Layout” tab in Word 2007.)

Capitalize all significant words in the title. (Do not capitalize articles (a, an, the), prepositions (in, of, to, etc.), or coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet)).

Continue numbering pages consecutively from the cover sheet, if you have one, or first page right through the reference list to the end of your paper. Page numbers in MLA Style go in the upper margin on the right hand side, with a running head that indicates your last name. (Hint: Use the “Header and Footer” function from “Insert” in the tabs in Word 2007.)

MLA Style uses plain or “regular” letters, and italicizing. It does not use bold type in a reference list. Italics have replaced underlining in the 7^th (2009) edition of MLA Style.

MLA Style calls for a standard, easily readable typeface and type size, such as Times New Roman lettering in 10 or 12 points (12 point is generally preferred by your profs.) Don’t use a different font or size in your reference list. Don’t use any different fonts or sizes in the body text of your paper unless they’ve been approved by your prof.

A URL is not a reference list entry. It’s not an in-text citation either. It’s only an address and provides almost none of the specific identifying information required for proper credit-giving in any form, Style or other. Never should you have an item in your paper or on your reference list that reads like this: www.bicycling.com. (Note that the MLA Handbook 7^th edition (2009) discourages use of URLs entirely unless the item cannot be found without it. Most people can search the title, author, and publisher information in a search engine to locate the document cited.)

Please note that many sources accessed from the open Internet (not through a database) are of questionable reliability. Be sure to check the credibility of your sources.

General guidelines prepared by Bim Angst, Instructor of Writing, Penn State Schuylkill, 7.05 (rev. NHD 7.09)