Works Cited List

At Metro, student researchers are asked to follow the citation standards set by an organization called the Modern Language Association, or MLA. MLA style is widely used in the language, literature, and history departments of America’s universities.

There are two parts to properly citing your sources:

give your reader a brief description of the source within the text of your paper, known as a Parenthetical Citation
give your reader a full description of the source at the end of your paper, known as a list of Works Cited. Example on this page.

When you cite a source in the text of a paper, you must provide detailed publication information for that source at the end of the paper. This is commonly known as a bibiography.

The bibliography should begin after the conclusion of your essay. If it is too long to fit on the same page as your last page of text, then start it on its own page.
The page should be titled Works Cited, in bold and centered.
Each entry should follow MLA format, according to the type of source.
Entries should be arranged alphabetically by author’s last name. Entries without an author should be integrated using the first word of the title.
If you have more than one source by the same author, give the author’s name in the first entry only. Thereafter, in place of the name, type three hyphens (---.), followed by a period and the title. The three hyphens stand for exactly the same name as in the preceding entry. You will see an example below.
The entry should be formatted with what is known as a “hanging indent”: the first line is flush with the margin, and ensuing lines are indented.
As in your paper, everything should be double-spaced.

Here is an example putting it all together:

Works Cited

Bernstein, Harry. Modern And Contemporary Latin America. New York: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1952.

Bethell, Leslie, and Tom Aldridge. The Cambridge History of Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.

“Brazil.” The Encyclopedia Americana. 10th ed. 1994.

“Brazil: History.” Lonely Planet Worldguide. 2005. Lonely Planet Publications. 9 Feb. 2005 <http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/south_america/brazil/history.htm>.

Corona, Laurel. Brazil. San Diego: Lucent, 2000.

Furneaux, Robin. The Amazon: The Story of a Great River. New York: Putnam’s Sons, 1969.

---. The Rubber Boom. Chicago: Random House, 1984.

Mahmood, Sarwat Shafiq. “Brazil: 19th Century.” Historical Text Archive. 2005. Donald J. Mabry / The Historical Text Archive. 9 Feb. 2005 .

Posted by Justin Wells : 05/25/2009