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AAS 2010 Bates - Intro to Africana Studies

MLA Works Cited Page Basics

From the Purdue OWL -

  • Begin your Works Cited page on a separate page at the end of your research paper. It should have the same one-inch margins and last name, page number header as the rest of your paper.
  • Label the page Works Cited (do not italicize the words Works Cited or put them in quotation marks) and center the words Works Cited at the top of the page.
    • Only the title should be centered. The citation entries themselves should be aligned with the left margin.
  • Double space all citations, but do not skip spaces between entries.
  • Indent the second and subsequent lines of citations by 0.5 inches to create a hanging indent.
  • List page numbers of sources efficiently, when needed. If you refer to a journal article that appeared on pages 225 through 250, list the page numbers on your Works Cited page as pp. 225-50 (Note: MLA style dictates that you should omit the first sets of repeated digits. In our example, the digit in the hundreds place is repeated between 225 and 250, so you omit the 2 from 250 in the citation: pp. 225-50). If the excerpt spans multiple pages, use “pp.”   Note that MLA style uses a hyphen in a span of pages.
  • If only one page of a print source is used, mark it with the abbreviation “p.” before the page number (e.g., p.157). If a span of pages is used, mark it with the abbreviation “pp.” before the page number (e.g., pp.157-68).
  • If you're citing an article or a publication that was originally issued in print form but that you retrieved from an online database, you should type the online database name in italics. You do not need to provide subscription information in addition to the database name.

MLA In-Text Citing Basics

From the Purdue OWL -

Two types of non-print sources you may encounter are films and lectures/presentations:

Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo stars Herzog's long-time film partner, Klaus Kinski. During the shooting of Fitzcarraldo, Herzog and Kinski were often at odds, but their explosive relationship fostered a memorable and influential film.
 
During the presentation, Jane Yates stated that invention and pre-writing are areas of rhetoric that need more attention.
 

In the two examples above “Herzog” (a film’s director) and “Yates” (a presenter) lead the reader to the first item in each citation’s respective entry on the Works Cited page:

Herzog, Werner, dir. Fitzcarraldo. Perf. Klaus Kinski. Filmverlag der Autoren, 1982.

Yates, Jane. "Invention in Rhetoric and Composition." Gaps Addressed: Future Work in Rhetoric and Composition, CCCC, Palmer

     House Hilton, 2002. Address.

Citing Films or Movies

From the Purdue OWL -

List films by their title. Include the name of the director, the film studio or distributor, and the release year. If relevant, list performer names after the director's name.

Speed Racer. Directed by Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski, performances by Emile Hirsch, Nicholas Elia, Susan Sarandon, Ariel

     Winter, and John Goodman, Warner Brothers, 2008.

 

To emphasize specific performers or directors, begin the citation with the name of the desired performer or director, followed by the appropriate title for that person.

Lucas, George, director. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Twentieth Century Fox, 1977.