How to Cite an Essay
Make sure MLA is the correct style for your document., Be able to recognize the two components of citation., Include the right information in the in-text citation.Every time you reference material in your paper, you must tell the reader the name of...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Make sure MLA is the correct style for your document.
MLA is the formatting style of the Modern Language Association.
It's used in humanities areas like English studies, comparative literature, foreign language and literature, or cultural studies.If you are writing for a class or to publish, check the teacher or publisher's preference for formatting style.
Students should read assignment sheets and course syllabi.
Writers seeking publication should check submission guidelines.
If you still can't tell what style you should be using after reading the directions, contact the instructor or publisher. -
Step 2: Be able to recognize the two components of citation.
When citing an essay, you include information in two places: in the body of your paper and in the Works Cited that comes after it.
The Works Cited is just a bibliography: you list all the sources you used to write the paper.
The citation information you include in the body of the paper itself is called the "in-text citation."
You must include a page number that tells the reader where, in the source, they can find this information.
The most basic structure for an in-text citation looks like this: (Smith 123).
In MLA, in-text citations always come at the end of the sentence.
The period that would end the sentence comes after the parenthetical citation. , The most obvious time to use an in-text citation is when you quote from a source directly or refer to it by title or author.
However, you also need to use an in-text citation any time you use information that you got from a source, but which isn’t “common knowledge.” This can be a tricky concept to master.
If you can’t determine if information is common knowledge or proprietary (work that belongs to the original author), cite it anyways to be safe.
Failing to attribute information that is the product of someone else's work is plagiarism.
The repercussions can be severe.
For example, it is common knowledge that World War II broke out in
1939.
Nobody owns that information.
But specific strategies, quotes from important figures in the war, and statistics about how many people were involved in the war are all examples of specific, proprietary information.
The author of the source you used to research that information had to do the work of finding that information out.
You must attribute it to them. , But if you include that necessary information in the language of the sentence itself, you should not include the parenthetical citation.
Correct:
A recent study determined that Himalayan brown bears eat both plants and animals (Rathore and Chauhan 6652).
Correct:
Rathore and Chauhan determined that Himalayan brown bears eat both plants and animals (6652).
Incorrect:
Rathore and Chauhan determined that Himalayan brown bears eat both plants and animals (Rathore and Chauhan 6652). — You should not list the author(s) parenthetically if that information is in the sentence itself.
Plagiarism:
A recent study determined that Himalayan brown bears eat both plants and animals. — The writer did not attribute proprietary information to the people who conducted the study. , When they look up the source on your Works Cited sheet, they will find two different articles by James Smith.
To avoid this confusion, you must include a shortened version of the essay's title, so the readers know which essay to look for.
Imagine that the two James Smith articles are titled "Beloved and the Haunting Trauma" and "Writing What You Know." You want to reference the first article in-text.
Correct:
James argues that "One of Sethe’s most deeply held beliefs in Beloved is the physical persistence of memory" ("Beloved" 235).
Correct:
It could be argued that Sethe is haunted by "the physical persistence of memory" (Smith, "Beloved" 235). , An in-text citation of (Smith 689) doesn't tell the reader which author provided the information.
In that case, include the first initial of the author's last name in the in-text citation: (S.
Smith 689). , When the reader sees a quote or idea that they would like to know more about, they will look up the source author by the last name you listed in the in-text citation.
They will also know which page of the source they should look at to find the information they want.
Depending on where you found the essay, your citation will follow a different format.
Regardless of what format you follow, one thing remains constant across all citations.
You always indent all lines that come after the first line of a Works Cited citation.
This lets the reader know where one citation ends and the next one begins.
MLA also uses title case ever time a title is given.
This means that first word and all major words are capitalized:
The Sound and the Fury.
This is distinguished from sentence case, in which only the first word is capitalized:
The sound and the fury. , In this case, you must include the following information in this exact order:
Lastname, First name. "Title of Essay in Title Case.” Anthology in Title Case.
Ed.
Editor's Name(s).
City of Publication:
Publisher, Year of Publication.
Page range.
Print.
For example:
Smith, Jane. "An Essay about LifeGuide Hub." LifeGuide Hub:
The Collected Essays.
Ed.
Mark Jones.
New York:
LifeGuide Hub Publishers,
2015. 115-124.
Print. , If you found the article in an academic journal, you have a different set of information to include.
Some of the information — like author name, essay title, and page range — stay the same.
But you should follow this format exactly:
Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal Volume.Issue (Year): pages.
Medium of publication.
For example:
Smith, Jane. "An Essay about LifeGuide Hub." The Journal of LifeGuide Hub
13.2 (2015): 115-124.
Print. , Examples include EBSCOHost, JSTOR, and Lexis-Nexis.
These databases store electronic versions of print journals as PDFs.
The article you're citing may have originally appeared in a print journal, but you accessed it online.
You need to let the reader know how they, too, can access it online:
Last, First. "Title of Article." Title of Journal Volume.Issue (Year): pages.
Database.
Web.
Date of Access.
The date of access is the date on which you found the essay.
In MLA, all dates follow this format:
Date Month Year.
For example: 15 July
2015.
For example:
Smith, Jane. "An Essay about LifeGuide Hub." The Journal of LifeGuide Hub
13.2 (2015): 115-124.
JSTOR. 15 July
2015. -
Step 3: Include the right information in the in-text citation.Every time you reference material in your paper
-
Step 4: you must tell the reader the name of the author whose information you are citing.
-
Step 5: Learn when in-text citations are necessary.Every single source that contains information you used must be included in your Works Cited and cited in-text.
-
Step 6: Choose the appropriate in-text citation method.In-text citations are often parenthetical
-
Step 7: meaning you add information to the end of a sentence in parentheses.
-
Step 8: Adjust in-text citations if you have multiple sources from an author.If you have two sources from "James Smith
-
Step 9: " an in-text citation of (Smith 235) may confuse the reader.
-
Step 10: Include the first initial if you have authors with the same last name.Say you used information from essays by James Smith and Susan Smith.
-
Step 11: Format the citation in the Works Cited.Any information that gets cited in-text must have a corresponding citation in the Works Cited.
-
Step 12: Follow the format for an essay found in an anthology.You may have found your essay in an anthology along with other essays curated by an editor.
-
Step 13: Include different information for essays published in journals.
-
Step 14: Add electronic information for sources found in online databases.Many essays can be accessed through a school's online library databases.
Detailed Guide
MLA is the formatting style of the Modern Language Association.
It's used in humanities areas like English studies, comparative literature, foreign language and literature, or cultural studies.If you are writing for a class or to publish, check the teacher or publisher's preference for formatting style.
Students should read assignment sheets and course syllabi.
Writers seeking publication should check submission guidelines.
If you still can't tell what style you should be using after reading the directions, contact the instructor or publisher.
When citing an essay, you include information in two places: in the body of your paper and in the Works Cited that comes after it.
The Works Cited is just a bibliography: you list all the sources you used to write the paper.
The citation information you include in the body of the paper itself is called the "in-text citation."
You must include a page number that tells the reader where, in the source, they can find this information.
The most basic structure for an in-text citation looks like this: (Smith 123).
In MLA, in-text citations always come at the end of the sentence.
The period that would end the sentence comes after the parenthetical citation. , The most obvious time to use an in-text citation is when you quote from a source directly or refer to it by title or author.
However, you also need to use an in-text citation any time you use information that you got from a source, but which isn’t “common knowledge.” This can be a tricky concept to master.
If you can’t determine if information is common knowledge or proprietary (work that belongs to the original author), cite it anyways to be safe.
Failing to attribute information that is the product of someone else's work is plagiarism.
The repercussions can be severe.
For example, it is common knowledge that World War II broke out in
1939.
Nobody owns that information.
But specific strategies, quotes from important figures in the war, and statistics about how many people were involved in the war are all examples of specific, proprietary information.
The author of the source you used to research that information had to do the work of finding that information out.
You must attribute it to them. , But if you include that necessary information in the language of the sentence itself, you should not include the parenthetical citation.
Correct:
A recent study determined that Himalayan brown bears eat both plants and animals (Rathore and Chauhan 6652).
Correct:
Rathore and Chauhan determined that Himalayan brown bears eat both plants and animals (6652).
Incorrect:
Rathore and Chauhan determined that Himalayan brown bears eat both plants and animals (Rathore and Chauhan 6652). — You should not list the author(s) parenthetically if that information is in the sentence itself.
Plagiarism:
A recent study determined that Himalayan brown bears eat both plants and animals. — The writer did not attribute proprietary information to the people who conducted the study. , When they look up the source on your Works Cited sheet, they will find two different articles by James Smith.
To avoid this confusion, you must include a shortened version of the essay's title, so the readers know which essay to look for.
Imagine that the two James Smith articles are titled "Beloved and the Haunting Trauma" and "Writing What You Know." You want to reference the first article in-text.
Correct:
James argues that "One of Sethe’s most deeply held beliefs in Beloved is the physical persistence of memory" ("Beloved" 235).
Correct:
It could be argued that Sethe is haunted by "the physical persistence of memory" (Smith, "Beloved" 235). , An in-text citation of (Smith 689) doesn't tell the reader which author provided the information.
In that case, include the first initial of the author's last name in the in-text citation: (S.
Smith 689). , When the reader sees a quote or idea that they would like to know more about, they will look up the source author by the last name you listed in the in-text citation.
They will also know which page of the source they should look at to find the information they want.
Depending on where you found the essay, your citation will follow a different format.
Regardless of what format you follow, one thing remains constant across all citations.
You always indent all lines that come after the first line of a Works Cited citation.
This lets the reader know where one citation ends and the next one begins.
MLA also uses title case ever time a title is given.
This means that first word and all major words are capitalized:
The Sound and the Fury.
This is distinguished from sentence case, in which only the first word is capitalized:
The sound and the fury. , In this case, you must include the following information in this exact order:
Lastname, First name. "Title of Essay in Title Case.” Anthology in Title Case.
Ed.
Editor's Name(s).
City of Publication:
Publisher, Year of Publication.
Page range.
Print.
For example:
Smith, Jane. "An Essay about LifeGuide Hub." LifeGuide Hub:
The Collected Essays.
Ed.
Mark Jones.
New York:
LifeGuide Hub Publishers,
2015. 115-124.
Print. , If you found the article in an academic journal, you have a different set of information to include.
Some of the information — like author name, essay title, and page range — stay the same.
But you should follow this format exactly:
Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal Volume.Issue (Year): pages.
Medium of publication.
For example:
Smith, Jane. "An Essay about LifeGuide Hub." The Journal of LifeGuide Hub
13.2 (2015): 115-124.
Print. , Examples include EBSCOHost, JSTOR, and Lexis-Nexis.
These databases store electronic versions of print journals as PDFs.
The article you're citing may have originally appeared in a print journal, but you accessed it online.
You need to let the reader know how they, too, can access it online:
Last, First. "Title of Article." Title of Journal Volume.Issue (Year): pages.
Database.
Web.
Date of Access.
The date of access is the date on which you found the essay.
In MLA, all dates follow this format:
Date Month Year.
For example: 15 July
2015.
For example:
Smith, Jane. "An Essay about LifeGuide Hub." The Journal of LifeGuide Hub
13.2 (2015): 115-124.
JSTOR. 15 July
2015.
About the Author
Marie Graham
A passionate writer with expertise in creative arts topics. Loves sharing practical knowledge.
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