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SPAN236: Introduction to Modern Literature and Culture of Spain and Latin American: MLA Citation

MLA Style

ONLINE GUIDES

MLA Formatting and Style
Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)

OWL is a great guide. However, the feature to "Cite your source automatically..." (citation machine) is an advertisement for an online service NOT recommended by our library.

GUIDES IN THE LIBRARY

Find the MLA Handbook on the first floor of the library:

  • On the "Citation Help" shelf, or
  • Request at the Checkout & Reserves Desk (call no: LB2369 .G53 2016  from "Permanent Reserve")  

Citation: 2 Types

IN-TEXT CITATION: WITHIN YOUR PAPER

As you write, you will create citations in the text of your paper, to let the reader know when you are using someone else's thoughts.

Some styles use footnotes, other styles use endnotes or parenthetical citations (see citation styles).

BIBLIOGRAPHY/SOURCES CITED: AT THE END

At the end of your paper, you'll provide a complete list of all of the sources you used to write it.

Include everything you used, whether you specifically quoted or cited it in the text of your paper or not.

Depending on the citation style you're using, this may be called "Bibliography," "Works Cited," or "References."

Cite it Or....(Fun Video)

Great video from the University of Bergen in Norway (bonus: subtitles!)

Annotated Bibliography

An annotated bibliography has many elements.  Below are some of the elements you should use to create each entry for your annotated biblgiography. 

  • Restate the thesis/argument
  • Summarize the source
  • Use examples
  • Describe the author
  • Evaluate the content
  • Comepare to other sources within the discipline 
  • Dicuss the audience it is written for
  • Explain how the source specifically addresses your research

When To Cite

CITE THE INFORMATION IF:

  • You use or describe specific information you have taken from a source
    (as Andrea del Verrocio's pupil Leonardo da Vinci studied in a collaborative environment, sometimes even working with Verrocio himself (Shneiderman, 112).)

  • You refer to a theory or idea from a source
    (Shneiderman believes that collaborative learning increases positive outcomes(224).

  • You  include any image (picture, table, graph) from a source.

YOU DON'T NEED TO CITE IF:

  • The information you use is common knowledge
    (There are two main types of elephants, Asian and African).

  • The information you use can be easily found and verified by most people
    (Abraham Lincoln was 56 years old when he was assassinated) 

Still not sure? Check out this page on how to avoid plagiarism.

Zotero

Zotero is online software to help you:

  • save citation information from your sources
  • organize your research
  • create in-text citations and bibliographies

Start using Zotero:

Citation Generators

Citation generators help you create citations for all types of sources.

IMPORTANT: When you use a citation generator, use our citation styles page to check whether the citation generator is using the latest version of your citation style.