The following guidelines to documenting your sources are based on The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Fourth Edition (1995). Although the Modern Language Association's (MLA) system is the most popular format, you should always check with your teachers to see what format they will accept.
BASIC RULES FOR WRITING BIBLIOGRAPHIES :
a. The first line begins at the left-hand margin, with all subsequent lines
for that entry indented.
b. Alphabetize entries by the author's last name or the first main word
(ignore A, An and The).
c. Underline the titles of books, periodicals, films, etc.
d. Use quotation marks at the beginning and end of titles of articles,
stories, essays, poems or songs.
e. The three main divisions of author, title and publishing data are
separated by periods.
f. Double space within and between entries.
g. Do not number entries.
 | A BOOK WITH ONE AUTHOR:
Stevenson, Hugh A. Writing an Historical Essay; a Guide for High School Students. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1975. A BOOK BY TWO OR THREE AUTHORS:
| Blocker, Clyde E., Robert H. Plummer and Richard C. Richardson, Jr. The Two-Year College: A Social Synthesis. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice, 1965. [Only the first author's name is in reversed order] A BOOK BY MORE THAN THREE AUTHORS:
| Edens, Walter, et al. Teaching Shakespeare. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1977. [The first author's name is listed in reversed order. The names of the other authors are not listed. Instead, they are accounted for by the Latin phrase "et al" which means "and others".] NO AUTHOR OR EDITOR GIVEN:
| The Lottery. London: J. Watts, 1732. A BOOK COMPILED BY AN EDITOR:
| Burack, A.S., ed. The Writer's Handbook. Boston: The Writer Inc., 1972. AN ARTICLE IN AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OR DICTIONARY:
| [If the article's author is cited...] March, James. "Montreal Canadians." The Canadian Encyclopedia. 1988 ed. [If no author is cited...] "Mandarin." Encyclopedia Americana. 1980 ed. A BOOK BY A CORPORATE AUTHOR:
| Board of Education for the City of London. Making the Grade: Evaluating Student Progress Scarborough: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1987. A PAMPHLET [treat as a book]:
| Ontario Ministry of Health. Take Care of your Heart. Toronto: Ontario Heart Foundation, n.d. Teenagers and Drugs. Toronto: Addiction Research Foundation, 1988. AN ESSAY, SHORT STORY, POEM OR OTHER WORK FROM A COLLECTION OF WORKS:
| [For a collection compiled by an editor...] Yeats, William Butler. "An Irish airman Foresees His Death." The Oxford Book of War Poetry. Ed. Jon Stallworthy. New York: Oxford UP, 1984. 174-75. [For a collection by the same author...] Thomas, Dylan. "The Visitor." The Collected Stories. New York: New Directions Publishing: 1984. 24. A BOOK IN A SERIES:
| Reilly, Mary Jo. Mexico. Cultures of the World Ser. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1991. A MULTIVOLUME WORK:
| Bennett, Donna, et al., eds. An Anthology of Canadian Literature in English. 2 vols. Toronto: Oxford UP, 1983. |
2. PERIODICALS
| AN ARTICLE IN A MAGAZINE:
Hook, Janet. "Raise Standards of Admission, Colleges Urges." Chronicle of Higher Education 4 May 1983: 1-6. [The "4" refers to the date. The "1-6" indicates that the article is found on pages one to six. If the article is not on consecutive pages, it is necessary to write "+" after the first page number. If the author's name is not given for the article you are using, start your documentation with the title, arranging the entry alphabetically.] AN ARTICLE IN A NEWSPAPER:
| Schiller, Bill. "Mandela urges defiance." The Toronto Star 12 Feb. 1989: A1. AN ARTICLE IN A SCHOLARLY JOURNAL:
| Booth, Wayne C. "Kenneth Burke's Way of Knowing." Critical Inquiry 1 (1974): 1-22. [The "1" refers to the journal's volume number. "1-22" indicates that the article is found on pages 1-22] |
3.AUDIO/VISUAL SOURCES
| RADIO AND TELEVISION PROGRAMS:
The Early Canadians. Narr. Barbara Frum. Writ. And prod. Craig Fisher. CBC, CBLT, Toronto. 21 Mar. 1986. [If there is a title for the specific episode you are citing, start the citation with the episode title, in quotation marks, followed by a period. "CBLT" are the call letters of the station presenting the program.] VIDEOTAPES:
| Cry Freedom. Prod. Richard Attenborough. Videocassette. MCA Home Video, 1988. FILMS:
| [A citation of a film usually includes the title (underlined), the director, the distributor and the year.] Cyrano de Bergerac. Dir. Jean Paul Rappeneau. Perf. Gerard Depardieu. CFP, 1991. [The word "Perf." Means performed by. This allows you to list the main actors in the film. List the actors (first name then last name) in alphabetical order, placing a period at the end of your list.] |
4. CD-ROMS AND COMPUTER SOFTWARE
If you cannot find some of the information needed for the citation of a CD-ROM or Computer Software source, such as the city where the program was published or the program's version number, it is acceptable to leave out the information. However, you must include all available information in the citation. It is PLAGIARISM if the source is not included on the "works cited" page (i.e.bibliography).
| A MAGAZINE OR NEWSPAPER ARTICLE ON A CD-ROM:
Allen, Anita. "Fire And Air." World Press Review. Oct. 1993. Magazine Articles Summaries. CD-ROM. EBSCO, 1995. [Some CD-ROMS using this format : SIRS, Magazine Articles Summaries, Canadian NewsDisc, KIOSK: CBCA, Time Magazine Almanac, Globe and Mail and KIOSK: Maclean's.] COMPUTER SOFTWARE:
| [Computer software can include software on a floppy disk, a hard disk or a CD-ROM disc which does not contain magazine or newspaper articles.] PC Globe. Ver. 5.0. Diskette. Novato: Broderbund, 1992. "Bronte, Emily." Discovering Authors. Ver. 1.0. CD-ROM. Detroit: Gale, 1994. ["Ver. 1.0" indicates the version number of the program. If no version number is given, you may omit this information. "Diskette" and "CD-ROM" show the medium on which the program is available. If the program is installed on a hard disk, you would still show the medium as Diskette.] [Some CD-ROMS using this format: Discovering Authors, Encarta and the Canadian Encyclopedia] |
5. INTERNET
When citing a source from the Internet, you must provide the Uniform Resource Locator (URL). The URL, also known as the Internet address, is the path to the information you access. The URL is given in the citation, so that others may later find the information. The URL can be found in the "location" line of the browser you are using. For online sources, some information found in the citation may not be available (such as the author). In cases where information is not available, simply omit that piece of information. However, you must have an entry for every source used - you cannot omit any source which does not provide all the needed information. It is PLAGIARISM to do so. The basic format is as follows : Author's Last Name, Author's First Name. "Title of Document." Title of complete work [if applicable, underlined or in italics]. Version or File number [if applicable]. Document date or date of last revision [if different from access date]. Protocol and address, access path or directories (date of access).