MLA Referencing 

Introduction

In-Text Referencing

Reference Lists

Examples

• Indirect Sources
• Multiple Works by the Same Author
• Multi-Volume Works
• Works with No Author
• Reference List/Bibliography

Other Resources

Questions & Comments

Every scholarly discipline has a preferred format or style for citing sources. A widely accepted method used in the humanities is the MLA documentation style. The following guide explains how to use this system, however, if you require further information consult the MLA handbook for writers of research papers.

Please remember to check with your unit co-ordinator or tutor before submitting your assignments, as their style preference may vary from the guidelines presented here.

Referencing or citing your sources is an important part of academic writing. It lets you acknowledge the ideas or words of others if you use them in your work and helps avoid plagiarism.

When books, journals, official publications, newspapers etc. are used to reinforce ideas in an essay, you must give credit to these sources.

Referencing also demonstrates that you've read relevant backgound literature and you can provide authority for statements you make in your assignments.

There are two parts to referencing: the in text references (citations) in your paper and the Reference List at the end of your paper.

In-Text References:

• Are brief and only provide as much information as is necessary to identify the source as it appears in the Reference List/Bibliography. This generally means the author's name and the page reference.

Reference List:

• Also known as a Bibliography
• A complete list of the works consulted at the end of the essay. The cited works are listed in alphabetical order by the author's surnames or by title if there is no author.

The example below indicates how a work is briefly cited in the text, and then in full at the end of the essay. For example:

...the Enlightenment was an outgrowth for the 17th century advances in science and philosophy (Withers 246).

The content of the brackets tells the reader that the information was derived from a work by Withers on page 246. If the reader requires complete details for the reference, they can refer to the alphabetical list of sources cited at the end of the essay. The reference would look like this:

Withers, Julie. Age of Reason. New York: Harper, 1989.

Remember, the aim of this referencing system is to be brief. For example, if you mention the author's name in the text, then the parentheses need only indicate a page number:

...Withers stated that the Enlightenment was an outgrowth of the 17th century advances in science and philosophy (246).