[The advice for MLA format on this worksheet are not my own, but come from the website mentioned. http://www.easybib.com/reference/guide/mla/website The advice at the end of this worksheet is not my own, but taken from Pathways 4 published by National Geographic Learning.]
Step 3: Background Reading -- Acquiring
Sources
The next step is to acquire a list
of books and articles that you can use for your research. At this stage in your research, you will try
to acquire as much information as possible.
You will not have the space to use all this information in your paper,
but acquiring as much information as possible will help you to know which
points are most important (or most interesting) to include in your paper.
For this week, you need to get ahold
of ten books, articles, or websites that you can potentially use as sources of
information for your research topic .
You do not need to read the articles... yet. (Although the assignment for next week
will be to read and summarize the articles, so it's not a bad idea to start
reading them now if you have the time. )
Write down the ten sources below. In order to get practice on your
bibliography, write up your sources in academic bibliography style. You
won't need to use all ten of these sources in your actual final paper. (In your final bibliography you will cite
only the sources from which you took information--this may or may not include
all of the sources you read.) However,
it will still be useful to practice bibliography style here. (And if you do decide to use any of
these sources later, then your
bibliography citation will be already ready for you!)
There are many different styles of
bibliographies and citations. Different
professors will require different styles of bibliographies, so in a University
it is always good to check what style your professor requires before you write
your bibliography.
One of the most popular styles in
America is the MLA style, so you can use this style as a guide if you like. (Or, if you prefer, you can use another
style, such as APA, Chicago Style, et cetera.)
Below are some quick and dirty tips
for writing in MLA format from the website: http://www.easybib.com/reference/guide/mla/website. This is only
a partial list, so check the website for complete information if you have more
questions.
General Rules for MLA Format 7th Edition
- You are no longer required to have URL's in citations. If your instructor wants to include URLs, put them in angle brackets after the entry and end with a period.
- Use italics instead of underlining for titles of larger works including books or magazines, and "quotation marks" for titles of shorter works such as poems or articles.
Author Rules:
List entries alphabetically by last name.Works with no authors
If there is no author given, alphabetize the works by the title. Use a shortened version of the title.Example:
- Studyguide[...]
Citing one author
To cite an author, use the last name followed by the first name and if given, the middle name of initial.Example:
Last name, First name. Title.
City: Publisher, Year.
Citing two authors
To cite two authors, use the last name followed by the first name and then inverse to first name and last name.Example:
Last name, First name and First name Last name. Title.
City: Publisher, Year.
Citing more than one author
If you are citing more than one author, separate the authors by commas alphabetically. The first author should have their last name, first name and the additional authors should be cited simply with their first and last name.Example:
Last name, First name, First name Last name, and First
name Last name. Title. City: Publisher, Year.
How to Cite a Website in MLA
Structure:
Last
name, First name. "Article Title." Website Title. Publisher of
Website, Day Month Year article was published. Web. Day Month Year article was
accessed. .
Example:
Cain,
Kevin. "The Negative Effects of Facebook on Communication." Social
Media Today RSS N.p., 29 June 2012. Web. 02 Jan. 2013.
Make sure to:
- Only include the URL if the source cannot be found easily.
How to Cite a Book in Print in MLA
The basic
information of a book includes author(s), the title of the book, and the
publication information.
Structure:
Last, First M. Book. City:
Publisher, Year Published. Print.
Examples:
James, Henry. The Ambassadors.
Rockville: Serenity, 2009. Print.
Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations.
New York: Dodd, Mead, 1942. Print.
Assignment: Write
down (in bibliography style) 10 sources that you have found related to your
topic.
1. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
2.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
3.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
4.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
5. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
6.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
7.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
8.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
9. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
10.____________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Advice:
*Remember
Wikipedia is not a reliable academic source, but you can use the Wikipedia page
to find other sources on your topic.
* Find
sources that are long enough to contain some good information, but not so long
that you won't have time to read them.
* Look for
up-to-date information, especially in fields that change often such as
technology or business. For Internet
sources, look for recent updates to Web sites.
* You sources
of information need to be reliable.
Think about the author and the publisher. Ask yourself: What is their point of
view? Can I trust this information?
* Your
sources need to be well respected. For
example, an article from a well-known newspaper or professional journal will
probably be more respected than a blog or Facebook post.
* Start with
Web sites with .edu or .org endings. These are usually educational or
non-commercial sites. Some .com
Web sites also have good information, for example www.nationalgeographic.com or
www.britannica.com
* Think
about the source's audience. For
example, imagine you are buying a new computer and want to read about the
different types of computers before you buy one. If the source is written for computer programmers,
for example, you might not be able to understand it. If the source is written for university
students who need to buy a new computer, it's more likely to be understandable.
* When you
go to a source cite, preview the content: Read the title and the subheads, look
at the pictures, and read the captions.
As you preview, ask yourself: Is the site trustworthy? Is the information accurate? Is it current? Is the information thorough?
