You use notes and citations to acknowledge the sources you have used that directly or indirectly are featured in your written work. This allows the readers (including your professors) to see what kinds of sources have been used (are they reputable-sounding, current resources?) and to return to the original material to verify information.

All of the examples and citations below are written in MLA style, according to the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (6th edition) by Joseph Gibaldi. There is a copy of the MLA Handbook in the Library’s Reference Stacks, LB2369 G53 2003. The book contains more examples and more detailed explanations of the citation formats.
See Style Manuals for information on citation formats other than MLA style.
 

ALL SOURCES THAT YOU HAVE USED MUST BE DOCUMENTED

Avoid the serious charge of PLAGIARISM -- using another person's ideas or words in your writing without acknowledging the source. Identify every source, in every format, that you have used for your research whether it provided you with ideas, facts, opinions, or exact wording. Note that you do not need to acknowledge information that is considered “common knowledge” even if you happened to see it in a written source; an example of “common knowledge” is “Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States”. If you are not sure whether an item you  have seen should be in your “List of Works Consulted”, err on the side of caution and include it.  
 

DOCUMENTING SOURCES WITHIN THE BODY OF A RESEARCH/TERM PAPER

Within the body of a paper, parenthetical references should appear following a direct quote, paraphrase or summary of information you got from someone else’s work. Place the parenthetical citation immediately following a quote or at a logical break or the end of the sentence.

Each citation within the body of the paper generally includes in parentheses the author's last name and the page number(s) where the information was found. See the MLA Handbook for details on how to cite items with more than one author, an item from an author with more than one book in the "Works Consulted" list or an item with no author listed.

Examples of Citations Within the Body of the Paper

Direct quote:
Marshall Field has an extensive private label program, with five labels in men's wear alone. The company believes that "separate and distinctive labels are the best approach to identify different categories of its men's wear offerings" (Diamond and Pintel 282).

Summary:
The Gap, as a large and influential retail store chain, has been leveraging its power to negotiate mall real estate deals that once would have been considered unusual (Edelson).

Paraphrase:
The former women's department manager at Valley Stream spoke about the warmth and camaraderie among Alexander's employees, and cited herself as an example of job advancement opportunities at the store (Schemo B8).
 

The “List of Works Consulted” must include the complete citations for everything you cited parenthetically within the body of your paper. Also include other sources you used as background research but did not quote or refer to directly. 
 

Note that all listings are interfiled alphabetically by first word of citation (usually author or title); do not separate out books from other types of materials such as magazine articles or websites.
 

Single author:

Barmash, Isadore. Macy's for Sale. New York: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1989.

Two or three authors:

Mahoney, Tom, and Leonard Sloane. The Great Merchants: America's Foremost Retail Institutions and the People Who Made Them Great. New and enl. ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1974.

More than three authors: (Note that if you prefer, you may list all the authors in the order they appear on the title page)

Still, Richard R., et al. Sales Management: Decisions, Strategies, and Cases. 5th ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1988.

Edited collection:

Dertouzos, Michael L., and Joel Moses, eds. The Computer Age: A Twenty-Year View. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1979.

Unknown author:

Statistical Fact Book: Current Information about Direct Marketing and Direct Response Advertising. New York: Direct Marketing Association, 1992.

Article in a Reference Book:

“Fashion.” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989.
[Note that according to the MLA Handbook, section 5.6.8, specific publication information is not required for “familiar reference books, especially those that frequently appear in new editions” (Gibaldi 161)]

Mollica, Robert. “Assisted Living.” Encyclopedia of Aging. Ed. by David J. Ekerdt. 4 vols. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2002.

Note: If you used the FIT Library’s electronic version of this book, cite it as follows:   

Mollica, Robert. “Assisted Living.” Encyclopedia of Aging. Ed. by David J. Ekerdt. 4 vols. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2002. 10 August 2004 <http://www.netlibrary.com>

Government document:

United States. Dept. of Labor. Employment and Training Administration. U.S. Employment Service. Dictionary of Occupational Titles. 4th ed., rev. 1991. Washington: The Administration, 1991.
 

PERIODICAL AND NEWSPAPER ARTICLES

Magazine article in weekly or biweekly magazine:

Glastris, Paul. “The New Way to Get Rich.” U.S. News & World Report 7 May 1990:26-36.

Magazine article in monthly or bimonthly magazine:

Dolnick, Edward. “What Dreams Are (Really) Made Of.” Atlantic July 1990: 41-61.

Newspaper article, unknown author:

“A Lesson from Lancome.” Women’s Wear Daily 24 July 1992: 8.

Newspaper article with author listed:

Lewis, Peter H. “Digital Dressing Rooms and Other New Twists.” New York Times 22 Sept. 1999, late ed.: G4+.

Editorial:

“Stepping Backward.” Editorial. Los Angeles Times 4 July 1989, pt. 2: 6.
[Note that a similar format is used for “Letters to the Editor”, which would be indicated by “Letter” instead of “Editorial” and the author’s name instead of, or before, the title.]
 

For many formats (e.g. videos, DVDs, interviews) other than printed materials,  it is necessary to indicate the format in the citation.

Videotapes, films, etc.:

Calvin Klein: A Stylish Obsession. Videocassette. ABC News and A&E Networks, 1997.

Published or broadcast interview:

Morrison, Toni. Interview. All Things Considered. National Public Radio. WNYC, New York. 16 Feb. 1986.

Personally conducted interview:
Include a short description or affiliation if the interviewee is not well-known.

Klein, Calvin. Personal interview. 22 July 2003.

Chin, Barbara. Professor of International Trade, Northwest College. Personal interview. 17 August 1999.
 

ELECTRONIC SOURCES

REMEMBER that if you use information from an electronic source, including the Internet, you must cite the source or specific web site, just as you would cite a book or magazine article that you use.

Although citations of electronic sources follow the same general form as printed sources, there are two notable differences.   Many electronic publications do not supply all the desired information for bibliographic citations. Include in your references as much information as you can find.

• Publication dates - A citation to an electronic work often requires more than one date; you may have up to three dates in a single citation (see “Online Book” example below). Include: a) the original print publication date, if available, for works that are also offered in printed format; b) the electronic publication date, if provided; c) the date you accessed the work, if source is online. Remember that information given online may change overnight and, therefore, you need to indicate the exact date that you looked at each online resource. CD-ROM citations do not need access dates.
   

• Network address - Citations to online sources need to include the network address (e.g., URL), enclosed in angle brackets. If the URL for a specific page is exceptionally long (e.g. <http://www.astm.org/cgibin/SoftCart.exe/DATABASE.CART/REDLINE_PAGES/
  D7022.htm?L+mystore+dtps7240>) you may list the site's search or main page address (e.g. <http://www.astm.org>) as the URL so that there less of a chance for error in accessing the page.
   

EXAMPLES:
Website: (general)

CNN.com. 2004. Cable News Network. 20 December 2004. <http://www.cnn.com>.

This the general format used to cite an entire website. Often you will want to cite just a section that you have seen -- a specific article or entry, a chapter in an online book, etc. See the examples below for more specific citation formats to use.

Online Information Database:

ApparelNet: The Online Guide for the Apparel Industry. 1998. ApparelNet, Inc. 11 July 1999
     <http://www.apparel.net>.

Document within an Online Information Database:

"Reebok International Ltd.” Hoover’s Online. 1999. Hoover’s, Inc. 16 Nov. 1999         <http://www.hoovers.com/capsules/11266.html>.

Works from Online Subscription Services: Online subscription services fall into two basic categories: library subscription (e.g., Gale) and personal subscription (e.g. America Online).

Article in Periodical or Newspaper from Online Library Subscription Service:

Labich, Kenneth. “Attention Shoppers: This Man is Watching You.” Fortune 19 July 1999: 13+. General    BusinessFile ASAP. Gale. Fashion Institute of Technology Library, New York. 11 Aug. 1999 <http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/fitsuny>.

Work from Online Personal Subscription Service:

“Cloning.” BioTech’s Life and Science Dictionary. 30 June 1998. Indiana University. America Online. 4 July 1998. Path: Research and Learning; Science; Biology; Biotechnology Dictionary.

Online Professional or Personal Site:

Pitts, Richard. Home page. 17 Nov. 1999 <http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/artpitts>.

Romance Languages and Literatures Home Page. Sept. 1998. Dept. of Romance Languages and Literatures, University of Chicago. 8 July 1999 <http://humanities.uchicago.edu/romance>.

Online Book:

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Boston: Ticknor, Reed & Fields, 1850. New Bartleby Library. Ed. by Steven H. van Leeuwen. July 1999. 11 Nov. 1999 <http://www.bartleby.com/83/index.html>.

[NOTE that 3 different dates are needed and given in this citation, as mentioned in the introduction to the ELECTRONIC SOURCES section.]

Online Government Publication:

United States. Dept. of Agriculture. Economic Research Service. NAFTA. International Agriculture and Trade Reports, Situation and Outlook Series. WRS-99-1. Coordinated by John Link and Steven Zahniser. Aug. 1999. 10 Nov. 1999. <http://www.econ.ag.gov>.

Online Posting:

Reis, Cynthia. “Scully’s Ghostly Visitors over the Years.” Online posting. 15 Nov. 1999. Alt.tv.x-files. 17 Nov. 1999. <http://www.deja.com/group/alt.tv.x-files>.

Publication on CD-ROM:

International Cosmetic Ingredient Dictionary. 6th ed. CD-ROM. Washington, D.C.: Cosmetic, Toiletry, and Fragrance Association, 1995.

E-Mail Communication:

Boyle, Anthony T. “Re: Utopia.” E-mail to Daniel J. Cahill. 21 June 1997.
 

There are several commonly-used, widely-accepted formats for citing materials used in research. The specific examples given in this Information Bulletin follow the MLA format, but your instructor or academic department may favor a different format; use whichever format is required or recommended. If you have a choice, you may use any of the sources listed below, all of which are available in the FIT library.

Whichever one you choose should be followed consistently; don’t use one format for books and a different one, for example, for online resources.

[Note: The following items are cited in MLA style, with the addition of the FIT library's location and call number for each item.]

Chicago Manual of Style. 15th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.
Reference Stacks Z 253 .U69 2003.

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th ed. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2003.
Reference Stacks LB 2369 .G53 2003

Li, Xia, and Nancy B. Crane. Electronic Styles: A Handbook for Citing Electronic Information. Medford, NJ: Information Today, 1996.
Reference Stacks PN 171 .F56 L5 1996

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 5th ed. Washington: American Psychological Association, 2001.
Reference Stacks BF 76.7 .P83 2001

Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. 6th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.
Reference Stacks LB 2369 .T8 1996

Walker, Janice R. , and Todd W. Taylor. The Columbia Guide to Online Style. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998.
Reference Stacks PN 171 .F56 W35 1998
 

ONLINE STYLE MANUALS

Most of these websites are produced by the organization whose citation style is mentioned, but others are compilations of examples using different formats. Some specialize in formats for trickier online materials only, some include citation formats for all types of material.
[Note: The following items are not cited in MLA style.]

APA Style
       http://www.apastyle.org
       See sections “APA Style Tips”, “Electronic References”, and “FAQs”.

Chicago Manual of Style
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org
“Tools” section includes useful examples, with “Q&A” section reserved for more esoteric discussions.

Columbia Guide to Online Style
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/cgos2006/basic.html
A companion website to the book of the same name.

How to Cite Electronic Sources
http://memory.loc.gov/learn/start/cite/index.html
Examples include interesting material formats (photographs, sound recordings, etc) from Library of Congress collections.

Online! Citation Styles
http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/citex.html
Detailed examples in MLA, APA, Chicago, and other formats

What Is MLA Style?
http://www.mla.org/style
See the FAQ section for some specific examples of implementing MLA style.
 

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