Writing with Style Writing and Style Manual 
Poway Unified School District

MLA FORMAT 
FOR BIBLIOGRAPHY ENTRIES

Book Entries | Periodical Entries | Encyclopedias | Electronic and Online Resources

Book Entries
Author(s).  Book Title.  City of Publication: Publisher, most recent copyright year.

Book by One Author
Handy, Charles.  The Age of Unreason.  Boston: Harvard

     Business School Press, 1990.  

Book by Two or Three Authors
Lawrence, Jerome, and Robert Lee.  Inherit the Wind.  Toronto: Bantam Publishing

     Co., 1955. 

Book by More than Three Authors
Hastings, Marie et al.  Biogenetics.  Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1985.

Book by a Corporate Author
American Diabetes Association.  Living with Diabetes. New York:  Random House,

     1994.   

An Introduction, Preface, Foreword, or Afterward
Epstein, E.L.  Afterward.  Lord of the Flies.  By William Golding.  N.p:  Putnam,

     1954. 185-190.

A Translation
Derrida, Jacques.  The Gift of Death.  Trans. David Wills.  Chicago:  Univ. of

     Chicago Press, 1995.  

A Pamphlet
FDA.  Check the Date: Dangers of Expired Prescription Drugs.  New York:  FDA,

     2001. 

Entire Edited Anthology or Collection
Wieder, Jason ed.  Letters of the Civil War Era.  2 vols.  Athens:  Univ. of Georgia

     Press, 1993.  

|top of page|

Article, Story, or Essay in an Anthology or Reference Book
Author(s). “Article, Story, or Essay Title.”  Title of Anthology.  Name of the

     Translator, Editor, or Compiler of the anthology.  State: Anthology Publisher,

     date. page numbers of cited piece.

Toelken, Barre.  “Life and Death in the Navajo Coyote Tales.”  Recovering the

     Word:  Essays on Native American Literature.  Eds.  Brian Swann and Arnold

      Krupat. Berkeley:  Univ. of California Press, 1990.  388-401. 

Previously Published Scholarly Article in a Collection
Author(s). “Article Title.” Title of Original Publication. Original publication

      citation. Rpt. in Title of Current Publication. Editor’s Name. Current

      publication citation. pages. 

Shield, Tamara.  “Feminist View of Jane Austen.”  British Authors 24 (1984): 232-

     38. Rpt. in Twentieth Century Literary Criticism. Vol. 25. Ed. Dennis Poupard.

     Detroit:  Gale Research, 1988. 399-402.  

|top of page|

Periodical Entries
Author(s). “Article Title.”  Periodical Title.  Date: Inclusive pages. 

Magazine Article
Martinez, Rachelle P.  “What Can Be Done?”  Newsweek 21 Mar.

     1988: 57-58.

Newspaper Article
Smith, Bernard.  “Earthquake Country.”  San Diego Union Tribune 9

     Sept. 1996, final ed.

Scholarly Journal Article
Author(s). “Article Title.”  Periodical Title.  Volume # (Year): Inclusive pages.   

Draner, Marcena.  “Electronic Poetry.”  Computers and the Humanities. 29 (1992): 

     416-25.  

Encyclopedias
Author(s). “Article Title.”  Encyclopedia Title, edition.   

Horst, Joanna.  “Ellison, Ralph.”  Encyclopedia Britannica, 1992 ed.

“China.”  World Book Encyclopedia, 1995 ed. 

|top of page|

ELECTRONIC AND ONLINE RESOURCES

If no author is given, begin with the title of the page or article and use a shortened form of the title for parenthetical citations. If any other information is missing (for example, date of last update or revision), simply leave it out and go on to the next item of information.

When citing a print source also found online, you must first give all the citation information for the print source and then add the online source information.

Personal Website or Homepage
Author(s). Home page. Date of posting/revision.  Name of sponsoring institution or

     organization. Date of access <electronic address or URL>.  

Hylton, Jeremy. Home page. 13 May 2002 <http://www.python.org/~jeremy/>.

Professional or Corporate Website  
Author(s). "Name of Page." Date of posting/revision.  Name of sponsoring institution

     or organization. Date of access <electronic address or URL>.

Gray, Terry. Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet.  6 May 2002. Palomar

     College. 13 May 2002 <http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/default.htm>.

Article or Page on a Website  
Author(s). “Title of Article or Page.” Name of Web Site. Date of last update or

      revision.  Name of sponsoring institution or organization. Date of access

     <electronic address or URL>.

Mabillard, Amanda. "Shakespeare of Stratford." Shakespeare Online. 4 April 2002.

     13 May 2002 <http://www.shakespeare-online.com>.

“Ranch-Raised Fur: Captive Cruelty.” PETA Factsheets. People for the Ethical

     Treatment of Animals (PETA). 13 May 2002 <http://www.peta-online.org/

      mc/facts/fswild3.html>.

Article in an Online Magazine  
Author(s). “Title of Article or Page.” Name of Magazine or Journal. Date of

     publication. Date of access <electronic address or URL>.

Huang, Greg and Sage Stossel. “Flashbacks: The Public and Private Worlds of

     Charles Dickens.” The Atlantic Unbound. 26 April 2002. 13 May 2002

     <http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/dickens.htm>.

Article in an Online Scholarly Journal  
Author(s). “Title of Article or Page.” Name of Magazine or Journal. Volume#:Issue#

     (Year of publication). Date of access <electronic address or URL>.

Rosenthal, Steven R., et al. “Developing New Smallpox Vaccines.” Emerging

      Infectious Diseases. 7:6(2001). 13 May 2002 <http://www.cdc.gov/

     ncidod/EID/vol7no6/rosenthal.htm>.

|top of page|

Article in an Online Database or Encyclopedia 
Author(s). “Title of Article.” Name of Database. Date of last update or revision.

     Date of access <electronic address or URL>.

Kastan, David Scott.  "Shakespeare, William". Microsoft Encarta Online

     Encyclopedia. 13 May 2002 <http://encarta.msn.com>.

Magazine or Newspaper Article
Author(s). “Title of Article.” Name of Magazine or Newspaper.  Day Month Year.

     Page(s). Name of Database. Date of last update or revision. Date of access

     <electronic address or URL>.

Hobson, Katherine.  “Mind versus Face.” U.S. News & World Report. 1 April 2002.

     61. Gale Group Student Resource Center. 23 May 2002 <http://www.galenet

    .com>.

“Bush Presses For Cloning Ban.” Los Angeles Times. 11 April 2002. A-17. Gale

     Group Student Resource Center. 23 May 2002 <http://www.galenet.com>.

Scholarly Journal Article
Author(s). “Title of Article or Page.” Name of Magazine or Journal. Volume#:

     Issue# (Year of publication). Name of Database. Date of Access <electronic

     address or URL>.

Larkin, Marilynn. “St John's Wort not Effective for Major Depression.” The Lancet.

     359:9314(2002). Gale Group Student Resource Center. 23 May 2002 <http://

     www.galenet.com>.

Online or listserv posting  
Author(s). “Title of Post or Thread.” Online posting. Date of Post.

     Name of Bulletin Board or Listserv. Date of access <electronic

     address or URL>.  

“Father Lawrence – Tragic Hero.” Online posting. 24 April 2002. Sparks Notes. 13

     May 2002 <http://sparknotes.com>.

Burke, Louise. “Creative Ideas for Romeo and Juliet.” Listserv post. 11 Feb 2000.

     NCTE-Talk. 13 May 2002 <http://www.ncte.org/lists/nctetalk/

     feb2000/msg01154. html>.

|top of page|

E-mail  
Author. “Subject of E-mail.” E-mail to [name of recipient].

     Date of e-mail.  

Sullivan, Peter. “Re: Homeless Shelters.” E-mail to Justin Price. 7 April 2002.

E-text  
Author(s). Name of Text. City: Publisher, Year. Name of Web Site. Date of last

     update or revision. Name of sponsoring institution or organization. Date of

     Access <electronic address>.  

Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. The Complete Works of William

     Shakespeare. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 13 May 2002 <http://

     classics.mit.edu/Shakespeare/romeo_juliet/index.html>.

Poe, E.A. “The Fall of the House of Usher.” The Short-Story: Specimens Illustrating

     Its Development. Ed. Brander Matthews. New York: American Book Company,

     1907. The Bartleby Project. 13 May 2002 <http://www.bartleby.com/

     195/10.html>.

CD-ROM
Author, if given. “Title of article.” Title of CD-ROM.

     Edition, release, or version. Publication medium

     (CD-ROM, diskette). City of  Publication:

     Publisher’s Name, year of publication.  

Moulton, Gary E. “Lewis, Meriwether.” Information Finder. 1995. CD-ROM.

     Chicago:  World Book, 1995.

OTHER RESOURCES

Film, radio, or TV program
“Title of the Episode or Segment.” Narrator. Writer. Producer. Title

     of the Program or Series.  Name of the network. Call letters

     and city of the local station. Broadcast date.

"The First Americans." Narr. Hugh Downs.  Writ. and prod. Craig Haffner.  NBC

      News Special.  KNSD. San Diego. 6 April 1994.

Audio recording
Author or performer. “Title of Song.” Title of Recording. Performance group,

     conductor and soloists (classical recordings). Publisher or Record Label, Year.

Lennon, John and Paul McCartney. “Come Together.” Abbey Road. EMI Records,

     1987.

Handel, Georg Friedrich. “Suite No. 1 F Major.” Water Music Concerto Grosso

     Op. 3 No. 3. London Festival Orchestra. Cond. Ross Pople. Arte Nova, 1995.

Film or video recording
Title. Director. Performers. Format (Videocassette, DVD). Studio or Publisher, Year.

Gone with the Wind. Dir. David O. Selznick. Perf. Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie

     Howard, Olivia de Havilland. DVD. MGM, 1939.

Work of art
Artist. Title of Artwork. Name of Museum, City.

DaVinci, Leonardo. Mona Lisa. The Louvre, Paris.

Interview (conducted by you)
Name of person interviewed. Type of interview (Personal Interview, Telephone

     Interview). Day Month Year.

Gates, Bill. Telephone Interview. 4 Dec. 1999.

Lecture or speech
Speaker’s name. “Title of Speech” (or use a label such as Lecture, Address, or

     Speech). Occasion name or Conference Title. Location, City. Day Month Year.

Sanchez, Jill. “The Jazz Age.” Class lecture. Rancho Bernardo High School, San

     Diego. 19 Nov. 1996.

|top of page|

Updated 06/23/03 by D.Hogan
Poway Unified School District
©February 2003