A bibliography is a list of all the sources you quoted or paraphrased to prepare your paper. You should arrange the bibliography in alphabetical order by the author’s last name or, if there is no author, by the first main word of the title. You can ignore A, And, and The in a title.

There are several bibliographic styles, and your instructor may prefer a specific one. Be sure to find out what style you should use. <>

Don’t mix styles, because you may confuse your reader. The examples in this bibliography are written in the Modern Language Association (MLA) style, which is commonly used in the humanities.

The rules for creating an MLA bibliography style are:

  • Double-space all entries.
  • Use hanging indent paragraph style (align the first line with the left margin, and indent all subsequent lines five spaces from the left margin).
  • Type all authors’ names with the last name first, separated by a comma. Use the first name and then an initial for the middle name.
  • In titles of books and articles, use  capital letters in each title, subtitle, and proper name. You do not have to capitalize and, of, an, in, or to if they are in the body of the title.
  • Use italics or underlines for the titles of books and periodicals.
  • Do not underline or use quotation marks around the titles of periodical articles.
  • Use quotation marks around the titles of articles taken from books, magazines or journals.
  • Give the full names of publishers, excluding "Co.," "Inc.," and the like.
  • Do NOT use the abbreviation "p." or "pp." before page numbers in books, magazines, and newspapers.
  • Separate each portion of each bibliography entry with a period followed by two spaces.
  • For electronic articles, use whatever information is available from the website. Make sure to note where the article is found and the date you retrieved it.  Also, in place of page numbers, write n. page.

      Click here to see the way to cite Internet sources.

    Click here to see the way to cite different types of sources MLA style.

 
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