Once you have found the author format that fits, look for the type of source that matches. Mix and match the patterns illustrated as needed. For example, a two-volume printed book in its second edition might send you to several examples until you have covered all of its elements.

Article in a Printed or an Electronic Periodical

Article from a Printed Journal

Provide the volume number, issue number, year, page numbers, and medium for all journals.

Article from an Online Journal

Supply the information that you would for a print article, using “n. pag.” if the article lacks page numbers; end with the medium and your access date.

Article Accessed Online through a Library or Subscription Database

If you find a source through a library database or a subscription service, include the name of the service, the medium, and your access date.

Vanacore, Andrew. “Free TV Could Get Its Curtain Call.” Boston Globe 30 Dec. 2009: B1. Newsbank: America’s Newspapers. Web. 1 Mar. 2013.

Article from a Printed Magazine

Give the month and year of the issue, or its specific date.

Jenkins, Lee. “He’s Gotta Play Hurt.” Sports Illustrated 26 Oct. 2009: 42-43. Print.

If the article’s pages are not consecutive, add a + after its initial page.

“Reinventing College.” Time 29 Oct. 2012: 31+. Print.

Article from an Online Magazine

Fallows, James. “Busy and Busier.” TheAtlantic.com. Atlantic Monthly Group, Nov. 2012. Web. 23 Nov. 2012.

Article from a Printed Newspaper

If the newspaper has different editions, indicate after the date the one where the article can be found. For example: natl. ed. If the pages for the article are not consecutive, add a + after its initial page.

Ostrow, Joanne. “Saturated.” Denver Post 11 Nov. 2012: E2+. Print.

Article from an Online Newspaper

Cave, Damien. “Long Border, Endless Struggle.” New York Times. New York Times, 3 Mar 2013, late ed. Web. 10 Mar. 2013.

Editorial from a Printed Periodical

McGrath, Neal. “Concussion Care for Student-Athletes.” Editorial. Boston Globe 30 Dec. 2009, Opinion sec.: 17. Print.

Editorial from an Online Periodical

Duncan, Arne. “Investing in Students, Not the Banks.” Editorial. Washington Post. Washington Post, 26 Feb. 2010. Web. 1 Mar. 2013.

Letter to the Editor

Ryan, Beth. Letter. Smithsonian Sept. 2012: 12. Print.

Review

Include the words “Rev. of ” before the title of the work reviewed.

Coukell, Allan. “The Cell That Wouldn’t Die.” Rev. of Culturing Life: How Cells Became Technologies, by Hannah Landecker. Discover Feb. 2007: 68. Print.

Printed or Electronic Book

Printed Book

Wrangham, Richard W. Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human. New York: Basic, 2009. Print.

Online Book

For an online book, supply what you would for a printed book. Then add the name of the site, the medium, and your access date.

Wharton, Edith. The Age of Innocence. New York: Appleton, 1920. N. pag. Bartleby.com: Great Books Online. Web. 23 Nov. 2012.

E-book

Quammen, David. Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Pandemic. New York: Norton, 2012. Nook file.

Multivolume Work

To cite the full work, include the number of volumes (“vols.”) after the title.

Who Built America? Working People and the Nation’s Economy, Politics, Culture, and Society. 2 vols. New York: Worth, 2000. Print.

To cite only one volume, give its number after the title. If you wish, you then can add the total number of volumes after the date.

Who Built America? Working People and the Nation’s Economy, Politics, Culture, and Society. Vol. 1. New York: Worth, 2000. Print. 2 vols.

Revised Edition

Volti, Rudi. Society and Technological Change. 6th ed. New York: Worth, 2010. Print.

Book Published in a Series

After the title, add the series name as it appears on the title page, followed by any series number.

Smith, Philip E., II, ed. Approaches to Teaching the Works of Oscar Wilde. New York: MLA, 2008. Print. Approaches to Teaching World Lit. 103.

Book with Copublishers

If a book has more than one publisher, list them in the order on the title page, separated by a semicolon. (If the publisher uses an imprint name for a line of books, identify both with the imprint first: AltaMira-Rowman.)

Presidential Campaign Posters. Washington: Library of Congress; Philadelphia: Quirk, 2012. Print.

Book without Publisher, Date, or Page Numbers

Provide what’s available. Bracket information gained outside the source. Use “c.” (“around,” from the Latin circa) to indicate an inexact date: c. 1995. Show doubt with a question mark: [1972?]. For an unknown date, use “n.d.” (no date). Use “n.p.” for no publisher or no place, or simply leave out the publisher’s name if the work is pre-1900: New York, 1882. If pages are not numbered, use “n. pag.” (no pagination).

Rosholt, Malcolm. Days of the Ching Pao: A Photographic Record of the Flying Tigers-14th Air Force in China in World War II. N.p.: n.p., 1978. Print.

Part of a Printed or an Electronic Book

Give the author of the part first. Add the editor of the book after its title and the page numbers of the selection after the publication information. For an online book, add the site and your access date.

Selection from a Printed Book

Searle, John. “Can Computers Think?” Analytic Philosophy: An Anthology. 2nd ed. Ed. A. P. Martinich and David Sosa. Malden: Blackwell, 2011. 277-83. Print.

Selection from an Online Book

Webster, Augusta. “Not Love.” A Book of Rhyme. London, 1881. Victorian Women Writers Project. Web. 8 Mar. 2013.

Selection from an E-book

For a PDF, cite the fixed page numbers. For other files, cite divisions (ch. 4) or the whole work but not the file’s own location system.

Acey, Joy. “Keys.” The Poetry Friday Anthology. Ed. Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong. Princeton: Pomelo, 2012. Kindle file.

Preface, Introduction, Foreword, or Afterword

Harjo, Joy. Introduction. The Secret Powers of Naming. By Sara Littlecrow-Russell. Tucson: U of Arizona P, 2006. ix-xi. Print.

Essay, Short Story, or Poem from an Edited Collection

Cash, Johnny. “Folsom Prison Blues.” Good Poems, American Places. Ed. Garrison Keillor. New York: Viking-Penguin, 2011. 24. Print.

Two or More Works from the Same Edited Collection

If you list more than one selection from an anthology, prepare and refer to an entry for the collection (instead of repeating it for each selection).

Cisneros, Sandra. “Only Daughter.” Martin 10-13.

Martin, Wendy, ed. The Beacon Book of Essays by Contemporary American Women. Boston: Beacon, 1996. Print.

Tan, Amy. “Mother Tongue.” Martin 32-37.

Article from a Printed Reference Work

No editor, publisher, or place of publication is needed for well-known references such as Webster’s, World Book Encyclopedia, or Encyclopaedia Britannica. No volume and page numbers are needed when a reference book is organized alphabetically. If an article’s author is identified by initials, check the book’s list of contributors, which should supply the full name.

Raymer, John D., and Margarita Nieto. “Octavio Paz.” Notable Latino Writers. Pasadena: Salem, 2006. Print.

Article from an Online Reference Work

“‘Hansel and Gretel’ by the Brothers Grimm.” Encyclopedia Mythica. 2004. Web. 1 Mar. 2013.

Other Printed or Electronic Document

Printed Government Document

Generally, the “author” will be the government and the agency, separated by periods. If the document identifies an author or editor, give that name before the title or after it, if you give the agency as author.

United States. Census Bureau. Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2012: The National Data Book. 131st ed. Washington: GPO, 2011. Print.

Online Government Document

United States. National Institutes of Health. “Your Microbes and You.” NIH News in Health. NIH, Nov. 2012. Web. 23 Nov. 2012.

Online Document

First identify the document; then supply the details about its electronic location.

Carter, Jimmy. “Inaugural Address of Jimmy Carter.” 20 Jan. 1977. The Avalon Project. Yale Law School, 2008. Web. 10 Mar. 2013.

Pamphlet

Campus Recreation at Auraria. Drop-in Schedule: Spring 2012. Denver: Campus Recreation at Auraria, 2012. Print.

Doctoral Dissertation or Master’s Thesis

If the study is unpublished, place the title in quotation marks; if published, italicize the title. Follow the title with “Diss.” (for a dissertation) or with a master’s abbreviation (such as “MA thesis”).

Allen, Cleo Joffrion. “Foreign News Coverage in Selected U.S. Newspapers 1927-1997: A Content Analysis.” Diss. Louisiana State U, 2005. Print.

Internet or Electronic Source

Helping a reader find the material you cited and listed can be difficult with Internet materials. Web sites exist only electronically and may change. When new forms (such as blogs) rapidly develop, adapt the formats as needed.

Personal Web Page

If no title is available, include an identification such as “Home page.”

Tannen, Deborah. Home page. Georgetown U and Deborah Tannen, 2009. Web. 10 Mar. 2013.

Organization Web Page

“Library Statistics.” American Library Association. Amer. Lib. Assn., 2012. Web. 23 Nov. 2012.

Home Page for a Campus Department or Course

CSUN Department of Communication Studies. CSUN, n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2012.

Blog or Blog Entry

To cite a blog entry, give the title of the entry in quotation marks. If it lacks a title, use a label such as “Blog comment.” If there is no apparent sponsor, use “N.p.” for no publisher.

Knight, Christopher. “The Watts Towers’ Perpetual State of Crisis.” Culture Monster. Los Angeles Times, 28 May 2010. Web. 29 May 2010.

Wray, William. Blog comment. Culture Monster. Los Angeles Times, 28 May 2010. Web. 29 May 2010.

Publication on CD-ROM

Woodward, Bob. The Price of Politics. New York: Simon Audio, 2012. CD-ROM.

Visual or Audio Source

Advertisement

Feeding America. Advertisement. Time 21 Dec. 2009: 59. Print.

Comic or Cartoon

Supply the cartoonist’s name and identification as a comic strip or cartoon.

Adams, Scott. “Dilbert.” Comic strip. Denver Post 9 Mar. 2013: 7C. Print.

Photograph

Supply the place (museum or gallery and city) where the photograph is housed. If you are citing it from a publication, identify that source.

Stieglitz, Alfred. Self Portrait. J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. Stieglitz: A Beginning Light. By Katherine Hoffman. New Haven: Yale UP, 2004. 251. Print.

Strand, Paul. Fifth Avenue, New York. 1915. Photograph. Museum of Modern Art, New York.

For a family or personal photograph, identify who took it and when.

Black Forest. Personal photograph by author. 6 Aug. 2013. JPEG file.

Work of Art

Botticelli, Sandro. The Birth of Venus. 1482-86. Tempera on canvas. Uffizi Gallery, Florence.

Audiotape or Recording

Begin with the name of the artist, composer, speaker, writer, or other contributor, based on your interest in the recording. Include the medium, such as “Audiocassette,” “CD,” or “LP.”

Byrne, Gabriel. The James Joyce Collection. Dove Audio, 1996. Audiocassette.

Program on Television or Radio

“Newton Divided.” Frontline. PBS. WGBH, Boston, 19 Feb. 2013. Television.

“Can Detroit Be Saved?” Weekend Edition. Natl. Public Radio. KCFR, Denver, 2 Mar. 2013. Radio.

Film

Start with the title, unless you wish to emphasize the work of a person connected with the film.

True Grit. Dir. Ethan Coen and Joel Coen. Perf. Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld. Paramount, 2010. Film.

Coen, Ethan, and Joel Coen, dir. True Grit. Paramount, 2010. Film.

Live Performance

Sense and Sensibility: The Musical. Lyrics by Jeffrey Haddow. Dir. Marcia Milgram Dodge. Denver Center Theatre Company, Denver. 5 Apr. 2013. Performance.

Conversation or Field Artifact

Personal, Telephone, or E-mail Interview

Indicate how you conducted the interview: in person, by telephone, or by e-mail.

Boyd, Dierdre. Personal interview. 5 Feb. 2013.

Broadcast Interview

Begin with the person interviewed; if you wish, you may also add the interviewer (Interview by X) or the URL to locate a podcast.

Schatz, Amy. “Net Neutrality: Who’s in Charge of the Internet?” Interview by Terry Gross. Fresh Air. Natl. Public Radio. KCFR, Denver. 25 May 2010. Radio.

Published Interview

Marshall, Chan. Interview. Spin. Dec. 2006: 72-75. Print.

Speech or Lecture

Wexel, Beth. Fall Convocation. Craig Hall, Wilton College. 28 Aug. 2013. Address.

Personal Letter

Use “MS” for handwritten manuscript or “TS” for typescript or printout.

Finch, Katherine. Letter to the author. 1 Oct. 2013. TS.

E-mail

Moore, Jack. Message to the author. 11 Aug. 2013. E-mail.

Online Posting

Use the subject line as the title; label as “Online posting” if it has no title.

Robinson, Meena. “Mansfield Park.” PBS Discussions. PBS, 28 Jan. 2008. Web. 18 May 2008.

Cite a posting to a discussion group as you would an e-mail message.

Walsh, Karen. “Responsible Use of Technology.” Message to the education technology discussion list. 28 May 2009. E-mail.