(Bib Builder 1.3 Help File)

This document is not intended to be viewed separately, but as framed content within the MLA-Style Bibliography Builder.

Works Cited Example

Notes on Works Cited example:

• Format: For more information, see Using MS-Word to Format an MLA-Style Paper
  • Your last name and the page numbers are one half inch from the top, one inch from the right.
    
  • Other margins are all one inch.
• Organization
  • Alphabetize the entries.
    
  • Indent all but the first line of each item in your list.
    
  • Note how to handle two works with the same author (Mark Tucker).

[Adapted from MLA Handbook, 4th ed., p. 265.]

Author(s) [ none | corporate | none, with ed./trans. | individual | indiv., with ed./trans. | two or more ]

Select from the above list to find the proper format for entering the author of your source.

No Author

• If there is no corporate author, and if the source has no editor, compiler, or translator, leave this entry blank.
  
• Do not use "Anonymous" unless you are talking about a work of literature or an Internet posting whose author is completely untraceable. In most cases, you would omit the author category.

Corporate Author: "American Medical Association", "United States. Senate."

• A group whose individual members are not listed on the title page is treated as a corporate author. Give the name of the group. See MLA Handbook, 4th ed., 4.6.6.
  
• When the author is a government agency, give the name of the government, followed by a period; then give the name of the agency.
  • Canada. Revenue Canada.
    
  • New York. Committee on State Prisons.

  For a more detailed treatment of government publications, see MLA Handbook, 4th ed., 4.6.21.

No Author; with an editor, translator or compiler: "Smith, John, trans.", "Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar, eds."

• Follow this link if the source does name the author(s).
  
• If the source does not name an author:
  • Put the editor/translator/compiler in the Author slot.
    
  • Omit professional titles such as "Dr." or "Ph.D."; include personal titles such as "Jr." or "III".
    
  • Label this person with "ed.", "trans." or "comp."
    
  • Leave the Ed/Trans slot empty.
• One job, one person:  Jones, D. B., ed.
  
• One job, two people:  Ricks, Chrisopher, and William L. Vance, eds.
  
• Two jobs, one person: Spafford, Peter, comp. and ed.

Individual Author: "Smith, John", "Lee, K.D.", "Brown, Louis Baker, Jr.", "Smith-Woods, Jane B."

• Write the author's family name first, followed by given names.
  
• Omit professional titles such as "Dr." or "Ph.D."; include personal titles such as "Jr." or "III".

Editor, Translator or Compiler; with author: "Einstein, Albert. Letters of Albert Einstein. Ed. D. B. Jones."

• Follow this link if the source does not name the author(s).
  
• If the source does name the author(s):
  • In the Author blank, enter the author, if you have not already done so.
    
  • In the Ed/Trans. blank, write "Ed.", "Trans.", or "Comp.", and then fill in the name(s) in normal order.
    • One job, one person:  Ed. D. B. Jones.
      
    • One job, two people:  Ed. Christopher Ricks and William L. Vance.
      
    • Two jobs, one person: Comp. and ed. Peter Spafford.
      
    • Two jobs, two people: Trans. Jessie Coulson. Ed. George Gibian.
• See the MLA Handbook, 4.6.7.

Two or More Authors: "Smith, John and K. D. Lee, Jr.", "Biggs, Cecil A., Jane Smith-Woods, and L. R. Brown"

• Write the first author's name in reversed order (surname first, followed by given names).
  
• Write the other names in normal order.
  
• A series of three or more names requires a comma before the last item:
  • Author1 and Author2 (no comma between names, just the word "and")
    
  • Author1, Author2, and Author3.
• Omit professional titles such as "Dr." or "Ph.D."; include personal titles such as "Jr." or "III".

Titles

• Entire Works: novels, plays, long poems, and movies should all follow the format for books.
  
• Sections of Works: stories, short poems, essays or chapters from books should identify both the part and the whole.

Title of Work: (underlined by the Bib-Builder) Twelfth Night, Wallace Stevens: A Collection of Critical Essays

• Novels, plays, long poems, and movies should be cited as books. See books in a series.
  
• The next items are notes on determining, capitalizing, and underlining the titles of books.
  
• Determine the full title by consulting the copyright page (on the back of the fancy title page). Consider the following:
  • The front cover of a source you wish to cite reads, "ROBOTS" in large type, and in smaller italic type beneath it, "Machines in Man's Image."
    
  • The word "ROBOTS" appears on the tops of the inside pages.
    
  • However, the copyright page gives the full title as: "Robots, Machines in Man's Image".
• In MLA style, capitalize the first word of the title and the first word of subtitles (often marked by a colon). Capitalize all words except for articles, prepositions, conjunctions, and other simple words.
  
• When the title of a book includes the name of another book, do not underline the name of the second book.
  • Macbeth. (underline the title of a play)
    
  • Religious Imagery in Macbeth: A Linguistic Critique. (underline the book title, but not the play)
    • Note: The UTEL Bib-Builder display automatically underlines the entire titles of books.
      
    • When you paste the text into your word processor, you will have to add the underlining manually.

Nemowright 15

Works Cited

Calvino, Italo.  "Cybernetics and Ghosts." The Uses of

     Literature: Essays. Trans. Patrick Creagh. San 

     Diego: Harcourt, 1982. 3-27.

Franklin, Benjamin. "Emigration to America." 1782. The

     Faber Book of America. Ed. Christopher Ricks and

     William L. Vance. Boston: Faber, 1992. 24-26.

Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun.  Black Theater:

     A Twentieth-Century Collection of the Work of Its 

     Best Playwrights.  Ed. Lindsay Patterson.  New York:

     Dodd, 1971.  221-76.

Hanzlík, Josef. "Vengeance." Trans. Ewald Osers.

     Interference: The Story of Czechoslovakia in the

     Words of Its Writers. Comp. and ed. Peter Spafford.

     Cheltenham: New Clarion, 1992. 54.

[Adapted from MLA Handbook, 4th ed., 4.6.7.]

Title of Selection: [stories, chapters, short poems] [novels, plays, long poems]
    [prefaces, afterwords, etc.]

• Short story, essay, chapter or short poem: put the title and a period in quotation marks: "The Secret Sharer."

Novel, play, or other book-length work from an anthology: underline the title: Hamlet.

Optional: If you want the Bib-Builder to display an underlined title, you must help it.

• Enter _Jane Eyre_ in the Section Title blank to get Jane Eyre (underlined) when the entry is generated.
  
• Text formatting will disappear when you paste it into most word processors.

Introduction, preface, afterword (etc.): use neither underlining nor quotation marks.

• The title of the selection is "Introduction", "Foreword," etc.
  
• Add the name of the author to the information  you will put in the Ed/Trans. slot.
  
• Examples
  • citing a foreword by  Borges, in a book by the same author.

  Borges, Jorge Luis. Foreword. Selected Poems, 1923-1967.      By Borges. Ed. Norman Thomas Di Giovanni. New York:      Delta-Dell. 1973. xv-xvi.

  • citing an introduction by Doctorow, in a book by a different author (Dreiser).

  Doctorow, E. L. Introduction. Sister Carrie. By Theodore       Dreiser. New York: Bantam, 1982. v-xi.

Edition Information for the Selection.
The individual selection you are citing may have its own translator or editor.  The date that the section was first published might also be important.  See examples below.

• Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. Trans. David Grene.  Sophocles I. ...

David Grene is the translator of the play Oedipus Rex, which was anthologized in Sophocles I.

 

• Franklin, Benjamin. "Emigration to America." 1782. The Faber Book of America. ...

The essay was originally published in 1782, and republished later by Faber.

Edition: "2nd ed.",   "Rev. 3rd ed.",  "Abr. ed."

• First edition: leave this slot blank.
  
• A book in a series: the book Colette is number 679 in a series called Twayne's World Authors.
  • Title: enter the title of the book (Collette).
    
  • Edition Info: enter the series title and number: (Twayne's World Authors Ser. 679).

Location: "Toronto", "Atlanta" [ Unknown | Obscure | Multiple ]

• Unknown location:
  • If you can supply some information, enter it in brackets: [England]
    
  • If you have no idea whatsoever, enter "N.p." (for "no place"); or, leave this slot blank (the Bib-Builder will add it for you).
• Obscure or possibly confusing location:  "London, Ont." "Paris, Tex."
  • If the city of publication is not well-known, add an abbreviation for the province, state, or country.
    
  • Use the standard abbreviations ("Tex." or "N.J."), not postal code abbreviations (TX or NJ).  Consult a dictionary.
• Multiple locations: Use the first city listed on the title page.

Publisher: "University of Toronto Press",   "O'Reilley & Associates, Inc.",   "n.p." [for "no publisher"]

• Use the name given on the title page.  You may abbreviate: "U of Toronto P", "Oxford UP"
  
• If none is given, leave the slot blank; the Bib-Builder will add "n.p." for you.

Year: "1996", "n.d." [for "no date"]

• Enter only the year (not the month or day).
  • If the source does not give the date, but you know it, add it in brackets: [1996].
  • If you must approximate the date, preface it with a "c." for "circa": [c. 1996].
  • If you are not sure of this approximation, add a question mark: [1996?].
  • If you have no idea, leave the slot blank; the Bib-Builder will add "n.d." for you.
• If the source gives several dates, use the most recent one.

Article Title: "Athletic Merit vs. Academic Merit."

• General: you should enter the title and a period in quotation marks.
  
• No title given: provide a brief description. Do not add quotation marks.
  • Ozick, Cynthia. Letter. Partisan Review 57 (1990): 493-94.
    
  • Gray, Richard T. Reply to letter of Robert Frail. PMLA 109 (1994): 120-21.
• Reviews: as part of the title, identify the work being reviewed, the author (or director, choreographer, conductor, etc.), and the location.
  • Crutchfield, Will. "Pure Italian." Rev. of Verdi: A Biography, by Mary Jane Phillips-Martz. New Yorker 31 Jan. 1994: 76-82.
    
  • Dunning, Jennifer. Rev. of The River, chor. Alvin Ailey. Dance Theatre of Harlem. New York State Theatre, New York. New York Times 17 Mar. 1994, late ed.: C18.

Periodical Title: Toronto Star, PMLA, U.S. News & World Report

• Underline the title of the newspaper, journal, or magazine you are citing.
  
• Ignore initial articles ("a", "an", and "the") when giving periodical titles.
  
• Many well-known journals have standard abbreviations. You may use them, but be consistent.

Volume & Issue: formats [annual] [several times a year] [weekly or daily]

• Annual journals: give the volume number: 27
  
• More frequent periodicals: for volume 27, issue 3, use this format: 27.3
  
• Weekly or daily: Use the date as the volume and issue number.
  • Use the following format: 28 Feb. 1994
    
  • Newspapers may come out several times a day: 28 Feb. 1994, early ed.

   Date [journal] [weekly or daily]
  

• Journal: put the year here: 1994
  
• Weekly or daily periodical: leave the Date slot blank. See weekly or daily.

Page Numbers: 121-28

   Notes: Consecutive | Nonconsecutive
  

• Consecutive

  When starting and ending on pages lower than 100
  

  Use all digits:  3-27; 41-48
  

   
  

  When the digit representing "hundreds" changes
  

  Use all digits:  3-145; 90-115; 189-256

  When the hundreds digit does not change
  

  Abbreviate:      100-10; 145-49; 162-90

• Nonconsecutive
  • When the article is broken up into several sections, give only the first page and a '+' sign, with no space between them:
    
  • Examples:        84+; C1+

Page Title "Resumes -- Top 5 Problems", "Frequently Asked Questions"

• If the page doesn't appear to have an obvious title, look in the colored horizontal bar at the very top of the screen (but omit the name of the browser you are using -- that has little to do with the content you are trying to cite).
• If you can find no title whatsoever, describe the page in [square brackets]. 

Webmaster, editor, or compiler "Comp., Stephen Granade"

If somebody other than the author appears to have edited, compiled, or otherwise worked on the page which you are citing, give that person credit here. Use titles such as "Ed.", "Comp."  There really isn't an abbreviation for "Webmaster," but if the way the page functions on the website is an important part of the reason you are citing the page, then giving credit to the webmaster is appropriate.

Print Source: "Computers and Composition 9.1"

If the article you are citing has also been published in a print source, give the relevant information here. Such information would include the title, volume, and issue number of a journal, or the title and date for a more frequent periodical.

Web Collection Title "Online Reading Room", "Crazy Joe's Shakespeare Emporium"

If the article is part of a collection of related items, give the title of the collection here.

Electronic Publication Date: "1 Jan. 2000" "Fall 2000" "1999"

Most scholarly documents will provide a date.

• If the source does not give the date, but you know it, add it in brackets: [1996].
• If you must approximate the date, preface it with a "c." for "circa": [c. 1996].
• If you are not sure of this approximation, add a question mark: [1996?].
• If you have no idea, leave the slot blank; the Bib-Builder will add "n.d." for you. 

Database: "EBSCOhost, McIntryre Library, Eau Claire, Wisc."

If you retrieved your article through a subscription database, wherein an organization such as a library pays for access to documents that may also have been published in print and on the web, specify 1) the name of the database and 2) the name and location of the organization through which you accessed it.

Hosting Organization: "UWEC", "American Medical Association"

Specify the name of the organization (university, government agency, etc.) responsible for the website. It is not proper to give credit to commercial web hosting agencies such as "Geocities" or "Yahoo" when you are citing work that is produced by an individual or group using the host's web space.

Numbering: "26 par.", "8 sect.", "14 pp."

If the source you are citing has some kind of numbering system, mention it here. The above examples would be for articles divided into 26 paragraphs, 8 sections, or 14 pages, respectively. 

Access Date: "1 Dec 2000", "24 May 2001"

Enter the date that you accessed the source. Since web pages can change over time, you need to treat each day's version of a page almost as if it were a separate "issue".

URL: "<http://www.uwec.edu/jerzdg/orr/index.html>", "<http://search.epnet.com>"

• Include the full URL of the actual page, not just the entry to the entire site ("<www.uwec.edu>").
• Is your page framed? If so, find the URL of the framed document.  
• If the URL within a database is too ridiculously long to be useful  ("<http://ehostvgw15.epnet.com/ehost1.asp?key=204.179.122.140_8000_-1297133339&return=y&site=ehost>"), but you can provide specific publication data (such as the journal title, volume, and issue number), then you may just give the URL of the database logon page ("<http://search.epnet.com>") instead. Many databases have a time-out factor, which means that even if your reader went to that URL, the proper page won't come up anyway.