By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Describe the importance of citations
Construct In-Text Citations
Construct Works Cited / Bibliographies
Introduce the concept of citations and set the agenda for the lesson
Content: Watch the video “Why We Cite”
Discuss basics of Citations
Content: Watch the video “Citations in MLA”
Practice: Introduce the activity
This is a whole class activity.
Pieces of the citation will be passed out to class members.
An article to be cited will be displayed.
The student with the next appropriate piece of the citation will affix it to the board.
The activity is completed when all pieces of the citation are affixed to the board in the proper location.
It’s important to cite your sources in order to give proper credit to other people’s research and ideas, as well as prove to people reading or watching your work that you’ve found quality sources of information for your own research.
You should cite your sources according to a documentation style guide. There are three major styles used in academic writing: APA, MLA, and Chicago.
Your professor will tell you which style to use for a particular class.
In the MLA and APA styles, you cite your sources twice: once in the body of your paper as you use a particular source of information, then at the end in your Work Cited or References section where you list all of the sources you used in your paper.
A reader uses this system by finding the partial citation in the body of your paper, and then referring to your Works Cited or References page for complete information about the source.
What goes into a Works Cited or References page? That’s a big question with a long answer. It will vary depending on the type of source and the style guide you are using.
Fortunately, the library has complete guides for MLA, APA, and Chicago styles. To find them, go to the library’s homepage at nhresearch.lonestar.edu, then click the appropriate style guide.
Let’s look at how to cite in the MLA Style. You use an in-text citation where you use a quote or fact in the body of your paper.
According to current research, “30% of people won’t eat ice cream” (Hopwood 42).
According to research, 70% of people eat ice cream (Hopwood 42).
The in-text citation usually consists of the Author’s Last Name and the page number that the quote or fact came from in parentheses followed by a period.
If there’s no page number just include the last name of the author.
One study found that “people prefer Amy’s Ice Cream to Blue Bell” (Hoya).
Sometimes their maybe more than one author. If there are two, list them both. If there are more than two, list the first author followed by “et al.”
But another study found that Hoya’s methods were “illogical, irrational, and very unscientific” (McGittigan & Ramsey 161).
A meta-analysis of current literature found that “standards for measuring ice cream preference are inconsistent” and “poorly conceived” (Puller et al. 314).
Sometimes you may have no author. In that case, you would use the title of the book, article, or web page.
An independent study found that over 6 trillion gallons of ice cream are produced and consumed each day (“Ice Cream Consumption in America” 2718).
If you state who you are quoting in introducing the quote or fact, then you do not have to put the author’s name in the citation.
Hoya rebuffed these claims stating that “[his] methods were based on sound, scientific procedures and protocols” (186).
These are some of the most common ways to quote and cite in-text. For more examples, visit the library’s guide for MLA In-Text Citations.
Now that you’ve completed the body of your report with in-text citation, it’s time to create the Works Cited page.
The Works Cited page list all works that you created in-text citations for in the body. Three of the most common works you will cite are articles from journals, articles from websites, and books.
Williams, Jarell.
A citation entry for an article starts with the name of the author. Last Name, then First Name, followed by a period.
Williams, Jarell. “Analysis of Protocols in Ice Cream Preference Sampling.”
Next is the title of the article in quotes followed by a period.
Williams, Jarell. “Analysis of Protocols in Ice Cream Preference Sampling.” Journal of Ice Cream Research,
Next is the title of the journal in italics, followed by a comma.
Williams, Jarell. “Analysis of Protocols in Ice Cream Preference Sampling.” Journal of Ice Cream Research, vol. 1, no. 2, 2003, pp. 5-7.
Then the journal volume and issue numbers, year, and pages numbers the article is on, all separated by commas and a period following the page numbers.
Williams, Jarell. “Analysis of Protocols in Ice Cream Preference Sampling.” Journal of Ice Cream Research, vol. 1, no. 2, 2003, pp. 5-7. IceCreamSource Complete,
Next is the name of the database that the article is from in italics followed by a comma.
Williams, Jarell. “Analysis of Protocols in Ice Cream Preference Sampling.” Journal of Ice Cream Research, vol. 1, no. 2, 2003, pp. 5-7. IceCreamSource Complete, lscsproxy.lonestar.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,cpid&custid=s1088435&db=a9h&AN=89431025&site=ehost-live.
And then finally, the link to the article followed by a period. Notice that in MLA, you do not include “http://” or “https://” at the beginning of the link.
Taylor, Deidre, and Terry Gonzalez. “The Best Vanilla Ice Cream: An Exploratory Stud” Journal of Ice Cream Research, vol. 11, no. 13, 2017, pp. 19-23. IceCreamSource Complete, lscsproxy.lonestar.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,cpid&custid=s1088435&db=a9h&AN=89431025&site=ehost-live.
Sometimes an article may have more than one author. If there are two authors, list the authors in the order they appear on the journal, the first Last Name then First Name, and then the second First Name then Last Name.
Taylor, Deidre et al. “The Best Vanilla Ice Cream: An Exploratory Study.” Journal of Ice Cream Research, vol. 11, no. 13, 2017, pp. 19-23. IceCreamSource Complete, lscsproxy.lonestar.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,cpid&custid=s1088435&db=a9h&AN=89431025&site=ehost-live.
If there are more than two authors, list the first author followed by et al.
Taylor, Deidre et al. “The Best Vanilla Ice Cream: An Exploratory Study.” Journal of Ice Cream Research, 2017, pp. 19-23. IceCreamSource Complete, lscsproxy.lonestar.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,cpid&custid=s1088435&db=a9h&AN=89431025&site=ehost-live.
Sometimes you may be missing an element like the issue number or volume number. If that happens, just skip that element.
Hopwood, Megan.
Citing a book starts the same way as with an article: last and first name of the author followed by a period.
Hopwood, Megan. Almanac of North American House Cats.
Next is the title of the book in italics followed by a period.
Hopwood, Megan. Almanac of North American House Cats. University Press, 2010.
Next is the publisher of the book followed by a comma, and then the year of publication followed by a period.
Hopwood, Megan. Almanac of North American House Cats. University Press, 2010. CATalog Database, web-p-ebscohost-com.lscsproxy.lonestar.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=2&sid=489faea9-8f33-4e08-8151-e2760d68aad9%40redis&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLGNwaWQmY3VzdGlkPXMxMDg4NDM1JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=942200&db=nlebk.
If this is an ebook, then next will be the database that you got the book from in italics followed by a comma, and then the link to the ebook followed by a period. Again notice that you do not include “http://” or “https://” at the beginning of the link.
Hopwood, Megan.
Citing a web page starts the same way as a book or an article; start with the author’s name, last name first, followed by a period.
“What Breed Can My Tuxedo Cat Be?”
Many times you won’t be able to find an author for a web page. In cases like this, you can just start with the title of the web page in quotes followed by a period. Since the title of this page includes a punctuation mark, you do not need to include a period.
“What Breed Can My Tuxedo Cat Be?” TheCatSite.com, 2022, thecatsite.com/c/what-breed-tuxedo-cat/.
Next is the title of the website in italics followed by a comma, and then the month and year of publication followed by a comma. On many pages, it may be very difficult to find a date of publication. If you cannot find a date of publication for the page, you can use the copyright date usually located at the bottom of the page.
And finally, the link to the web page. Again, leave off the “http://” and “https://” prefixes.
These are some basic examples of citing articles, books, and web pages, but you will encounter many that do not quite fit this format. For more examples of citing these and other sources, please visit nhresearch.lonestar.edu or ask a librarian for help. For all the ways to contact a librarian, visit nhresearch.lonestar.edu/Ask-A-Librarian/.
Now … let’s try your hand a citing!