American Modernist Writers: Citation

Citing Your Sources in MLA Format

When we speak of citing, two things are meant. The first is citing within the text of a paper, either by using parenthetical references, or footnotes. The second is providing complete bibliographic information for your sources in a bibliography (also known as a Works Cited page).

The Duquesne University Writing Center has created very helpful guides to assist you with citing in-text and in bibliographies in MLA style. The current edition is the 8th edition, but documentation for the earlier edition is also provided. PDFs of these documents are available below.

 MLA (8th): In-text and Works Cited and Formatting

Paraphrasing and Summarizing

In writing papers, you will often want to use exact quotes, especially when you cannot improve upon an author's original way of stating an idea. In those instances, of course, you should use the exact quotation, correctly citing it as the work of someone else.

But a paper cannot be written by simply stringing together exact quotations from a number of authors. More often than not, in writing you will do more stating the ideas of others in your own words, that is you will paraphase or summarize those ideas of other people.

Paraphrases and summaries of other people's ideas must also be cited, or you will be charged with plarigaism. Plagiarism is not just the using of other people's exact words without giving them credit, but also using their uniques ideas without citing them as the source. Because correct paraphrasing and summarizing can often be confusing to students, the Duquesne University Writing Center has created a handout on these topics. To see a PDF of it, click on the link below.

Paraphrasing, Summarizing, and Quoting

Citing Individual Poems in MLA Format

Works Cited Page

For information on citing an individual poem from a collection or anthology, see the Purdue OWL (Online Writing Center) website.

MLA Works Cited Page: Books (8th Edition)

Scroll down until you come to the section headed "A Work in an Anthology, Reference, or Collection." More specifically see the subsection called "Poem or Short Story Examples."

In-Text Citations

For information on citing quotations from poems in your text, see the Purdue OWL (Online Writing Center) website.

MLA Formatting Quotations (8th Edition)