What are citations?

• A citation is short way to uniquely identify a published work

What do citations include? 

• A citation consists of all standard bibliographic elements and includes all information necessary to identify a work.
• i.e. Title, author, publication date, location, volume, issue, page numbers, etc. 

Why do we cite sources? 

• To give credit to other researchers and to acknowledge their ideas
• To avoid plagiarism
• To provide a trail so others can consult the materials you've used / so they can do further reading
• To provide evidence of your own research 

What should you cite?

• Facts, figures, ideas, or other information that is not common knowledge 
• Ideas, words, theories, or exact language that another person used
• Images, photos, artwork, sculptures, media (i.e. videos, movies, television, podcasts, etc.)

Modern Language Association documentation guidelines are often used in the humanities fields, including English, comparative literature, literary criticism, and foreign-languages. The most recent edition is the ninth, published in 2021.

Learn more here:

• MLA Handbook by The Modern Language Association of America

• Purdue OWL: MLA Formatting and Style Guide

The general format for any MLA citation:

• Author. Title. Title of container (do not list container for standalone books, e.g. novels), Other contributors (translators or editors), Version (edition), Number (vol. and/or no.), Publisher, Publication Date, Location (pages, paragraphs URL or DOI). 2^nd container’s title, Other contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location, Date of Access (if applicable).