Skip to Main Content

SCIENCE 6TH GRADE - (Fossils): Citation Resources

This guide will introduce research methods for fossils.

What is MLA 8?

MLA style was created by the Modern Language Association of America. It is a set of rules for publications, including research papers. Our school uses the 8th version of rules. 

There are two parts to MLA: In-text citations and the Works Cited list.

In MLA, you must "cite" sources that you have paraphrased, quoted or otherwise used to write your research paper. Cite your sources in two places:

  1. In the body of your paper where you add a brief in-text citation.
  2. In the Works Cited list at the end of your paper where you give more complete information for the source.

The Nine Elements of a Citation

MLA Practice Template

Works CIted Page Format

Guidelines

Mnemonic

  • 1 inch margins
  • Double spaced 
  • Size 12 Times New Roman font
  • Hanging margins (use ruler!)
  • Arranged alphabetically according to the first word in the citation (after A, An, or The)
  • No abbreviations
H.A.R.D.
  • Header
  • Alphabetized
  • Reverse indented
  • Double-spaced

Citation Examples by Type

If the source is from the internet or the Web, use all that is available from the following list:

Author’s name; title of work in quotations;  title of the web site, underlined; date of publication or update; sponsor of site ; date you accessed the site; the URL

example:

Works Cited Page:

"Title of Page." NameofWebSite.com. Day Month Year last updated . Day Month Year accessed online

........... <http://www.actualURL>.

In-text citation:  (title)

General Format - 

Author last name, first name. Book Title. Publisher’s name, year.

Example:

Works Cited Page:

Smith, Jeff.  The Making of WWII. MacMullan Press, 1995.

In-text:  (smith pg#)

 

1. Article in Online Magazine - 

Example: 

Works Cited Page:

"Business Coalition for Climate Action Doubles." Environmental Defense.. 8 May 2007. Environmental Defense Organization. 24 May 2007 <http://www.environmentaldefense.org/article.cfm?ContentID=5828>.

In-text:  (author, pg#)

2. Article from Online Newspaper -

Works Cited Page:

Clinton, Bill. Interview. New York Times on the Web. May 2007. 25 May 2007 <http://video.on.nytimes.com/>.

In-text:  (author, pg#)

Unknown Author, Page on a Web site - 

Works Cited Page:

Global Warming. 2007. Cooler Heads Coalition. 24 May 2007 <http://www.globalwarming.org/>.

In-text:  (title, pg#)


 

YOUTUBE:

“name of video”, Youtube,uploaded by (user or username), day month year uploaded, URL.

Example - 

Works Cited Page:

“The Joys of Cooking” , Hungry?, Sousie Johnson, 15 January 2002, https://www.youtube.com/ NJgt349754TV.

In-text:

(The Joys of Cooking, 2002)

What is a Container?

Containers are the item that holds a source.  Container titles should be placed in italics directly following the title of the source. Since many sources can be cited on their own not every source will have a container. On the contrary, there are instances when a source has multiple containers.  In this instance, the additional container(s) information is placed at the end of the citation. 

Some single examples with the container in red are:

Articles are in journals      songs are on albums        posts are on blogs     chapters are in books 

Some two or more container examples are:

An article, in a journal, found on a database    an episode, in a TV series, on an entertainment site      a song, on an album, from a music streaming source

MLA 8 Video