Not Always Just One Way to Cite a Source

Across the country, college students are studying like mad in preparation for their final exams and projects.  Libraries become deathly quiet as students concentrate more intensely than ever.  Well, occasional study groups raise the noise level a bit.  Fortunately, many libraries and student unions have study rooms that can be reserved for one or more hours.  Students are also writing their last papers of the semester, and more time may be spent on that works cited or references list than at any other time of the semester.

"Final Exams."  See Mr. Longoria's Earth Science.

As I was creating my last rubric for the ACAD 1199: Information Research course, I needed to find out how an annotated bibliography is formatted in MLA format.  The index in the book directed me to 5.3.1 or page 129 in the 7th edition, so I started reading this section titled "The List of Works Cited: Introduction."  A lengthy paragraph ensues.  A litle more than half way through the paragraph this observation is made:

While it is tempting to think that every source has only one complete and correct format for its entry in a list of works cited, in truth there are often several options for recording key features of a work. For this reason, software programs that generate entries are not likely to be useful. You may need to improvise when the type of scholarly project or the publication medium of a source is not anticipated by this handbook. Be consistent in your formatting throughout your work. Choose that format that is appropriate to your research paper and that will satisfy your reader's needs. 129 (Emphasis added.)

§MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th ed.  New York: Modern Language Association, 2009. Print.  See pages 129-30.

Does this shatter your confidence in citation styles?  It seems like a valid disclaimer and a recognition that there are many things out there that can be cited--too many to keep track of in a handy manual.

Purdue's OWL includes a similar note regarding the APA style:

Please note: While the APA manual provides many examples of how to cite common types of sources, it does not provide rules on how to cite all types of sources. Therefore, if you have a source that APA does not include, APA suggests that you find the example that is most similar to your source and use that format. For more information, see page 193 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, sixth edition.

Oh, in case you were wondering, an annotated bibliography in the MLA style should have one of the two titles listed below:

Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., Soderlund, L., & Brizee, A. (2010, May 5). General format. Retrieved from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/.

• Annotated Bibliography
• Annotated Bibliography of Works Cited

See page 130 in the 7th edition, or 5.3.1.  They provide a concise definition as well: "An annotated bibliography, also called Annotated Bibliography of Works Cited, contains descriptive or evaluative comments on the sources.  (For more information on such listings, see James L. Harner, On Compiling an Annotated Bibliography [2nd Ed.; New York: MLA, 2000; print])" (130).

"Final Exam."  See Writings of a Boy Discerning God's Call.

Changes to MLA Handbook

One of the biggest changes to the MLA citation style is that they are asking that each reference identify its medium. In the past, the default medium was print, so as long as it was print, you did not have to say that. With technological advancements, that has all changed. Take a look at the MLA page that discusses this change among others.

For citation examples incorporating some of these changes, take a look at some of the following pages:
1. Scottsdale Community College Citation Guide.
2. The OWL at Purdue: MLA Update 2009
3. Duke University Libraries: Assembling a List of Works Cited in Your Paper
4. Dixie State College of Utah: How to Cite BOOKS, eBOOKS, and CHAPTERS
5. Gabriele Library, Immaculata University: MLA Style: This pdf document includes a good list of sample citations beginning on page three (there are 11 pages total).
6. How to Cite Media, Video, and Online Media

Look at this tutorial for explanations and practice:
1. MLA Tutorial

For similar lists of websites, take a look at my MLA bookmarks within my Delicious account. When you see a number in blue to the right of a website, you can click on it to see all the other people who have "tagged" that website, then you can see all the websites they have tagged with that tag, so you can see other sites with 'mla' as the tag.

Unfortunately, one of my favorite sites with MLA examples still has not updated their page. Long Island University's Schwartz Memorial Library has an MLA Citation Style page which color codes the different elements of the citation. They have updated their examples in accordance with changes outlined in the 7th edition.

Another reader found the following website to be useful when looking to learn more about citing sources: The Ultimate Guide to Citation Style by the business-training-schools.com