Citing Books, Journals, and Newspapers

Citation of sources is of critical importance in a scholarly work. It allows the reader to consult the materials for further study and to evaluate the validity of your work. If citation format does not appear correct, expand your browser window.

Examples of parenthetical documentation can be found here.

Books (single author)

MLA style
Frye, Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays.
    Princeton: Princeton UP, 1957.

APA style
    Bernstein, T.M. (1965). The careful writer: A modern
guide to English usage. New York: Atheneum.
Chicago style
Sturkin, Marita. 1997. Tangled memories. Berkeley and Los Angeles:
    Univ. of California Press.

Books (multi-author)

MLA style
Bondanella, Peter, and Julia Conaway Bondanella, eds.
    Dictionary of Italian Literature. Westport: Greenwood, 1979.

APA style
    Fanagan, J.C., Dailey, J., Shaycroft, M., Gorham, W.,
Orr, D., & Goldberg, I. (1962). Design for a study of American Youth.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Chicago style
Comaroff, Jean, and John Comaroff, eds. Modernity and Its Malcontents:
    Ritual and Power. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.

Journal Articles

MLA style
Monk, Patricia. "Frankenstein's Daughters: The Problems of the Feminine
    Image in Science Fiction." Mosaic 13.3-4 (1980): 15-27.

APA style
    Piavio, A. (1975). Perceptual comparisons through the mind's eye.
Memory & Cognition, 3, 635-647.
Chicago style
Swidler, Ann. 1996. Culture in Action. American Sociological
    Review 51:273-86.

Newspaper Article

MLA style
Dalin, Damon. "A $7 Greeting Card? Yes, But Listen To The Melody It
    Will Play For You." Wall Street Journal 10 May 1983, Eastern ed.: D37.

APA style
    Lubin, J.S. (1980, December 5). On idle: The unemployed shun much
mundane work, at least for a while. The Wall Street Journal, pp. 1, 25.

Article in a Reference Book (Encyclopedia, etc.)

MLA style
"Mandarin." The Encyclopedia Americana. 1994 ed.

Roberts, Sheila. "A Confined World." World Literature Written in English
    24 (1984): 232-38. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism.
    Ed. Dennis Poupard. Vol. 25. Detroit: Gale, 1988. 399-402.

Video

As per MLA:
A film entry usually begins with the title, underlined, and includes the director, the distributor, and the year of release. You may include other data that seem pertinent -- such as the names of the writer, performers, and producer -- between the title and the distributor.

It's a Wonderful Life. Dir. Frank Capra. Perf. James Stewart,
    Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, and Thomas Mitchell. RKO, 1946.


Government Publications

MLA style
Congressional Record Vol LV, Part 4 (65th Congress) Washington DC:
    Government Printing Office, 1917.

More citation information can be found at:

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
Ref LB 2639 .G53 1999

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 4th ed.
Ref BF76.7 .P83 1994

Scientific Style and Format: The CBE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers
Sci Ref T11 S386 1994