Research Guides: ENGL 1302 SO McAdams: Citing Sources

TCC Style Guides

Below are links to PDF documents giving citation examples for MLA style.

Northeast, Northwest, South, and Trinity River Campuses use:

MLA 8th Edition Style Examples

MLA 7th Edition Style Examples

Southeast Campus uses:

MLA Style Examples

Other Citation Resources

Purdue Online Writing Lab MLA Powerpoint Presentation
These slides provide a detailed overview of MLA style.
Purdue Online Writing Lab MLA Style

Citing Sources in MLA Style

MLA Handbook by The Modern Language Association of America
Call Number: LB2369 .G53 2009
ISBN: 9781603292627
Publication Date: 2016-04-01
The Modern Language Association, the authority on research and writing, takes a fresh look at documenting sources in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook. Works are published today in a dizzying range of formats. A book, for example, may be read in print, online, or as an e-book--or perhaps listened to in an audio version. On the Web, modes of publication are regularly invented, combined, and modified. Previous editions of the MLA Handbook provided separate instructions for each format, and additional instructions were required for new formats. In this groundbreaking new edition of its best-selling handbook, the MLA recommends instead one universal set of guidelines, which writers can apply to any type of source. Shorter and redesigned for easy use, the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook guides writers through the principles behind evaluating sources for their research. It then shows them how to cite sources in their writing and create useful entries for the works-cited list.

There is a copy of the MLA Handbook For Writers of Research Papers by Joseph Gibaldi in the reference collection at each campus. This is the official style guide published by the Modern Language Association, and contains a wealth of information on how to cite sources as well as how to format your paper.

Note: Students should check with their instructor or campus library to determine acceptable style format. Remember, your instructor is the final authority for all citation questions.

Citation Tips

Many students wait until they finish writing their paper before citing their sources. They may find themselves “on a roll,” and won't want to stop to check or to cite their sources, thinking they will add their citations later. It is a better idea to cite your sources as you find them and use them. Use these tips to help ensure that documenting your sources is quick and easy!

When you decide to use a source, be sure to copy all the information required to develop a citation.
When you add a quote to your paper, document the page number (or the paragraph number if no page number is present) of where the quote was found.
Also, be careful when you cut and paste your quote from one of our database articles to your paper. It is all too easy, while writing, to cut and paste a quotation without also jotting down the citation information. Forgetting to document a source is considered plagiarism.

The best way to make sure you do not forget to cite the sources you use - cite while you write!