A Quick Guide to MLA

ASA Quick Reference Guide

Refer to the American Sociological Association Style Guide (Fifth Edition, 2014) for more information.

The reference list follows the text and footnotes in a separate section headed “References.” All references cited in the text must be listed in the reference section, and vice versa. It is your responsibility to assure that publication information for each entry is complete and correct.

Like all other parts of your manuscript, the references should be double-spaced.

List the references in alphabetical order by authors’ last names.

Include first names and surnames for all authors—use first-name initials only if an author used initials in the original publication. In these cases, add a space between the initials, as in R. B. Brown and M. L. B. Smith.

Citing Books:

Single Author Book: Last Name of Author, First Name. Date of Publication. Title of Work. Place of Publication:

Publishing Company.

Example:

De Anda, Roberto M. 1995. Chicanas and Chicanos in Contemporary Society. Boston, MA:

Allyn and Bacon.

Multiple-Author Book: Last Name of Author, First Name and First and Last Names of Author. Date of Publication. Title

of Work. Place of Publication: Publishing Company.

Example:

Herrera-Sobek, María and Helena María Viramontes. 1995. Chicana (W)rites: On Word and

Film. Berkeley, CA: Third Woman Press.

Visit http://fhsswriting.byu.edu/ for style guides, handouts, and help with writing, research and more. Citing A Journal Article:

Last Name of Author, First. Date of Publication. “Title of Article.” Title of Journal Volume

Number(Issue Number):page numbers of article.

Example:

Garcia, Alma M. 1998. "An Intellectual Odyssey: Chicana/Chicano Studies Moving into the

Twenty-first Century." Journal of American Ethnic History 18(9):17-29.

Citing a Magazine Article:

Last Name of Author, First. Date of Publication. “Title of Work.” Title of Magazine, Month

Day, Pages.

Example:

Jana, Reena. 2000. "Preventing culture clashes - As the IT workforce grows more diverse,

managers must improve awareness without creating inconsistency." InfoWorld, April 24,

pp. 95.

Citing an Internet Source:

Web Page: Author or Organization. Date of Posting/Publication. “Title of Webpage.” Location of

Organization: Sponsoring Organization, Access Month Day, Year (URL).

Example: American Sociological Association. 2000. "Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Workshop." Washington, DC: American Sociological Association, Retrieved May 5, 2000 (http://www.asanet.org/members/socwkshp.html). * If there is no author on the webpage, start your citation with the webpage name

Visit http://fhsswriting.byu.edu/ for style guides, handouts, and help with writing, research and more. An Article in a Scholarly Journal (online): Author. Date. “Title of Article.” Title of Journal Volume Number(Issue Number). Retrieved

Month day, year (URL).

Example:

Graham, Lorie M. 2018. "The Past Never Vanishes: A Contextual Critique of the Existing Indian Family Doctrine." American Indian Law Review, 23(1). Retrieved May 25, 2019 (http://www.jstor.org/stable/20068871?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents).

In-Text Citations

Citations in the text include the last names of the authors and year of publication. Include page numbers when you quote directly from a work or refer to specific passages. Identify subsequent citations of the same source in the same way as the first.

Example: Ancient writers attributed the invention of the monochord to Pythagoras in the sixth century BC (Marcuse 1973).

With pagination, omit the space between the colon and the page number: … (Kuhn 1970:71).

MULTIPLE AUTHORS:

Two Authors: Include both authors’ names, separated by “and”: (Martin and Bailey 1998).

Three Authors: Include all three last names in the first citation in the text; thereafter, use “et al.” in the citation: … (Martin, Bailey, and Worthley 1998)… (Martin et al. 1998).

More than Three Authors: Use “et al.” in the first citation and in all subsequent citations: (Martin et al. 1998).

If the author’s name is already referenced in the sentence then the citation should only include the publication date.

Example: In his Autobiography, John Johnson states that he prepared a shopping list (2018:135-37).

Visit http://fhsswriting.byu.edu/ for style guides, handouts, and help with writing, research and more.