Research Help

How to Write a Bibliography Using MLA Style

On-line reference:
Oregon School Library Information System - Elementary

When you gather information for a report or other project, you should keep track of the sources you used to give credit to the person or persons who wrote or produced the material.

A good way to give credit is in a bibliography. The following examples will help you create your bibliography:

Grades 4-5-6

Books
Format:
1. Author IF available (last name first).
2. Title (underlined).
3. City where the book is published:
4. Publisher,
5. latest copyright date of text.

Examples:

Book by one author:
Fradin, Dennis. Astronomy. Chicago: Childrens Press, 1983.

Book by two or more authors:
Harris, Alan and Paul Weissman. The Great Voyager Adventure. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Messner,1990.

Edited book:
Smith, Carter, ed. Governing and Teaching: A Sourcebook on Colonial America. Brookfield, CT.: Millbrook, 1991.

Book with no author:
Visual Dictionary of Animals. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 1991.

Print encyclopedias and other reference books
Format:
1. Author IF available (last name first).
2. "Title of article" (in quotation marks).
3. Title of encyclopedia or reference book (underlined).
4. Latest copyright date.

Examples:

Article with author:
Bluford, Jr., Guion."Astronaut." World Book Encyclopedia.1993 .

Article without author:
"Deer." Compton's Encyclopedia and Fact Index. 1993.

Magazines
Format:
1. Author (last name first).
2. "Title of the article" (in quotation marks).
3. Title of the magazine (underlined).
4. Date (day month year):
5. Page numbers of the article.

Example:
Bowman, Rebecca. "Westward Stop and Go." Cobblestone. October 1998: 8-12.

CD-ROM and other computer programs
Format:
1. Author name IF article is signed (last name first).
2. "Title of article" (in quotation marks).
3. Title of program (underlined).
4. Medium.
5. Production company,
6. copyright date.

Examples:

Article with author:
Bluford, Jr., Guion."Astronaut." World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia. CD-ROM. World Book, Inc., 1994.

Article without author:
"Aardvark: Totally Tubular." San Diego Zoo Presents ... THE ANIMALS! 2.0. CD-ROM. Arnowitz Studios, 1994.

Videotapes, laserdiscs, films, slides
Format:
1. Title (underlined).
2. Medium (videocassette, filmstrip, etc).
3. Production company,
4. Copyright date.
5. Time length.

Example:
Seeds of Liberty. Videocassette. Rainbow Educational Video, 1993. 22 min.

Online sources (Internet)
Format:
1. Author (last name first) IF article is signed.
2. Title of item (underlined).
3. Date of publication.
4. Online. Internet.
5. Date of access.
6. Available: electronic address.

Examples:

Article with author:
Dejoie, Joyce and Elizabeth Truelove. StarChild Project. 1997. Online. Internet. September 25, 1997. Available http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/StarChild.html.

Article without author:
Benjamin Franklin: Glimpses of the Man 1996. Online. Internet. 13 Jan. 1997. Available http://sln.fi.edu/franklin/rotten.html.

Interviews
Format:
1. Name of person interviewed (last name first).
2. Type of interview.
3. Date.

Examples:
Cruise, Tom. Personal interview. 25 Sept. 1997.