Research Assistance : MLA Style for
Citing Electronic Resources
Electronic resources (full text articles, books, scholarly projects,
reference databases, and professional and personal web sites)
must all be documented as you would with print sources. Documentation
allows the author and publisher of the work to receive credit,
the reader to consult the original source, and allows you the
student to avoid plagiarism.
"Fabrication is the intentional invention, counterfeiting
and/or alteration of quotations, data, procedures, experiments,
sources or other information for which the student claims authorship
in an exercise which he or she submits with the expectation of
receiving academic credit."
"Plagiarism is the intentional use of the ideas, words,
or work of another without attribution, when the information they
provide is not common knowledge, either in content or form, and
includes, but is not limited to (1) quoting from the published
or unpublished work of another without appropriate attribution;
(2) paraphrasing or summarizing in one's own work any portion
of the published or unpublished materials of another without attribution;
and (3) borrowing from another's work information which is not
in the domain of common knowledge."
Use the standard MLA citation style for what ever source you
are citing, and then add the name of the computer service, underlined,
followed by a period. Continue with the word "Online"
or "CD-ROM", depending upon the type, followed by a
period, the date of the source, the date you accessed it and the
URL.
Author. "Title of Article," Title of Journal.
Publication information, date. Version of source, or, for journal,
volume number, issue, or other number. Date of electronic publication
or last update. Name of Database. Date when researcher accessed
the source. (Electronic address or URL. Or, URL of the database's
main page.)
The examples below are from some of the most used electronic
sources at NCCU.
Online Full-Text Sources
Cite the article just as you would a print source according to
standard MLA style and add: Online. EBSCOhost: MasterFILE Premier.
(AN:accession number in parentheses) date of access.
MasterFILE Premier on EBSCOhost via NCLIVE
Robertson, Eric. "African Art and African-American
Identity." African Arts Apr. 1994:27.2. Online. EBSCOhost:
MasterFILE Premier. AN:9409140230) 29 Dec. 1999.
Chadwick-Healy 20th Century American Poetry via NC LIVE
Sexton, Anne. "The Kite". The Complete
Poems. 1981. Houghton Mifflin. Online: Chadwyck-Healey:
20th Century American Poetry. 29 Dec. 1999.
North Carolina Newstand
Cheng, Vicki. "Durham's Hayti Lives Again in Book."
News & Observer; Raleigh, N.C.; Dec. 16, 1999, final
ed.:B1. Online:BELL&HOWARD Proquest Newspapers: North Carolina
Newsstand. (AN:XNWO358585) 29 Dec. 1999.
Online Encyclopedia Article
Online encyclopedias often provide information on how to cite
their articles. Use this information and adapt it to the MLA citation
style, including the version number and the date of publication.
Encyclopedia Britannica Online provides the citation information
at the bottom of each page:
"South American Indian" Encyclopaedia Britannica
Online. <http://www.eb.com:180/bol/topic?eu=127700&sctn=2>
[Accessed 29 December 1999].
MLA version:
"South American Indian" Encyclopaedia Britannica
Online. Vers. 99.1. Encyclopedia Britannica. 29 Dec. 1999.
<http://www.eb.com:180/bol/topic?eu=127700&sctn=2>.
World Wide Web Sites
Again, cite following general MLA guidelines.
Name of author or editor. Site Title. Last update or copyright
date. Electronic publication information, including home or sponsoring
institution. Access date. <URL>
The African American Mosaic. A Library of Congress
Resource Guide for the Study of Black History and Culture.
21 Nov. 1997. Library of Congress. 29 Dec. 1999 <http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/african/intro.html>
Literary Hall of Fame North Carolina Writers'
Network. 29 Dec. 1999. <http://www.ncwriters.org/lhof.htm>
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