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Assignment | Poli Sci Field Essay (Khatri): MLA Citations

GOVT 2304 | Professor Khatri (Fall 2023)

MLA Resources

MLA Online Guide

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Example Citations (MLA Style)

Good news! The library databases will provide premade citations for you that are pretty accurate -- but always double-check. Common issues to fix:

  • Change "EBSCOhost" to the more specific database name (like Academic Search Complete).
  • Capitalization. Authors and article titles should NOT BE IN ALL CAPS but sometimes they get written that way. Put them into the Normal Title Capitalization We Expect Names and Titles to Appear In.

Kirsch, Helen, and Christian Welzel. “Democracy Misunderstood: Authoritarian Notions of Democracy around the Globe.” Social Forces, vol. 98, no. 1, Sept. 2019, pp. 59–92. Military & Government Collection, doi.org/10.1093/sf/soy114.

Parenthetical citation: (Kirsch and Welzel). (Kirsch and Welzel 63).

 

Smith, Richard A. “Interest Group Influence in the U. S. Congress.” Legislative Studies Quarterly, vol. 20, no. 1, 1995, pp. 89–139. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/440151. Accessed 16 Feb. 2021.

Parenthetical citation: (Smith). (Smith 97).

 

Wallach, Philip A. “Self-Government in a Republic of 325 Million: Distracting Anachronism or Worthy Aspiration?” Perspectives on Political Science, vol. 48, no. 2, Apr. 2019, pp. 109–124. Academic Search Complete, doi.org/10.1080/10457097.2018.1514906.

Parenthetical citation: (Wallach). (Wallach 110).

This is a huge category! Statutes, policy, reports... the government puts out lots of paperwork. Follow the basic MLA format: author, title, publisher/source, date, url.

Murray, Seth, et al. Female Executives and the Motherhood Penalty. CES-21-03, US Census Bureau, Jan. 2021, www.census.gov/library/working-papers/2021/adrm/CES-WP-21-03.html.

Narrative citation: (Murray et al.). (Murray et al. 3).

 

United States, Congress, House. Improving Broadband Access for Veterans Act of 2016. Congress.gov, www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/6394/text. 114th Congress, 2nd session, House Resolution 6394, passed 6 Dec. 2016.

Parenthetical citation: will depend on what else you're citing as to how detailed you get, (United States, Congress, House).
Narrative citation: It would make the most sense to name the bill in the sentence and attach the parenthetical citation, e.g. The Improving Broadband Access for Veterans Act of 2016 is a thing that exists (United States, Congress, House).