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Online Learning Resources

This guide is designed especially for students studying completely online at BRCC, although most students in online or hybrid courses will also benefit.

MLA 8 - Helpful Links

Check out these helpful links to assist with MLA 8 style, formatting & citations

Library Citation Quick Guide

Consult this quick reference guide for gathering citations from the BRCC Library's digital resources.

MLA 8 Citation Examples

Books:

Print Book

Mann, Thomas. Death in Venice. Buccaneer Books, 1983.

eBook (from an online database)

Durrell, Lawrence. Justine. Open Road Media, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/blueridgeccebooks/detail.action?docID=1803449.

Selection from a published collection

Borges, Jorge L. "The Babylon Lottery." Ficciones, edited by Anthony Kerrigan, Grove Weidenfeld, 1963, pp. 65-72.

 

Periodicals:

Newspaper Article

Overbye, Dennis. "Darkness Visible, Finally: Astronomers Capture First Ever Image of a Black Hole."ProQuest, Apr. 10, 2019, https://login.proxy019.nclive.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/blogs,-podcasts,-websites/darkness-visible-finally-astronomers-capture/docview/2206069796/se-2?accountid=9634.

Journal Article 

Yoon, Hye-Gyoung, Jeongwoo Park, and Insun Lee. "Significance of Black Hole Visualization and its Implication for Science Education Focusing on the Event Horizon Telescope Project." Universe, vol. 6, no. 5, 2020, pp. 70. ProQuest, https://login.proxy019.nclive.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/significance-black-hole-visualization-implication/docview/2407714937/se-2?accountid=9634, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/universe6050070.

OR you can use the DOI instead of the database URL above:

Yoon, Hye-Gyoung, Jeongwoo Park, and Insun Lee. "Significance of Black Hole Visualization and its Implication for Science Education Focusing on the Event Horizon Telescope Project." Universe, vol. 6, no. 5, 2020, pp. 70. ProQuest, doi: 10.3390/universe6050070.

 

Websites and Social Media:

Article from a website:

Cepelewicz, Jordana. “Hidden Computational Power Found in the Arms of Neurons.” Quanta Magazine, Simons Foundation, 14 Jan. 2020, www.quantamagazine.org/neural-dendrites-reveal-their-computational-power-20200114/.

Image on a website:

"Orion Hot Fire Test Blazing a Safe Trail for NASA Missions to the Moon." Orion Image Gallery, edited by Aimee Crane, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Aug. 22, 2019, https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/orion-hot-fire-test-blazing-a-safe-trail-for-nasa-missions-to-the-moon-0.

Twitter & Instagram:

@IncredibleCulk. "Hey guys, wanna feel old? I'm 40. You're welcome." Twitter, 26 Aug. 2020, 5:13 p.m., twitter.com/incredibleculk/status/1298730289737293824. 

Facebook:

Folger Shakespeare Library. "The Folger's conservators found these two early modern tarot cards reinforcing the binding of a 1673 book in our collection." Facebook, 6 Feb. 2020, www.facebook.com/folgershakespearelibrary/posts/10159429610584459.

YouTube:

Desmond, William D. "The Philosophy of Cynicism." YouTube, uploaded by TED-Ed, 19 Dec. 2019, youtu.be/Utzym1I_BiY.

In-Text Citations

You should provide brief in-text citations in the body of your paper that point a reader to specific entries on your Works Cited page. In-text citations can be introduced with a signal phrase, contained in parentheses, or a combination of both. Check out the Purdue OWL for an in-depth look at more special cases. 

Signal Phrase:

In her discussion of the practical dimensions of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, Nussbaum writes, "Philosophy heals human diseases, diseases produced by false beliefs" (14).

No Signal Phrase: 

In Western philosophy, the idea of universal respect for human dignity can be traced back to the Stoics (Nussbaum 12).

Other common cases:

No author: Use the first word of the work's title in quotation marks, followed by the page number: ("Conservation" 23)

More than one work from the same author: Include the first word of the title after the author's name: (Nussbaum "Cultivating" 72)

Source cited within another source: Cicero describes philosophy as a "medical art for the soul" (qtd. in Nussbaum 14).

The Nine Elements of a Works Cited Entry

A resource may not contain all of the core elements below, but it will contain some combination of them that should be included in your citation.

Element What to look for Notes
1. Author Who created the source?

Invert the first author's name, then include additional authors in the traditional order. If there are three or more authors, include the first author's name followed by "et al."
2. Title of source The title of the specific source you're citing A whole resource like a book, or just a source within it like an article title, poem, or essay in a collection. 
3. Title of "container" The title of a larger source containing the source you are citing.  Title of a newspaper, magazine, website, etc. that includes the specific source you're citing. 
4. Other contributors Other noteworthy contributors Editors, translators, directors, adapters, performers
5. Version If there's more than one version, include that information next.  Abbreviate edition as "ed." and revision as "rev." 
6. Number A source's place in a sequence Volume and issue numbers for journals, season and episode numbers for TV shows. Abbreviate volume as "vol." and issue number as "no."
7. Publisher Organization that produced or sponsored the source List the publisher for books, films, TV shows, and sites that have sponsors different from their title and author. 
8. Publication Date When the source was made available to the public Publication date, release date, broadcast date, performance date, etc. 
9. Location Where to find the source Page numbers (abbreviated "p." or "pp."), a URL (permalink if possible), a DOI for online sources (like journal articles), or a location for a public performance.