MLA Citation Guide: Articles from IC Library Databases

Student researchers increasingly find and retrieve the full text of journal, magazine, and newspapers articles from databases made available by what the MLA calls "library subscription services." At colleges and universities access to these databases is usually restricted to students, faculty, and staff.

The MLA citation for an article retrieved from a subscription database follows the same basic format as the citation for the article in print. The difference is the addition of final elements that record the name of the database, the name of the company that provides it, the name of the institution that subscribes to it, and the date the article was retrieved from it.

IMPORTANT: You must always cite the database from which the full text of an article is actually retrieved. The IC Library uses ArticleLinker to link citations in one database to any available full text in other IC databases.

 

 

MLA Citations in Text

MLA in-text citations require 1 or 2 pieces of information:

  • Author--if you are citing the entire article
  • Author and page number--if you are quoting or paraphrasing from the article
Citing an Entire Article:

Steinitz argues that necessity must be understood in terms of cause and effect . . . [ Author's surname in sentence is sufficient]

or

Cause and effect are sometimes claimed as the key to understanding necessity (Steinitz ). [Author's surname in parentheses]

[If there are 2 or 3 authors, give the last name of each; if more than 3 give the 1st surname plus "et al."]

Quoting from an Article:

Malekin and Yarrow are persuasive about a "crisis of realism" in contemporary theatre (63). [Authors in sentence, parenthetical page number]

or

Some scholars worry that contemporary theatre suffers from a "crisis of realism" (Malekin and Yarrow 63). [Authors and page number both in parentheses]

Quoting from an Article lacking Page Numbers:

Articles retrieved from databases sometimes lack the original page numbers. MLA states that "when a source has no page numbers . . . no number can be given in the parenthetical reference."

Quoting from an Article with no Author:

If there is no credited author, use a shortened form of the article title, beginning with the word by which it is alphabetized in your "Works Cited" list at the end. As in Works Cited, put article titles in quotation marks.

The United States no longer restricts writers from Cuba, Iran and Sudan publishing works in the U.S. ("Bush Administration" 1).

 

MLA Works Cited List

Sources from which you quote or paraphrase must be listed at the end of your paper under "Works Cited." Works Cited should begin at the top of a new page, with the heading centered and in the same font as the rest of the paper. Citations should be arranged alphabetically by the first element in each, usually an author's last name, sometimes the first substantive word in the name of a group author, and occasionally the first substantive word of an article title--when there is no credited or implied author.

Double space throughout your Works Cited pages and use a hanging indent, where the first line of each citation begins flush with the left-hand margin and all subsequent lines in that citation are indented five spaces--as for a conventional paragraph. (If you are using Microsoft Word, set up an automatic hanging indent by going to "Format" and then "Paragraph." Paragraph opens to "Indents and Spacing" and under "Indentation" there is a drop-down menu labeled "Special." One of the Special options is "Hanging.")

 

The examples above will apply to most citations of full-text articles retrieved from databases. But there are many special cases that cannot be addressed in a brief guide, and you should always consult the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (Sixth Edition, 2003) if the article you are citing does not conform to these standard types. See in particular:

  • Citing Articles (180-193)
  • Citing a Work from a Library Subscription Service (229-230)
  • Parenthetical Documentation (238-260)

 

Dr. Brian Saunders, Humanities Librarian, Ithaca College Library, January 2005