Creating Your Works Cited or Bibliography Page


The Works Cited page is a listing of the resources you cited (quoted from) in the text of your paper.  A Bibliography page is a complete listing of all the sources you used to create your paper whether you cited them or not.  This page provides the information necessary for your reader (normally your teacher/advisor) to locate any sources you used to write your paper. 


1.  This page is a separate sheet placed immediately after the body of your research paper. Formatting should match the rest of your paper (1" margins all around). It is normally not numbered.

2.  Title the page Works Cited or Bibliography with no underlining or quotation marks. It is centered on the page and the type should be the same font size and style as the text of your paper.  Double space to begin the list of sources.

3.  The first line of each entry in your list should be flush left. Subsequent lines should be indented one-half inch.

4.  All sources are listed alphabetically by author's last name.  Never number your sources.

        Works with more than author: invert only the first author’s name, follow
        it with a comma, then continue listing the rest of the authors.

        Multiple works by same author: if more than one work by an author, arrange
        works alphabetically by title. Use three hyphens in place of the author’s name
        for every entry after the first.

        Works with no author: use first word of title not including a, an, or the for
        alphabetizing.  (You may use a shortened version of the title for your in-text
        refererences.)

5.  Each citation includes three key pieces of information:  author, title, and publication information. Use a period and a space to punctuate between each of these items.

6.  Underline or italicize titles of long works: books, magazines, newspapers, and films. Use quotation marks around shorter works like newspaper or magazine articles, short stories, or short poems.

7.  Every source cited in your paper needs to be listed. 

        NOTE: MLA format does not allow you to list books and other resources that
        you did not cite in your paper!  If you read it and want to list it as a source, you
        must quote from it!

Click here for Examples of most Works Cited situations

Click here to see a Student Example of a Works Cited Page

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