Look at this beautiful photo of a weeping cherry tree found in Kyoto’s Maruyama Park. Did you know that you can reference a photograph within a MLA paper?

Citing a photograph found on the web is easy. If the work is cited on the web only, then provide the Artist Name, Title of Photograph, the word “Photograph”, Website name, Sponsor or Publisher of Site, Date of Publication, and Access Date.

National Geographic magazine has been known to have the most beautiful photographs. The great photography continues today in the magazine and also on the website.

Recently, photographers Diane Cook and Len Jenshel created a photo study on gardens at night. They are two of the best American landscape photographers and more of their work can be viewed on their website. The photographs are quite amazing. Their work is currently exhibited at the National Geographic Museum in Washington, DC. An article also appears in the March issue of the magazine.

Example of a reference for a photograph:

Cook, Diane, and Len Jenshel. “Zen of Petals.” Photograph. National Geographic. National

Geographic Society, March 2013. Web. 17 April 2013.

Question: I want to reference a section of the Department of Health and Human Services website. There is quite a bit of information on the site in different formats. How do I cite? This is the link.

Response: The link you are trying to reference is for a section on the US Health and Human Services website. The reference type to choose depends on what section of the site you are referencing.

Example 1: If you are referencing one of the videos (ie. HHS OCR – Your Health Information, Your Rights), you would want to create an Online Video reference

Example 2: If you are referencing one of the brochures (ie. Your Health Information Privacy Rights), you would create a Brochure type reference

Example 3: If you are referencing the section “Your Health Information Is Protected By Federal Law” found on that specific webpage, you would create an Article on a Stand Alone Website type.

MLA Style Online Video Reference

“Your Health Information, Your Rights.” Video file. HHS.org. US Dept. of Health and Human

Services, n.d. Web. 2 May 2013.

MLA Style Brochure Reference

Your Health Information Privacy Rights, n.d. HHS.gov. Web. 2 May 2013.

MLA Style Article On Website Reference

“Your Health Information is Protected by Federal Law.” HHS.gov. US Dept. of Health and Human

Services, n.d. Web. 2 May 2013.

Mother’s day is the ideal time to express your love towards your mom and make her feel special. It is that time of the year when you do your best to let your mother know that you care about her in in your special way. Make this Mother’s day memorable by creating a special music CD for her. She will surely be touched by hearing the songs. You could even sing along to them as she listens.

If you compile a CD, I would suggest adding the song “Mama” by Spice Girls. The lyrics are compelling and wonderful.

Another song your mother might like is “You Are My Sunshine” by Jimmie Davis. This song is one my children used to sing to me years ago.

There is a specific way to reference songs in MLA Style depending on what format you listen.

MLA Format Reference – Song from a CD:

Spice Girls. “Mama.” Spice. Virgin, 1995. CD.

MLA Format Reference – YouTube Video:

Shook, David. “You Are My Sunshine, Jimmie Davis.” Video file. YouTube. YouTube,

24 Jan. 2008. Web. 3 May 2013.

Question: I am having trouble selecting the right format for my reference. I used information from this PDF and I am thinking I did not cite it correctly. Can you please help me? Thank you.

Agency for Health Care Administration (2010). 2010 Hospital financial data. Retrieved from http://ahca.myflorida.com/MCHQ/CON_FA/Publications/docs/FLHospFinancialData/2010_HOSPITALFINANCIALDATABOOK.pdf

Style Sister Response: I would suggest creating an MLA reference similar to a research report reference. The author of the report should be classified as the Agency for Health Care Administration. The author abbreviation is AHCA. The title of the report is 2010 Florida Hospital Financial Data and should be used in its entirety. Although the report includes information for the year 2010, the publication date is 2011.

Agency for Health Care Administration. 2010 Florida Hospital Financial Data. Tallahassee: Agency

for Health Care Administration, 2011. AHCA Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.

Web. 18 March 2013.

The in-text citation for this reference ought to appear with the abbreviation only. (AHCA)

Question from Reader About MLA Style: Can you please help me determine how to cite the following document? The bill has a number – HB 295. The document is called Fiscal and Policy Note. Can you advise as to how I would reference it?

http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2013RS/fnotes/bil_0005/hb0295.pdf

Thanks!
Jennie

Style Sister Response: No problem Jennie,

The document that you are citing is not a law but a report about the impact of a potential law, House Bill 295 or HB 295.  A fiscal and policy note is not the name of the bill.

Fiscal and policy notes from the state of Maryland include: a synopsis of the bill, a rundown of the economic impact of the bill of State and local governments, a summary of related law, and an estimation of the bill’s financial impact on small businesses. When available, a note may also include background information about the bill’s introduction and policies.  The notes are written in “plain English” and are distributed to the bill’s sponsor and committee members initially. After the public reading of the bill they are available to anyone. For further information on Maryland’s General Assembly, click here.

I would title your document as: “Death Penalty Repeal and Appropriation from Savings to Aid Survivors of Homicide Victims – Fiscal and Policy Note.”

The MLA reference would be similar to the Government Publication Report type although the specific document does not use the word report within the title. It is important to identify Maryland General Assembly in the author statement. Your readers will then immediately know what state your information is from. The entire title of the bill along with “Fiscal and Policy Note” should be the title. Again, your readers will be able to discern what the reference is about.

Maryland Gen. Assembly. Dept. of Legis. Services. Death Penalty Repeal and Appropriation from

Savings to Aid Survivors of Homicide Victims – Fiscal and Policy Note. Annapolis: Department

of Legislative Services, 2013. Maryland General Assembly. Web. 18 March 2013.

A press release, news release, media release, pressstatement or video release is a written or recorded official statement issued to members of the news media containing information on a particular event or matter. They include up-to-date, current information.

PR Newswire is a site that indexes press releases. The website is one of the leading distributors and indexers of news releases. For these indexed releases, be sure to identify the proper author of the release. Look for the source.

The majority of press releases are written by an organization about itself. If the press release does not have an author identified and you found the release on the organization’s site, you can assume that the organization is the author. When a reference contains the entire organization in addition to a department in that organization, the entire organization appears first as the author. For example, if you were to retrieve a press release from the Newsroom at The Ohio State University. The Ohio State University would be first as the author followed by Newsroom with a comma and space between the two.

The required elements to create a work citation for Press Release in MLA format are: Author(s) names, Title of Press Release, Full date of publication, Name of Website, and Access date.

MLA EXAMPLE:

BabyCenter. BabyCenter Announces Favorite (And Least Favorite) Celebrity Names for 2012, 11

Jan. 2013. PR Newswire. Web. 11 Jan. 2013.

Jelly beans are an Easter tradition found in Easter baskets around the country. Jelly beans are a small egg shaped candy – hard on the outside and gummy on the inside. Turkish Delight, an ancient candy confection, was the precursor to the bean because of its soft, jelly-like texture. The creation of jelly beans has changed little since the candy was first developed in the early 19^th century. Most jelly beans are sold as an assortment of different fruit flavors and have been the same for years. I love the black jelly beans, licorice flavor, and used to trade with my brothers for them at Easter time.

Jelly beans now come in all sorts of flavors. When Harry Potter came on the market the Jelly Belly Company created the odd flavors of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans which were one of the confections mentioned in the novels. A few of these, dirt, ear wax and vomit, were quite unique.  My boys loved to trick their friends into eating the ear wax beans.

Jelly Beans are no longer just for Easter. People eat them all the time. They are one of the most popular selling candies. There is even a National Jelly Bean Day – April 22^nd. Do you have a favorite bean?

The three sources I used for this article are listed below.

Cite a Magazine Article from Database in MLA format

Example:

Author, Alan. “Title of Article.” Magazine Name Complete Date: Page #s. Name of Database. Web.

Access Date.

Actual Magazine Article:

Hendrickson, Helen. “Eggs and jelly beans are Easter traditions.” Grit 13 April 2003: 6.

General OneFile. Web. 12 March 2013

Cite a Blog Post in MLA format

Example:

Author, Abby. “Title of blog post.” Name of Website. Publisher/Sponsor of Site, Publication Date.

Web. Access Date.

Actual Blog Post:

Bain, Zoe. “The history of jelly beans.” Delish. Hearst Communications Inc., 19 April 2012. Web. 12

March 2013.

Cite a Web Page in MLA format

Example:

“Title of the Article.” Name of Website. Publisher/Sponsor of Site, Publication Date. Web. Access

Date.

Actual Web Page:

“Happy National Jelly Bean Day!” Chiff.com. Chiff.com, n.d. Web. 12 March 2013.

Did you know that there is a specific way to place a table within an MLA paper? Did you know that there is a specific way to cite that table within your paper?

The function of tables in papers is to increase the readers’ grasp of the information in the document. Since tables supplement the text of your paper, refer to the table in your text by focusing on the important points only.

Tables should be placed as close as possible to the parts of the text to which they relate. A table is usually labeled Table, given an Arabic numeral, and titled. Type both label and title flush left on separate lines above the table, and capitalize them as titles (do not use all capital letters).

Example:

Table 1

Title of the Table

Give the source of the table and any notes immediately below the table in a caption double-spacing throughout. Hanging indents should be used after the first line. The source information is the work citation information separated by semicolons with the addition of the table location if there is one.

Example:

Source: Ohio University, Dept. of Athletics; “Athletic and Academic Prowess”; Ohio

Review; Ohio University, Mar. 2012; Web; 11 Feb. 2013; table 2.

Designate notes to the table with lowercase letters rather than with numerals.

Example:

a. Graduation rates were configured using athlete to academic ratios

My son, the vegetarian, recently went to see the doctor for his annual physical. My son had been concerned about the amount of protein he was eating and whether it was enough. After discussing his diet with the doctor, he realized there were some options he had not tried. The doctor had quite a few suggestions for him on how to get enough nutrients on a vegetarian diet.

One of the information materials he gave my son was a tip sheet published by the USDA. The tip sheet includes ten ideas about how a vegetarian can eat healthy. Include beans and peas, add more calcium products, and find more protein options were a few of the tips.

The website ChooseMyPlate.gov is chock-full of meal plans, healthy eating information, and dietary guidelines.

The required elements to create a MLA reference for a Tip Sheet are: Author(s) name (if any), Title of tip sheet, Place of Publication, Name of Publisher, Full date of publication, and Medium of work.

If the Tip Sheet had been found online in PDF form, the reference would need the Date of Access instead of the publisher information.

EXAMPLE TIP SHEET:

United States Department of Agriculture – Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. Healthy

Eating for Vegetarians – 10 Tips for Vegetarians. Washington: USDA, 2011. Print.

EXAMPLE TIP SHEET PDF FORMAT ONLINE:

United States Department of Agriculture – Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. Healthy

Eating for Vegetarians – 10 Tips for Vegetarians. Washington: USDA, 2011. PDF file.

Citing legal information can be quite tricky. I would suggest that the most current version of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation be consulted if you are referencing many types of legal documents or cases. The book should be available within your college library. The recommendations found there will need to be adapted to MLA style.

Legal Information Institute (LII) is a site loaded with information on the law. The group in charge of the site is sponsored by Cornell Law School. The site is maintained in order to promote open access to law around the world. The LII catalogs information on the Constitution, U.S. Code, Supreme Court decisions, and the Code of Federal Regulations. The site maintains a legal encyclopedia, a Supreme Court bulletin, and a blog on current events and situations. They also have a section on how to cite legal documents.

The example below is for a US Supreme Court Case found online. The required elements to create a work citation are: Case Name, Volume Number, Source Name, Page Numbers, Name of Court, Year of Decision, Name of Website, Sponsor of Website, Date of Publication, and Access Date.

EXAMPLE:

Sweatt v. Painter. 339 US 629-37. Supreme Court of the US. 1950. Supreme Court Collection.

Legal Information Inst., Cornell U Law School, n.d. Web. 2 Jan. 2013.