How to Correctly Cite a Movie Title in a Paper

Movies can sometimes make great sources for your school papers. Whenever you first introduce the title of a movie, you must cite the movie both within the text of your paper and at the end of the paper in a Works Cited page to avoid plagiarizing. Citing a movie title is a bit different than citing the title of a book or journal article in that you must provide your reader with information about the director, performers and production company for the film.

Instructions

    • 1

      Italicize or underline the movie title every time you mention it in the body of the paper.

    • 2

      Include the director's last name, followed by a comma and the year the movie was released in parentheses after the first time you mention the movie title. A sample sentence would read, "Double Indemnity (Wilder, 1944) serves as an example of the film-making style known as film noir."

    • 3

      Mention the director's name and year of release into the sentence in which you first reference the movie title as an alternative method of citation. The sentence in Step 2 could also be written, "Billy Wilder's 1944 release, Double Indemnity, serves as an example of the film-making style known as film noir."

    • 4

      Type a Works Cited page entry at the end of the paper using the format: "Movie title [italicized]. Director's full name (abbreviated as Dir.). Main Performers' full names (abbreviated as Perf.) Production company, Year of release. Format".

      For a copy of Double Indemnity in DVD format, your works cited entry would read:

      "Double Indemnity. Dir. Billy Wilder. Perf. Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward G. Robinson. Paramount Pictures, 1944. DVD."

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