Write down all of the publication information you can find about the information you want to cite. In the case of a book, look on the title page for publication information. In the case of an article, look for details about the magazine or journal in which it appeared. Gather information about online sources, including full website address and date of access. When you cite the source, you should write down the exact title of the article or paper, the author's name (last name, first name), the date of publication, where the paper appeared (journal/magazine name, book title; volume and issue number in case of a periodical), and the page number(s).
Write down the author's name, last name first, for the Works Cited page. Add a comma, and then the author's first name. Place a period after the author's first name. Write down the title next in quotation marks, with a period before the closing quotation mark. Insert, in italics, the name of the publication in which the paper appeared, if applicable.
Write down next the volume of publication, a period, and then the issue number. Type the year of publication in parentheses, then a colon, and finally insert the page number(s). Type a period, leave a space, then type the medium of publication, if in print. End with a period. All entries in the Works Cited page should be alphabetized according to the author's last name.
For example, according to the Purdue Online Writing Lab, an article in a scholarly journal would be cited: Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal Volume. Issue (Year): pages. Medium of publication.
Write your paper with close attention to the sources you are quoting from, making sure to attribute any sources you use. Type the page number(s) in parentheses before you place the period at the end of the sentence. Another way to cite the author in the text is to type the information in a sentence, and place the author's name and the page number(s) of the source in parentheses before you close the sentence with a period. The Purdue Online Writing Lab offers the following examples:
Human beings have been described by Kenneth Burke as "symbol-using animals" (3).
Human beings have been described as "symbol-using animals" (Burke 3).
Your in-text citations will correspond to an entry in the Works Cited page that begins with the author's last name,