MLA Style for Online Databases in Pellissippi State Library
The Pellissippi State library offers many helpful databases for research purposes. However, it is sometimes difficult to know how to document them in your list of works cited. Several of them provide their own suggestions for documentation, but they do not follow MLA (Modern Language Association) style. Below are sample citations from several research databases following the MLA rules as described in the sixth edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. In general, use this list to determine the order of the information.
· Author
· Title of article (in quotation marks)
· Publication information for any print version (including page numbers) OR title of original database and year
· Name of database (underlined)
· Name of subscription service
· Pellissippi State Technical Community College,
· Knoxville
· Date of your access
· URL of the subscription service’s home page in angle brackets (URLs change frequently. Your instructor may not require this information.)
Academic OneFile
Phillips, Gervase. "Warhorses of the U.S. Civil War." History Today 55.12 (Dec 2005): 10-17. Academic OneFile. Gale. Pellissippi State Technical Community College, Knoxville. 14 Oct. 2007 <http://find.galegroup.com>.
"Archaeologists Unearthing Earliest Incorporated Black Town." Black Issues in Higher Education 15 July 2004: 11. Academic OneFile. Gale. Pellissippi State Technical Community College, Knoxville. 14 Oct. 2007 <http://find.galegroup.com>.
Wilson OmniFile
Durocher, Debra D. “Brother vs. Brother, Reporter on Horseback.” American Journalism Review 16 (Jan/Feb 1994). Wilson Web. The H.W. Wilson Company. Pellissippi State Technical Community College, Knoxville. 16 Aug. 2007 <http://hwwilsonweb.com>.
(For this entry and others, the databases did not give page numbers for original print sources.)
SIRS Knowledge Source
Center, Christopher L. “Gettysburg: Reconnaissance Then and Now.” Armor May-June 2005: 7-11. SIRS Knowledge Source. ProQuest. Pellissippi State Technical Community College, Knoxville. 16 Aug. 2007 <http://sks.sirs.com>.
Rush, Danielle. “Western Pupils Engage in Mock Civil War Battle.” Kokomo Tribune 26 May 2007. LexisNexis Academic. LexisNexis Group. Pellissippi State Technical Community College, Knoxville. 14 June 2007 <http://lexis-nexis.com/universe>.
Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center
Beatty, Bess. "Reconstruction." Civil Rights in the United States. Eds. Waldo E. Martin, Jr, and Patricia Sullivan. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2000. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Pellissippi State Technical Community College, Knoxville. 14 June 2007 <http://find.galegroup.com>.
ProQuest Curriculum Essentials
Cronin, Mary M. “’Dear Swinton’: New York Times Correspondents’ Confidential Letters from the Front Lines, 1864-65.” Journalism History 32.4 (Winter 2007): 213-222. ProQuest Curriculum Essentials. ProQuest. Pellissippi State Technical Community College, Knoxville. 21 June 2007 <http://proquest.umi.com>.
Literature Resource Center
The first source is an article that was previously in print. The second source is an excerpt from a book. The third source was never in print and appeared only electronically.
“Sharpshooter.” Publishers Weekly 14 Oct. 1996: 65. Literature Resource Center. Gale. Pellissippi State Technical Community College, Knoxville. 20 Aug. 2007 <http://find.galegroup.com>.
Dasher, Thomas E. “”David Madden.” Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 6: American Novelists Since World War II, Second Series. Ed. James E. Kibler, Jr. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 1980. 192-201. Literature Resource Center. Gale. Pellissippi State Technical Community College, Knoxville. 20 Aug. 2007 <http://find.galegroup.com>.
“(Jerry) David Madden.” Contemporary Authors Online. 2002. Literature Resource Center. Gale. Pellissippi State Technical Community College, Knoxville. 20 Aug. 2007 <http://find.galegroup.com>.
Discovering Collection
The first source is a journal article that was previously in print. The second source was never in print and appeared only electronically.
Stoicheff, Peter. “’Something Uncanny’: The Dream Structure in Ambrose Bierce’s ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.’” Studies in Short Fiction 30.3 (Summer 1993): 349-357. Discovering Collection. Gale. Pellissippi State Technical Community College, Knoxville. 21 Aug. 2007 <http://find.galegroup.com>.
Cumberland, Sharon. “Overview of The Red Badge of Courage.” EXPLORING Novels. 2003. Discovering Collection. Gale. Pellissippi State Technical Community College, Knoxville. 21 Aug. 2007 <http://find.galegroup.com>.
MagillOnLiterature Plus
May, Charles E. “Chickamauga.” Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition. Salem Press, 2004. MagillOnLiterature Plus. EBSCO. Pellissippi State Technical Community College, Knoxville. 21 Aug. 2007 <http://ebscohost.com>.
Twayne’s Authors Series
Miller, James E.. Walt Whitman. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1962. Twayne’s Authors Series. Gale. Pellissippi State Technical Community College, Knoxville. 22 Aug. 2007 <http://find.galegroup.com>.
More Sample Entries for Electronic Sources
Electronic Book
Davis, William C., and James I. Robertson, Jr., eds. Virginia at War, 1861. Lexington: University of Kentucky, 2005. NetLibrary. 2006. 22 Aug. 2007 <http://www.netlibrary.com>.
An Article from the World Wide Web (including those accessed through Internet Public Library)
“Tennessee Civil War Map of Battles.” AmericanCivilWar.com 22 Aug. 2007 <http://americancivilwar.com/statepic/tennessee.html>.
Please note: If you cannot determine the title of the website (the underlined portion of the entry), then you need to check with your instructor about an alternate format for the entry. An entry that lacks the title of a website is unacceptable.
Recorded Movie
Glory. Dir. Edward Zwick. Perf. Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Cary Elwes. 1989. DVD. Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment, 2005.