Guide to Writing Research Papers

Textual Citations with Parenthetical Citation, Footnotes or Endnotes

Based on the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing. [Ref/PN/147/.G444/1998])

An entry for a book usually has three parts: author, title, and publication information. If more information is required, the parts are arranged as follows:

  1. Author’s name -- Cite author’s name as it appears on title page, using initials only if title page does. End with a period for a Works Cited list. Follow with a comma for a footnote or endnote.
  2. Title of part of a book -- title of part cited in quotation marks. End with a period for a Works Cited list. Follow with a comma for a footnote or endnote.
  3. Title of the book -- full title, including subtitle. Use a colon and one space directly after the title if there is a subtitle. Underline or italicize entire title. Capitalize all principal words, but not articles, prepositions, or conjunctions.
  4. Name of editor, translator or compiler.
  5. Edition or series (if on title page).
  6. Number(s) of volume(s) used.
  7. Publication information -- city of publication, shortened form of publishers name, and year of publication. For footnote or endnote citation, this information is placed in parentheses.

Where appropriate (essays or articles within periodicals and edited works, and in all footnotes or endnotes) also add:

8. Page numbers. (In a multi-volume work, the vol. no. and a colon precede the page numbers).

Books by a Single Author

In a Works Cited list: Andre Malraux. The Conquerors. Boston: Beacon, 1929.

In a footnote or endnote: Andre Malraux, The Conquerors (Boston: Beacon, 1929)…

Books by Two or More Authors

Carol Gilligan, Nona P. Lyons, and Trudy J. Hanmer. Making Connections: the Relational Worlds of Adolescent Girls. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1990.

Works in an Anthology

Ethel Wilson. "Mrs. Golightly and the First Convention." Canadian Short Stories. Ed. Robert Weaver. Toronto: Oxford UP, 1960. 63-81.

Reference Book

Leota S. Lawrence. "Rosa Guy." African-American Fiction Writers After 1955. Dictionary of Literary Biography. 33. Detroit: Gale Research, 1984.

An entry for a periodical also has three parts: author, title of article, and publication information. Publication information usually includes journal title, volume number, year of publication, and inclusive page numbers.

Information in a citation for an article in a periodical is arranged in the following order:

  1. Author’s name -- taken from first or last page of article. End with period for a Works Cited list. Follow with a comma for a footnote or endnote.
  2. Title of article -- full title of article enclosed in quotation marks. Capitalize as in book citation. End with period for a Works Cited list. Follow with a comma for a footnote or endnote.
  3. Name of periodical -- give name as it appears on title page. Underline or italicize.
  4. Volume number -- use for periodicals with consecutive page numbering. Do not precede volume number with the abbreviation "vol.".
  5. Date of publication. Enclose year in parentheses if volume no. is given. End with colon.
  6. Page numbers of the article -- end with period.

Scholarly Journal with Continuous Pagination

In a Works Cited list: John Snyder. "Film and Classical Genre: Rules for Interpreting Rules of the
    Game." Literature/Film Quarterly 10 (1982): 162-179.

In a footnote or endnote: John Snyder, "Film and Classical Genre: Rules for Interpreting Rules of the
    Game," Literature/Film Quarterly 10 (1982): 162-179.

Monthly Periodical

Volume number is not used, but the date is given: month, year with no punctuation except colon after the year.

James Atlas. "Unsentimental Education." Atlantic June 1983: 78-84+. 

Scholarly Journal that Pages Issues Separately

Chris Watling. "The Arts, Emotion, and Current Research in Neuroscience." Mosaic 31.1 (1998): 107-125.

Weekly or Biweekly Periodical

Volume number is not used, but the date is given: day, month, year with no punctuation except colon after the year.

Deane L.Downey. "What’s Wrong with Reading Modern Literature." Christianity Today 8 April 1983: 61-2.

Weekly with no Author

"Buying a Used Car." U.S. News and World Report 14 June 1992: 23.

For more examples, see:

MLA Style Manual, pp. 209-224

Ref/PN/147/.G444/1998

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, pp. 178-202

Ref/LB/2369/.G53/1999

These are a few of the most common types of Internet materials and how to cite them.

Professional/Academic Site

Basic Form:

Author name (Skip if no author present). Site title. Institution/School. Date of publication or last update. <URL>

Example:

Portuguese Language Page. U of Chicago. 1 May 1997
<http://humanities.uchicago.edu/romance/port/>.

Personal Webpage/Homepage

Basic Form:

Author name. Home page. Date of publication or latest update. <URL>.

Example:

Stephanie Davis. Home page. 8 May 1998 <http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/~srdavis/>.

Online Journal - Author Given

Basic Form:

Author name. "Article Title." Journal Title Vol.Issue (year): Number of pages or paragraphs. Access date. <URL>.

Example:

Quentin Jones. "Virtual-Communities, Virtual Settlements & Cyber-Archaeology: A Theoretical Outline." Journal of Computer Mediated Communication 3.3 (1998): 56 pars. 22 June 1998.
<http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol3/issue3/jones.html>.

Online Journal - No Author Given

Basic Form:

"Article Title." Journal name Vol.Issue (year): No. paragraphs. Access date <URL>.

Example:

"Electrostatically Steerable Antennas." M2RC Newsletter 4.1 (1993): 3 pars. 22 June 1998 <http://www.mmrc.ncsu.edu/Newsletters/v4n1/ antennas.html>.

Email

Basic Form:

Author name. <author’s email address>. "Subject line." Date of post. Personal email. (Date read).

Example:

Arnold Johanson. johanson@bluegrass.com. "Clawhammer banjo." 12 June, 2000. Personal email. (13 June 2000).

Internet citation formats were taken from:

MLA Style. 22 June 1998 <http://www.mla.org/set_stl.htm>.

One citation method is parenthetical documentation style. All references or citations identifying ideas or direct quotations belonging to another author are indicated by information included in parentheses in the body of the text. This information refers the reader to the appropriate items in the list of Works Cited at the end of the paper. References in text must clearly identify specific sources in the works cited list. Parenthetical citations should be as brief as possible while providing an accurate and clear reference to a source. An author’s name may either be included in a sentence with the page number(s) in parentheses or the name and page number(s) or other identifying information may be in parentheses.

The Works Cited List appears at the end of your text. Items in the Works Cited List are double spaced and arranged alphabetically by the author's last name (for works without author's name, arranged by the first word of the entry, excluding initial articles). Second and following lines of each citation are usually indented five spaces (hanging indent).

Example of hanging indent:

Carol Gilligan, Nona P. Lyons, and Trudy J. Hanmer. Making Connections: the Relational
    Worlds of Adolescent Girls
. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1990.

One Author

a. Author’s name in text: page number in parentheses.

Rorty argues this point (72).

b. Paraphrased or attributable idea without author’s name in text: Author’s last name and page in parentheses.

This point has been argued by others (Rorty 72).

c. A direct quote: Author’s name and page number(s) in parentheses.

"... expect immediate results" (Rorty 72).

Two Authors

Cite both names.

a. Brown and Kegel hold a contrasting view (215-17).

b. Others hold a contrasting view (Brown and Kegel 215-17).

c. "... entering a new stage of literary criticism" (Brown and Kegel 215-17).

Author with Two or More Works Cited

Use the author’s name, the title (a shortened form if in the parenthetical reference) and the page(s).

a. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston demonstrates ... (47).

b. ... energies shift to production of services (Toffler, Future 196).

c. Hurston’s words sound like a warning:

... A familiar strangeness. You keep seeing your sister in the ‘gator and the ‘gator in your

sister, and you’d rather not. (Their Eyes 76)

No Author

Cite the title (or a shortened version) and the page number. Omit the page reference for a one-page article.

a. According to the Handbook of China, much Chinese pottery is associated with Buddhism (243-44).

b. Much Chinese pottery is associated with Buddhism (Handbook 243-44).

c. "... confronted by tragedy, they take on depth" ("Joy Ride").

Placement and Punctuation

Ordinarily the parenthetical reference should be at the end of the sentence before the final period. Note that there is no punctuation between the author’s name and the page number inside the parentheses. If it is necessary to place the reference within a sentence, place it at the end of a clause but before the necessary punctuation. If the reference cites a long quotation set off from the text, the parenthesis is placed at the end of the passage after the final period.

Footnotes are located at the bottom of the page on which the reference is cited. Endnotes are placed together at the end of the paper. Notes appear in the body of the text as superscript numbers, raised above the line of type at the end of the passage requiring citation. The first reference to a specific source is very similar to the bibliographic entry that is used for a list of works cited in the parenthetical citation format. The main difference is that a page reference is always given at the end of the footnote or endnote.

First reference to a source: The initial note referring to each book or article takes a standard form that fully identifies the source. Here are examples for a book and for a periodical:

    Andre Malraux, The Conquerors (Boston: Beacon, 1929), 29.

    Deane Downey, "What’s Wrong with Reading Modern Literature." Christianity Today 8 April 1983: 61.

Second and subsequent references: After the first reference, notes directing readers to the same source are much simpler. last name of the author or authors, followed by the page number for the new reference. Here is an example:

    Malraux, 43.

Erin Brink
Philosophy 101
Professor Hong

Extremes

    The philosophical argument concerning whether or not innate knowledge exists has been discussed by philosophers for nearly 3000 years. Philosophers such as Plato and Socrates believed that "all inquiry and all learning is only the spontaneous recovery of knowledge (recollection); therefore, any learning or inquiry is impossible," while John Locke and other empiricists believed instead that all knowledge was derived through experience via the senses. Each side has been able to make their own compelling arguments in support of their claims; however, neither could be proven completely true. Instead, by combining certain aspects of each claim, a more accurate view can be created.

    Plato believed that at birth our souls contain all of the knowledge that we will use during our lifetime, and that this knowledge can be recalled to the mind under certain circumstances. Quite the opposite was the idea of John Locke that when we are born our minds are empty, and that all of our knowledge is formed through our experiences. The problem with each of these views is that they are too extreme to make any sort of common sense.

    However, Locke does not deny the existence of natural faculties such as perception, understanding, and memory. He also accepts the mental powers of abstraction, comparison, and discernment as being inborn. To be specific, Locke meant that the understanding is originally empty of objects of thoughts, such as ideas; but we all have the power to acquire them through experience, and to acquire knowledge by comparing and contrasting them. This is not innate knowledge, it is only an innate capacity to receive and process knowledge; it does not have content.

    The idea that all-necessary truths, and many ideas such as God (creator), identity (I am me), possibility, and geometrical figures (triangles) are innate knowledge seems a self-contradiction when they need to be brought to light in order for the mind to perceive them. If we all have the potential to make our innate knowledge a reality, why do only some people have certain ideas and know certain things while others do not? When saying that our innate knowledge needs to be brought to light, is Plato saying that we need the help of some aspect of our mental processes or senses in order to bring to life the knowledge that we already know? How can this be possible if the mind does not realize that the idea or information is there?

    Apparently John Locke also had this question, because he later stated that "No proposition can be said to be in the mind which it never yet knew, which it was never yet conscious of." He goes on to say that even if innate ideas do exist that we are not consciously aware of, they must be lodged deep with the memory. But, the ideas stored in the memory must be retrieved through remembrance and must be known when recalled to have been in the mind before, which is impossible. By definition, innate knowledge does not come from "sensory stimulation." Therefore, this idea is not possible.

[TEXT EDITED HERE]

    There is a third way of looking at the mind that is more reasonable than either the empiricist or innatist views. Classical Rationalists believe that knowledge can be obtained through both experience and pure intellect. So, while the existence of inborn ideas and knowledge seems too extreme, the suggestion that fairly specific natural capacities exist seems more believable. The biggest advantage to a more moderate theory is that the idea of learning is preserved so that our capacities will develop, while concept and knowledge may be acquired.11 

  1. Peter Carruthers, Human Knowledge and Human Nature: A New Introduction to an Ancient Debate. (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1992) 27.
      
  2. John Cottingham, editor's introduction, Western Philosophy: An Anthology (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd., 1997) 3.
      
  3. Cottingham 27.
      
  4. Stephen Stich, Innate Ideas (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975) 44.
      
  5. Stich 40.
      
  6. Stich 84.
      
  7. Quoted in I. C. Tipton, Locke on Human Understanding (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1977) 30.
      
  8. Tipton 37.
      
  9. Tipton 34.
      
  10. Stich 78.
      
  11. Tipton 36.

Erin Brink
Philosophy 101
Professor Hong

Extremes

    The philosophical argument concerning whether or not innate knowledge exists has been discussed by philosophers for nearly 3000 years. Philosophers such as Plato and Socrates believed that "all inquiry and all learning is only the spontaneous recovery of knowledge (recollection); therefore, any learning or inquiry is impossible," while John Locke and other empiricists believed instead that all knowledge was derived through experience via the senses (Carruthers 27). Each side has been able to make their own compelling arguments in support of their claims; however, neither could be proven completely true. Instead, by combining certain aspects of each claim, a more accurate view can be created.

    Plato believed that at birth our souls contain all of the knowledge that we will use during our lifetime, and that this knowledge can be recalled to the mind under certain circumstances (Cottingham 3). Quite the opposite was the idea of John Locke that when we are born our minds are empty, and that all of our knowledge is formed through our experiences (Cottingham 27). The problem with each of these views is that they are too extreme to make any sort of common sense.

    However, Locke does not deny the existence of natural faculties such as perception, understanding, and memory. He also accepts the mental powers of abstraction, comparison, and discernment as being inborn. To be specific, Locke meant that the understanding is originally empty of objects of thoughts, such as ideas; but we all have the power to acquire them through experience, and to acquire knowledge by comparing and contrasting them. This is not innate knowledge, it is only an innate capacity to receive and process knowledge; it does not have content (Stich 44).

    The idea that all-necessary truths, and many ideas such as God (creator), identity (I am me), possibility, and geometrical figures (triangles) are innate knowledge seems a self-contradiction when they need to be brought to light in order for the mind to perceive them (Stich 40). If we all have the potential to make our innate knowledge a reality, why do only some people have certain ideas and know certain things while others do not? When saying that our innate knowledge needs to be brought to light, is Plato saying that we need the help of some aspect of our mental processes or senses in order to bring to life the knowledge that we already know? How can this be possible if the mind does not realize that the idea or information is there?

    Apparently John Locke also had this question, because he later stated that "No proposition can be said to be in the mind which it never yet knew, which it was never yet conscious of." He goes on to say that even if innate ideas do exist that we are not consciously aware of, they must be lodged deep with the memory. But, the ideas stored in the memory must be retrieved through remembrance and must be known when recalled to have been in the mind before, which is impossible. By definition, innate knowledge does not come from "sensory stimulation" (Stich 84); therefore, this idea is not possible.

[TEXT EDITED HERE]

    There is a third way of looking at the mind that is more reasonable than either the empiricist or innatist views. Classical Rationalists believe that knowledge can be obtained through both experience and pure intellect. So, while the existence of inborn ideas and knowledge seems too extreme, the suggestion that fairly specific natural capacities exist seems more believable. The biggest advantage to a more moderate theory is that the idea of learning is preserved so that our capacities will develop, while concept and knowledge may be acquired (Tipton 36). 

Works Cited

Peter Carruthers. Human Knowledge and Human Nature: A New
    Introduction to an Ancient Debate
. Oxford [England];
    New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

John Cottingham, editor's introduction. Western
    Philosophy: An Anthology
, Oxford: Blackwell
    Publishers Ltd., 1997.

Stephen Stich. Innate Ideas. Berkeley: University of
    California Press, 1975.     

I. C. Tipton. Locke on Human Understanding: Selected
    Essays
, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press,
    1977

The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy. 1995. REF/ B/ 41/ .C35/ 1995
Signed articles by an international group of scholarly contributors. Coverage includes:
Major philosophers and other "significant thinkers," overviews of subfields of philosophy, and definitions of important philosophical terms. Includes non-Western philosophy.

Concise Encyclopedia of Western Philosophy and Philosophers. 1960. REF/ B/ 41/ .U7
Mostly short, signed articles about Western philosophy and philosophers.

Dictionary of Philosophy. 1983. REF/ B/ 41/ .D53/ 1983
Intended to provide "clear, concise, and correct definitions and descriptions of philosophic thought" (Preface). Definitions are signed, and some include bibliographies.

Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion: Eastern and Western Thought. 1980.
REF/ B/ 41/ .R43/ 1980

Dictionary of the History of Ideas. 1974. 5 vols. REF/ CB/ 5/ .D52
Lengthy signed articles covering topics about intellectual history. There is an emphasis on interdisciplinary, cross-cultural relations. Volume 5 is an index to the set.

Encyclopedia of Bioethics. 1995. 5 vols. REF/ QH/ 332/ .E52/ 1995
Includes over 450 signed essays about the clinical and scientific state of bioethics, which is defined as, "health-related and science-related moral issues in the areas of public health, environmental health, population ethics, and animal care." Most essays include extensive bibliographies.

Encyclopedia of Classical Philosophy
. 1997. REF/ B/ 163/ .E52/ 1997
Deals with Ancient philosophers.

Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 1967. 8 vols. & 1996 supplement. REF/ B/ 41/ .E5
Over 1500 entries which attempt to cover the whole field of philosophy from ancient to modern and both Eastern and Western thought. Supplement attempts to cover significant post-1967 developments in philosophy. Cumulative index in the supplement for the whole set.

Encyclopedia of Religion. 1986. 16 vols. REF/ BL/ 31/ .E46/ 1986
Intended to provide "concise, clear, and objective description of the totality of human experience of the sacred" (Preface). Includes three types of entries: descriptions of individual religious communities/traditions; topics in history of religion (e.g., afterlife, evil, sexuality); and essays about relationship between religion and other areas of culture, such as art, law, music, and science. Last volume has an extensive index.

The Hutchinson Dictionary of Ideas. 1994. REF/ B/ 105/ .I28/ H872/ 1994
Covers political science, history, religion, and philosophical topics/terms.

Medieval Philosophers. 1992. REF/ B/ 721/ .M45/ 1992

The Oxford Companion to Philosophy
. 1995. REF/ B51/ .O94/ 1995
Intended for both the general reader and for philosophers, articles in the Oxford Companion are signed and have short bibliographies. Areas include: work of the great philosophers, history of British and American thinkers, national philosophies and leaders, and contemporary philosophers.

Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy. 1994.. REF/ B/ 41/ .B53/ 1994
Recent dictionary intended as a "resource for anyone interested in general intellectual movements, as well a s a simple work of reference" (Preface). Extensive cross-referencing.

Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 1998. REF/ B/ 51/ .R68/ 1998
Most recent addition to the reference collection in philosophy, this encyclopedia