General Guidelines for Works Cited

General Guidelines for a "Works Cited"

(Sample Works Cited Page)

• Put all entries in a single list under the title "Works Cited" at the end of the report, on the last page of the report, or on a separate page.
• Double space between the "Works Cited" title and the first entry. 
• Order entries alphabetically by authors' last name, or, if author is not given, by the first important word in the title, excluding "a," "an," and "the." 
• If more than one work by an author is cited, do not repeat the author's name, but use three hyphens and a period (---.) for the author's name in the second and subsequent entries, and alphabetize the works by the first important word in each title. 
• Hanging indentation: Indent all lines of each entry five spaces, except the first line, which is flush with the left margin. 
• Double-space. 
• Use a period at the end of each entry. 
• Paginate the works-cited section as a continuation of your text. 
• Underline the titles of works published independently--books, plays, long poems, pamphlets, periodicals, films. 
• Use quotation marks to indicate the titles of short works that appear in larger works. 
• Use Arabic numerals except with names of monarchs (Elizabeth II) and except for the preliminary pages of a work (ii-xix), which traditionally use Roman numerals. 
• Use the appropriate citation format like the one below for books. See the Citation Examples  for the wide range of MLA formats. 

Author (last name first). Title of book (underline). Publication city (nearest your state): Publisher, Date of publication (most recent). 

• Separate author, title, and publication information with a period followed by one space. The title of a periodical does not require a period. 
• Abbreviate the names of months except May, June, and July. The day of the month comes before the month.