Titles of books, plays, films, periodicals, databases, and websites are italicized. Place titles in quotation marks if the source is part of a larger work. Articles, essays, chapters, poems, webpages, songs, and speeches are placed in quotation marks.

Quotation marks are reserved for sections of works, like the titles of chapters, magazine articles, poems, and short stories. Let’s look at these rules in detail, so you’ll know how to do this in the future when writing. Italics and quotation marks are used for titles of books, plays and other works of art.

Last Name, First Name. Italicized Title: Subtitle. Publisher, Publication Year. If the source used is part of a larger work, for example, a chapter or essay, the title should be placed in quotation marks and this title should be followed by a period in the end.

Any punctuation or italics which are required for independent reasons should be used normally; this includes a question mark at the end if the title is a question.

In the United States, the rule of thumb is that commas and periods always go inside the quotation marks, and colons and semicolons (dashes as well) go outside: “There was a storm last night,” Paul said.

A common error in grammar is a comma splice (using a comma when it should be a period). If it’s a foreign term or a term you feel requires emphasis to indicate its unfamiliarity, italicize it. Scare quotes may send the wrong message.

The basic form for a book citation is: Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. City of Publication, Publisher, Publication Date.

When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that the author’s last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, like, for example, (Jones, 1998). One complete reference for each source should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

How to Cite a Research Paper in MLA Format

1. Book: Last Name, First Name. Book Title.
2. Example: Smith, John. The Sample Book.
3. Magazine: Last Name, First Name.
4. Example: Smith, John.
5. Newspaper: Last Name, First Name.
6. Example: Smith, John.
7. Website: Last Name, First Name.
8. Example: Smith, John.

Citing or documenting the sources used in your research serves three purposes: It gives proper credit to the authors of the words or ideas that you incorporated into your paper. It allows those who are reading your work to locate your sources, in order to learn more about the ideas that you include in your paper.

refers to a list of things, et al. refers to a list of people. Etc. is common in formal and informal writing.

The Latinate abbreviation “et al.” is short for “et alii,” which means, “and others,” and always refers to people, not objects. So if you had two authors, adding “et al.” would indicate that there were other authors – and since there are no other authors in this case, it is incorrect to use it.

Remember that there is no comma between the surname and “et al.,” and the period goes only after the “al.” The English translation of “et al.” is “and others.” …

Et al., the abbreviation of et alii, is about as friendly as a flu shot. They don’t fit well together. The use of et al. is not standard in greetings, so people will stumble over it, wondering whether they missed an important new rule somewhere.