Citation Guides - Mott LIbrary | Mott Community College

Style Guides for Setting Up Your Research Paper

MLA Style - 9th Edition

Find examples for citing your sources using MLA style. The examples below represent the most common types of citations. Many more examples are available using the MLA Handbook. Check out the MLA Style Center for questions and additional resources.

Citation Builders

Citation Builders are form based services that will help you create a citation based on a particular style. They will supply the commas (,), periods (.), colons (:), spacing and placement for you, but will not correct capitalization, spelling or abbreviations. NoodleTools does a good job. Others are readily available by searching the Internet for “citation builder.” Most of these services are available free of charge.

Noodletools

NoodleTools Express provides a citation tool for MLA, APA, and Chicago styles. Select the citation style, then the type of resource you are citing, and fill in the blanks based on the format (print, databases, etc.). Once submitted, copy the generated citation and paste it into your document for final formatting.

Purdue University Online Writing Lab

Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL). Recommended by Mott faculty, Purdue’s Online Writing Lab is an award winning instructional website. In addition to citation styles, OWL provides guidance for all aspects of your research project and writing needs.

MLA STYLE CITATION EXAMPLES:

By One Author

Mirrlees, Hope. Lud in the Mist. Gollancz, 2018.

By Two Authors

Gaiman, Neil, and Terry Pratchett. Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch. HarperTorch, 2006.

By More Than Two Authors

Lilley, Linda Lane, et al. Pharmacology and the Nursing Process. Elsevier, 2023.

By an Unknown Author (Anonymous)

Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary: Together with Sellic Spell. Translated by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2015.

Edited

Busby, Margaret, editor. Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present. Pantheon Books, 1992.

Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. Edited by F.N. Robinson. Houghton Mifflin, 1961

Contributions to Books (Poems, Short stories, Essays, etc.)

Marvell, Andrew. "The Mower’s Song." The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Stephen Greenblatt, general editor, 9th ed., vol. B, W.W. Norton, 2012, p. 1803-1804.

Ebooks

Meints, Graydon M. Railroads for Michigan. E-book ed., Michigan State University Press, 2013.

Journal Article (accessed via library database)

Siebers, Teun, et al. "Social Media and Distraction: An Experience Sampling Study among Adolescents." Media Psychology, vol. 25, no. 3, May 2022, pp. 343-66. EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.mccezproxy.palnet.info/10.1080/15213269.2021.1959350

Magazine Article (accessed in print)

Funderburg, J. Anne. "Anatomy of an Author: John Voelker's Legal and Literary Career." Michigan History, vol. 105, no. 6, Nov.-Dec. 2021, pp. 39-45.

Magazine Article (accessed via library database)

Funderburg, J. Anne. "Anatomy of an Author: John Voelker's Legal and Literary Career." Michigan History, vol. 105, no. 6, Nov.-Dec. 2021, pp. 39+. Michigan History Magazine, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A682579573/SPJ.SP01?u=lom_accessmich&sid=bookmark-SPJ.SP01&xid=555c4960. Accessed 24 Aug. 2023.

Personal interview

Walker-Griffea, Beverly, PhD. Personal interview with the author. 1 Apr. 2023.

APA Style - 7th Edition

7 th edition APA citations typically follow this pattern:

Author. (Date). Title. Source.

Author name is in the form Lastname, [Initial]. (For example: Shakespeare, W.) See below for examples involving multiple authors. Corporate author names appear as written (General Motors; Ford Motor Company; etc.) , since corporations don’t have first/last names like people do.

Titles are in italics.

Source looks different depending on what's being cited. It may mean:

Publisher, for books;
Periodical title, volume/issue/date and page information, for articles;
Or information identifying an online source like a webpage.

According to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7 th ed., p. 296-7: “Database and archive information is seldom needed in reference list entries…. Most periodical and book content is available through a variety of databases or platforms, and wants your reference list to include the name or URL of the electronic source through which you accessed a source.

The Journal Finder link on our Online Resources webpage can be used to identify how we have access to a specific magazine or journal if you are trying to track down a citation from someone else.

For more detailed information about APA citations, consult the APA 7 th edition Publication Manual at the library reference desk or one of the online citation resources like NoodleTools Express or the Purdue Online Writing Lab.

APA STYLE REFERENCE EXAMPLES

Book by single author:

Dunn, D. (2024). The missing thread: a women's history of the ancient world. Viking.

Book by multiple authors:

Lambert, J., & Frye, C. (2022). Microsoft Office (Office 2021 and Microsoft 365). Microsoft.

Section or chapter in reference book by one author:

Thomson, D. (2014). Nicole Kidman. In The new biographical dictionary of film (6th ed., pp. 562-563). Alfred A. Knopf.

Section or chapter in reference book (section author or authors known):

Fallon, L. F., Jr. (2023). Myopia. In J. L. Longe (Ed.), The Gale Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health (5th ed., Vol. 4, pp. 2472-2477). Gale.

Monipoli, J., & Bell, P. F. (2019). Depression. In P. Moglia (Ed.), Aging (2nd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 212-216). Salem Press.

Porter, E. (2022). Civil Engineer. In S. Paterson (Ed.), Careers in Artificial Intelligence. Salem Press.

Section or chapter in reference book (section author not known):

Aztec Mythology. (2009). In R. Parks (Ed.), UXL encyclopedia of world mythology (Vol. 1, pp. 149-156). Gale Cengage Learning.

Note: This is an exception to the usual pattern – the author of the specific essay or entry is not known, so the title of the essay or entry appears first, then the date, then information about the reference work in which it was compiled.

Section/chapter/essay in online resource or database (author known):

Lusuegro, A. (2025). Immigration Policy Doesn't Have to Be This Way. In Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Gale. (Reprinted from Immigration Policy Doesn't Have to Be This Way, In These Times, 2023, March 27)

Article from magazine:

Wong, P. (2023, January/February). The Gossard Girls of Michigan's upper peninsula. Michigan History, 107(1), 47-52.

Article from magazine, with electronic source information

Barnett, L. R. G. (2023, January/February). Chills, hills and thrills: Michigan's ski trains. Michigan History, 107(1), 42-46. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A731528503/SPJ.SP01?u=lom_accessmich&sid=bookmark-SPJ.SP01&xid=aba9f05c

Article from scholarly journal:

Hendek, M.K., Erdemir, E.O., & Kisa, U. (2015). Evaluation of salivary procalcitonin levels in different periodontal diseases. Journal of Periodontology, 86(6), 820-826.

Article from scholarly journal, with electronic source information:

Mohai, P. (2018). Environmental justice and the Flint water crisis. Michigan Sociological Review, 32, 1–41. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26528595

Article in scholarly journal with many authors, with electronic source information:

Yuzyk, O., Honcharuk, V., Pelekh, Y., Bilanych, L., Sirenko, P., Voitovych, I., Roienk, L., Bilanych, H., Makukh, D., Zidens, J., Yuzyk, M., & Yuzyk, M. (2025). Research on Generative Artificial Intelligence Technologies in Education: Opportunities, Challenges, and Ethical Aspects. BRAIN: Broad Research in Artificial Intelligence & Neuroscience, 16, 139–151. https://doi-org.mccezproxy.palnet.info/10.70594/brain/16.S1/12

Note: Include up to 20 authors. For more than 20 authors, omit the authors between the 19 th and the last, using an ellipsis (...).

Webpage on a news website:

Taylor, N. (2025, May 25). Mott College hires next president, new resale shop in Burton and more Flint-area news. MLive. https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2025/05/mott-college-hires-next-president-new-resale-shop-in-burton-and-more-flint-area-news.html

Webpage with a group/corporate author, where author name is same as source name:

World Health Organization. (2025, March 26). Vaccines and immunization: Vaccine safety. https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/vaccines-and-immunization-vaccine-safety

Webpage with a retrieval date:

Note: Use when content of webpage changes over time and previous versions are not archived online.

U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). U.S. and world population clock. U.S. Department of Commerce. Retrieved June 3, 2025, from https://www.census.gov/popclock

AMA Style - 10th Edition

Find examples for citing your resources using AMA style. These examples represent the most common types of references. Many more examples are available using the AMA Manual of Style, 10th ed.

Citation Builders

Citation Builders are form based services that will help you create a citation or reference based on a particular style. They will supply the commas (,), periods (.), colons (:), spacing and placement for you, but will not correct capitalization, spelling or abbreviations. At this time, these free services do not accurately support AMA style. The library databases, like CINAHL, provide a tool to cite an article in various styles, like APA and MLA. If the AMA style option was available, it did NOT properly format the citation, and therefore, is not recommended. We will periodically review the online services for accuracy and future recommendations.

Colleges and universities have produced similar AMA guides for students.

University of Illinois at Chicago Library

AMA style provides a system for giving credit to others for their contribution to your work. The references allow your reader to consult the resources you used to write your paper. Unlike other style formats, parenthetical citations are restricted, and the reference citation is displayed as a superscript number after the punctuation, as in this example.3 However, when citing the same source more than once, include the page number enclosed in parentheses in the reference. For example:

Subauste writes that, “Effective manipulation of autophagy requires understanding of the molecular events that govern this process.”8(743)

See the AMA Manual of Style, 10th ed. for more complete examples.

AMA style requires references to be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are cited in the text. (AMA 3.5)

If you need help actually writing or revising your paper contact The Writing Center at (810) 762-0229 or visit them in the Curtice-Mott Complex, CM2031.

AMA STYLE CITATION EXAMPLE:

REFERENCES

Books, Reference Books, and Book Chapters:

Theis JL. Case Studies for the Occupational Therapy Assistant. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning; 2011.
Martin S, Kessler M. Neurological Interventions for Physical Therapy. 2^nd edition. St. Louis, MO: Saunders Elsevier; 2007.
Baxyk S, ed. Mental Health Promotion, Prevention, and Intervention with Children and Youth: A Guiding Framework for Occupational Therapy. Bethesda, MD: The American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.; 2011.
Olson L. Development and Implementation of Groups to Foster Social Participation and Mental Health. In: Bazyk S, ed. Mental Health Promotion, Prevention, and Intervention with Children and Youth: A Guiding Framework for Occupational Therapy. Bethesda, MD: The American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.; 2011: Chapter 5.

Academic Journals

Simmons L, Smith T. Effectiveness of Pre-operative Physiotherapy-Based Programmes on Outcomes Following Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Phys Ther Rev. 2013; 18:1-10. Available from: CINAHL Complete. Ipswich, MA. Accessed April 30, 2015.
Khetani MA. Validation of Environmental Content in the Young Children’s Participation and Environment Measure. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2015;96:317-322.
Godoy MFG, Oliani A, Guimarães T, Azoubel L, Silva Oliveira R, de Godoy J. Clinical treatment of arm lymphedema in an outpatient setting: Two years of follow up. J Phlebology & Lympholo [serial online]. January 2010;(3):11-15. Available from: Academic Search Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed April 30, 2015.
Subauste CS. Autophagy as an antimicrobial strategy. Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther. 2009;7(6):743-752. doi:10.1586/eri.09.41.

Web Page:

American Physical Therapy Association. Professionalism. American Physical Therapy Association. http://www.apta.org/Professionalism/. Published June 2007. Updated March 25, 2011. Accessed November 13, 2012.

Other Media:

Physical Therapy Assistant and Aide [video file]. New York, NY: Films on Demand (Film Media Group); 2007.
Duties of Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) [video file]. New York, NY: Films on Demand (Film Media Group); 2008.

Created by Lori Nye
and members of the Mott Library staff,
March 2015