An article or publication retrieved from an electronic database

(please note, that because this is an html document, the 1/2” indents normally found after the first line of citations are missing from the following examples)

Citing an article or publication retrieved from an electronic database

If you're citing an article or a publication that was originally issued in print form but that you retrieved from an online database that your library subscribes to, you should provide enough information so that the reader can locate the article either in its original print form or retrieve it from the online database (if they have access).

Provide the following information in your citation:

* Author's name (if not available, use the article title as the first part of the citation)

* Article Title

* Publication Name

* Publication Date

* Page Number/Range

* Database Name

* Service Name

* Name of the library where service was accessed

* Name of the town/city where service was accessed

* Date of Access

* URL of the service (but not the whole URL for the article, since those are very long and won't be able to be re-used by someone trying to retrieve the information)

The generic citation form would look like this:

Author. "Title of Article." Publication Name Volume Number (if necessary) Publication Date: page number-page number. Database name. Service name. Library Name, City, State. Date of access <electronic address of the database>.

(Please note: NEVER use the words or abbreviations for Volume and Issue; Volume 32, Issue 4, looks like this: 32.4.)

Here’s an example from the Opposing Viewpoints Research Center

I searched for “marijuana” and found this entry (copied below exactly as the search results list presented it:

"The Consequences of Using Tobacco Alcohol and Marijuana" by Kathiann M. Kowalski. Teen Addiction. Shasta Gaughen, Ed. Contemporary Issues Companion Series. Greenhaven Press, 2002.

To include this in my works cited list, I would do the citation this way:

Kowalski, Kathiann M. "The Consequences of Using Tobacco, Alcohol, and Marijuana." Shasta Gaughen, Ed. Teen Addiction. Contemporary Issues Companion Series. Greenhaven Press, 2002. Helmke Library, Ft. Wayne, IN. Date of Access. <http:// galenet.galegroup.com>

I did this by following the list given above in the order that it is presented and by looking at the citation information presented at the end of the article. Whatever you do, never ever put long URLs.

Here’s a student example for an article from CQ Researcher:

Clark, Charles. “Unproven treatments gain followers, draw warnings of quackery”

CQ Researcher. Ebscohost. Helmke Library, Fort Wayne, IN. 6 March 2003 <http://library.cqpress.com>.

Here’s one from Ebscohost:

Gale, Georgina. “Massage Magic.” Australian Parents Aug/Sept. 2001

MasterFILE Premier. Ebscohost. Helmke Library, Fort Wayne, IN. 6 March 2003 < http://www.lib.ipfw.edu/>.

Basic Forms for Electronic Sources (other than library databases)

If no author is given for a web page or electronic source, start with and alphabetize by the title of the piece and use a shortened version of the title for parenthetical citations.

A web site

Author(s). Name of Page. Date of Posting/Revision. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site. Date of Access <electronic address>.

It is necessary to list your date of access because web postings are often updated, and information available at one date may no longer be available later. Be sure to include the complete address for the site. Also, note the use of angled brackets around the electronic address; MLA requires them for clarity.

Web site examples

Felluga, Dino. Undergraduate Guide to Literary Theory. 17 Dec. 1999. Purdue University. 15 Nov. 2000 <http://omni.cc.purdue.edu%7Efelluga/theory2.html>.

Purdue Online Writing Lab. 2003. Purdue University. 10 Feb. 2003. <http://owl.english.purdue.edu>.

An article on a web site

Author(s)."Article Title." Name of web site. Date of posting/revision. Name of institution/organization affiliated with site. Date of access <electronic address>.

If you have a web page but can’t figure out exactly what you have, put down the information you can find about the page in the order given above.

For example, here is an article from a web page that had very little citation information – the student simply did the best she could:

Atkins Diet Alert. Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. 6 Feb. 2003.

http://www.atkinsdietalert.org.

Other Examples:

Article on a web site

Poland, Dave. "The Hot Button." Roughcut. 26 Oct. 1998. Turner Network Television. 28 Oct. 1998 <http://www.roughcut.com>.

"Using Modern Language Association (MLA) Format." Purdue Online Writing Lab. 2003. Purdue University.

6 Feb. 2003. <http://owl.english.purdue.edu>.

An article in an online journal or magazine

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal Volume. Issue(Year): Pages/Paragraphs. Date of Access <electronic address>.

Some electronic journals and magazines provide paragraph or page numbers; include them if available. This format is also appropriate to online magazines; as with a print version, you should provide a complete publication date rather than volume and issue number.

Online journal article

Wheelis, Mark. "Investigating Disease Outbreaks Under a Protocol to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention." Emerging Infectious Diseases 6.6 (2000):

33 pars. 5 Dec. 2000 <http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol6no6/wheelis.htm>.

Here is an example of an article found over the web (as in thru google or a similar search engine)

Loftus, Elizabeth. “Our Changeable Memories: Legal and Practical Implications.” Nature Reviews: Neuroscience 4. (2003): 231-234. 8 March 2003

http://faculty.washington.edu/eloftus/2003Nature.pdf