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ART 2803 / ART 2813 - Art History: Citing in MLA

This is a course guide for ART 2803 & ART 2813. It provides students with information about library resources, citation styles, and other knowledge that will assist with research for this class.

 WITHOUT CITING!

Information on Plagiarism

Should you have any questions about citing information, check out these websites for guidelines. 
Citing other people's ideas whether you quote them directly or paraphrase is crucial!  

If you still can't figure out whether or not you need to cite something after reviewing these sites, please contact your instructor or your personal librarian for help!

Guides to MLA Citations

Check out these helpful resources that walk you through citing in MLA.

Image from a Printed Source:

Format:

Artist’s Last Name, First Name. Title of Artwork. Date Artwork Created, Name of Institution or Private Collection Housing Artwork, City Where it is Housed. Title of Print Resource, Author or Editor Name, Publisher, year, page or plate number.

Example - Artwork Housed In a Private Collection:

Eakins, Thomas. Spinning. 1881, Private Collection. Thomas Eakins, edited by Darrel Sewell, Philadelphia Museum of Art in association with Yale UP, 2001, pl. 91.

Example - Artwork Housed In a Private Collection:

Kahlo, Frida. The Two Fridas. 1939, Museo de Art Moderno, Mexico City. Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective. 12th ed., edited by Fred S. Kleiner and Christin J. Mamiya, Thomson Wadsworth, 2006, p. 774.

Digital Image from the Internet or Online Database:

Format:

Artist’s Last Name, First Name. Title of Artwork. Date Artwork Created, Name of Institution or Private Collection Housing Artwork, City Where Artwork is Housed. Name of Website, URL or DOI. Date of Access (optional).

URLs are now a required component of a citation. Providing the date of access is optional.

Example - Image from an Online Database:

Braun, Adolphe. Flower Study, Rose of Sharon. c. 1854, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Grove Art Online, 0-www.oxfordartonline.com.library.academyart.edu/subscriber/article/img/grove/art/F019413. Accessed 10 Jan. 2017.

If the work is found only online, provide the name of the artist, title of the work, and then citation information for the website that it was found on. If no author is present, use the username that posted the image as the author.

Example - Image Found Only Online:

Cloix, Emmanuel. BROUSSAI 2 visu. 2007, Wikimedia Commons, Wikimedia Foundation, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BROUSSAI_2_visu.jpg. Accessed 1 June 2011.

Resource: "MLA Citation Guide." Academy of Art University. http://elmo.academyart.edu/reference-help/mla_citation_guide.html. Accessed 28 August 2017. 

Book:

Format:

Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Year.

Example - One Author:

Bleicher, Steven. Contemporary Color Theory & Use. Delmar, 2012.

When a book has two authors, order the authors in the same way they are presented in the book. The first given name appears in last name, first name format; second author’s name appears in first name last name format.

Example - Two Authors:

Okuda, Michael, and Denise Okuda. Star Trek Chronology: The History of the Future. Pocket, 1993.

If there are three or more authors, list only the first author followed by the phrase “et al.” in place of the subsequent authors' names.

Example - Three or More Authors:

Burtenshaw, Ken, et al. Fundamentals of Creative Advertising: An Introduction to Branding. AVA Publishing, 2006.

If there is an editor, cite the book as you normally would, but add the editor after the title with the label, "Edited by".

Example - A Book Prepared By an Editor:

Blanc-Hoàng, Henri S., et al. Comics as History, Comics as Literature: Roles of the Comic Book in Scholarship, Society, and Entertainment. Edited by Annessa Ann Babic, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2013.

Electronic Book (eBook):

In MLA 8th Edition, there are three possible ways to cite an eBook.
1) If the eBook you accessed has a URL or DOI, cite the book just like you would if it were in print. Then add the name of the database or website you used to access the online book, and add a URL or other location indicator at the end of the citation.

Format:

Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Year. Database name, URL/DOI.

Example - eBook with URL/DOI:

Wright, Steve. Digital Compositing for Film and Video. Focal Press, 2013. Proquest Ebrary, 0-site.ebrary.com.library.academyart.edu/lib/academyart/detail.action?docID=10399317

2) If the eBook lacks a URL—i.e. books read on a personal device or computer requiring specific software (e.g., Kindle, EPUB) — use following format.

Format:

Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. E-reader type, Publisher, Publication Year.

Example - eBook with No URL, Software/eReader Known:

Dunn, Barbara. More Than a Song: Exploring the Healing Art of Music Therapy. Kindle ed., University Book Store Press, 2015.

3) If the eBook lacks a URL and the personal device or software is unknown, the format is the same as above, however, use “e-book” instead of Kindle, EPUB, etc.

Example - eBook with No URL, Software/eReader Unknown

Dunn, Barbara. More Than a Song: Exploring the Healing Art of Music Therapy. e-book, University Book Store Press, 2015.

Encyclopedia Article:

Format:

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of article." Encyclopedia Name. Editor's First Name Last Name, edition., volume, Publisher, Publication Year.

Example:

Kemp, Martin. "Science and art." The Dictionary of Art. Edited by Jane Turner, 1st ed., vol. 28, Grove Dictionaries, 1996.

Scholarly Journal Article (Print):

Format:

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article." Title of Journal, volume, number, Year, pages.

Example:

Solomon, Jonathan D. "Learning from Louis Vuitton." Journal of Architectural Education, vol. 63, no. 2, 2010, pp. 67-70.

Magazine Article:

Format:

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article." Title of Periodical, volume, number, Day Month Year, pages.

Example:

Hunter, Becky H. “Rodney McMillian: Waging an Artist’s War.” Sculpture, vol. 36, no. 1, Jan-Feb 2017, pp. 20-27.

Newspaper Article:

Similar to the way a print magazine is cited, however notice the difference in pagination.

Format:

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article." Title of Periodical, Day Month Year, page.

Example:

Di Rado, Alicia. "Trekking through College: Classes Explore Modern Society Using the World of Star Trek." Los Angeles Times, 15 Mar. 1995, p. A3.

If the newspaper is a local publication or is lesser known, include the city name in brackets after the title of the newspaper.

Article from an Online Database:

Format:

Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Title of Journal or Magazine, vol., issue, Publication Date, pages. Title of Database, DOI or URL. Date of access (optional).

URLs are now a required component of a citation. Providing the date of access is optional.

Example - Article from Academic Search Premier:

McCarthy, Erin. “10 Scenes That Changed Movie History.” Popular Mechanics, vol. 184, no. 1, Jan. 2007, pp. 64-65. Academic Search Premier, 0-search.ebscohost.com.library.academyart.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=24623655&site=ehost-live. Accessed 23 Feb. 2016.

Example - Art & Architecture Source:

Jays, David. “First Love, Last Rites.” Sight & Sound, vol. 25, no. 9, Sep. 2015, pp. 34-38. Art & Architecture Source, 0-search.ebscohost.com.library.academyart.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asu&AN=108848832&site=ehost-live. Accessed 17 Jan. 2017.

Website:

Format:

Author or Editor’s Last name, First Name. “Title of Article or Page.” Name of Website. Version number, Name of Institution/Organization Affiliated with the Site (if different from the title of the website), date that the page/article/post was written (if available), URL. Date of access (optional).

URLs are now a required component of a citation. Providing the date of access is optional.

Example - Article or Page On a Website with a Known Author:

Gross, Doug. “It’s Social Media Day – Again!” CNN.com, 30 June 2011, www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/06/30/social.media.day/. Accessed 23 Dec. 2016.

Example - Article or Page on a Website with a Corporate Author:

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U. S. Department of Labor. “Drafters.” Occupational Outlook Handbook, 17 Dec. 2015, www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/drafters.htm. Accessed 31 Dec. 2016.

Resource: "MLA Citation Guide." Academy of Art University. http://elmo.academyart.edu/reference-help/mla_citation_guide.html. Accessed 28 August 2017. 

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