How to Do a Works Cited Page for a Book
When you write a research paper, listing your research sources on a Works Cited page is required. This is called citation, or giving credit to the source that originated the information or analysis. Your teacher may give you a style sheet as a guide. If not, there are several style manuals you can use to produce a Works Cited page in the correct format. The more popular style manuals are Turabian, suitable for all subjects; MLA (Modern Language Association) for literature; and Chicago style for informational text in magazines and newspapers.
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Instructions
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Prepare information for your Works Cited page as you do your research. It is much more difficult to reconstruct a list of where you got your information after the fact. The easiest way to do this is to assign a number to each source, and keep the list handy. On an index card, list source information on the back, and notes from that source on the front. Use as many cards as you need, using the same number for the same source.
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Make sure you write down all the information about the source that you will need when you put together the Works Cited page. For a book, you will need the title of the book, the author, the date of publication, the publishing house and the place of publication.
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Look at the style manual and find the section that refers to citing books. The basic entry for a book with one author is as follows: Author's last name, author's first name. Title of the book, (underlined or in italic font). Place of publication: Publishing house, date of publication.
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List a book with two authors as follows: Last name of the first author, first name, and last name of second author, first name. Name of the book (underlined or in italic font). Place of publication: Publisher, date of publication.
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Give the name of the author only once for two or more books by the same author. List all the books by the same author underneath the first entry. For the second and subsequent books, list all the information, but don't repeat the author's name. You can put three hyphens before the entry, indicating that the author is the same.
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Cite sources contained in an anthology with an editor like this: the last name of the author, the first name. Name of the work, in quotations. Name of the anthology, underlined. Ed. (for editor) first name of editor, last name. Where the anthology was published: Publisher, date of publication. Page numbers.
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List your sources for the Works Cited page in the correct format and in alphabetical order by the author's last name. The Works Cited page is typically the last page of your research paper.
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Tips & Warnings
Keep all your index cards and notes organized in a folder.
Do not risk plagiarism by forgetting to cite any source appropriately.
References
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