How to cite the online databases using the MLA style

Movie version

Let's start by getting an article from the online databases.
Select the Online Databases link.
Select General Interest.
Select Academic OneFile.
Type your search, for example: body piercing AND teenagers.
Click search.
The tabs tell you what kind of resources you have retrieved: journals, magazines, newspapers, multimedia.
Scroll down until you find an article of your liking. Click on your choice.
The information you need for your worksn cited page usually appears at the top of the article.
Scroll down to see if this article has references, notes or footnotes. That is an indication that this is a scholarly article.
In MLA, first you cite the original (in this example, the journal article, in red); then you cite the database (in this example, Academic OneFile, in black.)

Citation elements in MLA:

Author: last name, first name.

Title of article in quotation marks.

Title of journal underlined.

Volume and issue number.

Date, in parenthesis.

Pages.

Name of database, underlined.

Name of service.

Name of Library and location.

Date you accessed the information.

URL or address of the service.

Example of a complete citation:

Selekman, Janice. “A New Era of Body Decoration: What Are Kids Doing to Their 
            Bodies?" Pediatric Nursing 29.1(Jan-Feb 2008):77-80. Academic OneFile. Gale Group. 
            E.P.C.C. Library, El Paso, TX. 10 June 2008 <infotrac.galegroup.com>.

Example of a citation of a magazine article without an author:

"Tattoo, Bling Craze Raises Hiring Issues." USA Today April 2006:10. Academic 
          OneFile. Gale Group. E.P.C.C. Library, El Paso, TX. 10 June 2009.

Difference between a magazine and a journal

Beware of the citations coming from the software of the database. They may contain mistakes, as in this example, where a magazine is cited as a journal! Consult your MLA handbook or the handouts of the library. (In this example, the mistakes are blocked in red.)

Questions? Ask a Librarian!

Click for handout on how to cite using MLA

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Last Updated: June 2008

Created and maintained by Sahyly Martinez.

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URL: http://www.epcc.edu/vvlib/textcapsuleapamladatabases.htm