A good writer cites the source of information whenever using another person's ideas, opinion or theory. A good scholar also provides citations for any facts, statistics, graphs, or drawings that are obtained from another source. Quotations or paraphrases of another person's spoken or written word should also be cited.
General Citation Resources
MLA (Modern Language Association) Style
Turabian/Chicago Style
Other Guides
The links followed by this icon: 
lead to Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF) files. PDF files are scanned reproductions of original documents that can be viewed and printed using the Adobe Acrobat Reader software, which is available as a free download from Adobe.
Literature research papers will usually require the citation style developed by the Modern Language Association, MLA, for formatting the paper and citing the sources. Always ask your professor if this style is required or preferred. The Cheng Library has the book that documents this style.
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers 7th edition, 2009
Reference LB2369 .G53 2009
(Two copies are available at the Reference Desk. One copy can be found on the second floor that you can check out.)
The Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) offers a detailed guide for the MLA style with many examples for citing different types of resources.
The attached document shows sample citations in MLA Style, 7th edition. The second page shows the layout for a reference list. Please note the spacing.