Tip 81: MLA Formatting/Works Cited/etc. (or APA or CMS)

I am taking a class this semester called Research Writing. The content of the class is pretty self-explanatory. As with nearly every college course, a book (or two or more) is required for the class. Fortunately for me and my parent's wallet, both of the books I needed for this class were small and cheap. One of the books is A Writer's Reference with Writing in the Disciplines by Diana Hacker. We refer to it as the Hacker guide, which is pretty sweet if you ask me.

Okay so on to the point of this post. I am currently doing a simple assignment where we use the Hacker guide to create a works cited page, given a list of information about sources. When you write a paper you need to properly cite your sources to avoid plagiarism, so knowing how to correctly write a works cited page is important. The guidelines in this book, with examples, are very very thorough and easy to follow.

The book also gives sound advice on many common writing activities. Tips on how to write introductions, body paragraphs, transitions, conclusions, summaries and technical papers. If you are in need of this kind of information, I highly recommend this book.

Note: You might be looking for something more along the lines of the less expensive and highly regarded Elements of Style by Strunk and White, if you are not in need of as much technical and as detailed of help/advice.