Style Sheet

Department of English
Faculty of Letters
University of Geneva
 Style Sheet

This guide presents conventions of typography and documentation in English

literary studies which should be used for the preparation and presentation of
essays, seminar papers, and MA mémoires.

These conventions approximately follow the MLA 6th edition guidelines, which
is the setting you can use for citation programmes such as Zotero but please
note that each bibliographical entry must be manually checked for conformity
with the present Style Sheet. For further information, such as guidelines for the
citation of document types that are not included in the present Style Sheet, see
the book-length MLA Style Manual, 6th edition, a copy of which is held by the
English Library.

For conventions in linguistics see the separate Style Sheet available from your
linguistics instructors.

(2019)
Style Sheet i

Table of Contents

1. GENERAL FORMAT FOR WRITTEN WORK ............................................................ 1

2. QUOTATIONS ................................................................................................................... 2
2.1 USE OF QUOTATIONS ............................................................................................ 2
2.2 SHORT QUOTATIONS ............................................................................................ 2
2.3 LONG QUOTATIONS .............................................................................................. 3
2.4 QUOTATIONS WITHIN QUOTATIONS ................................................................ 3
2.5 OMISSIONS OF WORDS, SENTENCES, ETC. ...................................................... 3
2.6 DISCONTINUOUS QUOTATIONS & GRAMMATICALITY................................ 3
2.7 PUNCTUATING QUOTATIONS............................................................................. 4
2.8 OTHER PARENTHETICAL NOTES ....................................................................... 5
2.9 QUOTATIONS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES ......................................................... 6
3. REFERENCES .................................................................................................................... 6
3.1 ACKNOWLEDGMENT ............................................................................................ 6
3.2 PARENTHETICAL CITATIONS ............................................................................. 7
3.2.1 Novels ..................................................................................................................... 7
3.2.2 Short Poems ........................................................................................................... 8
3.2.3 Long Poems ............................................................................................................ 8
3.2.4 Plays and the Bible ................................................................................................ 8
3.2.5 Film (including DVD and video versions), television, or radio............................. 9
3.2.6 Graphic novels and comic books ........................................................................... 9
3.2.7 Video games ........................................................................................................... 9
3.2.8 Blogs, Vlogs and other internet-based primary sources; all other sources ........ 10
3.2.9 Figures and Tables .............................................................................................. 10
3.2.10 Scholarly Works ................................................................................................... 11
3.2.11 Citing indirect quotations .................................................................................... 11
3.3 WORKS CITED LIST ............................................................................................. 12
3.3.1 Books .................................................................................................................... 12
3.3.2 Articles in periodicals .......................................................................................... 14
3.3.3 Articles in books................................................................................................... 14
3.3.4 Poems and short stories in book collections ........................................................ 15
3.3.5 Unpublished dissertations and mémoires ............................................................ 15
3.3.6 Non-Print and other sources ................................................................................ 15
3.4 SAMPLE WORKS CITED LIST ............................................................................ 18
4. ENDNOTES & FOOTNOTES ........................................................................................ 23

5. PUNCTUATION ............................................................................................................... 23

6. NUMBERS......................................................................................................................... 26
ii Style Sheet
Style Sheet 1

1. GENERAL FORMAT FOR WRITTEN WORK

1.1 All work must be typed, unless your instructor gives you permission to
submit hand-written work. You may submit work printed on both sides of
the paper (recto-verso) unless your instructor specifies otherwise.

1.2 On a separate title page, write: a.) the title of your paper, b.) the date of
submission, c.) the title of the seminar, d.) the name of the teacher, e.) the
semester and year, f.) the module the essay is for, and g.) your name,
address, phone number, email address, and immatriculation number.

1.3 Use Times New Roman size 12 font. Use the same typeface for the entire
text.

1.4 Use double-spacing between lines. Do not leave extra space between
paragraphs.

1.5 Leave margins of three centimeters at all edges of the text.

1.6 Indent all paragraphs (usually five spaces from the left margin or by
using the tabulator key), with the exception of the first.

1.7 Number the pages of the text in Arabic numerals (not counting the title
page).

1.8 Italicize titles of books, plays, periodicals, long poems, and collections
of separate shorter texts of all kinds.

1.9 Enclose in quotation marks titles of shorter texts, such as articles,

essays, stories, and poems.

1.10 Italicize foreign words or phrases that appear within an English

sentence—for example, de gustibus non disputandum est—but not
quotations in foreign languages.

1.11 Try to avoid dividing a word at the end of a line. If necessary, make the
division (with a hyphen) only between syllables, according to an
authoritative English or American dictionary.

1.12 Use the referencing system specified in this document (parenthetical

citation). Do not use footnotes or endnotes for basic source referencing.
2 Style Sheet

2. QUOTATIONS
Please note that all quotations must be followed by a parenthetical citation
referring readers to a works cited list that you will include at the end of your
paper (further information on this is found in section 4.)

2.1 USE OF QUOTATIONS

Evidence: The main purpose of quotations is to support and enrich your
argument with specific passages from the text. However, simply quoting
the text is not enough; you must explain the significance (and
sometimes the context) of the quotation.
Analysis: Using a quotation effectively involves breaking it down into its
parts, paying attention to its language, and discussing how it is written as
well as what it means.

2.2 SHORT QUOTATIONS

Include shorter quotations in the body of the text, enclosed by quotation
marks. American practice requires double quotation marks (“…”), while
the British uses single ones (inverted commas ‘…’). Either practice may be
used, but must be used consistently. The parenthetical citation comes
before the closing punctuation mark.

PROSE
American usage: Anticipating one of the principal trends of twentieth-century criticism,
Oscar Wilde insisted that “Art never expresses anything but itself” (56).
British usage: Anticipating one of the principal trends of twentieth-century criticism, Oscar
Wilde insisted that ‘Art never expresses anything but itself’ (56).

DRAMA
American usage: William Congreve’s Way of the World verily bristles with the witty
paradoxes typical of Restoration comedy, such as when Fainall scolds Mirabell, “Had you
dissembled better, things might have continued in a state of nature” (1.1.62).
British usage: William Congreve’s Way of the World verily bristles with the witty paradoxes
typical of Restoration comedy, such as when Fainall scolds Mirabell, ‘Had you dissembled
better, things might have continued in a state of nature’ (1.1.62).

POETRY
If a sentence in the text incorporates more than a single line of verse, use a slash / to indicate
the division of lines; use a double slash // to indicate the division of stanzas:
American usage: In Walt Whitman’s Civil War poems, the persona speaks as a witness: “And
the staffs all splinter’d and broken. // I saw battle-corpses, myriads of them, / And the white
skeletons of young men, I saw them” (177-178).
British usage: In Walt Whitman’s Civil War poems, the persona speaks as a witness: ‘And the
staffs all splinter’d and broken. // I saw battle-corpses, myriads of them, / And the white
skeletons of young men, I saw them’ (177-178).
Style Sheet 3

2.3 LONG QUOTATIONS

Set off by indentation quotations in prose that are four lines or longer,
or in poetry three lines or longer. Type such quotations single-spaced
and with no enclosing quotation marks:

Pamela laments her lot to her parents:

O let me take up my Complaint, and say, Never was poor Creature so

unhappy, and so barbarously used, as your Pamela! O my dear Father and
Mother, my Heart’s just broke! I can neither write as I should do, nor let it
alone; for to whom but you can I vent my Griefs, and keep my poor Heart
from bursting! Wicked, wicked Man! – I have no Patience left me! – But
yet, don’t be frighted – for, – I hope, I am honest! (Richardson, 60)

Despite her hard usage by Mr B., her virtue is her uppermost concern.

2.4 QUOTATIONS WITHIN QUOTATIONS

Indicate quotations within quotations by single quotation marks if you are
following American usage or double ones if you are following the British.

American usage: Robinson claims that “the linguistic consecration of Richards’ ‘semantic
triangle’ has produced more confusion than illumination in literary studies on both sides of
the Atlantic” (28).
British usage: Robinson claims that ‘the linguistic consecration of Richards’ “semantic
triangle” has produced more confusion than illumination in literary studies on both sides of
the Atlantic’ (28).

2.5 OMISSIONS OF WORDS, SENTENCES, ETC.

Indicate any omission of a word, phrase, sentence, line, or paragraph from
a quoted passage by three spaced dots (known as ellipses). Do not begin
or end any quotation with ellipsis marks unless attention should be drawn
to the omission. Do not enclose the ellipsis within square brackets, except
in quoted passages that include ellipses in the original.

American usage: Robinson claims that the use of Richards’ notions in linguistics “has
produced . . . confusion . . . in literary studies” (28).
British usage: Robinson claims that the use of Richards’ notions in linguistics ‘has produced .
. . confusion . . . in literary studies’ (28).

2.6 DISCONTINUOUS QUOTATIONS & GRAMMATICALITY

Quotations should correspond exactly with their sources in spelling and
interior punctuation. They should also agree grammatically with the
sentence in which they are embedded. You may therefore need to alter
quoted sentences slightly, for example, by changing or adding a pronoun.
Use square brackets to indicate any departures from exact correspondence
4 Style Sheet

made in order to produce a grammatical sentence or to include any

explanatory notes or supplementary information:
When Pip, the narrator of Great Expectations, first experiences social contempt, he associates
it with falsehood: he “knew [he] was common… and that the lies had come of it somehow,
though [he] didn’t know how” (Dickens, 125).

He claimed he could provide “hundreds of examples [of court decisions] to illustrate the
historical tension between church and state” (Smith, 327).

Milton’s Satan speaks of his “study [i.e., pursuit] of revenge” (PL 1.107)

2.7 PUNCTUATING QUOTATIONS

Never leave a quotation standing alone without grammatically
incorporating it into your sentence.

2.7.1 Differences in American and British usage for punctuating quotations

Please note: British usage and American usage are the same, except with
regards to the use of comma or period (full stop) at the end of a
quotation. In American usage, the comma or period comes before the
closing quotation mark; in British usage it comes after.

American usage: The narrator writes that he “made another voyage,” but that his “raft was …
unwieldy” and capsized (Defoe, 46).
British usage: The narrator writes that he ‘made another voyage’, but that his ‘raft was …
unwieldy’ and capsized (Defoe, 46).

However, in both usages, the closing quotation mark comes before the
period if the quotation is immediately followed by a parenthetical citation,
as it is in the above example.

The four most common ways to integrate a quotation are as follows:

2.7.2 Introduce the quotation with a complete sentence followed by a colon:

Defoe begins his novel by telling his readers some basic facts about the protagonist: “I was
born in the year 1632, in the city of York, of a good family, tho’ not of that country, my father
being a foreigner of Bremen” (5).

2.7.3 Introduce the quotation with a “tag” that is not a complete sentence
followed by a comma:

Commenting on the novel’s enduring popularity, Richetti writes, “in edited and modernized
versions, [it] is one of the most popular children’s books ever written” (xviii).
Style Sheet 5

2.7.4 Introduce the quotation with a “tag” that is not a complete sentence
followed by “that”; in this case you do not need to separate the “tag” and
the quotation with a punctuation mark:

The narrator records that “it rained more or less every day, till the middle of October; and
sometimes so violently, that [he] could not stir out of [his] cave for several days” (Defoe, 82).

2.7.5Very short quotations should be used as part of your own sentence:

The first items that he makes are “a table and a chair” and “little square chests” (Defoe, 55,
59).

Please note: the only punctuation marks that can be placed before a quotation
are a comma or a colon. Never use a semi-colon to introduce a quotation.

2.7.6 Exclamation marks and quotation marks

If these punctuation marks are part of the quoted text, place them within
the quotation marks; if they are your own, place them outside the
quotation marks:

Question mark in original: He realizes that in his present condition he has no use for money,
and apostrophises the heap of gold and silver: “O drug! … what art thou good for?” (Defoe,
47).
Question mark in your sentence: Why does the narrator call the newcomer “my man
Friday”? (Defoe, 169)

2.7.7 Semi-colons and colons come after the quotation marks, in both
American and British usage.

He tries to “imprint right notions in [Friday’s] mind about the Devil”; later he speaks to him
“of the power of God, his omnipotence, his dreadful aversion to sin” (Defoe 172).
He tells Friday “how the Devil was God’s enemy in the hearts of men”: he feels the need to
ensure that his new companion will gain God’s mercy (Defoe, 172).

2.8 OTHER PARENTHETICAL NOTES

You may need to italicize words for emphasis or add the Latin sic (“thus”
or “so”) to assure readers that the quotation is accurate even though the
spelling or logic may appear otherwise. These notes should be put within
parentheses:

Lincoln specifically advocated a government “for the people” (emphasis added; 26).
Shaw admitted, “Nothing can extinguish my interest in Shakespear” (sic; 13).
6 Style Sheet

2.8.1 When you first introduce a text by title, follow the title with the original
date of publication in parentheses:

Samuel Richardson’s Pamela (1740) was one of the first best-sellers in English publishing
history.

2.9 QUOTATIONS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES

If you quote a source in a foreign language (including French) provide a
translation in a footnote.

3. REFERENCES

In this department, we use a system of parenthetical citations that refer to a

works cited list placed at the end of your work. We do not use footnotes or
endnotes for basic source referencing.

3.1 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Acknowledge all written sources, primary and secondary, used in
preparing a paper so that your readers may locate the texts and passages
referred to, whether you quote or paraphrase or merely allude to the
source. If, in your written work, you employ the ideas or words in
someone else’s work without an acknowledgment, you have committed
plagiarism. This is a serious offense, since use without citation of
someone else’s work makes the implicit claim that it is yours; it is a form
of theft and may be punished accordingly (e.g., failure for the essay and/or
course, having to write another essay on another subject, being refused to
take exams in the English Department, or, in extreme cases,
exmatriculation from the University). Ultimately, though, plagiarizing is
an ethical issue.
To avoid plagiarism, make sure to put quotation marks around everything
you quote. If you paraphrase, make sure you are not just rearranging or
replacing a few words. And even if you use your own words, you must
still acknowledge the source of the information by author’s name and
page number. Ignorance of the rules of plagiarism is no excuse, and
carelessness is just as bad as purposeful violation.
Primary sources are the subject-matter of the paper (in this department,
novels, plays, poems, and other fictional or nonfictional texts); secondary
sources are scholarly works about that subject matter. The system of
documentation here described consists of: 1) a works cited list of all
sources used at the end of the paper, and 2) parenthetical citations of
these sources throughout the paper. The works cited section should only
Style Sheet 7

list the sources you actually used and quoted in the paper, rather than
every work you consulted.

3.2 PARENTHETICAL CITATIONS

Cite each source by author, depending on how it is listed in the works
cited section. The logic is that your readers can rapidly locate complete
data for the quotation by turning to the works cited list.
Note that the parentheses come before the terminal punctuation (period or
semi-colon).

3.2.1 Novels
The form is: author’s surname, comma, and page number. If the
author’s name is clear from your text, give only the page number. If you
have more than one title by that author in your works cited list, include
the date of publication after the author’s surname. The idea is that your
reader can easily verify the source.

The typical European portrayal of the colonial landscape is to personify it, to identify it
organically with its sinister and savage inhabitants. The most powerful such image is that
presented by Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Here, the naked savages “were poured into
the clearing by the darkfaced and pensive forest” (85); soon they vanish, “as if the forest that
had ejected these beings so suddenly had drawn them in again as the breath is drawn in a long
aspiration” (86). So powerful is this kind of picture that it is reproduced by post- and even
anti-colonial writers. V. S. Naipaul’s Indian narrator, Salim, remarks of the same Congolese
landscape: “The river and the forest were like presences, and much more powerful than you”
(14). Similarly, the narrator in a noted African novel observes, with no apparent irony, that
“[t]he men of Umuofia were merged into the mute backcloth of trees and giant creepers,
waiting” (Achebe, 188).

If you quote words from different pages in the same sentence, separate
numbers with a comma:

Mr. Williams, who runs “a little Latin School,” is described as “a sensible, sober young
Gentleman” (Richardson, 1740, 111, 112).

If you quote a passage that runs over two pages, separate page numbers
with a hyphen:

Pamela tries to convince Lady Davers that she has not lost her virginity: “Good your
Ladyship, pity me! – Indeed I am honest; indeed I am virtuous; indeed I would not do a bad
thing for the World” (Richardson, 394-95).
8 Style Sheet

3.2.2 Short Poems

If the author is clear from your text, cite the line numbers:

In “Lysergic Acid,” Allen Ginsberg writes of LSD: “it is electricity connected to itself, it hath
wires / it is a vast spiderweb” (4-5).

If you quote words from different lines in the same sentence, separate the
line numbers with a comma:
Allen Ginsberg describes LSD as “electricity connected to itself” and as “a vast Spiderweb”
(4, 5).

3.2.3 Long Poems

In parenthetical citation of long poems, plays, and the Bible, do not use
page numbers. List the particular edition of the text in the works cited list
at the end of the paper, and cite in parentheses directly after the
quotation. For long poems, give author, if not clear from your text, and
stanza and/or line numbers. Some long poems are further divided into
books (Paradise Lost), or cantos and stanzas (Don Juan), or all three
(The Faerie Queene). Indicate these by Arabic numerals separated by
periods: book and lines (PL 3.1-10); canto and stanza (DJ 12.35); book,
canto, stanza (FQ 2.10.9).
The speaker in Byron’s Don Juan is excessively and even comically self-reflexive: “For my
part I say nothing—nothing—but / This I will say” (original emphasis; 1.52).

3.2.4 Plays and the Bible

For plays, give author, date if required, act, scene, and line numbers:

“A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!” (Shakespeare, 5.4.7).

If you quote dialogue between two or more characters in a play, set the
quotation off from your text. Begin each part of the dialogue with the
appropriate character’s name indented from the left margin and written in
all capital letters: HAMLET.

A short time later Lear loses the final symbol of his power, the soldiers who make up his
train:

GONERIL Hear me, my lord.

What need you five-and-twenty, ten or five,
To follow in a house where twice so many
Have a command to tend you?
REGAN What need one?
LEAR O, reason not the need! (2.4.254-58)
Style Sheet 9

For the Bible, give the title (which may be abbreviated) of the particular
book (not italicized) and the Arabic numerals of the chapter and verse:

“For in much wisdom is much grief” (Eccles. 1.18).

3.2.5 Film (including DVD and video versions), television, or radio

For film, cite title and time stamp (hour, minute, second). As with other
sources, if any of this information is clear from your text, it should be
omitted. For television or radio, cite the title of the series, the episode or
programme, and the time stamp (hour, minute, second). Again, if any of
this information is clear from your text, it should be omitted.

In Chaplin’s Modern Times, the perils of automatisation receive ironic treatment (1:13:09-
15:02)

Ross tries to get his favourite pink shirt back from his ex-girlfriend (Friends, “The One with
the Tea Leaves” 17:12)

3.2.6 Graphic novels and comic books

For graphic novels, cite the author’s surname, comma, and page
number. If there are no page numbers, use the abbreviation “n. pag.” For
comic books, cite the comic book series title (in italics) along with the
issue number, followed by the page number. Again, if any of this
information is clear from your text, it should be omitted.

After mentioning that his therapist’s “place is overrun with stray dogs and cats,” the narrator
of MAUS asks: “Can I mention this, or does it completely louse up my metaphor?”
(Spiegelman, 203)

The comic book series The American Way stages civil rights issues through a black character
who questions the means through which he is to become a superhero: “Medical
experimentation? This some kind of Tuskegee crap?” (#2, n. pag.)

3.2.7 Video games

Cite the title of game in italic. Conventions have not yet been developed
for quoting a particular sub-part of a video game but you can identify an
action episode or sequence in terms of the name/number of the player's
level, quest, or mission; a map location; a specific in-game goal; or you
can contextualize a moment of gameplay by describing the point in the
action sequence. Alternatively, you can embed in your paper a screenshot
in the form of a numbered figure (using Arabic numerals): give the figure
a caption that includes the author's name (if known), the title of the
screenshot in quotation marks (assign a title if necessary), the publisher,
10 Style Sheet

the date of upload, the medium, and the date when you accessed the
image or took the screenshot.

In the RPG Fallout: New Vegas the “companion” character Arcade leaves the Courier (the
player) after the side-quest entitled “For Auld Lang Syne” has been completed. Arcade rejoins
the main quest for the attack on Hoover Dam (Fallout).

The 3-D action-adventure platformer game Super Mario Galaxy (2007) uses the device of the
Doppelgänger. Playing as Luigi, on the level entitled “Ghostly Galaxy,” the player saves a
version of Luigi as a non-playable character (NPC). Ironically, NPC-Luigi dismisses the
physical resemblance with his rescuer but later in the level he refers to him as “me” (“I knew I
could rely on ... me!”). The aesthetics of the game reflects this perceptual shift: initially, the
two characters appear to be identical but on closer inspection it is clear that NPC-Luigi is
taller and his green clothes are a darker shade (Super Mario Galaxy).

3.2.8 Blogs, Vlogs and other internet-based primary sources; all other sources
Cite the name of the internet page; if this is clear from your text, you
should omit it. If the online source does not provide page numbers, use
the abbreviation “n. pag.”

Even the Center for Disease Control uses the popular zombie apocalypse scenario to inform
the public about disasters: “You may laugh now, but you’ll be happy you read this, and hey,
maybe you’ll even learn a thing or two about how to prepare for a real emergency”
(blogs.cdc.gov, n. pag.)

Cite any other source with its title. If you are citing a seminar or a
lecture course, give the date of the specific class.

3.2.9 Figures and Tables

Embedded illustrations are labelled in two places: in the text and in a
caption. Refer to the figure in-text and provide an Arabic numeral that
corresponds to the figure or table. Situate the figure or table near the text
to which it relates. Below the figure or table, provide a caption that
includes: a label name (create your own if necessary) and its
corresponding Arabic numeral (no bold or italics) followed by a period
(e.g. Figure 1.). Give the source information as that required for the
works cited list. This information will depend on the medium from
which you accessed the figure or table (e.g. if you use a freeze frame
from a film or an image printed in a book, provide the same information
you would use when quoting from the film or the book). The example
below concerns an image taken from the internet.

Note: do not use figures and tables to boost the page length of your
essay. An embedded illustration should function like any other
Style Sheet 11

quotation; the content must be analyzed and its relevance to your

argument must be made clear (see 2.1 Use of Quotations).

In-text reference:
Fairy tales are often used in luxury product advertising for women. Indeed, a Cinderella
theme is common in shoe advertisements. A Hermes advertisement, for instance, refers to the
moment in which Cinderella leaves the ball, drawing from the symbolic power of the glass
slippers – the only elements provided by the fairy godmother that remain after the stroke of
midnight and that are the key to Cinderella’s happy ending (see Figure 1). Displacing the
midnight moment to broad daylight, the advertisement suggests that the right shoes, rather
than functioning as protective and comfortable footwear, can provide lasting luxury and
elegance, as well as lead to love and happiness.

Figure caption (below an embedded illustration):

Figure 1. Hermes, “Hermes 2010 (Cinderella).” Advertisement. Dallo Spazio. “Let Louis
Vuitton and Hermès Tell You a Fairy Tale.” superqueen.wordpress.com. 24 Apr. 2010. Web.
7 Aug. 2015.

3.2.10 Scholarly Works

Follow the same conventions as for primary sources: author, comma, and
page number. Just as with primary sources, such information as is already
clear from your text need not be included:

Critics have recently sought out a new critical lexicon for discussing the Gothic. Of these new
concepts, two general kinds of tropes appear to be invoked most frequently: kinetic and
spatial. For example, Eric Savoy, co-editor of a collection of essays called American Gothic
(1998), proposes that “the Gothic is a fluid tendency rather than a discrete literary ‘mode,’ an
impulse rather than a literary artifact” (emphasis added; Martin and Savoy, 6). Savoy’s choice
of terms betrays the psychoanalytic paradigm of his overall approach, where the Gothic
“registers the trauma” in strategies of representation (11). The other most common trope has
been in terms of place or space. For example, the editors of another collection of essays on
American Gothic literature argue that “Gothicism must abide on a frontier—whether physical
or psychical” (Mogen, 17). Some critics double-up their metaphors in order to take advantage
of both critical innovations: “the Gothic is a discursive site, a ‘carnivalesque’ mode for
representations of the fragmented subject” (emphasis added; Miles, 4), or “there are sites,
there are moments” (emphasis added; Martin, ix).

3.2.11 Citing indirect quotations

Although it is better to use material from original sources, at times it
may be unavailable. In this case, you must indicate the source from
which you have obtained the quotation (N.B. the following quotation is
indented since it is longer than four lines; by the same token, it is not
enclosed in quotation marks, and the page reference is after the closing
punctuation):
12 Style Sheet

I admit that, and I do not entirely disapprove those little books in fashion
which are like the flowers of a springtime, or like the fruits of an autumn,
scarcely surviving a year. If they are well made, they have the effect of a useful
conversation, not simply pleasing and keeping the idle out of mischief but
helping to shape the mind and language. (Leibniz qtd. in Warner, 135)

3.3 WORKS CITED LIST

List all cited sources in a Works Cited section at the end of the paper.
Arrange the entire list alphabetically by author, or title where appropriate.
List more than one primary or secondary source by the same author
alphabetically according to the title. Single-space each entry, with a
double space between entries. Begin the first line of each entry at the left
margin and indent any following lines. Note the examples found in the
sample bibliography in section 4.4 (below).

3.3.1 Books
For books the format is as follows:
• Author’s name
Author’s surname, followed by a comma, first name(s) or initial(s) as
given on the title page of the work itself, followed by a period. If the
work has more than one author, see the example (at 4.4) under Lees. If
two or more entries are by the same author, see examples under
Chomsky and Conrad. If the book has an editor instead of an author,
see example under Martin. If the book has two authors, see example
under Gillepsie. If the book has more than three authors or editors, see
example under Abrams. If there is no author indicated on the title page,
list the text alphabetically according to the first word of the title,
omitting small words such as “the” or “a” or “an”; see example under
Man Superior to Woman.

• Title of Book
Title of book, italicized, as it appears on the title page. Separate the
subtitle, if any, as in the example under Robinson. Where additional
information is called for, provide it in the following order, preceding the
place and date of publication:

- If the book is an anthology, write the title of the chapter to which you
refer in inverted commas, followed by original date of publication, and
title of the book italicized. See examples under Wilde and Whitman. If
the text you refer to was originally published individually (play, novel,
etc.), italicize the title. See example under Congreve.
Style Sheet 13

- Name(s) of editor(s), translator(s), or artist(s)

See examples under Spenser and Todorov. For graphic novels and comic
books, provide the artist(s) name(s) if different from the author. See
example under Moore.

- The number of the edition used, if not the first: see the example under
Abrams.

- If the book is a reprint, give the original date of publication. See

example under Butler.

- The total number of volumes of this title, if relevant, or the number of

volumes actually cited: see example under Abrams.

• City of publication: Publisher

Indicate the city of publication, followed by a colon, and the name of the
book’s publisher. If more than one city is given, cite only the first. For
U.S. publications, indicate State, abbreviated, as well as city (see example
under Achebe). If the publisher name is not given, indicate this with the
abbreviation:
“n. p.”

• Year of publication
Conclude the entry with the year of publication, followed by a period. If
the book is a reprint, list the original date after the title, as in examples
under Congreve, Conrad and Shakespeare. If the publication date is not
given, indicate this with the abbreviation: “n. d.”

• The medium of publication

Indicate the medium from which the source is accessed, such as “print,”
“DVD,” “web,” or “PDF.” See example under Abrams and Austen.

* Note the following special cases:

• If you are citing a book with no author or editor’s name on the title
page, such as a dictionary or encyclopedia, begin the entry with the title,
as in the example under Oxford English Dictionary.
• If you are citing an unpublished dissertation or mémoire, put the title
in quotation marks, following the examples under Prevosti and Ross.
• If you are citing a book in a foreign language, the entry style remains
the same. See example under Simon.
14 Style Sheet

3.3.2 Articles in periodicals

For articles in periodicals, the format is as follows:
• Author’s name, followed by a period.
• The title of the article, in quotation marks, followed by a period.
• The name of the periodical, italicized. This may be abbreviated in
accordance with listings of standard abbreviations found in most annual
bibliographies, followed by a period.
• The volume number of the periodical, no period.
• The date of the periodical, in parentheses, followed by a colon, and
the page range of the article, followed by a period.
• Medium.

* Note the following special cases:

• For a periodical not using continuous pagination throughout a volume,
give the number of the issue as in the example under Lyon.
• Cite an article from a newspaper or weekly magazine as in the example
under Garment.
• For a review article, cite the author of the review, followed by the title
of the review (if available), write “Rev. of” and provide the title of the
work (in italics for books, plays, and films; in quotation marks for
articles, poems, and short stories). Finally, give publication information
for the review. See example under Wolfgang.

3.3.3 Articles in books

For articles in books, the format is as follows:
• Author’s name, followed by a period.
• Title of the article, in quotation marks, followed by a period.
• Title of the book, italicized, followed by the name(s) of the editor(s),
the publication data, and page numbers, as in the example under Stevens.
• Medium (print).

* Note the following special cases:

• If the book or collection is part of a series, identify it as in the example
under Enkvist.
• If you refer to several articles in the same collection, list each by
author. To avoid repeating the publishing data in each entry, identify the
collection by its editor(s), as in the example under Weisbuch, and list it
fully once, as in the example under Freedman.
• If you are quoting from an introduction, preface, foreword, or
afterword, follow the example under Elliot.
Style Sheet 15

3.3.4 Poems and short stories in book collections

• Poet’s or author’s name, followed by a period.
• Title of the poem or short story, in quotation marks, followed by a
period.
• Title of the book in which it is published, italicized, followed by the
name(s) of the editor(s) if applicable, the publication data, and page
numbers, as in the example under Whitman.
• Medium (print).

3.3.5 Unpublished dissertations and mémoires

• Author’s name, followed by a period.
• The title of the dissertation, in quotation marks, followed by a period.
• The type of dissertation, italicized, followed by a period.
• The institution at which the dissertation was completed, followed by a
comma.
• The date and the medium of publication (print).
See the examples under Prevosti and Ross.

3.3.6 Non-Print and other sources

• CD-ROM Databases: Cite the author (if given), title of the work or
section of database (italicized, or in quotation marks, as specified in
section 1.8 and 1.9), title of the product, edition or version (if relevant),
city of publication, name of publisher, year of publication, and
publication medium (CD-ROM). See examples under Brontë and
Oxford English Dictionary.

• Electronic journals, electronic newsletters, and electronic

conferences (e.g. moderated forums, such as discussion lists): Cite the
name of the author (if given), title of article or document, title of
journal, newsletter, or conference (italicized), volume number, year or
date of publication (in parentheses), pages (if given), medium of
publication (web), and date of access. See example under Chan. If a
PDF, RTF or DOC file is provided for the source, this medium should
be named in the place of “web.” See example under Ringe.

• An online information database or professional or personal site

(e.g. blogs): Cite the project or database title (italicized), name of the
editor (if given), electronic publishing information, including version
number, last update, name of sponsoring institution or organization,
publication medium (web), and the date when you accessed the site. If
the publisher name is not given, indicate this with the abbreviation: “n.
p.” If the publication date is not given, indicate this with the
16 Style Sheet

abbreviation: “n. d.” See examples under Britannica Online and

Romantic Chronology.

• An online book, an article in an online periodical, or an online

review: Cite the author’s name (if given), or the title of the article, and
the same electronic publishing information listed above. See examples
under Austen, Elam, and Angelo.

• For an electronic version of a book taken from a database (Early

English Books Online or Eighteenth-Century Collection Online), cite
bibliographical information for the printed version first (author, date of
publication, page range if applicable). Then give the name of the online
source, online publisher, date of access, and medium. See example under
Fielding.

• Film or video recording: Cite title (italicized), director, distributor,

year, and medium (Film). Other data—such as the name of the writer,
performers, or producer—may be included between the title and the
distributor, if pertinent. See example under Chaplin. You may begin
with a person’s name if you wish to emphasize their contribution. See
example under Hitchcock. Cite a video like a film, but include original
release date, the name of the distributor, and medium (DVD,
Videocassette, etc.). See example under Hitchcock. If your works cited
list contains more than one film with the same title, alphabetize
according to title, and then according to director (second criterion of
alphabetization).

• Television or radio programme: Cite title of episode (in quotation

marks), title of the programme (italicized), title of the series (if any,
neither italicized nor in quotation marks), the name of the network,
broadcast date, and medium (television or radio). See example under
“The One With the Tea Leaves” (N.B. this is alphabetized under “o”.)

• Video game: Cite the company that developed the game, the title of
the game (italicized), the version number (if relevant), the place of
publication, the publishing company, the date of publication, and the
platform on which you played the game. The medium should be cited as
Video game. See examples under Bungie and Rovio.

• Screenshot: Cite the author's name (if known), the title of the
screenshot in quotation marks (assign a title if necessary), the publisher,
the date of upload, the medium, and the date when you accessed the
Style Sheet 17

image or took the screenshot. The medium should be cited as Screenshot. See
examples under “Halo Reach battlescene” and “Star Wars Galaxies”.

• Sound recording: For musical recordings, cite the composer, conductor, or

performer first according to the desired emphasis. Indicate the medium (CD,
LP, etc.). Treat spoken-word recordings the same way. See examples under
Gabriel and Welles.

• Performance (play, opera, ballet, concert): Cite title, director, writer,

performers (if relevant), site of performance (usually theater and city), date of
performance, and medium (live performance). See example under Medea.

• Work of art: Cite the artist’s name, title of the work (italicized), the medium
(oil on canvas, sculpture, photograph, etc.), followed by the institution that
houses the work (or individual who owns it), and the city. See example under
Bernini.
If you use a photograph of the work, include complete publication information
for the source of the photograph, including page, slide, or plate number (if
relevant). See example under El Greco.

• Interview: Begin with name of person interviewed. Cite name of the

publication, television program, or broadcast. If the interview is untitled, title it
Interview (without quotation marks, underlining or italics). See example under
Wolfe.

• Advertisement: State name of product, company, or institution that is the

subject of the advertisement, followed by the descriptive label Advertisement
(neither underlined, italicized nor in quotes). Cite publication or broadcast
information. See example under Tribù.

• Lecture or speech: Give the speaker’s name, the title of the presentation (in
quotations marks), the meeting and sponsoring organization (if applicable), the
location, the date, and the type of intervention (Lecture, Reading, Keynote
speech, etc). See example under Atwood.

• Seminar or lecture course: Give the teacher’s name, the title of the seminar
or lecture course, the place and the date, and the type of course. See example
under Spurr.

• Class reader (polycopié): Give the original publication information rather

than the reader. However, if this is not available, use the following: Author,
title (in quotation marks), date of original publication (in parentheses), reader
18 Style Sheet

title (including course title, italicized), name of the teacher, year of course, page
span in reader (or n. pag. if the reader does not have continuous pagination).
See example under Handsome Lake.

3.4 SAMPLE WORKS CITED LIST

Please note that “University” is abbreviated by “U,” and “Press” by “P” in
some of the examples below.

Abrams, M. H. et al., eds. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 5th ed.
2 vols. New York: W.W. Norton, 1986. Print.

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Greenwich, Conn.: Fawcett, 1959. Print.

Atwood, Margaret. “Silencing the Scream.” Boundaries of the Imagination

Forum. MLA Convention. Royal York Hotel, Toronto. 29 Dec. 1993.
Keynote speech.

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. 1813. Ed. Henry Churchyard. 1996. Web.
10 Sept. 2003.

Bernini, Gianlorenzo. Ecstasy of St. Teresa. Sculpture. Santa Maria della

Vittoria, Rome.

Britannica Online. Vers. 98.2, Apr. 1998. Encyclopedia Britannica. Web. 8

May 2003.

“Brontë, Emily.” Discovering Authors. Vers 1.0. Detroit: Gale, 1992. CD-
ROM.

Bungie. Halo: Reach. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Game Studios, 2010. Xbox
360. Video game.

Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble. 2nd ed. 1990. New York: Routledge, 1999.
Print.

Byron, Lord. Don Juan. 1819-24. Ed. T.G. Steffan, E. Steffan and W.W. Pratt.
Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1982. Print.

Chan, Evans. “Postmodernism and Hong Kong Cinema.” Postmodern Culture

10.3 (2000): n. pag. Web. 20 May 2000.
Style Sheet 19

Chomsky, Noam. Topics in the Theory of Generative Grammar. The Hague:

Mouton, 1966. Print.

---. Cartesian Linguistics. New York: Harper and Row, 1966. Print.

---. “Remarks on Nominalisation.” Readings in English Transformational

Grammar. Ed. R.A. Jacobs and P.S. Rosenbaum. Waltham, Mass.: Ginn,
1970. 184-221. Print.

Congreve, William. The Way of the World. 1700. Restoration Plays. ed. Robert
G. Lawrence. London: J.M. Dent, 1994. Print.

Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. 1902. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1977.

Print.

---. Nostromo. 1904. New York: Dell, 1961. Print.

Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe. 1719. London: Penguin, 2001. Print.

Elam, Diane. “Disciplining Woman: Feminism or Women’s Studies.” Surfaces

5.101 (1995): 11 pp. Web. 24 June 2003.

El Greco. Burial of Count Orgaz. San Tomé, Toledo. Renaissance Perspectives

in Literature and the Visual Arts. By Murray Roston. Princeton: Princeton
UP, 1987. 274. Print.

Elliot, Emory. Afterword. The Jungle. By Upton Sinclair. New York: Signet,
1990. 342-50. Print.

Enkvist, Nils Erik. “What Happened to Stylistics?” The Structure of Texts. Ed.
Udo Fries. Swiss Papers in English Language and Literature, 3. Tübingen:
Gunter Narr, 1987. 11-28. Print.

Fielding, Sarah. The Adventures of David Simple: Containing an Account of his

Travels Through the Cities of London and Westminster, in the Search of a
Real Friend. Dublin, 1744. Eighteenth-Century Collections Online. Gale.
26 Aug. 2015. Web.

Freedman, Jonathan, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Henry James.

Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998. Print.
20 Style Sheet

Gabriel, Peter. Passion: Music for The Last Temptation of Christ, a Film by
Martin Scorsese. Geffen, 1989. CD.

Garment, Leonard. “The Hill Case.” The New Yorker 17 April 1989: 90-110.
Print.

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers 4th ed. New
York: Modern Language Association of America, 1995. Print.

Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer
Tutoring. Boston: Allyn, 2000. Print.

“Halo Reach battlescene.” Microsoft Game Studios, 2010. Author’s screenshot.

14 Sept. 2010.

Handsome Lake. “How America Was Discovered” (c. 1799). American

Literary Counter-Voices. Deborah Madsen. 2019. (n. pag.)

Hitchcock, Alfred, dir. Rebecca. Perf. Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier, and
Judith Anderson. 1940. Voyager, 1990. Videodisc.

Lees, Robert B. and Edward Klima. “Rules for English Pronominalization.”

Language 39 (1963): 17-28. Print.

Lyon, George Ella. “Contemporary Appalachian Poetry: Sources and

Directions.” Kentucky Review 2.2 (1981): 3-22. Print.

Man Superior to Woman, or A Vindication of Man’s Natural Right of

Sovereign Authority over the Woman. London, 1740. Print.

Martin, Robert K., and Eric Savoy, eds. American Gothic: New Interventions in
a National Narrative. Iowa City: U of Iowa P, 1998. Print.

Medea. By Euripides. Trans. Alistair Elliot. Dir. Jonathan Kent. Perf. Diana
Rigg. Longacre Theater, New York. 7 April 1994. Live performance.

Milton, John. Complete Poems and Major Prose. Ed. Merritt Y. Hughes.
Vol. 7. New York: Odyssey Press, 1957. Print.

Modern Times. dir. Charlie Chaplin. Perf. Chaplin and Paulette Goddard.
United Artists, 1936. DVD.
Style Sheet 21

Moore, Alan. Watchmen. Dave Gibbons, illustrator and letterer. John Higgins,
colorist. New York: DC Comics, 1986, 1987.

Naipaul, V. S. A Bend in the River. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1980. Print.

“The One With the Tea Leaves”. Friends. Warner Brothers. 7 March 2002.
Television.

Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford UP, 1992. CD-ROM.

Prevosti, Sandra. “Religion in the Major Fiction of Daniel Defoe.” Mémoire de

licence. University of Geneva, 1989. Print.

Richetti, John. “Introduction.” In Defoe. ix-xxxiv. Print.

Richardson, Samuel. Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded. 1740. Oxford: Oxford UP,

2001. Print.

Ringe, Donald A. “Romantic Imagery in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening.”

American Literature 43.4 (1972): 580-88. PDF. 30 June 2010.

Robinson, Ian. The New Grammarians’ Funeral: A Critique of Noam

Chomsky’s Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1975. Print.

Romantic Chronology. Ed. Laura Mandel and Alan Liu. Nov. 1997. U of
California, Santa Barbara. Web. 22 June 2003.

Ross, Jeremy R. “Constraints on Variables in Syntax.” Diss. MIT, 1976. Print.

Rovio Entertainment. Angry Birds. Espoo: Rovio Entertainment, 2009. iPhone.

Video game.

Simon, Renée. Nicolas Fréret, académicien. Studies on Voltaire and the

Eighteenth Century, 17. Geneva: Fondation Voltaire, 1961. Print.

Shakespeare, William. Richard III. 1597. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans. Baltimore:

Penguin, 1959. Print.

Spazio, Dallo. “Let Louis Vuitton and Hermès Tell You a Fairy Tale.” Web
blog post. superqueen.wordpress.com. 24 Apr. 2010. Web. 7 Aug. 2015.
22 Style Sheet

Spenser, Edmund. The Poetical Works. Ed. J.C. Smith and E. de Selincourt.
Oxford: Oxford UP, 1912. Print.

Spurr, David. “The King James Bible, New Testament.” University of Geneva,
Spring semester, 2008. Seminar.

“Star Wars Galaxies.” Sony.com. Sony Online Entertainment, n.d. Screenshot.

15 Feb. 2005.

Stevens, Hugh. “Queer Henry In the Cage.” The Cambridge Companion to

Henry James. Ed. Jonathan Freedman. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998.
220-38. Print.

Todorov, Tzvetan. “The Origin of Genres.” Genres in Discourse. Trans.

Catherine Porter. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1990. Print.

Tribù (United Colors of Benetton). Advertisement. Vibe Sept. 1993: 70-71.

Print.

Welles, Orson, dir. The War of the Worlds. By H.G. Welles. Adapt. Howard
Koch. Mercury Theater on the Air. Rec. 30 Oct. 1938. Evolution, 1969.
LP.

Weisbuch, Robert. “Henry James and the Idea of Evil.” In Freedman. 112-139.
Print.

Whitman, Walt. “Memories of President Lincoln. When Lilacs Last in the

Dooryard Bloomed”. 1865. Walt Whitman. The Complete Poems. London:
Penguin, 1996. 351-58. Print.

Wilde, Oscar. “Preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray”. 1891. Norton

Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. 2nd edn. New
York: Norton, 2010. 790. Print.

Wolfe, Tom. Interview. The Wrong Stuff: American Architecture. Dir. Tom
Bettag. Carousel, 1983. Videocassette.

Wolfgang, Aurora. Rev. of Becoming a Woman in the Age of Letters, by Dena

Goodman. Eighteenth-Century Studies 48.4 (2015). Project MUSE. PDF.
26 Aug. 2015.
Style Sheet 23

4. ENDNOTES & FOOTNOTES

4.1 The method of references described in Section 4, with a bibliography at

the end of the paper and parenthetical citations throughout, does not
require notes for purposes of documentation. Their principal use is to
provide additional information about or clarification of the topic under
discussion.

4.2 Notes may be grouped at the end of the paper, or of chapters in a longer
work (endnotes); or they may be placed at the bottom of the page where
they occur (footnotes). In either case, they should be numbered
consecutively in Arabic numerals throughout an essay, paper, or chapter of
a longer text. The numbers are placed as superscript, slightly above the
line—like this1—and after all punctuation (including parentheses) except a
dash.2 Whether endnotes or footnotes are used, leave a double-space
between each.

5. PUNCTUATION

Either British or American practice may be used, but one or the other
should be used consistently (see Section 2.2 for examples). Apply the
same rule to spelling.

5.1 COMMAS
a) Use a comma before a co-ordinating conjunction (and, but, for, nor,
or, yet, so) joining independent clauses in a sentence:
The student walked slowly to class, but her mind was racing with ideas.

b) Use commas to separate words, phrases, and clauses in a series:

For rhetorical effect, the orator spoke slowly, paused frequently, and used lists of three.

c) Use a comma between co-ordinating adjectives, i.e. adjectives that

separately modify the same noun:
The film was praised for its bold, evocative use of color.

1
And at the bottom of the page, like this. Material in footnotes should be single-spaced and in font size 10.
2
This is the correct place for a footnote: immediately after the closing punctuation.
24 Style Sheet

d) Use a comma to set off a brief aside or parenthetical comment:

The human brain is the most highly developed on the planet, and, paradoxically, the most
prone to self-deception.

e) Use a comma after a long introductory clause:

After reading Paradise Lost from cover to cover, the exhausted student lapsed into a long
reverie.

* Note: do not use a comma between subject and verb:

Many of the characters who dominate the early chapters and then disappear [no comma!] are
portraits of the author’s friends.

5.2 SEMICOLONS
a) Use semicolons between grammatically independent but (thematically)
related clauses not linked by a conjunction:

The exam period approached rapidly; the perfect exposé topic still eluded the anxious student.

b) Use semicolons between items in a series when the items contain

commas:

My favorite speakers are Maxine Hong Kingston, the author of Tripmaster Monkey; Allan
Watts, the Zen mystic from England; and Barbara Ehrenreich, the feminist writer and social
critic.

* Note: semicolons are placed outside quotation marks and after

parentheses in both American and British usage.

5.3 COLONS
a) Use colons between two parts of a sentence when the first part creates a
sense of anticipating what follows:

There are three Polish playwrights on the reading list: Witkacy, Mrozek, and Gombrowicz.

* Note: the word “includes” functions as a colon if followed directly by

the list.

b) Use colons to elaborate the first clause:

The plot is founded on deception: the three main characters have secret identities.
Style Sheet 25

c) Use colons to introduce a rule or principle:

Many books would be briefer if their authors followed the principle known as Occam’s razor:
explanations should not be multiplied unnecessarily.

* Note: like semicolons, colons are placed outside quotation marks and
after parentheses in both American and British usage.

5.4 HYPHENS
Hyphens are used in both British and American practice, without spaces,
to indicate compound adjectives (e.g. double-barrelled attack, ninth-floor
office, hate-filled speech, etc.). Do not use a hyphen after an adverb
ending in -ly (e.g. thoughtfully presented thesis). See also section 7 on
numbers for the correct use of hyphens in referring to centuries.

The student had found a thought-provoking thesis.

5.5 DASHES AND PARENTHESES

Dashes make a sharper break in the sentence than commas, and
parentheses make a still sharper one. To indicate a dash when your
typewriter or word processor does not have one, use two hyphens, with no
space before, between, or after. Your writing will be smoother and more
readable if you use dashes and parentheses sparingly.
The colors of the flag—green, red, and yellow—each have a specific meaning.

The “hero” of the play (the townspeople see him as heroic, but the author implicitly satirizes
him) introduces himself as a veteran.

5.6 SQUARE BRACKETS

Use around a parenthesis that is already within a parenthesis, so that the
levels of subordination can be easily distinguished.

The labors of Heracles (Hercules) included the slaying of the Nemean lion (so called because
Hera [Juno] sent it to destroy the Nemean plain).

If you find that you need extra help with English punctuation, try this online
Writing Lab for handouts and links to other online writing resources:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
26 Style Sheet

6. NUMBERS

6.1 In general, spell out numbers of fewer than three digits, except in technical
or statistical discussions, in notes or references, and in parenthetical
citations. Note that only when a specific century is used as an adjective,
must it be hyphenated; otherwise, there is no hyphen:
The tenth century; a tenth-century manuscript; A.D. 975; 975 B.C.; nineteen installments;
nineteen lines; line 19; (19).

6.2 Refer to consecutive numbers (of pages, lines, years. etc.) according to the
following examples:
21-28; 95-106; 345-46; 1608-74; 12335-77.

6.3 Indicate decades as follows:

1960s; 1590s