How do you properly cite sources for a political science essay?
I'm supposed to write about a current event with a minimum of three sources, and I'm confused about if I should cite them within the text after I refer to them, have a separate page for all the citations, or both. Clarification, please?
Also, I'm going to be using MLA format—what is the proper way to cite web-based articles?
Comments
You should have both. In the text, cite the last name of the author, the year of publication, and the page number (if a quote from a book). At the end, have a bibliography at the end.
Citing websites in-line works the same way as non-electronic sources: (Author, Year). The author can be a person or an organization by the way. So, it could be something like (Census Bureau, 1999). If there is no author, I think you put the name of the article (in quotations) followed by by the year, if available. Don't put the web address in the in-line citation.
For the bibliography, for web articles that are just virtual productions of print resources (like academic journals), I would just cite it as a non-electronic source. So don't worry about including the wed address. If it is something like a website, like say the Census Bureau's website, you should include the URL.
Consult the MLA guidelines for the specifics on ordering, using author's full first names vs. first initial, etc. By the way, political science normally uses something closer to APA or APSA citation styles.