Works Cited Page

At the end of your paper you need to provide a "Works Cited" page where you provide complete bibliographic information on your cited sources. A "Works Cited" page differs from a "Bibliography" in that a "Works Cited" page only lists the sources you cited in your essay, and a "Bibliography" lists sources that may be useful for your project.

You need to list the sources you used in your essay in alphabetical order and indent the second (third and fourth if necessary) lines one half inch. (It's called a "hanging indent," and you need to learn how to do it in Word.

We format and document our essays according to specific guidelines because we want to help our readers trace our ideas to our sources. In Writing With Sources, Gordon Harvey points out that acknowledging sources "marks you as a fair and generous person." He adds that "citing sources both protects and bolsters your argument. Your citation says to a reader, 'Here is where I found this idea, these words, or this information. Here you can verify the summary of the idea I am giving you or find the context for the words I have quoted—in case you want wish to check on them or pursue the matter yourself.' And it often says, 'this person deserves credit for these thoughts or words; I hereby acknowledge my indebtedness.' But it also says, 'this learned scholar has found this to be so; it's not just my idiosyncratic opinion or blithe assumption.' Acknowledging your sources is therefore at once an obligation, a service, and an advantage."

Online Listing of Works Cited Entries

Your finished Works Cited or Bibliography page should look like this: