As you collect your sources to do research it is a good idea to also begin to create your working bibliography. This bibliography must eventually adhere to the MLA Handbook format shown below, so you might as well use the correct format right from the beginning. For more information on creating a bibliography, see The MLA Handbook (on reserve in the library).

Format for Bibliographical Entries

book by a single author

Annas, Julia. The Morality of Happiness.  New York: Oxford UP, 1993.

book in translation

Arendt, Hannah.  Love and Saint Augustine.  Trans.  Joanna Vecchiarelli Scott and Judith Chelius Stark.  Chicago: U. of Chicago, 1996.

work in an anthology

Armstrong, A.H. "St. Augustine and Christian Platonism."  Augustine: A Collection of Critical Essays.  Ed. R.A. Markus.  New York: Doubleday, 1972.

multi-volume work

Cayre, F. Precise de Patrologie. 2 vols.  Paris: Societe de Jean L'evangeliste, 1991.

article in a periodical

Chadwick, Henry.  "The Ascetic Idea in the History of the Church."  Studies in Church History 22 (1985): 1-23.

anthology/work by the same author

---. "History and Symbolism in the Garden of Milan."  From Augustine to Eriugena. Ed. F.X. Martin and J.P. Richmond.  Washington: Catholic U. of America, 1991.

article in an encyclopedia

Markus, R.A.  "Augustine, St."  The Encyclopedia of Philosophy.  Ed.  Paul Edwards. 8 vols.  New York: MacMillan, 1967.

internet article

O'Donnell, James J.  An Introduction to Augustine's Confessions.  5 May 1999. <http: ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/augustine/intorconf.html>.

dissertation

Russo, Michael.  "Beatitude and Moral Disorder: Augustine's Subversion of the Happy Life (386-396)." Diss. Catholic University of Leuven, 1987.

Please Note   

• Your bibliography should be listed in alphabetical order by the authors' last names.  

• The second line of a bibliography entry should be indented by 1/2 inch.

• Be sure to include a wide variety of legitimate sources in your bibliography, including books, anthologies, and articles from academic journals.  Please note that popular media such as Time, Newsweek, The Daily News and The New York Post are not considered acceptable sources for your bibliography.  The rule of thumb is that "if you can buy it at a newspaper stand, it ain't a legitimate source for a college research paper."  Full length journal articles gotten from data bases are, however, perfectly acceptable.

• Limit yourself to one or two useful  Internet sites.  Be sure that the web sites that you include in your bibliography have been put together by  recognized authorities on your topic.  In general, if the site's web address has a ".edu" within it, then it has probably been created at a college or university, and will likely be a respectable source.

   Sample Bibliography Page