Cite Articles | Solano Community College Library

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Citing Databases in MLA format

Citing an source you found in an online periodical database (such as ProQuest or EBSCOhost, available to you through your library) can be tricky. Furthermore, the citations that many of the databases provide are often incorrect or incomplete.

Not only do you have to cite the article's author, journal, and other publication information - you also need to cite:

• the database,
• the database provider/publisher AND
• the library that provided access to that database.

Below is an example of a pattern to follow for an article retrieved from ProQuest. Please note that your citation will differ from this example, depending on the type of article you are citing. See the updated MLA handout for additional examples.

example layout for MLA citation of a journal article from the library's databases

In the example above:

name of database.	Provider of database. <database url>
ProQuest Research Library (a specific database in ProQuest)	Proquest LLC. <http://proquest.umi.com>

Citing Databases in MLA format

name of database.

Provider of database. <database url>