Breaking Down the Basic Elements You Need to Include in a Citation
NOTE: The elements of a citation are color coded solely for the purposes of learning and identifying the order each element is placed within the citation. When you create a Work Cited list, black is used for the entire document.
- 1st position: Author Last Name, First Name Middle Name or Initial.
- 2nd position: Title of Longer Work (complete book or ebook - in italics)
- 2nd position: "Title of Shorter Work." (article or web page)
- 3rd position: Name of Newspaper, Magazine, Journal, or Website ( in italics)
- 4th position: Contributors - editor, director, etc.
- 5th position: Version (3rd ed) or Volume number of a journal (vol. 78)
- 6th position: Number (following the volume - vol. 78, no. 4)
- 7th position: Publisher
- 8th position: Publication Date. (and page numbers)
- 9th position: Library Database Name (in italics) with URL or DOI. (from library database or web source)
NOTE: When building a citation use the information you find whether in the print book or other print items, the database citation tool, or the website. If an element is missing, skip it and move to the next position.
Citation Examples - Longer Works
Print Book Citation - One Author
Dunton-Downer, Leslie. Essential Shakespeare Handbook. Dorling-Kinserley, 2013
Print Book Citation - Two Authors
Dunton-Downer, Leslie and Alan Riding. Essential Shakespeare Handbook. Dorling-Kinserley, 2013

eBook Citation
Lyne, Raphel. Shakespeare’s Late Work. OUP Oxford, 2007. EBSCOhost
search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.westerntc.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,cpid&custid=s6269778&
db=nlebk&AN=192173&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Citation Examples - Shorter Works
Scholarly Sources
Library Database Scholalry Journal Article with a URL
Pierce, Patricia. “Shakespeare and the Forgotten Heroes.” History Today, vol. 56, no. 7, July 2006, pp. 3–4. EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.westerntc.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,cpid&
custid=s6269778&db=aph&AN=21432939&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Library Database Scholarly Journal Article with a doi: number
Swarbrick, Steven and Karen Raber. “Shakespeare’s Cognitive Ethology: Bias as Plasticity.” Criticism, vol. 62, no. 3, Summer
2020, p. 367–386. EBSCOhost, doi:10.13110/criticism.62.3.0367.
Popular Sources
Library Database Scholarly Newspaper Article
Andreae, Christopher. “Shakespeare Workshops ‘Much Ado about Something.’” Christian Science Monitor, vol. 93, no. 117,
11 May 2001, p. 19. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.westerntc.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&
AuthType=cookie,ip,cpid&custid=s6269778&db=aph&AN=4427248&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Library Database Scholarly Magazine Article
Jones, Radhika. “212. Blank Verse Under a Big Sky.” TIME Magazine, vol. 188, no. 2/3, July 2016, pp. 96–97. EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.westerntc.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,cpid&
custid=s6269778&db=aph&AN=116563558&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Web Sources
Website Article
"William Shakespeare." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets. https://poets.org/poet/william-shakespeare
(Reminder: If one or more elements are missing, skip them and move to the next position where an element exists.)