Skip to Main Content
Accessibility Information

First Year Seminar (FYS-101) Research Exercises

This guide is a companion to the SNHU FYS-101 First Year Seminar course.

Welcome to FYS Research Exercise #6!

Outcomes

After you complete this research exercise, you will be able to:

To complete this Research Exercise, you will take a quiz located under "Course Menu"  and "Quizzes" in your FYS101 Brightspace course.

Modern Language Association (MLA) Style

What is it?

MLA Style is one prescriptive format (of many!) for written communication that establishes guidelines for:

  • citing sources (both in a "Works Cited" bibliography and in-text)
  • formatting papers and books (e.g. layout, margins, headings, etc.)
  • style  (e.g. quotations, abbreviations, etc.)
  • preparing a manuscript for submission to be published

MLA style is most commonly used within the disciplines of  English language & literature, Foreign language & literature, Literary criticism, Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies, and other Humanities disciplines. Other styles you will likely run across during your college years are APA (American Psychological Association) used for Social Sciences, Education, and Business, and the Chicago Manual of Style used for History and Art History.

For FYS101, you are able to use MLA 8th Edition, however, the 9th edition was published in April 2021 so you will want to check with your faculty in other classes that require MLA formatting to be sure which edition you are expected to use. Some of the resources listed below will be 8th edition while others have been updated to 9th edition as noted.

Why cite?

Citing sources in your written communication:

  1. Allows your reader to locate the materials you used (so they might use them for their research, or to glean their own understandings from the original source)
  2. Acknowledges the creators of the "intellectual property" you use in your papers and projects. Some call this "giving credit where credit is due"
  3. Establishes a level of professionalism and credibility in your own work

MLA Citation Resources

MLA Style Center - Works Cited: A Quick Guide

This is a handy tool that clearly spells out how to create any Works Cited citation in MLA format and includes an Interactive Practice Template This link opens in a new window to learn how to cite different items in MLA format.

Purdue OWL: MLA Style

This site provides a comprehensive overview of MLA Style 8th edition and specific guidelines broken out for style, formatting and citation. Look specifically at their MLA Formatting and Style Guide This link opens in a new window section which provides explanations of each element listed in an MLA citation: Author, Title of Source, Title of Container, Other Contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication Date, Location, and Optional Elements. It also explains how to construct "in-text" citations in MLA 8th format.

Shapiro Library MLA Style Guide

SNHU's Shapiro Library MLA Style Guide has been updated to the MLA 9th edition and is available from the library home page by clicking on "Citing Your Sources" in the Quick Links box. Select the MLA Style tab in the Citing Your Sources guide. This explains what MLA style is, and provides specific examples for how to cite various items in MLA format in a Works Cited as well as in-text.

Shapiro Library FAQs about MLA Style

The FAQ box on the library home page allows you to search for specific citation questions like "How do I cite a TED Talk in MLA style?" The link below will take you to a complete list of FAQs about MLA style.

MLA Citation - Step by Step

In simplifying citation style as more online formats have developed, MLA has come up with a formula for creating a citation, and they have developed an interactive template This link opens in a new window for you to use to create your citation. Click on the image below and then click on get started This link opens in a new window creating a citation.

Screenshot of MLA website's "Works Cited: A Quick Guide" page.

  • All citations begin with Author. Title of Source. These each have a period after them.
  • Next is the Container which holds the source. A Container might be a journal, a television show (the episode would be the source), a play, a book (if the source is a chapter, or a story in an anthology), a video game company, etc.
  • Within the Container, there might be a number of other elements in addition to the title of the Container such as: Contributor(s), Version, Number, Publisher, Publication Date, and Location. All of the items in the Container have a comma after them before the next element.
  • Purdue's OWL MLA Formatting and Style Guide This link opens in a new window explains each one of these elements and provides examples of each.

Use the MLA Style Center's Interactive Practice Template to create citations for your sources. Be sure to double-check them with examples in the MLA Handbook (8th edition) or with the Shapiro Library MLA Style Guide Works Cited examples.

Citing Articles, Images, Videos, & other items

Below are examples and resources for citing specific items that you will likely use in you FYS101 Final Team Project for your annotated bibliographies as well as in your website. Just read down this list for now so you will be prepared for later when you will need to cite different types of sources on your Project website.

Articles

Article on a website This link opens in a new window

Deresiewicz, William. “The Death of the Artist—and the Birth of the Creative Entrepreneur.” The Atlantic, 28 Dec. 2014, theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/01/ the-death-of-the-artist-and-the-birth-of-thecreative-entrepreneur/383497/.

Journal Article in a Database This link opens in a new window

Goldman, Anne. “Questions of Transport: Reading Primo Levi Reading Dante.” The Georgia Review, vol. 64, no. 1, spring 2010, pp. 69-88. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41403188.

Newspaper/News Article This link opens in a new window

Soloski, Alexis. “The Time Has Come to Play Othello.” The New York Times, 20 Nov. 2016, Arts and Leisure sec., p. 5.

Images

A Photograph Viewed in Person This link opens in a new window

Cameron, Julia Margaret. Alfred, Lord Tennyson. 1866, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

A Painting Viewed Online This link opens in a new window

Bearden, Romare. The Train. 1975. MOMA, www.moma.org/collection/works/65232?locale=en.

An Untitled Image from a Print Magazine This link opens in a new window

Karasik, Paul. Cartoon. The New Yorker, 14 Apr. 2008, p. 49.

An Infographic This link opens in a new window

Brumberg, Robby. “Infographic: Google’s Top 100 Keywords.” Ragan’s PR Daily, 19 July 2018, www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/
Infographic_Googles_top_100_keywords_24740.aspx.

A photo on Instagram This link opens in a new window

Thomas, Angie. Photo of burned copy of The Hate U Give. Instagram

See MLA Style Center

Videos

A Movie/Video Viewed Online This link opens in a new window

Richardson, Tony, director. Sanctuary. Screenplay by James Poe, Twentieth Century Fox, 1961. YouTube, uploaded by LostCinemaChannel, 17 July 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMnzFM_Sq8s.

A Video from a Database This link opens in a new window

World War II: The Propaganda Battle. Films Media Group, 2010. Films on Demand, www.infobase.com/tag/films-on-demand.

A Video Game This link opens in a new window

Minecraft. Java ed. for Mac, 2017.

A Video on TikTok This link opens in a new window

Lilly [@uvisaa]. “[I]f u like dark academia there’s a good chance you’ve seen my tumblr #darkacademia.” TikTok, 2020, www.tiktok.com/@uvisaa/video/6815708894900391173.

See MLA Style Center

Social Media

See MLA Style Center

Laws/Legal Sources

See MLA Style Center

Data/Statistics

See MLA Style Center

Other Sources

See MLA Style Center
 

What is an Annotation?

Your FYS101 Annotated Bibliography Assignment asks you to view the video below and defines an annotation as described:

Different professors may have different requirements, but in FYS 101, we ask that your annotations in your annotated bibliography consist of an MLA formatted citation, followed by a substantial paragraph, comprised of the following three elements:

  • Summary:  Briefly summarize the information and or main point(s) in the source (2-4 sentences)
  • Analysis:  Analyzes the source’s usefulness to your project (1-2 sentences)
  • Evaluation:  Evaluates the type of source this is, as well as its credibility. Answer what type of source it is – scholarly (peer-reviewed), encyclopedia entry, news article, etc. Address whether the author(s) is considered an expert on the subject(s) of the source?  What credentials does the author(s) have?  What else have they authored?  Does the date of the publication help you to decide about its credibility? (1-2 sentences)

What is an Annotated Bibliography?

An annotated bibliography is a list of source citations in alphabetical order by author's last name, or if there is no author, then by the first item in the MLA citation. Each citation is followed by an annotation as described above. Usually, an annotated bibliography will have a theme or topic about which all the sources relate.

FYS Research Exercise #6 Quiz

Please read these directions to access your quiz:

  • Click on the link below to be taken to Brightspace in a new tab. This page will remain open.
  • Select your FYS101 course
  • Select COURSE MENU from the course navigation bar
  • Select QUIZZES from the drop down menu that appears
  • In the list of Quizzes, select LIBRARY RESEARCH EXERCISE QUIZ #6
  • You may use this page to answer the quiz questions.
  • You have 2 hours to complete the quiz which is designed to take 10-20 minutes

Rectangle button with "Go to Brightspace to take Quiz" in white font on blue background.