As mentioned on the previous page, you may find that the citation that you get from a databases is not 100% correct. The following section explains some of the common errors found in MLA citations generated by the databases.

Common Problems with MLA Citations in Databases

There are 4 big problems that can happen when you use the citations that are automatically generated by the databases. If you know how to recognize and fix these problems, then using the auto-generated citations from the databases can save you a lot of time.

The 4 big MLA auto-generated citation problems are:

Capitalization (sometimes too much and sometimes too little)
- Some databases will give you citations with the title all capital letters.
- Sometimes you will get a citation where the title is not capitalized correctly because words that should be capitalized in MLA format are not capitalized.
Incomplete page numbers.
- When you cite articles or book chapters, your citation has to include the first page number and the last page number. Some databases will give you a citation with only the first page number.
Incorrect format for the permalink or URL
- The permalink or URL for the article should not include the first part. The database adds the proxy prefix and http:// but MLA says to remove those.
Copy-and-pasted citations that lose formatting
- Often, when you copy and paste the citation into another document, you'll lose the hanging indentation. You need to reformat the citation so that it has hanging indentation again.
- Copying and pasting a citation can also create problems if it removes the italics formatting from the container titles.

A Note About Free Citation Generator Sites

Databases aren't the only way to get citations, you could also use a citation generator. Citation generators are websites where you can enter information about your source and the website creates a formatted citation for you.

Citation generators are great, but they only work well if you put in the correct information and if you know enough about citations to catch the errors and fix them. The more you know about citation rules, the more useful citation generator sites will be for you!

Some Citation Generators to try:

OWL Purdue, Citation Machine

Zotero Bib

Source

"MLA Citations You Get from Databases" by Palomar College Library, licensed under CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0