Have you ever been stumped when a writer asks how to cite a source you’ve never even considered citing in your own papers? Check out this list of unusual formatting requirements for APA and MLA style.
APA
Unpublished works
- Occasionally, a writer will need to cite an unpublished manuscript. APA offers three sub-categories for unpublished works: Unpublished manuscript, manuscript in preparation, and manuscript submitted for publication.
- Unpublished manuscript
- Barkley, S., Chen, M., & McDonald, P. (2018). The effects of sodium on children’s health [Unpublished manuscript]. Department of Biology, University of Cincinnati.
- Manuscript in preparation
- Glass, A. (2019). How avocados changed America[Manuscript in preparation]. Department of Sociology, Michigan State University.
- Manuscript submitted for publication
- Jones, R. (2019). Walt Whitman and the American Dream[Manuscript submitted for publication]. Department of English, University of Mississippi.
Media
- Film (In English)
- Director Last Name, First Initial of First Name. (Director). (Date of publication). Title of motion picture [Film]. Production company.
- Film (In another language)
- Director, D. D. (Director). (Date of publication). Title of motion picture in original language [Translated title] [Film]. Production company.
- Art in a museum or on a museum website
- Artist Last Name, First Initial of First Name. (Year of release). Title of artwork [include medium here]. Name of museum, City, State, Country. URL of museum
- Tweet
- Lastname, F. M. or Name of Group [@username]. (Year, Month Date). Content of the post up to the first 20 words[Tweet]. Site Name. URL
- Podcast episode
- Host, A. A. (Host). (Year, Month Date). Title of episode (No. if provided) [Audio podcast episode]. In Name of podcast. Publisher. URL
MLA
- Republished book (the original publication date comes first)
- Erdrich, Louise. Love Medicine. 1984. Perennial-Harper, 1993.
- Introduction/Preface/Forward
- Farrell, Thomas B. Introduction. Norms of Rhetorical Culture, by Farrell, Yale UP, 1993, pp. 1-13.
- Book published before 1900
- Thoreau, Henry David. Excursions. Boston, 1863.
- Dissertations or Master’s Theses
- Bishop, Karen Lynn. Documenting Institutional Identity: Strategic Writing in the IUPUI Comprehensive Campaign. 2002. Purdue University, PhD dissertation.
- Editorial
- “Of Mines and Men.” Editorial. Wall Street Journal, eastern edition, 24 Oct. 2003, p. A14.
All of these examples and more can be found on Purdue OWL’s writing lab website.