SEMINAR PAPER

ON
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Topic: Punctuation in the Works-Cited List

Submitted by:
R. Negha Shree,
22PEN26,
2nd M.A. English.

INTRODUCTION:
 The Work cited list in a research paper provides a comprehensive and organized list
of all the sources you consulted, cited, or referenced in your paper. It gives credit to the
authors and researchers whose work we have used in our research paper. Properly citing
sources demonstrates academic integrity and honesty. It allows readers to verify the accuracy
of our claims and to locate the exact sources we used. A well-constructed works cited list
helps us to avoid unintentional plagiarism by providing a clear distinction between our
original ideas and information derived from other sources. It helps us to adhere copyright
laws and ethical guidelines by acknowledging the intellectual property of others. The “Works
Cited” list serves as a foundation of trust and accountability in academic and research
writing, ensuring proper attribution, transparency, and ethical conduct in scholarly
communication.

PUNCTUATION IN THE WORKS-CITED LIST:

The core elements of any entry in the works-cited list are given below in the order in
which they should appear. An element should be omitted from the entry. If it’s not relevant to
the work being documented. Each element is followed by the punctuation mark shown unless
it Is the final element, which should end with a period.

1. Author.
2. Title of source.
3. Title of container,
4. Other contributors, da
5. Version,
6. Number,
7. Publisher,
8. Publication date,
9. Location.

SQUARE BRACKETS:

When a source does not indicate necessary facts about its publication, such as the
name of the publisher or the date of publication, supply as much of the missing information
as you can, enclosing it in square brackets to show that it did not come from the source. If a
publication date that you supply is only approximated, put it after circa (“around”).
 [circa 2008]

If you are uncertain about the accuracy of the information that you supply, add a question
mark.

[2008?]

If the city of publication is not included in the name of a locally published newspaper, add the
city, not italicized, in square brackets after the name.

The Star-Ledger [Newark]

You need not add the city of publication to the name of a nationally published newspaper.

(e.g., The Wall Street Journal, The Chronicle of Higher Education).

FORWARD SLASH:

When a source presents multiple pieces of information for a single element in the
entry- for instance, when more than one publisher is named, separate them with a forward
slash.

For instance, if the copublishers are more than one independent organization is
identified in the source as the publisher, cite all the names, following the order shown in the
source and separating the names with a forward slash. Below, for example, are the two
excerpts from title pages, followed by the publisher’s names as recorded in the works-cited
list.

Example:

Published by the Pennsylvania State University Press

For the Bibliographical Society of America
University Park, Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania State UP / Bibliographical Society of America

Iberoamericana • Vervuert • Libreria Sur • 2013

Iberoamericana / Vervuert / Libreria Sur

In Works-cited list:

Tomlinson, Janis A., editor. Goya: Images of Women. National

Gallery of Art / Yale UP, 2002.

PARENTHESIS:

When the author of source written in Pseudonym and it is not popular the original name of
the author is cited with the help of parenthesis ().

For example,

Benton, Thomas H. (William Pannapacker)

@jmittell (Jason Mittell)

In Works-cited:

Bakhtin, M.M. (Volosinov, V.N.). The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays.

Edited by Michael Holquist, translated by Caryl Emerson and

Holquist, U of Texas P, 1981.

CONCLUSION:

Punctuation helps readers easily distinguish between different elements of a

citation, such as the author’s name, title of the source, publication date, and page numbers. It
ensures that the information is presented in a structured and comprehensible manner. Proper
punctuation ensures that each component of the citation is correctly identified and separated.
This accuracy is crucial for scholars, researchers, and students who rely on these citations to
locate and verify the sources referenced in a work. In the In-Text citation, correct punctuation
helps distinguish between an author’s own words and ideas and those borrowed from external
sources. This distinction is essential for avoiding plagiarism and giving proper credit to the
original authors. Failing to cite sources accurately can result in accusations of plagiarism,
which can have serious consequences. Thus, Punctuation plays vital role in the work cited
page.