How do I cite a lab manual in MLA style 8th edition?

Answered By: Kathryn Park

Last Updated: Jul 31, 2019 Views: 184964

If the lab manual has been published, cite it as you would any other book. Published titles will have a publication information listed on the title page. Here are the basics:

Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date.

Example:

Smith, Jane. Manual for Physics. College Publishing, 2017.

If the lab manual was created by a staff member or department of the school and is only available through the class, cite it as an unpublished work. If a department prepared the manual, use it for the name in the citation. Here are the basics:

Author's Last Name, First Name (or Department name if no author). "Title of Document." Date of document. Organization associated with document. Description of document (e.g., flyer, leaflet, memo or handout).

Example:

Science and Math Department. "Manual for PHYS 1402."

Feb. 2017. College of the Mainland. Lab handbook.

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Comments (2)

You would still cite the manual as a book. If the experiment is its own section or chapter, then you would treat it like a chapter in a book.

It would start with the below information

Last name, First name. "Title of Chapter". Title of book (in italics, I can't format in comments).

Then proceed on with the rest of the citation.

by Erin McDaniel on Sep 15, 2014
How do you do in-text citation of the manual. Just cite the department? For example, would I use (Math and Physics Department 54) in the parenthetical?

It depends on how you've cited the manual in works cited page. You in text citation is just a reference to the works cited page If you have cited the Math and Physics department as the author of the lab manual, then you in text citation above should be correct.

by Betty on Oct 04, 2018