Cite Lecture Notes
Citing your sources correctly in an essay will keep it from looking inconsistent or unprofessional. There are a number of styles used to cite sources, but here are some of the more common methods of citing lecture notes.
Contents
Steps
Citing in the Body of the Essay
- Cite your own personal lecture notes in the body of the essay only. Indicate the name of the speaker, the date, and the location of the lecture. List the date without abbreviating the month name.
- Include a lecture in a footnote source.
- Write speaker's full name as the beginning sentence of a footnote source. Place a comma after the name, and follow with the lecture title in quotation marks.
- Next, in parentheses, include the word "lecture," followed by the name of the institution, the city and state where it took place, and the date. Separate these with commas.
- Months should not be abbreviated in the date (e.g. February 16, 2009).
- Indent the first line of text for sources listed in the footnotes.
Citing in the Works Cited Page
- Include citation entries on your Works Cited page, which is usually the last page of your essay.
- List the speaker's last name, followed by a comma, and then the first name.
- Add the title of the lecture in quotation marks as the next sentence. Capitalize the title as you would the title of a book. If there are quotation marks within the title of the presentation, change these to single quotation marks.
- Add the name of the conference or sponsor for the presentation as the next sentence.
- Indicate the city and state the lecture took place in next. You do not need to name the state for well-known cities (e.g. Chicago or San Francisco).
- Include the date of the lecture as the end sentence of the citation. Months should be abbreviated in MLA citations (e.g. 12 Oct. 2003).
- Align the first line of text to the left of the page for each source. Every line of text under this should be indented.
Citing in a Bibliography or References Page
- Cite a lecture source in the bibliography.
- List the lecturer's name as the first sentence. Write the last name, followed by a comma, and then the first and middle name (if applicable).
- Follow this sentence with the word "lecture." Then, include the name of the institution, the city and state where it took place, and the date. Months should not be abbreviated in the date (e.g. February 16, 2009).
- Align the first line of text to the left of the page for each source listed in the bibliography. Every line of text under this should be indented.
- Include online lecture notes on your references page.
- List the lecturer's name as the first sentence. Write the last name, followed by a comma, and then the first and middle initials (if applicable).
- Indicate the year of the presentation in parentheses after the lecturer's name.
- List the title of the lecture in italics. Capitalize only proper nouns and the first word of the sentence.
- Indicate the format of the notes when citing online lecture notes. After the lecture title, include the format in brackets, such as [PowerPoint slides] or [PDF document].
- Indicate a web address when citing online lecture notes. At the end of the citation, write "Retrieved from" and paste the URL.
- Align the first line of text to the left of the page for each source. Every line of text under this should be indented.
Related Articles
- Capitalize a Book Title
