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UMBC
Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery

Citing Primary Sources

Subject Guide

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Lindsey Loeper
Contact:
410-455-6290

Terms

Title: The title of the work. If a work is untitled a description is put in its place, enclosed in brackets [   ].

Date: The date the work was created. This may be an exact date or may only contain a month or year. In some cases, the date is an approximaiton, inidcated by a lower case c followed by a period (c.). For example c.1917 would mean the work was created sometime in 1917, while c. 1859-64 would indicate that it was created some time between 1859 and 1964.

Format: The type of material the item is, such as DVD, silver gelatin print, or digital image.

Medium: Is the work a photo, a painting, a recording, or a video?

Institution/Repository: The institution where an items is located. Or the instituion that hosts the digital site where the item was accessed. For example, for items located in UMBC's special collections, the institution is University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Collection: A group of materials held by a repository.

Location: The city and state where the instituion holding the materials is located.

Digital File Type: The digital format used to view or listen to the item. For example: JPEG, GIF, MP3.

Dimensions: Some citations make ask for the dimensions of a work of art. If they are not provided, this can be left blank.

Publisher: Chicago style sometimes asks for the name of the publisher. This is the entity that owns the rights to the material.

Using MLA (Modern Language Association)

Unpublished material should be cited in the following manner:

Author. Title of material. [Description of material]. Date. Name of collection. Name of repository. Location.

Correspondence written by Columbus O'Donnell (1792-1875) to Henry O'Donnell on June 19, 1857 is located in Box 1, Folder 1, of the O’Donnell family collection at UMBC Special Collections.

The citation for MLA would be: 

O’Donnell, Columbus. Letter to Henry O’Donnell. June 19, 1857. O’Donnell family papers. University of Maryland Baltimore County. Baltimore, MD.

Using Chicago (Turabian)

Unpublished material should be cited in the following manner:

Name, Title/description, Date, Folder #, Box #, Collection, Repository (Location).

Correspondence written by Columbus O'Donnell (1792-1875) to Henry O'Donnell on June 19, 1857 is located in Box 1, Folder 1, of the O’Donnell family collection at UMBC Special Collections.

The citation for Chicago would be:

O’Donnell, Columbus, letter to Henry O’Donnell, June 19, 1857, folder 1, box 1, O’Donnell family collection, University of Maryland Baltimore County (Baltimore, MD).

sing APA--American Psychological Association

Unpublished material should be cited in the following manner:

Author, A.A. (Year, Month, Day). Title of material. [Description of material]. Name of collection (Call number, Box number, File number, etc). Name and location of repository.

Correspondence written by Columbus O'Donnell (1792-1875) to Henry O'Donnell on June 19, 1857 is located in Box 1, Folder 1, of the O’Donnell family collection at UMBC Special Collections.

The citation for APA would be:

O’Donnell, Columbus. (06,19,1857), Letter to Henry O’Donnell (Letter). O’Donnell family papers, Box 1, Folder 1. University of Maryland, Baltimore County Special Collections, Baltimore, MD.