Academic writing is a broad discipline that covers essay writing, report writing, and case study analysis. In all these writings, students use scholarly sources, such as books, case studies, and peer-reviewed journal articles, to validate arguments. Hence, academic writing standards require students to cite sources that they use to present evidence to back up arguments.
General Rules on Citing a Case Study in MLA
If students use a case study as a source and cite it following the MLA format, there some essential details that they must capture in their citation entry. For example, the main elements include:
- Name of the author(s)
- Title of a case study
- Location of a publisher
- Publisher
- Year of publication
Citing a Case Study as a Standalone Document in MLA on the Works Cited Page
If an author has published a case study as a standalone document, a student should cite this source in the Works Cited page in the way they would cite a book. Hence, a citation entry should appear as follows:
Format:
Author’s Last Name, First Name. Case Study Title (Title case study and italicized). Location of the Publisher. Publisher, Date. Case Study. An example would be:
Example:
Rosegrant, Susan. Leadership Failure at Wal-Mart: The Curse of Internationalization. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Publishing, 2015.
Citing a Case Study with In-Text Citations and Footnotes in MLA
When it comes to citing a case study in a body of a paper, a student should use a parenthetical citation (in-text) by indicating the last name of the author and the page number in a case study from where the information is picked.
In-Text Citation Example:
If students follow the rules of an MLA format, an in-text citation would appear as (Rosegrant 5).
Footnote Citation Example:
If a student has to use footnotes, a footnote citation example is
Susan Rosegrant, Leadership Failure at Wal-Mart: The Curse of Internationalization (Boston, MA: Harvard Business Publishing, 2015), 5.