Sometimes the best way to learn is through experience. Meetings, for example, are nearly impossible to recreate in a classroom where no one has any real financial stake in the outcome. Only by observing how a real organization works, attending its meetings and reading its documents can one fully learn how to succeed. This makes ordinary meeting agendas vitally important for learning how organizations function and great resources for a research paper. If you want to use them, you must first learn how to cite them in the two major formats, Modern Language Association and American Psychological Association.

MLA

Write the last name of the agenda's editor, then a comma, then his first name and middle initial, if available and follow this a comma and, "ed." If there is more than one editor, write their names in normal order. Write "and" before the name of the last editor and follow his name with "eds." For example, "Ural, Harry, and Scott Wilcox, eds."

Write in italics the name of the agenda. Your citation so far should look like this except with the words in single quotes italicized, "Ural, Harry and Scott Wilcox, eds. 'Agenda for the Third Quarter 2011 Budget Meeting."

Write the name of the meeting, organization and the place the meeting was held, if that information is not part of the published title. Put a comma followed by the postal abbreviation of the state after the name of the city, if it is not a major city. "Ural, Harry, and Scott Wilcox, eds. 'Agenda for the Third Quarter 2011 Budget Meeting.' UralCorp. Latrobe, PA."

Put a colon after the city of publication and then write the name of the agenda's publisher followed by a comma. If there is no listed publisher, write "n.p." "Ural, Harry, and Scott Wilcox, eds. 'Agenda for the Third Quarter 2011 Budget Meeting.' UralCorp. Latrobe, PA: n.p.,"

Write the date of the meeting followed by a period if it is not included in the agenda's title. "Ural, Harry, and Scott Wilcox, eds. 'Agenda for the Third Quarter 2011 Budget Meeting.' UralCorp. Latrobe, PA: n.p., July 15, 2011. "

Write the medium of publication followed by a period. In the case of a meeting agenda, it will almost always be "Print." You final citation should look like this, again with the part between single quotes italicized: "Ural, Harry, and Scott Wilcox, eds. 'Agenda for the Third Quarter 2011 Budget Meeting.' UralCorp. Latrobe, PA: n.p., July 15, 2011. Print."

APA

Write the last name of the agenda's editor, then a comma, then his first name and middle initial, if available. Follow this with a comma and, "(Ed.)." If there is more than one editor, write all their names in this order and, put a comma and an ampersand (&) before the name of the last editor. For example, "Ural, Harry, & Wilcox, Scott (Eds.)."

Write the year of the meeting followed by a period next in parentheses. "Ural, Harry, & Wilcox, Scott (Eds.). (2011)."

Write what the document is without repeating information from the title followed by a period. "Ural, Harry, & Wilcox, Scott (Eds.). (2011). UralCorp Meeting Agenda from July 15, 2011."

Write the title of the agenda in italics. "Ural, Harry, & Wilcox, Scott (Eds.). (2011). UralCorp Meeting Agenda from July 15, 2011. 'Agenda for the Third Quarter 2011 Budget Meeting.'"

Write the city of publication followed by the place of publication with a colon, then publisher, if available, followed by a period. "Ural, Harry, & Wilcox, Scott (Eds.). (2011). UralCorp Meeting Agenda from July 15, 2011. 'Agenda for the Third Quarter 2011 Budget Meeting.' Latrobe, PA."

Tip

Your instructor will usually specify whether citations should be done in MLA or APA format, but if you are unsure, ask. Always reverse indent both forms of citation.