By the Editors of KateChopin.org

You can cite the information on this website using the MLA format or the APA format (as they are described by Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab) or other formats. If you’re citing photos, check our photo-credit page.

Assuming you’re using the latest MLA format, here is a way to proceed:

First list the author.

Most pages of this website—like the page about “The Story of an Hour”—include the words, By the Editors of KateChopin.org, in red near the upper left corner. If you are citing most of the information on such pages, list the author as KateChopin.org.

But please notice that some passages on these pages may include the name of the specific author of a passage. If the passage you’re citing includes a specific author’s name, begin by listing that name instead of KateChopin.org. For example, in citing the passage in “What critics and scholars say about ‘The Story of an Hour’” in which Chopin’s recent biographer Emily Toth describes the publication of the story in Vogue, list the author, Emily Toth.

Also notice that a few pages of this website, like the page about Kate Chopin’s Children’s Stories, include a specific author’s name for the entire page. For such pages, list the author as it appears in red near the upper left corner. For Kate Chopin’s Children’s Stories page, for example, list Bonnie James Shaker.

Then list the title of the article (the title of the page on the site where you found the information) as it appears in the red banner at the top center of the page (for example, “Kate Chopin ‘The Story of an Hour.'”).

List the title of this website (the container) as it appears at the top left of the page: KateChopin.org.

List the publisher (the sponsor) of the site as the Kate Chopin International Society.

List the URL of the page you are citing (the website address, but without its https://).

Finally, list the date you accessed this website.

Sample citations as they would look in the MLA format:

KateChopin.org. “Kate Chopin ‘The Story of an Hour.'” KateChopin.org, Kate Chopin International Society. www.katechopin.org/the-story-of-an-hour/. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.

Toth, Emily. “Kate Chopin ‘The Story of an Hour.'” KateChopin.org, Kate Chopin International Society. www.katechopin.org/the-story-of-an-hour/. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.

Shaker, Bonnie James. “Kate Chopin’s Children’s Stories.'” KateChopin.org, Kate Chopin International Society. www.katechopin.org/kate-chopins-childrens-stories/. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.

A sample citation as it would look in the APA format:

Toth, Emily. (2024). “Kate Chopin ‘The Story of an Hour.'” KateChopin.org. Retrieved from https://www.katechopin.org/the-story-of-an-hour/

Information on this site is copyrighted. Please keep in mind fair use guidelines (see the fair use page on the OWL at Purdue). You may not copy large pieces of this site for proprietary or for-profit uses.

If there’s something about this explanation you don’t understand, contact us?

New Question: In my essay for my class, should I refer to Kate Chopin as “Kate” or as “Chopin”?

Answer: If your instructor has not explained which to use, then if you are referring to something in Kate Chopin’s private life, use Kate: “In 1855 Kate attended the St. Louis Academy of the Sacred Heart.”

But if you are referring to something Kate Chopin wrote in one of her stories or novels as a published author, as a public figure, then use Chopin: “In this story, Chopin describes the thoughts of a woman when she is told that her husband has died in an accident.”

About sending questions to this website

We are happy to answer questions about Kate Chopin and her work that are not dealt with on this site.

But if you’re a student, please understand that as a group of teachers, scholars, and other professionals, we do not want to position ourselves between you and your instructor. So we cannot help you with questions or assignments designed to teach you to think independently about what you’re reading.