Creating MLA Style Citations

MLA style citation follows the rules outlined in the MLA Handbook published by the Modern Language Association. These rules tell you how to refer to information sources within the text of your paper, and also how to cite your sources in the Works Cited list at the end. MLA style is most often used by those in the fields of English, literature, history, and other humanities disciplines.

Brief instructions for formatting a MLA document:

-Use 1-inch margins.

-Page numbers should be in the upper right corner, preceded by the author's last name.

-MLA papers do not require a title page, but the author's name, instructor's name, course number, date, etc., should be included on the upper left side of the first page, block-style.

-Author names should appear as they do on the title page, whether spelled out or using initials. The first author is listed with last name first, but subsequent author names should be listed in normal order. Names of editors, compilers, translators, etc., should be followed by the appropriate abbreviation (ed., etc.) in the Works Cited list.

-All principal words in titles should be capitalized.

-Dates should be written in the form of day month year. Months may be shortened to the appropriate 3- or 4- letter abbreviations. If no publication date is available, use "n.d."

-The list of sources is titled "Works Cited."

How to Cite Books

Book by Single Author

Batterson, Jack. A. Blind Boone: Missouri's Ragtime Pioneer.

Columbia, MO: University of Missouri, 1998. Print.

 

Edited Book by 2 or 3 Author

King, Samuel P., and Randall W. Roth. Broken Trust: Greed, Mismanagement, and Political Manipulation at America's Largest Charitable Trust. Honolulu: U of Hawaii P, 2006. Print.

 

 

 

Book by More than 3 Authors

 

Work in an Anthology

 

An Anthology or Compilation

Sollors, Werner, ed.  An Anthology of Interracial Literature. New York: New York UP, 2003. Print.

 

Article in Reference Book

Tower, Christopher B. “Shoshone.” Gale Encyclopedia of Native

American Tribes. Ed. Sharon Malinowski et al. 4 vols. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Print.

 

Second or Subsequent Edition of a Book

Lima, Carolyn W. and John A. Lima. A to Zoo:  Subject Access

to Children’s Picture Books. 7th ed. Westport, CT : Libraries Unlimited, 2006. Print.

Other Book Options
(See MLA Handbook)

Books by a Corporate Author
Introduction, Preface, Foreword, or Afterword
Anonymous Book
Multivolume Work
Book in a Series
Pamphlet
Government Publication
Published Proceedings of a Conference
Published Dissertation

 

How to Cite Print Articles

Article in Scholarly Journal that Pages Each Issue Separately

Kirsch, Adam .  “To Hold in a Single Thought Reality and

Justice: Yeats, Pound, Auden, and the Modernist Ideal." Virginia Quarterly Review 83.3 (2007): 165-177.

 

Article in Scholarly Journal with Continuous Pagination

(next issue begins page numbers where last issue left off)

Greyser, Naomi . “Affective Geographies: Sojourner Truth's

Narrative, Feminism, and the Ethical Bind of Sentimentalism.” American Literature 79.2 (2007): 275-305.

 

Article in a Newspaper

Stodghill, Ron.  “Can Ford Clean Up After Itself?" New

York Times 29 July 2007, national ed.: Section 3, page 1+.

 

Article in a Magazine

Heller, Steven. “Gee, You're Stinky! The intimate questions of

postwar advertising fanned body insecurity into flames of paranoia.” Print August 2007: 84-89

Film Review

Lane, Anthony. "Discoveries." Rev. of A Mighty Heart, dir.

Michael Winterbottom. The New Yorker 25 June 2007: 104-105.

Book Review

Deville, Craig. Rev. of Language Testing and Validation: An

Evidence-Based Approach, by Cyril J. Weir. Modern Language Journal 91.2 (2007): 320-321.

 

Other Article Options
(See MLA Handbook)

Anonymous Article
An Editorial
A Letter to the Editor
A Special Issue

 

 

How to Cite Electronic Sources 

Entire Internet Site

Images of Native Americans. 2006. The Bancroft Library. 1

August 2007.

 

Work from a Library Subscription Service

Koyana, Siphokazi. “The Heart of the Matter: Motherhood and

Marriage in the Autobiographies of Maya Angelou.” Black Scholar 32.2 (2002): 35-45. Literary Reference Center. Web. 31 July 2007.

 

Free Online Book

Sinclair, Bertrand. Raw Gold. 1907. Manybooks.net. Web. 31 July

2007.

 

Article in Online Newspaper

Stiein, Rob. “Conflict of Conscience: Faith drives some to refuse

patients medication or care.” New York Times New York Times Co. 30 July 2006. Web. 1 August 2007.

Article in an Online Magazine

Lieber, Keir A. and Press, Daryl G. “Superiority Complex: Why

America’s growing nuclear supremacy may make war with China more likely.” Atlantic Online Atlantic Monthly Group. July/August 2007. Web. 1 Aug. 2007.

 

Other Electronic Options
(See MLA Handbook)

Online Government Publication
Publication on CD-ROM, Diskette, or Magnetic Tape
Television or Radio Program
Sound Recording or Sound Clip
Film or Film Clip
Painting, Sculpture, or Photograph
Interview
E-Mail Communication
Online Posting

Miscellaneous Print and Nonprint Sources

Film or Video Recording

The Wild One.  Dir. Laslo Benedek. Perf. Marlon Brando, Mary

Murphy, Robert Keith, and Lee Marvin.  1953.  DVD.  Columbia Pictures, 1998.

 

Others (See MLA Handbook)

Television or Radio Program
Sound Recording
A Performance
Musical Composition
Painting, Sculpture or Photograph
Interview
Map or Chart
Cartoon or Comic Strip
Advertisement
Lecture, Speech, Address, or a Reading
Legal Source

Adapted from the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers.  6th ed.  Modern Language Association of America, 2003. REF LB 2369.G53 2003

Reference Citations in Text

These are examples of how to refer to any outside source within your paper.

One Author

• Use this example if you do not list the author's name in your paraphrase or quote.

  Between 1968 and 1988, television coverage of presidential elections changed dramatically (Hallin 5).

• Follow this example if you mention the author's name  in the text.

  Brian Taves suggests some interesting conclusions regarding the philosophy and politics of the adventure film (153-54, 171).

 

 

More than One Author

• Use this example if you do not list the authors' name in your paraphrase or quote.

  Others hold the opposite point of view (e.g. Jakobson and Waugh 304).

• Follow this example if you mention the authors' name  in the text.

  Others, like Jakobson and Waugh (210-215), hold the opposite point of view.

Tips for Creating a Reference List

1. The format of each citation is based on the source.  Are you citing a book, an article, an internet site or something else?
2. Remember the point of citation—to enable someone else to see what you are referring to.  So be sure to include all the important information (title, author, page numbers, website address, etc).
3. Formatting is really important!  Watch how you indent and where you put commas, periods, parentheses, italics, etc.
4. Cite sources that you read to prepare your paper AND sources that you quote or paraphrase directly.
5. Alphabetize your list by the last names of the authors, and use a hanging indent to format the entries.