Modern Language Association (MLA)

The Modern Language Association began in 1883 as a “discussion and advocacy group for the study of literature and modern languages” (“Modern Language Association”). The style was created by this group in 1951 in order to provide scholars in this field with a set of shared writing and citation guidelines. MLA is mostly used in the humanities such as English and modern languages.

Formatting Your Paper in MLA

You should always use Times New Roman 12-point font (unless otherwise directed by your instructor) and one-inch margins. The entire manuscript should also be double-spaced. Below is an annotated example of other important features you should consider and include in your MLA manuscripts:

MLA Citation: Works Cited Entries

Core Elements

With the 2016 update (8^th edition), MLA changed and simplified the way your Works Cited entries should be formatted. Instead of offering a specific way to format each and every source, MLA offers a streamlined approach using something called “containers.” The 9th edition continues to use this system.

These containers, pictured in Figure 18.1, provide you with the required elements, order, and punctuation for each of your Works Cited entries.

As you work to format your Works Cited entries, you will notice that some sources require only one container, depicted above (Figure 18.1). These are sources that you access directly from their original publication, such as books, an online magazine article, and general websites. You should follow the order of items listed in the container, following the simplified punctuation rules you see in the container as well. Not all elements will apply to every citation. Use only the elements that apply. You will place a period after the author and the title of the source. Then, you should place commas after each item until the last item used in the container.

The MLA Style Center provides additional explanations about the core elements as well as an interactive template, which you can use to build your works cited entries.

Two containers are required for sources that you access through places like library databases. An example of MLA’s “two container” structure is depicted in Figure 18.2 above.

Here, you will notice there is a place for the first container, with the original publication information. Below the first container, the second container provides publication information for where you retrieved that information. For example, a journal article you access through your library’s databases will have its original publication information (container 1) and access information from the online database (container 2).

Guide to Core Elements

This guide will give an overview of how and when to list each of the elements seen in Figure 18.2. Not all elements will apply to every citation. Use only the elements and containers that apply to your source. Follow the punctuation given with the exception that the last item used in a container ends with a period. For example, if the location is not needed, end the entry with the publication date and a period.

Sometimes a second container is needed. For example, an episode contained within a series which was viewed on a streaming platform, or an article contained within a journal which is contained within a database would be supplemental elements.

Below is an explanation of how to style each element.

Author

• When a source is part of a larger work, the larger work is called the “container.”
• The container is italicized and followed by a comma.
• Containers can be:
  • Periodicals (magazines, journals, newspapers)
  • Anthologies (books which contain short stories, essays, poetry, etc.)
  • Entire Web sites (which contain individual web pages)
  • Library or other online databases (which contain articles, books, etc.)

Figure 18.3 Website Eating Well 

In the example in Figure 18.3, the website Eating Well is a container and the articles within them are the sources.

Other Contributors

• Contributors other than the author are named in the entry if they are important to your research or the identification of the source (i.e. editors and translators).
• When citing a source with both an author and editor, list the author first and the editor after the title of the source.

In the example above, the other contributor is a dietician, Emily Lachtrupp, who reviewed the article for accuracy.

Version

If a source carries a notation that it is a work in more than one form (i.e. book edition), identify the version.

• Abbreviate edition (ed.) and revised (rev.).
• Use sentence capitalization. This means if the previous element ended in a comma, the first word isn’t capitalized. See example.

Examples:

• Updated ed.,
• 5th ed.,
• unabridged version,
• 7th ed.,
• Expanded ed.,

Number

• Journals are typically numbered with volume (vol.) and issue numbers (no.).
• If you are using a multi-volume set, include the volume (vol.) number.

Publisher

• Only include the first publisher listed, unless the source was published by multiple independent organizations. Separate independent publishers with a forward slash [/].
• Abbreviate publisher names in the following cases:
  • Omit business words like Company, Corporation, Incorporated, and Limited
  • Replace University Press with UP (i.e. Oxford UP, U of California P, MIT P).
• A publisher’s name may be completely omitted for the following types of sources:
  • Web page whose publisher is the same as the name of the overall website
  • Periodical (journal, magazine, newspaper)
  • Work published by the author

Publication Date

• Dates should be given as fully as they appear in your sources.
• If multiple dates are listed, cite the date most meaningful to your use of the source.
• Format as: Day Month Year. Abbreviate the names of months longer than 4 letters

Location

• In print sources, a page number (preceded by p.) or a range of page numbers (preceded by pp.) specifies the location.
• In online sources, location is indicated by the URL, DOI, or Permalink.
  • URL: Copy in full from your Web browser, but omit http:// or https://
  • DOI: Journal articles are often assigned “Digital Object Identifiers”. When possible, cite a DOI (preceded by doi:) instead of the URL.
  • Permalink: Web sources (especially Library databases) often provide stable URLs, called “permalinks”. When possible, use these instead of the URL.

Online News/Magazine Article

1. Author(s).  Use the format Last Name, First Name Middle Name or Initial. If there are multiple authors, use and before the last author’s name.
2. “Title of the Article.”  Include the title of a shorter work in quotation marks and use headline-style capitalization.
3. Title of the Newspaper or Publisher, Use italics for the title of a longer work like a newspaper or online publication and use headline-style capitalization
4. Publication date, Use the format: Date Abbreviated Month Year.
5. URL.

Print Book

1. Author(s).  Use the format Last Name, First Name Middle Name or Initial. If there are multiple authors, use and before the last author’s name.
2. Title of the Book. Use italics for the title of a longer work like a book and use headline-style capitalization.
3. Edition. If there are multiple editions, use the format 1st/2nd/3rd ed.,
4. Publisher,
5. Publication date.

eBook

1. Author(s). Use the format Last Name, First Name Middle Name or Initial. If there are multiple authors, use and before the last author’s name.
2. Title of the Book,  Use italics for the title of a longer work like a book and use headline-style capitalization.
3. Editors  If there is one editor, use the format edited by Last Name, First Name. If there are multiple editors, use and before the last author’s name.
4. Publisher,
5. Publication date.
6. Database, Note: Use italics for names of databases.
7. URL or permalink.

Example

Compiling & Formatting

Once you have constructed your citations according to MLA rules, there are a few more steps to complete the Works Cited list.

• Center the words “Works Cited” at the top of the page.
• Alphabetize the citations by author’s last name, or by the first main word of the title if there is no author. (When alphabetizing, ignore A, An, and The at the beginning of citations.)
• Make sure all lines are double-spaced.
• Apply “hanging” indents to all citations: The first line of the citation is not indented. All subsequent lines are indented 0.5 inch.

MLA Citation: In-Text Citations

The basics of in-text citation

MLA citations follow specific conventions that distinguish them from other styles. In-text citations convey two important pieces of information to the reader: 1. where your source integration begins and ends, and 2. from which source on your Works Cited list the integrated material comes.

In-text citations are usually comprised of two parts: 1. the signal phrase or narrative lead-in, and 2. a parenthetical citation, so named because they are enclosed in parentheses.

A complete in-text citation in MLA format includes three components (remember the Sourse Burger from Chapter 17?):

1. a signal phrase (may contain author’s name)
2.  the original source material (quoted, paraphrased, or summarized), and
3. a parenthetical citation (include author’s name if not in the signal phrase; must include page number)

See Chapter 17 for more detail on these elements.

For sources with page numbers, such as books and articles that were originally published in print publications, even if you access them using a research database like Academic Search Complete, place the page number in the parenthetical citation. In MLA, we do not use the word “page” or the abbreviations “p.”  or “pg.” before the page numbers.

Mentioning Author in the Text

The first time that you mention a source in a paper, you need to introduce the source. For this introduction, you can include the author’s full name and a bit of description about the text that this author or these authors produced.

Each time you reference a source that you have already introduced (which would be called successive mentions of the source), you give only the author(s) last name(s).

Author Not Mentioned in the Text

If you do not name your author(s) in a signal phrase, then you must place the last name(s) only in the parenthetical citation. In doing so, do not place a comma between the author name(s) and the page number.

If other location types are used within a citation, they are listed often using abbreviations. The table below shows some location options with the appropriate abbreviations. When using any of these location types, add a comma within the citation after the author’s name. Only use the location type if they are included in the source. For example, do not use line or paragraph numbers if they are not included in the source referenced.

Attributions

MLA Style Guide by Golden West College Libraries is licensed under CC BY NC SA 4.0

MLA In-Text Citations by Golden West College Libraries is licensed under CC BY NC SA 4.0

Style Guide by Excelsior OWL is licensed under CC BY 4.0

MLA Style from Introduction to College Research by Walter D. Butler, Aloha Sargent, and Kelsey Smith is licensed under CC BY 4.0

12.3 MLA Citation: Works Cited Entries by John Brentar, Charlotte Morgan, and Emilie Zickel is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Image Credits

Person looking at map Photo by Leah Newhouse on Pexels