MLA Citation for Specific Circumstances

Article, Essay, Scholarly Paper, Chapter, Book, etc. (the Standard Citation)

In-text: Clarify the author’s last name, either by stating it in the sentence or by using a parenthetical citation.

Works Cited: Use standard MLA conventions, citing name, title, publication, and additional information.

Kingsnorth, Paul. “In the Black Chamber.” Orion/Dark Mountain, 4 April 2014.

Article, Book, etc. within an Identified Publication Section or Series

Some sources appear to be as above (articles, essays, books, etc.) but are presented by the publication in a section or series that is identified or named, such as the Opinion section in a news publication, or the Lives and Legacies book series by Oxford UP.

In-text: As above, clarify the author’s last name, either by stating it in the sentence or by using a parenthetical citation.

Works Cited: As, above, use standard MLA conventions, citing name, title, publication, and additional information, but also add the section or series name after the final period without italics or quotation marks.

Hohmann, James. “Political Violence Is in Our DNA. Can We Avoid More of It?” The Washington Post, 5 Jan. 2022. Opinion.
Gaustad, Edwin S. Benjamin Franklin, Oxford UP, 2008. Lives and Legacies.

Two Authors

In-text: Name them both.

Works Cited: Invert only the first author’s name.

Three or More Authors

In-text and Works Cited: Use “et al.” after naming the primary author to indicate that there were others.

Organization or Corporate Author

There are two distinct forms of citation for an organization or corporate author, and the determining factor is the publisher:

1. If the organization or corporate author is also the publisher, use the source title instead of an author’s name.
2. If the organization or corporate author is not the publisher, use the organization or corporate author as the author’s name.

These two forms of citation are not options; they are two different rules that apply to two different circumstances, so determine the circumstance of your source to know whether you must follow 1 or 2.

In-text:

1. Also the publisher: In place of the author’s name, use the title.
2. Not the publisher: Use the name of the corporation, organization, or institution as the author’s name.

Works Cited:

1. Also the publisher: In place of the author’s name, use the title, and state the organization or corporate author as the publisher. This ensures that there will not be needless repetition of the organization or corporate author.
2. Not the publisher: As the author’s name, use the name of the corporation, organization, or institution. Then continue to cite the rest of the source’s information as normal, including naming whoever is the publisher.

Unknown or Anonymous Author

If the source is produced by an organization, corporation, or institution (which is often the case for unknown or anonymous authors), apply the rules above from Organization or Corporate Author. But in true cases of unknown or anonymous authorship (such as some ancient works), use the source title instead of an author’s name as the primary piece of information to cite in-text and to list first in the Works Cited entry.

In-text:

Works Cited:

Website

Follow the guidelines above by determining whether the content you’re citing from the Website is by a named author, or by an unknown or corporate author. These are the two most common circumstances. If the material you’re citing does not fit those two circumstances, see the circumstances below for guidelines.

Remember (above under Unknown or Corporate Author) that if the Website is both the corporate author and the publisher, you will not use the name of the Website as the author; you will instead use the title of the source as the first element and name the Website as the publisher. Also keep in mind that, depending on the circumstances, the name of the Website can be the publisher, or the publication, or the container, among other possible elements in the Works Cited entry. See the examples below for these circumstances:

Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

In-text: Identify the exact term being defined or discussed, and state the specific dictionary or encyclopedia used.

Special note: Keep in mind that every dictionary and encyclopedia is a separate and unique publication. So there is no such thing as just The Dictionary, nor is there just a Webster’s Dictionary (these are general-use terms that any book may employ). Also note that many search engines, such as Google, show glimpses of definitions from specific dictionaries as part of their search results, so “Google defines…” is not accurate. All of this is to further clarify the simple principle: state the actual title of your dictionary or encyclopedia.

Works Cited: Use the entry term as the first identifying item in the Works Cited entry, as if it were an article title without an author’s name.

Artificial Intelligence

MLA advises the following when using text generated by AI tools, such as ChatGPT:

• “cite a generative AI tool whenever you paraphrase, quote, or incorporate into your own work any content (whether text, image, data, or other) that was created by it”
• “acknowledge all functional uses of the tool (like editing your prose or translating words) in a note, your text, or another suitable location”
• “take care to vet the secondary sources it cites”

Essentially, you will treat the AI-generated text as an article without an author’s name, so you will rely on the title as your primary piece of source information in-text (or a brief description that functions as a title), and on the Works Cited page, you should make sure to identify after the title that it was a prompt (by simply using the word “prompt” outside of the quotation marks) and you should treat the AI tool as the container, noting versions and dates accordingly. If you know the date of creation, include that as well.

In-text:

Works Cited:

Republished or Anthologized Work

Works Cited: State the most recent version (which is likely the source you are using) as the second container. This means that the original publication is cited first and then ended with a period, and then the republication is cited. In the example below, “In the Black Chamber” first appeared in the publication Orion/Dark Mountain, and then it was republished on the Website titled Paul Kingsnorth.

Film or Show

In-text: State the first piece of information to appear in the Works Cited page entry, but also clarify the title of the film or show even if that’s not the first piece of information in the entry. And make sure to italicize the titles of films and series, but to use quotation marks around the titles of episodes.

Works Cited: Default to using the director’s name as the first piece of information, but select a different piece of information if you have a different in-text focus, such as focusing on the lead actor or the writer rather than the overall film/show or the director. After the title(s), cite the production company that distributed the film/show. For episodes, cite the season and episode number as you would volume and number in publications, and cite the date of original release. If you used a streaming service different from the original distributer in order to access the film/show, treat that as a second container.

Editor or Other Role (Rather Than an Author)

In-text: Simply mention the role.

Works Cited: State the role after the name, separated by commas.

Multiple Works by the Same Author

In-text: In addition to stating the author’s last name, state which work you’re referring to.

Works Cited: Use a separate entry for each work, but rather than re-state the author’s name for the next work(s), use three hyphens. Arrange those multiple works by the same author alphabetically by title. In the example below, Harold Bloom wrote both The Western Canon and Where Shall Wisdom Be Found?, which are here arranged alphabetically by title.

U.S. Constitution

In-text: Abbreviate, and don’t use italics or quotation marks.

Works Cited: State U.S. Constitution, and abbreviate the rest of the identifying information. Don’t use italics or quotation marks.

The Bible

In-text: Clarify the translation, book, chapter, and verse.

Works Cited: Clarify which translation and specific publication.

Social Media Post

In-text: Treat the posted name of the writer as the author, and indicate the real name if it’s available.

Works Cited: Treat the posted name of the writer as the author, and indicate the real name in brackets if it’s available. Treat the post as the title of the article, and treat the social media platform as the publisher.

Poems

In-text: Use a forward slash mark to indicate a line break, and use double forward slash marks to indicate a stanza break.

Footnote

In-text: Treat the footnote as part of the page number by adding “n” right before the footnote number (without adding spaces).