Skip to Main Content

Citation Guide: MLA

This guide will help students understand the different types of citations and how to apply them

MLA Style

MLA Style Guide - From the Modern Language Association of America. It is a set of rules for publications, including research papers.  Often preferred in the fields of literature, arts, humanities, and in some other disciplines.

There are two parts to MLA: In-text citations and the Works Cited list.

In MLA, you must "cite" sources that you have paraphrased, quoted or otherwise used to write your research paper. Cite your sources in two places:

  1. In the body of your paper where you add a brief in-text citation.
  2. In the Works Cited list at the end of your paper where you give more complete information for the source.

MLA Style is typically reserved for writers and students preparing manuscripts in various humanities disciplines such as:

  • English Studies - Language and Literature
  • Foreign Languages and Literatures
  • Literary Criticism
  • Comparative Literature
  • Cultural Studies

MLA Works Cited & In-Text Citations

Guidelines for MLA

The Nine Elements of a Citation

Citation Examples by Type

If the source is from the internet or the Web, use all that is available from the following list:

Author’s name; title of work in quotations;  title of the web site, underlined; date of publication or update; sponsor of site ; date you accessed the site; the URL

example:

Works Cited Page:

"Title of Page." NameofWebSite.com. Day Month Year last updated . Day Month Year accessed online

........... <http://www.actualURL>.

In-text citation:  (title)

General Format - 

Author last name, first name. Book Title. Publisher’s name, year.

Example:

Works Cited Page:

Smith, Jeff.  The Making of WWII. MacMullan Press, 1995.

In-text:  (smith pg#)

 

1. Article in Online Magazine - 

Example: 

Works Cited Page:

"Business Coalition for Climate Action Doubles." Environmental Defense.. 8 May 2007. Environmental Defense Organization. 24 May 2007 <http://www.environmentaldefense.org/article.cfm?ContentID=5828>.

In-text:  (author, pg#)

2. Article from Online Newspaper -

Works Cited Page:

Clinton, Bill. Interview. New York Times on the Web. May 2007. 25 May 2007 <http://video.on.nytimes.com/>.

In-text:  (author, pg#)

Unknown Author, Page on a Web site - 

Works Cited Page:

Global Warming. 2007. Cooler Heads Coalition. 24 May 2007 <http://www.globalwarming.org/>.

In-text:  (title, pg#)


 

YOUTUBE:

“name of video”, Youtube,uploaded by (user or username), day month year uploaded, URL.

Example - 

Works Cited Page:

“The Joys of Cooking” , Hungry?, Sousie Johnson, 15 January 2002, https://www.youtube.com/ NJgt349754TV.

In-text:

(The Joys of Cooking, 2002)