Step-by-Step MLA Citation

The Modern Language Association (MLA) has created a style manual that is commonly used in liberal studies and humanities. The MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (3rd Ed.) is the definitive MLA guide for graduate students and professional writers, while the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7th Ed.) is the reference book for undergraduate students. MLA citations are abbreviated in-text using parentheses. The full citation is given at the end of the document in a Works Cited page.

Instructions

  1. In-Text Citations

    • 1

      Write the last name of the author in parentheses at the end of the sentence where you used the author's information. If your source does not have an author (such as a website), use a shortened form of the article's title within quotation marks. If it is a longer source, like a book or documentary, put the name in italics.

    • 2

      Put only the page number in parentheses if the author is already mentioned in the sentence.

    • 3

      Add the page number after the author's name. There is no punctuation between the author's name (or article title) and the page number. Give the book edition after the page number if there are more than one editions of the source. If there is no page number (for example, video or website), you can leave out the page number but put a shortened version of the website. Include the domain name instead of the full URL.

    • 4

      Use "et al." after the first author's name to indicate multiple authors for a single source. For multiple sources, separate them with a semicolon.

    Works Cited Page

    • 5

      Start your Works Cited page on a separate page at the end of your document. Format the page (font, margins) the same way as the rest of your paper.

    • 6

      Type "Works Cited" in the center of the top of the page without underline or italics.

    • 7

      Alphabetize the entries. Leave a half-inch hanging indent for each entry and double space the entries without an addition space between entries.

    • 8

      Start each entry with the author's name, last name first. You do not need to add titles such as Dr. or Sir. If the source has no author, start with the title.

    • 9

      Add the source title. If it is a longer work, such as a book, italicize the title. If it is shorter, like an article, use quotations. For an article in a periodical, put the article name in quotations, then the journal name in italics.

    • 10

      Add the publication information. For books, this is the place of publishing, the publisher's name, the date of publication, and the medium. For articles in a journal, it is the date of publishing, the page numbers, and the medium. For websites it is the organization associated with the site, the date of creation and the date you accessed the article.

Learnify Hub © www.0685.com All Rights Reserved