Any time you incorporate an idea or quote from another scholar into your writing, you must provide a brief reference to the source of that idea or quote. In MLA format, such references take a few standard forms. One option is to refer to the source parenthetically: in this case, the reference will contain the author's last name as well as the page number of the publication where the cited information is found.
Example: Another argument had been made supporting the new law (Smith, 7).
A second option is to incorporate the author's name into the text and include the page number information in parentheses.
Example: Smith, on the other hand, made an argument supporting the new law (7).
Brief reference of these types are intended to point the reader to the detailed description of the source material in the list of works cited. This list should appear at the end of your paper.
The list of work cited is intended to give your readers all the information they need to find the publications you cite. Hence, entries should be concise, consistent with each other, and comprehensive. Entries for printed materials must include the following information in the order given: Author's name ---or names. Title of the work: publisher information --- such as the physical location and name of book publisher, or the name of the periodical or journal in which the work appears: year of publication. Inclusive page numbers of works included in larger publications such as journals or anthologies. Information on medium in which the work was accessed --- print or online, for instance.
Example: Crossley, Richard. The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2011. Print.
Titles of books, pamphlets, brochures and press releases are italicized, while titles of articles and short stories are enclosed in quotation marks. Entries on lists of works cited are formatted with hanging indentation so that the first line --- with the author's name --- is flush with the left margin and any text that extends past the first line in indented. MLA style dictates specific formatting requirements for citations of different types of publications --- magazine articles, anonymous letters, stories in anthologies, etc. For detailed information, consult the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers.
Lists of works cited --- also known as bibliographies or lists of references --- are organized alphabetically according to authors' last names. If two authors have the same last name, the order of their entries is determined by the alphabetical order of their first names. For instance, an entry for a book by Sarah Roberts will appear before an entry for a book by Thomas Roberts. If a list contains more than one work by the same author, the author's name only appears on the first entry cited. Subsequent works by that author appear directly after the first entry and are introduced with three hyphens and a period rather than the author's name. Works by anonymous or unknown authors are alphabetized according to the first word in their titles --- ignoring articles such as "the" and "a." Writers may choose to break down their lists into sections --- according to genre of work cited or subject matter, for instance --- and alphabetize each section independently.
Many academic disciplines work extensively with non-print media, such as recordings and films. Such materials, if cited, must also be given full citations. In general, entries for these works contain the same type of information, in the same order, as entries for print media. However, because video and audio media are often collaborative efforts --- a recording can include music composed by one person and performed by another --- MLA style allows some flexibility in determining authorship. A scholar writing a biography of a musician may choose to list that musician as the author of a solo recording, while someone comparing composers may cite the same work and choose to list the composer as the author.
Example: Chopin, Frédéric. Etudes Op. 10 and Op.25. Perf. Vladimir Ashkenazy. London/Decca,1984. CD.
Likewise, citations for films may either place the title first, followed by the name of the director and distributor; or begin the citation with the name of a particular individual associated with that film.
In recent years, more and more reliable information has become available on Web archives and specialized academic websites. These are cited in the same way as print media: citations should include the name or names of the site's authors or compilers, the title of the site --- or relevant page from the site, the date of publication, and the date the site was accessed. The MLA does not require or encourage inclusion of URLs in citations, since these tend to change or disappear over time. Detailed formatting requirements for citing different types of Web pages can be found in the MLA Handbook.