The Modern Language Association (MLA) is an association of scholars in language and literature. The MLA style of citation is a uniform agreement on how to cite and reference research in published and academic works. MLA is the most commonly used citation style (as opposed to APA and Chicago), because it is viewed as simpler and concise.
MLA style citation is used in a wide array of disciplines in the humanities and social science. MLA is used by journals, newsletters, university presses and inside classrooms. Though an American association, MLA use has spread and is used selectively in countries such as Canada, Mexico, Brazil, England, China and Japan.
To cite websites as in-text citations, include only the name of the author (if available) or the title of the piece, along with fixed page numbers or numbered paragraphs (you may have to number them yourself). If there is no numbering or paragraph distinction, omit the information and include the author only. All in-text citations must be in parentheses, as close to the information being cited as possible. The period at the end of the sentence should be placed outside of the parentheses.
Example: (Kent, 7-8).
A works cited list appears at the end of the document, paper or book and is organized alphabetically. Every source cited in parenthetical in-text citations must also appear in the works cited with full information. For websites, begin with the author name (last, first), followed by a period and the title of the article/piece in quotation marks, followed by a period. Then comes the publishing party in italics (period), followed by the location (comma), year published (period), then the word “Web” (period) and date accessed (period). The final information is the complete URL enclosed in angle brackets followed by a period.
Example:
Tippi, Karla. “The Cold War.” Cornell University Library. Cornell University, 2001. Web. 14 April 2008. <http://www.library.cornell.edu/diss/coldwar>.
Though footnote and endnote citations are more commonly used in Turabian (Chicago Manual) citation, it is a plausible alternative to in-text citation in MLA style.
The key behind footnote/endnote information is to get rid of any information that is not absolutely critical to identifying the source (all endnote/footnote citations are also listed in the works cited). The first information is the name (first then last) of the author (if available), followed by the title in quotation marks, the underlined name of the website, editor's name (if available), name of organization behind the site, date on which you accessed the website, and the final bracketed website address (do not underline). This is only necessary for the first endnote/footnote in the document; further citing of the website would consist solely of the author's last name. In the long citation, a period appears only at the end of the citation. If there is no author, begin with the title.
Example:
1 Henrique Kent, “Analysis of the Brazilian Modern Economy,” (underlined) International Relations Department, ed. Lila Knowles, March 2007, University of São Paulo, 4 Aug. 2009 <http://www.usp.ird/j9kk>.
4 Kent.
5 Kent.