The MLA bibliography begins on a new page after the body of the paper is finished. Centered at the top of the page is the title, "Works Cited." The first line begins two spaces down and square against the left margin, which should be 1 inch from the edge of the paper. Entries that take up multiple lines require an indentation of a half inch for every line after the first. Sources are listed alphabetically by the first letter of the entry against the margin line.
The most basic works cited entry is a book by a single author. In this form, the last name of the author is listed first followed by a comma, the first name and a period. (Example: Washington, George.). After a space, the title of the work is underlined, ending with a period. For publishing information, cite the place of publication followed by a colon, the publisher's name followed by a comma, and the date of publication ending with a period. (Example: place: publisher, date.).
Information beyond the standard format may be required to cite a source. The order of details in the most elaborate form is as follows: name of the author, title of a work within a book (such as an anthology), book title, name of editor or compiler, book edition, volume number(s) used, series name, publication information, page numbers (for compiled works), and any supplemental information needed to bibliographically identify the work. Rarely will all of these details be used at once, but they become important when citing a series of compiled works such as anthologies or encyclopedias.
If certain information is not included or is not available from a source, that section of an entry should be left blank. A common example is a work from an anonymous source. In this case, the author's name is omitted and the entry begins with the title of the work. The second most basic rule comes into effect when there are two or more authors to a publication. The first author is listed in the standard last name, first name format followed by a comma. Each subsequent author is listed as they would be in a sentence and ends with a period. (For example: Washington, George, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson.). Authors in this case are listed in the order they appear, not alphabetically.