How to Create an MLA Citation

The Modern Language Association's (MLA) formatting and style guide is the most commonly used for writing papers in the humanities and liberal arts. The style focuses on fellow scholars and students being able to access information to keep an ongoing dialogue about ideas presented. This is evidenced by the style citing the page number where information is accessed, as opposed to the year published.

Instructions

    • 1

      Cite your source directly in the text of your paper. If you don't mention the author's name, at the end of any information you've paraphrased or a direct quote, place a space after the last word, then an open parenthesis, the last name of the source's author, a space and the page number of the cited information. Type a close parenthesis and a period outside.

    • 2

      Type only the page number in an in-text citation where the author is already mentioned in the paper. For instance, if you begin a piece of cited information with "According to John Doe ...", type an open parenthesis, space, the page number, close parenthesis and a period.

    • 3

      Type the last names of both authors for sources with two authors. Type the last name as you would in step one, followed by a space, then the word "and," followed by a space and the next author's last name. For more than two authors, listing all the authors' names, or using the first author's name and the term "et al" for the others, is acceptable.

    • 4

      Cite your source on the "Works Cited" page at the end of your paper. This should appear on its own sheet of paper, not along with any content.

    • 5

      Type the author's full name, last name first, followed by a comma, space, then the author's first name and a period. Type a space, then the title of the book, each word capitalized except for words such as "and," "of" and "the" when it occurs between words. Place a period at the end of the title, then a space. Type the city where it was published, followed by a colon and a space. Type the name of the publisher, then a comma, space and the year published. End the citation with a period.

    • 6

      List two or more authors in the order their names appear on the book's title page. Reverse only the first author's last and first name. The rest should be listed first name, last name. Place a space between the names and include the word "and" between all names. Follow all other guidelines in the previous steps.

    • 7

      Type the name of a website for an online reference. Follow the name with a comma, with no space before, then a space and the year the page was posted, which is usually found on the bottom of the page. Type a space, then the word "Web" followed by a period. Type a space, then include the date you accessed the information. End the citation with a period.

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