How to Footnote in MLA Style

Students and researchers use several styles when referencing sources in an essay or document. One of the most popular is MLA--Modern Language Association style. Using these guidelines, writers give credit to their sources and let readers accurately locate the writings used in the composition. A footnote is one such place a writer must credit a source.

Instructions

  1. Printed Works

    • 1

      Identify the author of the book or manuscript. Their first name should be written first, followed by a middle initial (if present) and last name. Insert a comma after the name.

    • 2

      Italicize or underline the full name of the book. Capitalize the first word of the title, all important words and proper nouns.

    • 3

      Insert parentheses. Within them, insert the city where the book was published, followed by a colon. List the name of the publisher followed by a comma and the year of publication. Put a comma on the outside of the parentheses.

    • 4

      Write a lowercase "p" followed by a period and the page or pages you used in your study. Separate each individual page with a comma, or hyphenate consecutive pages where necessary. End the footnote with a period.

    • 5

      Ensure your footnote looks something like this:

      John A. Smith, Book Name Italicized (New York: Smith University Press, 1985), p. 110, 150-156.

    Online Works

    • 6

      Identify the author of the article or website. Their first name should be written first, followed by a middle initial (if present) and last name. Insert a comma after the name.

    • 7

      Italicize the title of the article or website. Insert a comma after the title.

    • 8

      Paste the URL of the web page next to the comma. This should include the "http://" portion.

    • 9

      Insert the month and year that the web page was authored or created within parentheses. Insert a period outside the parentheses.

    • 10

      Double-check that your footnote looks like this:

      John A. Smith, Italicized Title of Web Page, http://www.webaddress.com/pageurl/pageurl2.html (April 2009).

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