How to Cite Your Sources in MLA Style

For detailed, online information, please visit the MLA Style Web site:

• Works Cited a Quick Guide
• Citations by Format

There are two steps to citing sources: creating in-text citations and creating a “Works Cited” list to appear at the end of your paper.

In-text Citations. In-text citations are parenthetical statements inserted in the body of your text. Whenever you quote directly from a source or paraphrase another writer’s work, you need to supply an in-text citation. In-text citations direct the reader to a source listed in the “Works Cited” section of your paper. In-text citations should contain 1) the last name of an author (or authors) whose work appears in the “Works Cited” section; 2) a title keyword if multiple works by the same author are cited; and 3) a page number or other locating number.

Works Cited. This a list of the works you have actually cited in your paper or research project. The works  should be listed in alphabetical order and begin with the author’s last name or, when there is no apparent author, the first prominent word of a title.

Examples

The following section features two works as they would appear in a Works Cited list, and four in-text citations based on those two works. Additional Works Cited examples follow.

Works Cited

BOOK (1 author; this author uses initials rather than a full first name)

Brands, H.W.  American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 
        1865-1900. Doubleday, 2010.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE (Online; no author)

“U. of Vermont Abolishes Carnival Scored as Racist.” The New 
         York Times (1923-Current file), 2 Nov. 1969, p. 59. 
         ProQuest Historical Newspapers, search.proquest.com/
         docview/118632689? accountid=14679

In-text Citations

Basic Format

The official report on The Great Fire of 1871 exonerates the cow but 
still mentions the O’Leary farm (Brands 582).

Author mentioned in text:

As H.W. Brands points out, the official report does not state how the 
fire started (582).

When multiple works by same author are consulted:

According to Brands, the official report does not state how the fire 
started (American Colossus 582).

Another in-text citation with a title:

Students decided to replace Kake Walk with a “winter music and film 
festival” (“U. of Vermont” 59).

Additional Examples

ELECTRONIC BOOK

Marshall, Grace. How to Be REALLY Productive. E-book ed., 
         Pearson Education, 2015.

BOOK (2 authors)

Halperin, Mark, and John Heilemann. Double Down: Game 
         Change 2012. Penguin Press, 2013.

BOOK (3+ authors)

Note use of et al. (Lat., "and others") and UP ("University Press").

Johnston, Richard, et al. The 2000 Presidential Election and
          the Foundations of Party Politics. 
           Cambridge UP, 2004.

BOOK (1 editor)

Bloom, Harold, editor. American Poetry 1946 to 1965. 
        Chelsea House Publishers, 1987

BOOK (2+ editors)

Frye, Joshua J. and Michael S. Bruner, editors. The Rhetoric of 
        Food: Discourse, Materiality, and Power. 
        Routledge, 2012.

BOOK (2+ editors, "et al." option)

Breakey, Suellen, et al., editors. Global Health Nursing 
         in the 21st Century. Springer, 2015.

TRANSLATED WORK (emphasis on translator)

Briggs, Anthony, translator. War and Peace. 
        By Leo Tolstoy, Viking, 2006.

Chapter or Part of a Book

BOOK CHAPTER

Stecopoulos, Harilaos. "Henry James, Propagandist." 
         Henry James Today, Cambridge Scholars, 
         2014, pp. 71-86. 

ESSAY IN A BOOK

Note use and placement of "edited by," reserved for other contributors (MLA Handbook 37).

Popp, Ann Marie, et al. “Gender, Bullying Victimization, and 
          Education.” Perspectives on Bullying: Research on 
          Childhood, Workplace, and Cyberbullying, edited by 
          Roland D. Maiuro, Springer, 2015, pp. 1-14.

Encyclopedia Entry

ENCYCLOPEDIA ENTRY (print)

Since the publisher is Encyclopædia Universalis, it is omitted.

Agulhon, Maurice. “Provence.” Encyclopædia Universalis,
         vol. 19, 1992, pp. 146-147.  

ENCYCLOPEDIA ENTRY (online)

Note *date of access.

Luhr, William. “Film Noir.” Oxford Bibliographies: Cinema 
         and Media Studies, Oxford UP, *13 May 2016, 
         DOI: 10.1093/obo/ 9780199791286-0029  

Journal Article

JOURNAL ARTICLE (print)

Canonici, N. N. “The Sour Milk of Contention: Analysis 
      of a Zulu Folktale.” African Studies, vol. 48,
      no. 1, 1989, pp. 1-36.

JOURNAL ARTICLE (online)

Day-Vines, Norma L., and Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy. “Wellness 
         among African American Counselors.”  Journal of 
         Humanistic Counseling, Education and Development, 
         vol. 46, no. 1, Spring 2007, pp. 82-97. ProQuest, 
         search.proquest.com/docview/212445861

Website

Kinzel, Bob. “Marijuana Legalization in Vermont: What Happened, 
           and What’s Next?” VPR [Vermont Public Radio]: 
           News, 9 May 2016, digital.vpr.net/
           post/marijuana-legalization-vermont-what-happened-
           and-whats-next. Accessed 9 May 2016 
           (if no other date is given).

DVD of Television Episode

Emphasis is on writer, but other participants could be mentioned.

“Bed Bugs and Beyond.” Orange is the New Black: Season Three, 
         written by Jim Danger Gray, episode 2, 
         Lionsgate, 2016, disc 1.