Modern Language Association (MLA) Style is commonly used for citing references in English and Humanities courses. You will use this style in this class when required.
The information in this guide comes directly from the MLA Handbook (9th Ed.). Instructors may have requirements that differ from this so always be sure to consult your assignment guidelines for course-specific formatting.
Typical MLA style papers have two sections:
See the tabs below for a breakdown of how each portion should be formatted.
This page of the Citations & Formatting: MLA Style guide has further information on how to format MLA Style papers. It also includes sample papers, and templates to use.
There are two components of an MLA style citation: the full Works Cited entry that goes in the bibliography at the end of your paper and the in-text citation (parenthetical or narrative) that goes in the body of your paper. Both components provide the information necessary for the reader to locate and retrieve the source(s) used to inform a paper. Each cited source in the text of your paper, must also appear in the Works Cited list.
Your complete citation should include the name of the author, date of publication, the title of the source, the title of the journal/website, identifying information such as volume, issue, and page numbers, and either a DOI or a URL if available. This gets alphabetized and placed in the References section at the end of your paper.
Hanauer, Nick. "Education Isn't Enough." Atlantic, vol. 324, no. 1, July 2019, pp. 19-22. Academic Search Complete, login.ezproxyness.helmlib.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=136960062&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Your in-text citation contains the last name of the author, and the page number(s) that the information being used is from, and it is placed in the text of the sentence to which it relates. There are a few ways to do this, parenthetically, narratively, and using a direct quote. Parenthetical citations place the relevant information at the end of your sentence in parentheses, while narrative citations allow for the information to be conveyed in the body of your sentence. As for direct quotes, there are a variety of ways to use them in your paper. See below for examples of each.
The percentage of Americans with high-school diplomas has increased from approximately 50% in 1970 to 90% today (Hanauer 20).
Hanauer found that the percentage of Americans with high-school diplomas has increased from approximately 50% in 1970 to 90% today (20).
One way to increase the quality of public schools is to “pay people enough to afford dignified middle-class lives” (Hanauer 20).
When citing two or more sources in the same parentheses, separate each in-text citation with a semicolon. The order of the sources (alphabetical, by date, by level of importance) is up to you.
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Everly and Lating 27; Shukman)
Use this format for citing periodicals, magazines, newspapers, blog posts, and other similar sources.
Lastname, Firstname. "Title of Article: Subtitle of Article." Title of Periodical, vol. #, issue no. #, Publication Date, pages. Database Name*, DOI/URL. Date of Access**.
*Only put the name of the database that an article was found in if it was found in a database. If it was found in print or on the web omit this section.
**You only need to put a date of access if there is not a publication date.
Overton, Tiffany L., et al. “Distracted Driving: Prevalence, Problems, and Prevention.” International Journal of Injury Control & Safety Promotion, vol. 22, no. 3, Sept. 2015, pp. 187–192. Academic Search Complete, doi:10.1080/17457300.2013.879482.
Smith, Gary, and Margaret Hwang Smith. "Like Mother, Like Daughter? An Economic Comparison of Immigrant Mothers and Their Daughters." International Migration, vol. 51, no. 2, 2013, pp. 181-190.
Healy, Melissa. "Opioid Addiction can be Overcome with Mindfulness, Study Suggests." Los Angeles Times, 17 Oct. 2019, www.latimes.com/science/story/2019-10-17/addiction-to-opioids-can-be-overcome-with-mindfulness.
Martin, Naomi. "New Hampshire's Opioid Crisis Looms Over Marijuana Legalization Debate." Boston Globe, 5 Feb. 2019. ProQuest, login.ezproxyness.helmlib.org/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.ezproxyness.helmlib.org/docview/2176030699?accountid=37958.
Max, Arthur. “Blair Begins Mission as Mideast Envoy.” The Boston Globe, 24 July 2007, p. A3.
Ford, Anne. "It's Not Such a Small World After All: Introducing Older Adults to Virtual Reality." American Libraries, vol. 50, no. 3/4, Mar./Apr. 2019, pp. 22-23.
Gugliotta, Guy. “The Maya: Glory and Ruin.” National Geographic, vol. 212, no. 2, Aug. 2007, pp. 68‐73.
Toensmeier, Eric, and Dennis Garrity. “The Biomass Bottleneck.” Scientific American, vol. 323, no. 2, Aug. 2020, pp. 64-71. Academic Search Complete, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=144469972&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Use this format for citing physical and digital books including citing individual chapters from books and/or works in anthologies.
Lastname, Firstname**. Title of Book: Subtitle of Book. Publisher, Year Published.
Everly, George S., Jr., and Jeffrey M. Lating. The Johns Hopkins Guide to Psychological First Aid. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017.
Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Penguin Press, 2006.
Siebert, Lee, et al. Volcanoes of the World. Smithsonian Institution, 2010.
Author or Editor (if given). Title of Book: Subtitle of Book. e-book ed., Publisher, Publication date. Provider/Database/Container, URL (if available).
Bleeker, Maaike, editor. Anatomy Live: Performance and the Operating Theater. e-book ed., Amsterdam University Press, 2008. Ebook Central, ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/necc-ebooks/detail.action?docID=456860.
Author of chapter. "Title of Chapter: Subtitle of Chapter." Title of Book: Subtitle of Book, edited by Firstname Lastname, Publisher, Publication date, pp. x-xx.
Vicioso, Sherezada. “The Caribbean, or the Feminine Face of Multiculturalism.” Daring to Write: Contemporary Narratives by Dominican Women, edited by Erika M. Martinez, University of Georgia Press, 2016, pp. 159-163.
*If there are 2 authors use this format: Lastname 1, Firstname 1, and Firstname 2 Lastname 2 (such as in the Everly example above).
**If there are three or more authors only put the primary author's name and follow it with "et al." (such as in the Siebert example above).
Use this format for citing social media posts in MLA format.
@Twitter handle. "Insert the entire tweet here." Twitter, DD Mon. YYYY, Time of the post*, URL of tweet.
*to find the time of posting hover over the date of the posting itself.
@BostonGlobe. "Not all potholes are created equal. Some have cost the City of Boston thousands of dollars in payments.
bos.gl/MgY2nvG." Twitter, 2 Apr. 2018, 4:59 a.m., twitter.com/BostonGlobe/status/980776643068399616.
Author Last Name, First Name or Account Name. Description of Post*. Facebook, DD Mon. YYYY, Time of Post, URL.
*as Facebook posts can be lengthy, simply write your own short description of the post.
The Boston Globe. Eversource talks about ways to cut down on power outages. Facebook, 1 Apr. 2018, 10:15 p.m., www.facebook.com/globe/.
Author, A. A. & Author, B. B. (Role of authors). (Date of publication). Title of media: Capitalize the first letter of a subtitle [Description of media]. Publisher/Production Company. URL
Author, A. A. & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of webinar or PowerPoint: Capitalize the first letter of a subtitle [Webinar/PowerPoint slides]. Publisher. URL
Goldberg, J. F. (2018) Evaluating adverse drug effects [Webinar]. American Psychiatric Association. https://education.psychiatry.org/Users/ProductDetails.aspx?ActivityID=6172
Jones, J. (2016, March 23). Guided reading: Making the most of it [PowerPoint slides]. SlideShare. https://www.slideshare.net/hellojenjones/guided-reading-making-the-most-of-it
Producer, A. A. & Producer, B. B. (Producers). (Year). Title of film or series: Capitalize the first letter of a subtitle [Description]. Production Company A; Production Company B. URL.
Jackson, P. (Director). (2001). The lord of the rings: The fellowship of the ring [Film; four-disc special extended ed. on DVD]. WingNut Films; The Saul Zaentz Company.
Ricciardi, L., & Demos, M. (Directors). (2015). Making a murderer [Television series]. Synthesis Films; Netflix. https://www.netflix.com/title/80000770
Uploader, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of work: Capitalize the first word of a subtitle [Description of work]. Publisher. URL
TED. (2011, May 2). Beware online “filter bubbles” [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/B8ofWFx525s
University of Oxford. (2018, December 6). How do geckos walk on water? [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm1xGfOZJc8
Use this format for citing webpages, websites, and other online sources. Do not use this for citing scholarly/academic articles accessed via the web.
Many web sources do not always provide all of the above information (such as an individual author, or a publication date), use the information you can find to create your citations.
Author or Editor (if given). "Title of Webpage." Name of Website. Publisher or Sponsor of the website*, Date published or updated, URL/DOI/permalink. Accessed date**.
Central Intelligence Agency. “Central America: Haiti.” The World Factbook, 19 Mar. 2020, www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/ the-world-factbook/geos/aa.html.
“The Most Haunted Places in Boston.” Ghosts & Gravestones, www.ghostsandgravestones.com/boston/haunted-places.php. Accessed 8 Apr. 2020
Teitell, Beth. "Why We Turn into Different People When We Fly." Boston Globe, 9 July 2019, www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/07/09/ why-turn-into-different-people-when-ly/sxf7XYIHGpm0FkfVct L26M/story.html.
* If the Publisher is the same as the name of the website, omit it. See the Teitell example above
** You do not need to put a date of access if there is a date of publication on the webpage. If there is not a date of publication or date last updated, do not use the copyright date of the website. Use the date you accessed the webpage/website and place it at the end of your citation after the URL/DOI/Permalink. See "The Most Haunted" example above.
There are two components of an MLA style citation: the in-text citation (parenthetical or narrative), as well as the full reference list entry at the end of the paper. Both components provide the information necessary for the reader to locate and retrieve the source(s) used to inform a paper. Each cited source in the text of your paper (in-text citation), must also appear in the list of Works Cited. The following tabs contain examples of both parts of an MLA citation.
Your complete citation should include the name of the author, date of publication, the title of the source, the title of the journal/website, identifying information such as volume, issue, and page numbers, and either a DOI or a URL if available. This gets alphabetized and placed in the References section at the end of your paper.
Hanauer, Nick. "Education Isn't Enough." Atlantic, vol. 324, no. 1, July 2019, pp. 19-22. Academic Search Complete, login.ezproxyness.helmlib.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=136960062&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Your in-text citation contains the last name of the author, and the page number(s) that the information being used is from, and it is placed in the text of the sentence to which it relates. There are a few ways to do this, parenthetically, narratively, and using a direct quote. Parenthetical citations place the relevant information at the end of your sentence in parentheses, while narrative citations allow for the information to be conveyed in the body of your sentence. As for direct quotes, there are a variety of ways to use them in your paper. See below for examples of each.
The percentage of Americans with high-school diplomas has increased from approximately 50% in 1970 to 90% today (Hanauer 20).
Hanauer found that the percentage of Americans with high-school diplomas has increased from approximately 50% in 1970 to 90% today (20).
One way to increase the quality of public schools is to “pay people enough to afford dignified middle-class lives” (Hanauer 20).
When citing two or more sources in the same parentheses, separate each in-text citation with a semicolon. The order of the sources (alphabetical, by date, by level of importance) is up to you.
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Everly and Lating 27; Shukman)
In-text citations can change based upon the number of authors that a source has. Follow the examples below for creating accurate in-text citations for your references.
Works Cited |
Hanauer, Nick. "Education Isn't Enough." Atlantic, vol. 324, no. 1, July 2019, pp. 19-22. Academic Search Complete, login.ezproxyness.helmlib.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=136960062&site=ehost-live&scope=site. |
||
| In-Text Citation |
Parenthetical (Hanauer 20) |
Narrative Hanauer (20) |
Direct Quote (Hanauer 20) |
Works Cited |
Everly, George S., Jr., and Jeffrey M. Lating. The Johns Hopkins Guide to Psychological First Aid. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017 |
||
| In-Text Citation |
Parenthetical (Everly and Lating 86) |
Narrative Everly and Lating (86) |
Direct Quote (Everly and Lating 86) |
Works Cited |
Schwartz, Joel, et al. “Estimating Causal Effects of Local Air Pollution on Daily Deaths: Effect of Low Levels.” Environmental Health Perspectives, 2017, vol. 125, no. 1, pp. 23–29, doi.org/10.1289/EHP232. |
||
| In-Text Citation |
Parenthetical (Schwartz et al. 25) |
Narrative Schwartz et al. (25) |
Direct Quote (Schwartz et al. 25) |
Some sources will not have individual authors, but rather group authors. In these instances, you will still need to cite the item as you would any source with an author. Follow the example below for an accurate in-text citation of a source with a group author.
It is important to note that you should always define the abbreviation for a group author before using it. Thereafter, it is appropriate to use the abbreviation for all mentions of the group in the text.
Works Cited |
Central Intelligence Agency. “Central America: Haiti.” The World Factbook, 16 July 2021, www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/ the-world-factbook/geos/aa.html. |
||
| First In-Text Citation | Parenthetical (Central Intelligence Agency [CIA]) |
Narrative Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) |
Direct Quote (Central Intelligence Agency [CIA]) |
| Subsequent In-Text Citations | Parenthetical (CIA) |
Narrative CIA |
Direct Quote (CIA) |
At times you will come across sources where there is no author listed. If this happens, use a shortened version of the title in your in-text citation.
| Reference List |
"Charles Hull." National Inventors Hall of Fame, www.invent.org/inductees/charles-hull. Accessed 12 Sept. 2020. “The Most Haunted Places in Boston.” Ghosts & Gravestones, www.ghostsandgravestones.com/boston/haunted-places.php. Accessed 8 Apr. 2020. "Where Angels no Longer Fear to Tread." The Economist, vol. 386, no. 8572, 19 Mar. 2008, pp. 89-92. www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2008/03/19/where-angels-no-longer-fear-to-tread. |
||
| In-Text Citation |
Parenthetical |
Narrative |
Direct Quote |
There are different ways to format quotes when they are used in your paper. Follow the guidelines below for proper formatting. For more detailed information on how to format specific types of quotes, see section 1.3 of the MLA Handbook 8th edition.
Include the quotation in the regular text of your paper. Be sure to use quotation marks and add an in-text citation with a page number.
Example:
For Charles Dickens, the eighteenth century was both "the best of times" and "the worst of times" (35).
If a quote runs for four or more lines, treat it as a block quote. Start the block quote on its own line and indent the entire quote 0.5” from the left margin, be sure that it is also double-spaced, with no extra spaces before or after it. Do not use quotation marks for block quotes.
Use a parenthetical citation after the closing punctuation for the sentence or use the author in a narrative introduction before the quote. If you choose to use a narrative introduction, be sure to include the page number of the quote after the final punctuation.
Hanauer discusses the many ways in which the American education system has seemingly failed its people and led to significant income inequality. He explains that the problem is far greater than just that of the
"skills gap"—the notion that decades of wage stagnation are largely a consequence of workers not having the education and skills to fill new high-wage jobs. If we improve our public schools, the thinking goes, and we increase the percentage of students attaining higher levels of education, particularly in the STEM subjects—science, technology, engineering, and math—the skills gap will shrink, wages will rise, and income inequality will fall. (20)
When people think of the word "pirate" today they probably conjure up images of shipwrecks on beaches, cracked bottles of rum, perhaps of Johnny Depp. They also probably think that piracy on the ocean is a thing of the past, however, piracy on the open seas, especially the Atlantic Ocean is still booming even today.
According to the Office of Naval Intelligence’s “Weekly Piracy Reports” 72 reported incidents of piracy and armed robbery at sea occurred in the GoG region this year as of July 9, 2019. Attacks, kidnappings for ransom (KFR), and boardings to steal valuables from the ships and crews are the most common types of incidents with approximately 75 percent of all incidents taking place off Nigeria. During the first six months of 2019, there were 15 kidnapping and 3 hijackings in the GoG. (Central Intelligence Agency)
If you need additional assistance with formatting, citations, or research, you can click on the "Library (LibGuides)" link in the left-hand navigation bar of this Canvas course to chat with the Library Staff.
Additionally, you can visit the complete UCC Library Citations guide for deeper insights into MLA style and even templates for your papers. The UCC Library also provides access to NoodleTools, a Citation Management System to help you stay organized and create accurate citations.
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