The following information is adapted from The MLA Handbook, Ninth Edition.
The ninth edition of The MLA Handbook, published in 2021, attempts to make citation easier for researchers than earlier editions of the book. Rather than focusing on the format of individual sources this edition has researchers ask the same set of questions about every source.
This makes is possible to cite sources without having to wait for the Modern Language Association to publish a new set of rules every time a new form of media debuts.
The citation style for every piece of information you cite should be similar and should look for nine crucial pieces of information. All sources should be properly formatted and organized by author’s last name in a works cited page of a bibliography at the back of your paper.
Author.
Title of source.
Title of container,
Other contributors,
Version,
Number,
Publisher,
Publication date,
Location.
Each of these pieces of information is separated by the punctuation mark that follows it in the list above. If a piece of information is missing from your source then it is left blank.
One Container:
Author Last Name, Author First Name. Title of Source. Other Contributors, Number, Publisher,
Publication Date, Location.
Two Containers:
Author Last Name, Author First Name. “Title of Source.” Title of Container One,
Other Contributors, Number, Publisher, Publication Date, Location. Title of Container Two,
Other Contributors, Number, Publisher, Publication Date, Location.
This is the name of the creator of the work. If available, this will always the the first part of a citation. If the work has no author you can leave this section of the citation blank. If the work has a single author you write the last name before the first name and separate the two names with a comma.
If a work has two authors, you only reverse the first author’s name
Example: Smith, John and Jane Smith
If a work has three or more authors you only need to include the first author’s name and then then phrase et al. (And others)
Example: Smith, John, et al.
Online usernames can be used like author names if the source you are citing only provides these.
If a work only has an editor and no central author write the author’s name followed by, editor.
Example: Smith, John, editor
If a work is created by a corporate author such as a government agency or a group you can list the corporate author as the author of the work
When discussing a movie or television show as a whole leave the author spot blank and simply begin with the title of the work.
The title of a work is the second part of a citation
If you are citing a stand alone work the title will be italicized.
Example:
Smith, John. The Autobiography of John Smith. Smith Family Press, 2018.
If you are citing something that is part of a larger work (such as a single essay in a larger collection or a poem in a collection) the title of the section you are using will be in quotation marks and the title of the larger work will follow it in italics. You will also need to add the editor as another contributor and the page range.
Example
Smith, John. “My Early Years.” The Autobiography of John Smith, edited by Jane Smith, Smith Family Press, 2018, pp. 12-30.
When a work has no title you need to provide a brief description of the work after the author’s name.
Example:
Smith, John. Painting of an oak tree. 2009, Art Museum Name, Location.
When citing comments online use the following format for a title:
Username. Comment on “Title of the website or blog post.” Title of the Website or Blog.
23 March 2016, 5:00 p.m., www.WebsiteName.com/LinktoComment.
When citing a microblog like X (Formerly Twitter) use the entirety of the Tweet as a title
Example:
@TwitterHandle. “This is the text of the tweet I am citing. The whole Tweet is the title
#MLA.” Twitter, 8 May 2018, 12:02 p.m.,
www.twitter.com/@TwitterHandle/status/1344534532.
This section refers to the entity that holds the entire source. It is important to remember that sources can exist in more than one container.
A magazine article that you find in a database has two containers:
The magazine it was originally published in
The database where you found it
Examples of containers:
When you use just a chapter of a book the whole book is the container.
When you use an article from a magazine or newspaper the original magazine or newspaper is the container.
When you use a scholarly journal from a database the first container is the journal where the article was originally published and the second container is the database where you accessed this article.
If you are citing a television episode the series name is the first container and the site where you streamed it is the second container
Each container is important for they will help readers of your research locate the materials you used.
Many resources you use will have multiple containers. You need to gather the following information for each container your material is in:
What is the title of what is housing the item you are using for research? Containers can be books, databases, websites, series names, magazines, etc.
Does the item have a translator, an editor, or some other person who contributed to this work? If that person is important to the version of the item that you are citing write his or her name preceded by a description of what he or she did. (Example: translated by John Smith.)
If something you are citing is anything other than the first edition this is where you note that in your citation.
If you are looking at a multivolume set of books this will be the volume of the title you used. If you are looking at an academic journal this will be the volume and issue number written like vol. 64, no. 1,
The group who is responsible for making the work public. Publishers do not need to be included in periodicals (magazines, journals, newspapers), or if the site is just hosting the content like YouTube.
The date the item was created or last updated. For citation of comments online or things like Twitter put the time as well as the date. If you are missing a piece of information for the date such as the day or month you may leave it out. In MLA dates are formatted as such:
Day Month Year, Time,
12 November 2014,
13 October 2018, 10:00 a.m.,
This refers to where the item is located. For printed items this means a single page number or a range of page numbers
When an item comes from a single page you must put a p. in frond of the number. If it comes from a range of pages you must put pp. in front of the numbers.
The location of an item posted online is typically the URL. If the item is in a set of discs then the location is the disc number. If you can find it, look for something called the stable URL or the permalink. This means that the URL will not change over time.