Citation Libguide- MLA

Citing or documenting the sources used in your research serves three purposes:

• gives proper credit to the authors of the words and ideas that you incorporated into your work.

• allows those who are reading your work to locate your sources, in order to learn more about the ideas that you include in your paper and verify your research.

• citing your sources consistently and accurately helps you avoid plagiarism in your writing.

Resources 

Help Videos:  MLA

“The Basics of MLA in-Text Citations: Scribbr.” YouTube, 1 July 2020, https://youtu.be/ypWxhhpGeyM.

“Introduction to Citation Styles: MLA 9th Ed.” YouTube, 9 July 2020, https://youtu.be/o7MyM_V8-EA.

In-Text Citations

Parenthetical notes are used instead of footnotes. References in the text must point to specific sources in the list of the works cited. 

Usually the author’s last name and a page reference are enough to identify the sources and the specific location: (Townsend 10).

If there are two authors for a source, give the last name of each person: (Rabkin and Olander vii).

If there are three or more authors for a source, list only the first authors last name followed by et al.: (Rabkin et al. vii). 

Author's Name in a Signal Phrase

If you include the author’s name in a sentence, you need not repeat the name in the parenthetical page citation that follows, provided that the reference is clearly to the work of the author you mention: Tannen has argued this point (178-85).

Citing a Work with Multiple Editions

In parenthetical citations of a work available in multiple editions, such as a commonly studied novel, play, or poem, it's often helpful to provided division numbers in addition to, or instead of page numbers: (Austen 533; vol. 3, ch. 17).

Citing Two or more Works by the same Author

In a parenthetical citation of one of two or more works by the same author, put a comma after the author’s last name and add the title of the work (if brief) or a shortened version and the relevant page reference. (Durant and Durant, Age 214-48).

Note: Short titles of books should be placed in italics while short titles of articles should be places in quotation marks.

Citing a Work with no Author

If no author name is provided, the parenthetical citation should list a short form of the title: (Reading 3).

Citing more than one Author with the same Last Name

When citing works by more than one author with the same last name, eliminate ambiguity by adding the author's first initial, or, if the initial is also shared, the full first name: (N. Baron 194). 

Alphabetize entries in the list of works cited by the author’s last name. If the author is anonymous, alphabetize by title, ignoring initial articles (like “The,” “An,” etc.).

Works Cited Examples

Book 

Last Name, First Name. Title. Publisher, Publication Date.

Jacobs, Alan. The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction. Oxford UP, 2011. 

Book with 3 or more Authors

Last Name, First Name, et al. Title. Publisher, Publication Date.

Burdick, Anne, et al. Digital_Humanities. MIT P, 2012.

Anthology

Last Name, First Name, editors. Title. Publisher, Publication Date.

Holland, Merlin, and Rupert Hart-Davis, editors. The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde. Henry Holt, 2000.

Article from a Database

Last Name, First Name, and First Name Last Name. “Title of Article.” Title of Journal, vol. x, no. x, date, pp. x-x. Database name, doi. 

Chan, Evans. "Postmodernism and Hong Kong Cinema." Postmodern Culture, vol. 10, no. 3, May 2000. Project Muse, doi:10.1353/pmc.2000.0021

Note: If no doi is provided, use the URL instead. An access date can be provided at the end, although it's not required. 

Article in an Online Scholarly Journal

Last Name, First Name. "Title." Title of Journal, vol. x, no. x, date, pp. x-x. URL or doi

Belton, John. "Painting by the Numbers: The Digital Intermediate." Film Quarterly, vol. 61, no. 3, Spring 2008, pp. 58-65. doi: 10.1353/pmc.2000.0021

Print Journal Articles 

Last Name, First Name. "Title." Journal Name, vol. x, no. x, date, pp. x-x. 

Baron, Naomi S. "Redefining Reading: The Impact of Digital Communications Media." PMLA, vol. 128, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 193-200.

Newspaper Articles (Print + Online)

Last Name, First Name. "Title." Newspaper Name, date, pp. x-x.

Deresiewicz, William. "The Death of the Artist - and the Birth of the Creative Entrepreneur." The Atlantic, Jan-Feb. 2015, pp. 92-97.

Last Name, First Name. "Title." Newspaper Name, date, URL.

Deresiewicz, William. "The Death of the Artist - and the Birth of the Creative Entrepreneur." The Atlantic, 28 Dec. 2014, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/01/the-death-of-the-artist-and-the-birth-of-the-creative-entrepreneur/383497/.

Web Sites 

Last Name, First Name. "Title." Website Name, date, URL.

Hollmichel, Stefanie. "The Reading Brain: Differences between Digital and Print." So Many Books, 25 Apr. 2013, somanybooksblog.com/2013/04/25/the-reading-brain-differences-between-digital-and-print/.

Web Site with no author

Title. Publisher, location, URL.

Manifold Greatness: The Creation and Afterlife of the King James Bible. Folger Shakespeare Library / Bodleian Libraries, U of Oxford / Harry Ransom Center, U of Texas, Austin, manifoldgreatness.org

Note: If two or more organizations are named in the source and they seem equally responsible for the work, cite each of them, separating the names with a forward slash (/). 

A Government Publication

Last Name, First Name. Name of national government, agency. Title. Publisher, date. Number of the Congress, session, report number.

United States, Congress, House, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Al-Qaeda: The Many Faces of an Islamist Extremist Threat. Government Printing Office, 2006. 109th Congress, 2nd session, House Report 615. 

Note: If no author name is included, start with the name of the national government and agency. 

Annotated Bibliography 

An annotated bibliography includes a summary and evaluation of each of the sources.

• Summarize: Summarize the source. What are the main arguments? What is the point of this book or article? What topics are covered? If someone asked what this article/book is about, what would you say? The length of your annotations will determine how detailed your summary is.

• Assess: After summarizing a source, it may be helpful to evaluate it. Is it a useful source? How does it compare with other sources in your bibliography? Is the information reliable? Is this source biased or objective? What is the goal of this source?

• Reflect: Once you've summarized and assessed a source, you need to ask how it fits into your research. Was this source helpful to you? How does it help you shape your argument? How can you use this source in your research project? Has it changed how you think about your topic?