Always Credit:

• Direct quotes and paraphrased ideas

• Facts that are not common knowledge

• Ideas, thoughts, and opinions expressed by others

Do Not Credit:

• Common knowledge and accepted wisdom

• Known literary, artistic, or religious works

If you're not sure, go ahead and cite it.

Citing sources is a two-part process of gathering the publishing (or bibliographic) information for each source and formatting according to the rules in the MLA handbook.  Learn more with this Quizziz.

Step one: 

Create a Works Cited page of your resources.  Although this goes at the end of your paper, it's a good idea to add to this page as you locate sources.  To learn more about creating a Works Cited page, see the MLA style quick guide. 

Also, see how Google Docs makes it easy to create a Works Cited page. 

Step two:

Create in-text citations within your paper as you quote or paraphrase your sources.  In MLA Style this comes at the end of the quote or paraphrase and is formatted to look like this: (Author's Last Name page #).  If there is no author, use the first information provided in the citation.  If there is no page number, omit it.  For example: (Exploring Mars).

Each source you cite in the paper must appear in your Works Cited list; likewise, each entry in the Works Cited list must be cited in your text.

If using a citation generator, remember that computers make mistakes.  You are the final judge on the correctness of your citations!

What happens if there is no author, title, or other piece of publishing information?  

Skip it and move to the next field.

What if the web address for an online source is very long?  

See if the article has a DOI (digital object identifier) or a permalink instead.  

What if my article lists the date as a season instead of a month?  

Use the season written in lowercase letters.  

How do I write titles that begin with "the"?  

Write it out completely, for example The New York Times.

Should I include the date of access for online articles?  

In MLA format, this is required only if the instructor requests it.

How do I cite a quote within a quote?  

MLA calls this an indirect quote and advises the researcher to locate and cite the original source.  If this is not possible, use "qtd. in" (for "quoted in") for the in-text citation, followed by the last name of the author from the indirect source and the page number.  It would look like this (qtd. in Smith 26).  Be sure to list the indirect source in your Works Cited list.

What if a name, title, or website is in all capital letters? 

• Names: Generally, the first and last names of authors should begin with a capital letter and all other letters should be lowercase.  Exceptions may occur in situation where the author/creator has styled their name in an alternative format, such as YouTube creators or author pen names.

• Title: Only the first word and any proper nouns or pronouns should be capitalized in a title.  Exceptions might include acronyms (such as NASA) or specifically styled company names.

• Websites: Websites should be in all lowercase letters even if capital letters represent an acronym.  For example NASA's website is nasa.gov.

Should AI-generated text and images be cited?

The short answer is yes, absolutely!  For examples and more detail consult the MLA cite.

How are images, figures, and tables cited in a paper?  

Source information documentation will always depend upon the medium of the source illustration.  If you provide source information with all of your illustrations, you do not need to provide this information on the Works Cited page.

What if I do not quote or paraphrase from one of my sources?  

It should not be included on the Works Cited page.

MLA Style Center FAQ's 

For answers to more FAQ's, search the MLA Style Center or contact an expert.