MLA
An organization called the Modern Language Association sets the official conventions and the academic style of papers and research for English classes. In addition to the information and links on our academic writing page, these are some resources you may find useful for grappling with and using MLA style, formatting, and documentation effectively:
MLA Document design
MLA-style essays have a particular set of expectations.
Alisa's handy 2-page handout explaining MLA essays
Format your essay (and time travel?!) with Alisa's step-by-step video explainer using Google Docs.
MLA Citation Style (in-text and the Works Cited list)
Columbia College's comprehensive MLA Citation Guide (9th Edition)
Changes from MLA 8th to new 9th edition
Alisa's handy 1-minute video: how to format that pesky "hanging indent" for citations (Google Docs).
How do I cite this...?
- social media (podcasts, videos, tweets, etc.)?
- interviews, emails (personal communications)?
- government documents?
- course handouts & info?
- something quoted in another text (indirect citation)?
- optional/supplemental citation elements?
- including original publication dates
- generative AI (such as ChatGPT) 🤖
- everything else?
![List of core citation elements: 1 Author. 2 Title of Source. [Container] 3 Title of Container, 4 Contributor, 5 Version, 6 Number, 7 Publisher, 8 Publication Date, 9 Location.](https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/NbFL0g7mLFfENGF7JV-hLa_FYIXxEDmxs9aFL07LONm-7nMg64uP2XCluh6a3Jwi83XH7jCyRCu1_loVunUSy5kuG_mfsigDgU87eECAxUDRbaJhwUMj0ljijlqZAyWRKA=w1280)
Highly recommended! Noodle Tools is a web-based tool (free to CCSF students) that helps you track research and citations for your projects. It includes citation in MLA and other formats, note-taking, outlining, annotation, and some writing tools. It also has collaborative elements to share research.