MLA Citation Tips

Citing can be difficult, especially when it seems like the "rules" change all the time. So, how to know how to cite your sources? Here are some quick tips and resources to make your job as easy as possible.

• First, gather the information you'll need for every source you'll need to cite. These include the author's name, the title of the source, and where you found the source.
• A crucial concept to understand about citing in MLA style is that MLA citations are focused on the concept of Containers, with each piece fitting inside another one. The biggest Container is the location of the source. You can find more on the concept of containers at MLA's Quick Guide, previewed and linked below.

• While many students rely on online citation builders like EasyBib, it's important to understand the limitations of such citation builders. Like any other software, the result is only as good as the programming behind it, and many students have discovered, to their dismay, that software can be out of date. More importantly, though, software is only as good as the information YOU enter in it, so if you don't understand the elements of citations, you might enter incorrect information, and end up with an incorrect citation.
• We understand that it's tempting to just let the citation builder do it for you, but ultimately, you're responsible for the citations you submit, so make sure you understand how citations work, so even if you do use a citation builder, you'll know how to double check that your citations were correctly built.
• Thanks to Trinity College for this easy to navigate primer on how to cite sources using MLA 8 (linked below). We recommend printing this out and keeping it with you when you're writing papers.