Writing Arguments in STEM Student Resource

MLA

MLA Citation Guide

The Importance of Citing

In a piece of academic writing, the sources of information referenced within the text must be given due credit. Generally, citations are a necessary component of the vast dialogues that exist between academics and are a great way to give authority to a writer’s claims. More importantly, citing, specifically in easy-to-read formats such as MLA, prevents plagiarism and upholds the stringent protections of intellectual property that are fundamental to academic writing. Undergraduate students and those who are unfamiliar with such forms of writing often have difficulties with the intricacies and diligence required of proper MLA citation. By referencing the tips and information on this webpage, students can gain a better understanding of the various nuances of citing in MLA.

In-Text Citation Guide

Note:

If the author’s name is provided when the source is introduced, do not also add the author’s name to the in-text citation.

Incorrect: A study conducted by Ciara M. Greene and Gillian Murphy examined the relationship between behavior and consumption of fake news and found, “participants who read a story about a forthcoming contract-tracing app reported a 5% decrease in willingness to download the app” (Greene et al. 1).

Correct: According to an article published by Omar O. Abudayyeh et al., “within months of the release of the SARS-CoV-2 genome, many COVID-19-specific CRISPR tests were reported and distributed around the world” (914).

Author and Page Number

If a source has an author and page numbers, place the author's last name followed by the page number(s) of the quote or paraphrased information in parentheses and place standard punctuation after the closing parenthesis. Do not include a comma between the author's last name and the page number(s).

Author and No Page Number

Many sources have an author but do not contain page numbers. In this scenario, include the author's last name followed by np to indicate the source has no page numbers.

Multiple Authors

Many sources have more than one author. For in-text citations with multiple authors, use the first author's last name followed by et al. to indicate there are multiple authors being credited followed by the page number(s) of information obtained from the source.

No Author and Page Number

If a source does not have an author but has page numbers, the in-text citation should include the source's name in quotation marks followed by the page number(s). If the source's name is long, only the first three or four words of the source’s name should be included in the in-text citation. This allows readers to distinguish the source from others in your work cited.

No Author and No Page Number

If a source does not have an author or page numbers, the in-text citation should include the source's name in quotation marks followed by np to indicate no page numbers.

Inserting Information into a Quote

There are times when information must be added to a quote to clarify the meaning. To do so, place square brackets around the information inserted into the quote.

Removing Information from a Quote

There are times when a quote contains unnecessary information that should be removed. To do so, replace the unnecessary information within the quote with an ellipsis.

What to Avoid!

Incorrect punctuation:
- There is no comma between an author's last name and the page number for in-text citations.
  - Correct: (Johnson 1).
  - Incorrect: (Johnson, 1).
- Standard punctuation is placed after the parentheses.
  - Correct: (Johnson 1).
  - Incorrect: (Johnson 1.)
Do not use simple verbs to lead into quotes.
- Do not include: the author says, mentions, writes, shows, found, etc.
- Instead, use: the author argues, describes, explains, determines, etc.
Do not lead into quotes by writing:
- In this study…
- This study shows…
- A study completed by organization X… (Adapted from "Summaries and MLA").

Work Cited Page

A works cited page is a list of sources used to create a researched argument. Each type of source requires different details in their respective citations to be correctly documented. These citing standards allow readers to easily comprehend research. The following guide provides explanations and examples according to the 9th edition of the MLA Handbook.

General Referencing Tips

When creating a Works Cited page, online MLA citation generators should be avoided as they are highly prone to errors.
If sources are referenced in a work, they must be cited on the Works Cited page. Failure to cite these sources is considered plagiarism.
If sources are cited on the Works Cited page, they must be referenced in the text.
With few exceptions, online websites tend to have faulty information on proper MLA citation. Thus, the MLA Handbook is the best resource when confusion arises while creating MLA citations.
Whether the hyperlinks are chosen to be kept visible or removed is up to the author, but it should be a consistent decision throughout the page (if the hyperlink is removed on one citation, remove it on all).

Book

To cite information from a book, information about the author, title and publication must be included. This information is often located on the inside cover of the book or within the first few pages.

Creating a citation for a book written by a single author starts with the last name and first name.
The title of the book is italicized, as a book represents a large body of work. Next, the publishing company is written followed by the publishing year.
If the book is a compilation of different works, a page number range must be included in the citation.
Note: The City of Publication should only be used if the book was published before 1900, if the publisher has offices in more than one country, or if the publisher is unknown in North America (Purdue Owl np).

Multiple Authors!

If there are two authors, the first author's name is written last name, first name with "and" separating the two authors.
The name of the second author is written in a first name last name format followed by a period.
If there are more than two authors, list the first author's name (Last, First) followed by a comma and the phrase "et al." ("and others" in Latin).

Chapter in a Book/Collection

To cite a chapter in a collection or book, include the following information.

Begin with the author’s last name and first name, followed by a period.
Then, put the chapter name in quotations, followed by a period.
Next, write the name of the collection or book in italics and follow with a comma.
Include the first and last name of the editor of the collection or book in the format “edited by first name last name”. If there are two editors use the format “edited by first name last name and first name last name”.

Finish with the publisher, publication year, and pages of the chapter (pp. # of pages), all separated by a comma. End the citation with a period.

Page on a Website

A page on a website is a complete page that can include many articles and non-articles. This online source is written slightly differently than an article on a website. To cite a page within a website, include:

Author's name, if provided, in the last name, first name format followed by a period.
If the author's name is not provided, the title of the website is written first in "quotations" followed by a period, and then the website name in italics.
Next, the website URL is added and ends with a period. The URL provides access to the source.
Finally, the access date is given in the order of day, month, year followed by a period.
Do not include commas between the day, month, and year.

Importance of Providing Access Dates!

For online sources, the information provided on a site can change if the website is updated by the author. Access dates show that the information cited is used from a specific date in the site's history.

Article from a Website

The defining difference between an online article and an entire web page is an article can stand alone. To cite an online article:

If available, first insert the author's last name, first name followed by a period.
The article name is then put in "quotations" and followed by a period.
Next, the website name is inserted in italics.
This is followed by the date published and the website URL and a period.
Finally include the access date and a final period.

Online Journal

A scholarly journal is a periodical publication consisting of a collection of articles discussing a common discipline. Considering that these sources contain articles of different authors and topics within a particular issue, citing page numbers is significant. The correct page numbers can be found by downloading the PDF version of the article.

Citing a journal article includes:

Use of "quotations" for the title of the article and italics for the publisher of the scholarly journal.
Including the volume (vol. #), issue (no. #), year published, and pages (pp. # of pages) in the citation, all separated by commas.
To complete the citation, add the website URL or DOI, if available.

What is a DOI?

Most journal articles will include a digital object identifier (DOI) which represents a link directly to the article. When available, include the DOI instead of the URL for the journal.

Interview

To cite an in-person interview, use the following format.

Begin with the name of the person who was interviewed in last name, first name format, followed by a period.
Then, write the word “interview” followed by a period to specify the type of source being cited.
Next, include the interviewer in the format “By first name last name” followed by a comma.
Conclude with the date of the interview in "day month year" format. On a works cited page, months should be abbreviated. In text, months should be fully spelled out.

Entry in Encyclopedia/Dictionary

To cite an entry in an encyclopedia or dictionary use the following format.

If the author is known, start the citation with the author in last name, first name format.
Add the title of the entry in quotations along with the part of speech in parenthesis (i.e., a noun would be (n), a verb would be (v)). If the author is known, the title of the entry will follow the author's name. If the author is unknown, the title of the entry will be the first part of the citation.

Next, include the name of the encyclopedia in italics followed by a period.

Online Entry:

If citing an online encyclopedia, include the publisher and the copyright date, separated by a comma. The copyright date should end with a period.
Then, include a link to the entry and the date the entry was accessed, both followed by a period. The access date should be formatted in “day month year” format.

Online Entry:

Print Entry:

If citing an encyclopedia in print, follow the name of the encyclopedia with the editor in “edited by first name last name” format.
Next, include the edition (edition title. ed.), volume (vol. #), publisher, publication year, and pages (pp. # of pages).

Image

To cite an image, use the following format.

Begin with the photographer’s last name, then first name, followed by a period.
If the work has a title, include the title in quotations next followed by a period.
Separated by commas, include the location of the image and date of publication.
End with the online link to the image, followed by a period.

Video

Citations of video and audio sources require similar information to that of print sources. Below is a guide to the information necessary to include when citing video and audio sources.

If the author of the content is different from the uploader of the video, add the name of the author before the title of the video.
The title of the video (with a period) in quotation marks should be included first if the uploader and author are the same.
Then, separated by commas, add the site the video was uploaded on, “uploaded by” preceding the name of the uploader, the date the video was uploaded, and the URL.

TikTok

Citing TikTok videos (and media from other social media platforms) is required when analyzing the platform in essays. Before citing social media posts in your essays, first ensure that the content you are citing was published by a public (not private) account. When citing a TikTok video in MLA format, include the following information.

First include the username of the publisher of the video in the format @Username.
Then, in quotation marks, add the caption of the video with regular MLA capitalization.
Lastly, separated by commas, include the platform on which the content was published (TikTok in this case), the date the video was published, and the URL of the video.

MLA Formatting Guide

Work Cited Page Format

The works cited page always begins on a new page at the end of a piece of writing with “Works Cited” as a centered title.
A hanging indent is provided after the first line of every source.
All citations must be double-spaced with no extra space between the different entries.
Each word in a title of an article, book, etc. must be capitalized, with the exception of prepositions and conjunctions, which are only capitalized if they are the first word in a title. Titles of books and magazines should be italicized while titles of poems and articles should be in quotation marks.
In the work cited page, the page numbers for journal articles should be presented as “pp. 225-50” to identify the span of multiple pages, whereas a single page is referred to as “p. 225” (Purdue Owl).

Entries within the works cited must be listed in alphabetical order.
Punctuation within an individual citation is important in correctly representing each aspect of a citation in a comprehensible manner to a reader.

General Page Setup

To format an essay according to MLA there are a number of standards to follow:

All text should be double-spaced and in 12-point Times New Roman.
The author's last name and page number are positioned one-half-inch away from the top of the page.
The author name, professor name, class title, and date the assignment is submitted are positioned on the left side of the page.
An essay title should be included below the heading and above the body in the center of the page. The title should not be in bold or underlined.

Use one-inch margins.
The first body paragraph of the essay should not be indented, but the first line of all following paragraphs should.

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