MLA

Modern Language Association (MLA) – author-page number, is widely used in linguistics and literature. The sample citations below are based on the Citations by Format guide at the official MLA Style Center.

MLA Handbook

The examples below show you how to cite five basic source types. Click on an entry to get more information, as well as links to posts with more examples. For hundreds of sample entries by format, check out the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook. Appendix 2, Citation Examples, provides an extensive list of MLA citation examples covering a variety of source types.

In-text citations

If the author’s name is part of the sentence, only the page number is given in parentheses. Place the parentheses where there is a natural pause, preferably at the end of the sentence:

Barrow found that … (137-141).

If the author’s name is not included in the sentence, it should be included in parentheses:

(Barrow 137-141).

If you are using multiple works by the same author, add a comma and the title (short form) or an abbreviated title before the page number.

(Faingold, Child language 95-97).

If you are referring to the entire book, or to a work without a page number, it is often best to include the author’s name and/or title in the text itself, like this:

Fukuyama’s Our Posthuman Future has many examples of this.

If you are citing works with two or multiple authors, use the same order as on the title page. For three or more authors, use the first author’s last name followed by et al.

(Gullion and Tilton 50)

(Smith et al. 42)

Quotations

Quotations shorter than three lines are included in the text with quotation marks. Longer quotations are marked with a colon and indentation, but not quotation marks.

Works Cited

  • Each source cited in your work should appear in a list at the end of your paper, on a new page entitled Works Cited.
  • The works cited list is arranged alphabetically by the author’s last name. If the citation contains no author, the citation will begin with the title of the source, and will be listed with the other sources alphabetically.
  • If there are multiple authors, the list should be alphabetized starting with the first author, then the second author, etc.
  • If you have multiple works by the same author, they should be arranged alphabetically by title. The name is not repeated, but is replaced by three hypens.
  • Use hanging indentation in the reference list, meaning that all lines after the first in each entry are indented.

MLA core elements in standard order

  1. Author
  2. Title of Source
  3. Title of Container
  4. Contributor
  5. Version
  6. Number
  7. Publisher
  8. Publication Date
  9. Location :::
MLA template

Entries in a works-cited list can be created using MLA template of core elements—facts common to most sources, like author, title, and publication date. To use the template, evaluate the work you’re citing to see which elements apply to the source. Then, list each element relevant to your source in the order given on the template. See examples for how this is done in the Quick Guide.

Books

Book by One Author

Mantel, Hilary. Wolf Hall. Picador, 2010.

Book by Two or Many Authors

Use the same order as on the title page.

For two authors, only the first author’s name is inverted.

Last Name, First Name, and First Name Last Name. Title. Publisher, Year.

Gullion, Jessica, and Abigail Tilton. Researching With: A Decolonizing Approach to Community-Based Action Research. Brill Publishers, 2020.

For three or more authors, use the first author’s last name followed by et al.

Last Name, First name, et al. TItle. Publisher, Year.

Johnson, Norine G., et al. Beyond Appearance: A New Look at Adolescent Girls. American Psychological Association, 2009.

Book by an Unknown Author

Beowulf. Translated by Alan Sullivan and Timothy Murphy, edited by Sarah Anderson, Pearson, 2004.

An Edited Book

Sánchez Prado, Ignacio M., editor. Mexican Literature in Theory. Bloomsbury, 2018.

Online Works

Article on a website

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

Book on a website

Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Masque of the Red Death.” The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, edited by James A. Harrison, vol. 4, Thomas Y. Crowell, 1902, pp. 250-58. HathiTrust Digital Library, hdl.handle.net/2027/coo.31924079574368.

Journal Article in a Database

Goldman, Anne. “Questions of Transport: Reading Primo Levi Reading Dante.” The Georgia Review, vol. 64, no. 1, spring 2010, pp. 69-88. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41403188.

Journal Article with three or more authors

Gullion, Jessica, et al. “Conceptualizing Illness: Explanatory Models of the ‘Flu’ Among Daycare Providers.” Texas Public Health Association Journal, vol. 58, no. 4, Fall 2004, pp. 12-15.

Songs, Recordings, and Performances

Song from an Album

Snail Mail. “Thinning.” Habit, Sister Polygon Records, 2016. Vinyl EP.

Song on a website

Snail Mail. “Thinning.” Bandcamp, snailmailbaltimore.bandcamp.com.

Concert Attended in Person

Beyoncé. The “Formation” World Tour. 14 May 2016, Rose Bowl, Los Angeles.

Movies, Videos, and Television Shows

A Movie Viewed in Person

Opening Night. Directed by John Cassavetes, Faces Distribution, 1977.

A Movie Viewed Online

Richardson, Tony, director. Sanctuary. Screenplay by James Poe, Twentieth Century Fox, 1961. YouTube, uploaded by LostCinemaChannel, 17 July 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMnzFM_Sq8s.

A Television Show Viewed on Physical Media

“Hush.” 1999. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Fourth Season, created by Joss Whedon, episode 10, Mutant Enemy / Twentieth Century Fox, 2003, disc 3. DVD.

Images

A Photograph Viewed in Person

Cameron, Julia Margaret. Alfred, Lord Tennyson. 1866, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

A Painting Viewed Online

Bearden, Romare. The Train. 1975. MOMA, www.moma.org/collection/works/65232?locale=en.

An Untitled Image from a Print Magazine

Karasik, Paul. Cartoon. The New Yorker, 14 Apr. 2008, p. 49.

Guide

See also the guide at Simon Fraser University

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