MLA Style

This is the style established by the Modern Language Association of America (MLA). MLA style is used primarily in the humanities, especially in the fields of language and literature. The examples presented here are just a starting point. For additional examples, please refer to the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Seventh Edition. Copies of the handbook are available behind the Reference Desk on the 2^nd floor of Smith Library and at the Reference Desk at the University Center Learning Commons.

When doing citations in MLA Style, remember to follow these MLA Formatting Guidelines. For general formatting rules for papers in MLA style, see section 4 of the MLA Handbook.

The purpose of citation is to allow readers to access the information being cited. Proper citation also ensures that you are not committing plagiarism or misusing sources, which is in violation of the University Honor Code.

 

Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Books

Book – Single Author (5.5.2)

Book – Two Or More Authors (5.5.4)

Edited Book (5.5.3)

Essay or Chapter in an Edited Book (5.5.6)

Book – No Author or Editor (5.5.9)

Dictionary Entry or Encyclopedia Article (5.5.7)

 

Journals and Newspapers

Journal Article – Single Author (5.4.2)

Journal Article – Two or More Authors (5.4.2)

Newspaper Article (5.4.5)

 

Other Sources

Government Publication (5.5.20)

Television or Radio Broadcast (5.7.1)

Film or Video Recording (5.7.3)

Painting, Sculpture, or Photograph (5.7.6)

Legal Source (5.7.14)

 

Electronic Sources

Electronic/Online Book (5.6.2c)

Entire Internet Site (6.4.1)

Online Encyclopedia (5.6.2)

Journal or Magazine Article in a Database (5.6.4)

Online Journal or Magazine (5.6.2)

 

In-Text Citations

One Work by a Single Author (6.1)

No Author (6.4.4)

No Page Numbers (6.4.1)

Quote or Paraphrase (6.4.2)

Indirect Sources (6.4.7)

MLA Formatting Guidelines  ▲back to top

   1. All MLA citations should be double spaced.

   2. The first line should be flush with the left margin. All other lines should be indented.

   3. Use the author's full name as it appears on the title page, not an abbreviation. This may differ from the database where you originally found the citation.

   4. Capitalize every important word in the title. (See MLA Handbook 3.6.1)

   5. Italicize titles of books and names of journals; put article titles in quotation marks. (3.3)

   6. If the book has a subtitle, put a colon between the main title and the subtitle. Subtitles must be included in the citation; use the title information provided on the title page of the book, not the spine or cover.

   7. If the place of publication lists several cities, use the first city given; do not include the state, province, or country after the city name. (5.5.2)

   8. Publishers' names should be shortened by following the guidelines provided. (7.5).

   9. Include the medium of publication consulted. For example, “Print” or “Web.” (5.4.1, 5.5.1, 5.6.2, 5.6.3, 5.6.4, etc.)

BOOK – SINGLE AUTHOR (5.5.2)  ▲back to top

Harman, Claire. Jane’s Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World. New York: Holt, Henry & Company,

                  Inc., 2010. Print.

 

BOOK – TWO OR MORE AUTHORS (5.5.4)  ▲back to top

Broer, Lawrence R., and Gloria Holland. Hemingway and Women: Female Critics and the Female Voice.

                  Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama P, 2002. Print.

 

EDITED BOOK (5.5.3)  ▲back to top

Conard, Mark T., ed. The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2009.

Tannen, Deborah, and Muriel Saville-Troike, eds. Perspectives on Silence. Norwood: Ablex, 1985. Print.

Note: Use (ed.) or (eds.) to indicate editor(s). For major reference works with a large editorial board, list the name of the lead editor, followed by et al.

 

ESSAY OR CHAPTER IN AN EDITED BOOK (5.5.6)  ▲back to top

More, Hannah. “The Black Slave Trade: A Poem.” British Women Poets of the Romantic Era. Ed. Paula R.

                  Feldman. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1997. 472.82. Print.

 

BOOK – NO AUTHOR OR EDITOR (5.5.9)  ▲back to top

The Holy Bible. Wheaton: Crossway-Good News, 2003. Print. Eng. Standard Vers.

 

DICTIONARY ENTRY OR ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLE (5.5.7)  ▲back to top

Full publication information is not necessary for well-known reference books like Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (just include edition number and year). The definition entry or article title, with or without an author (depends on source), is contained within quotation marks.

“Noon.” Def. 4b. The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. Print.

Keane, John. “Paine, Thomas.” Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment. Ed. Alan Charles Kors. Vol. 3. New

                  York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Print.

 

JOURNAL ARTICLE – SINGLE AUTHOR (5.4.2)  ▲back to top

Toker, Leona. “Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities and the French  Revolution.” Dickens Quarterly 27.2

                  (2010): 154-157. Print.

 

JOURNAL ARTICLE – TWO OR MORE AUTHORS (5.4.2)  ▲back to top

Rush, Kendra and Kelly Lipski. “Teaching Social Skills Through Children's Literature.” Illinois Reading

                  Council Journal 37.4 (2009): 20-25. Print.

 

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE (5.4.5)  ▲back to top

McKay, Peter A. “Stocks Feel the Dollar’s Weight.” Wall Street Journal 4 Dec. 2006: C1+. Print.

 

GOVERNMENT PUBLICATION (5.5.20)  ▲back to top

United States Cong. House. Joint Committee on the Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack. Hearings.

                  79th Cong., 1st and 2nd sess. 32 vols. Washington: GPO, 1946. Print.

Note: For more information on how to cite government publications, see this guide.

 

TELEVISION OR RADIO BROADCAST (5.7.1)  ▲back to top

“The Phantom of Corleone.” Narr. Steve Kroft. Sixty Minutes. CBS. WCBS, New York, 10 Dec. 2006.

                  Television.

 

FILM OR VIDEO RECORDING (5.7.3)  ▲back to top

North by Northwest. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. Perf. Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Martin

                  Landau. MGM, 1959. Film.

 

PAINTING, SCULPTURE, OR PHOTOGRAPH (5.7.6)  ▲back to top

Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn. Aristotle with a Bust of Homer. 1653. Oil on canvas. Metropolitan

                  Museum of Art, New York.

 

LEGAL SOURCE (5.7.14)  ▲back to top

Brown v. Board of Educ. 347 U. S. Reports (17 May 1954): 483-500. Print.

 

ELECTRONIC/ONLINE BOOK (5.6.2c)  ▲back to top

Pettitt, Claire. Patent Inventions: Intellectual Property and the Victorian Novel. New York: Oxford

                  University Press, 2004. NetLibrary. Web. 7 Jun 2010.

 

ENTIRE INTERNET SITE (5.6.1; 5.6.2)  ▲back to top

Salda, Michael N., ed. The Cinderella Project. Vers. 1.2. U of Southern Mississippi, Oct. 2005. Web. 7 Jun

                  2010.

 

ONLINE ENCYCLOPEDIA (5.6.2)  ▲back to top

“Gogh, Vincent van.” Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2010. Web. 7 Jun 2010.

 

JOURNAL OR MAGAZINE ARTICLE IN A DATABASE (5.6.4)  ▲back to top

Frasher, Ramona S. “Boys, Girls, and Pippi Longstocking.” The Reading Teacher 30.8 (1977): 860-863.

                  JSTOR. Web. 7 Jun 2010.

 

ONLINE JOURNAL OR MAGAZINE (5.6.2)  ▲back to top

Scham, Michael. “Don Quixote and the Art of Laughing at Oneself.” Cervantes: Bulletin of the Cervantes

                  Society of America 29.1 (2009): 31-55. Web. 7 Jun 2010.

 

 

In-Text Citations

Citing a source in the text enables the reader to identify the source of information through the alphabetically arranged Works Cited page at the end of your paper. Within the text of the paper, the last name of the author and the page number where the quote or paraphrased information can be found are inserted in the text at the appropriate point. This brief citation should match a full citation on the Works Cited page.

A quotation of more than four typed lines should be started on a new line. All lines of the quote should be indented. The type is double space. There are no quotation marks and a colon introduces the quote. If there is a paragraph break in the quote, indent the paragraph in your paper. The page number or pages referenced should follow the quote.

 

ONE WORK BY A SINGLE AUTHOR (6.1)  ▲back to top

In a recent article on Shakespeare (Smith 198)….

Smith, in a recent article on Shakespeare (198)…

 

ARTICLE – NO AUTHOR (6.4.4)  ▲back to top

In a recent article on Shakespeare (“Bard” 198)…

Note: In this case, use the title of the article in your parenthetical reference.

 

BOOK – NO AUTHOR

In a recent work on Shakespeare (Bard 198)…

Note: In this case, use the title of the book in your parenthetical reference.

 

NO PAGE NUMBERS (6.4.1)  ▲back to top

International espionage was as prevalent as ever in the 1990s (“Decade”).

Fukuyama’s Our Posthuman Future includes many examples of this trend.

The utilitarianism of the Victorians “attempted to reduce decision-making about human actions to a ‘felicific calculus’” (Everett).

Note: If you cite from a publication that has no page numbers, try to use the author’s name in the text rather than the parenthetical reference.

 

QUOTE OR PARAPHRASE (6.4.2)  ▲back to top

Litvak calls Winter’s mumbling a “labor of disarticulation” (167).

Between 1968 and 1988, television coverage of presidential elections changed dramatically (Hallin 5).

 

INDIRECT SOURCES (6.4.7)  ▲back to top

Samuel Johnson admitted that Edmund Burke was an “extraordinary man” (qtd. in Boswell 2: 450).

Note: Whenever possible, try to get your material from the original source, not a secondary one. Sometimes, however, only an indirect source is available. If what you quote or paraphrase is itself a quotation, put the abbreviation qtd. in before the indirect sources you cite in your parenthetical reference. In your works cited list, the full citation would be for the secondary source, not the original source.