MLA Style
Taken from the new MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers 7th Ed.
Other Common Sources | Citing Sources in the Text of the Paper
Formatting a Bibliography/Works Cited Section.
What’s New!
- MLA requires that titles are now italicized instead of underlined.
- MLA requires that citations include the format of the work (i.e. web, print, radio, etc).
- MLA no longer requires URLs if the item can be found by doing a simple internet search.
- MLA requires that the citation include both the volume and issue number even if page numbers are included.
Arrangement of Entries. MLA 5.3.3 – 5.3.5
- MLA requires a hanging indent in a list of works cited. In a hanging indent, the first line of each citation begins at the margin, and the following lines are indented by 1/2".
- Double space within and between entries.
- Alphabetize by author's last name.
- Indicate format (i.e. Print, Web, Television etc)
- If two or more sources are by the same author, alphabetize by second author’s last name or title of work and put 3 hyphens in place of author’s name.
Examples:
Online Sources
Articles from Library Databases. MLA 5.6.3 - 5.6.4
Examples:
Scholarly Article from database – pages indicated:
In-text Citation: "Anne’s final power comes in realizing not her goodness but her regret" (Larson 51-52).
Scholarly Article from database – no pages:
In-text Citation: One of the first forms of Holocaust education was survivor accounts (Ben-Bassat).
Newspaper article from database online:
In-text Citation: Halloween costume options are unlimited thanks to online shopping (Slatalla G4).
Court Case from database:
In-text Citation: The court was allowed to hear the claims even though the employee filed them late(National Railroad…)
Literary criticism from database:
In-Text Citation: Surprisingly, Chopin did not begin to write fiction until the age of 38 (Inge).
On-line encyclopedia:
In-Text Citation: The absolutist form of government that was popular in the 17th Century was gradually replaced by limited monarchies (Reill and Wilson).
General Websites: Not from a Database. MLA 5.6.1-5.6.2
Examples:
Author, No Date:
In-Text Citation: Even though many of her supposed predictions have come true, Mother Shipton is, most likely, a mythical person (Lewis).
No Author:
In-text Citation: During the Holocaust, Anne was forced to hide with her family in secret rooms for over two years ("Who is Anne Frank").
Wiki:
In-text Citation: According to Roman Law, children of divorce would be placed with the father if the mother was found to be at fault ("Divorce").
Blog:
In-text Citation: The blogger Elementaryhistoryteacher suggests conducting Google searches on website authors to help verify information found on the Internet.
Podcast:
In-text Citation: Many students who plagiarize are overachievers who will not accept anything less than perfect grades (Stephens).
PRINT SOURCES
- Books: Single author, multiple authors and corporate authors
- Books: Works in an anthology
- Scholarly Journal Articles (Print)
- Newspaper Articles (Print)
- Magazine Articles (Print)
- Reference Book Articles (Print)
- Excerpts in Anthologies (Collections of Literary Criticism)
Books. MLA 5.5.2 – 5.5.5
Examples:
Single Author:
In-text citation: Students' beliefs about college differ from those of their parents (Boyer 12).
Multiple Authors:
In-Text citation: Successful learners study more efficiently (Siebert, Smith and Walter 72).
Corporate Author:
In-Text citation: The Minsk Ghetto in the Soviet Union housed about 80,000 Jews between 1941 and 1943 (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 56-57).
Works in an anthology. MLA 5.5.6
Example:
In-Text citation: "It was becoming a drain to be continually called upon for this nurturing and support that she just didn’t understand" (Naylor 743).
Scholarly Journal Articles (Print). MLA 5.4.2-5.4.4
(Note: Include as much Volume/Issue/Date information as the journal provides.)
Example:
In-Text citation: Ballard, Green and Grander agree that mock aggression is typically a positive behavior (42).
Newspaper Articles (Print). MLA 5.4.5
Example:
In-text Citation: The city of Vienna compromised by agreeing to build the shrine several feet from the site of the medieval synagogue (Perlez A8).
Magazine Articles (Print). MLA 5.4.6
Example:
In-Text Citation: "Only 10 when the Nazis marched into his city of Lodz, Poland, in 1939, Jack Tramiel (then named Idek Tramielski) initially had a kid's thrilled reaction to the sheer spectacle of the scene…" (Loomis 80).
Reference Book Articles (Print). MLA 5.5.7
Examples:
Author Listed:
In-text Citation: Burma gained its independence in 1948 (Silverstein 10).
Dictionary - No Author Listed:
In-text Citation: Young adult books certainly have "a particular style, form or content" ("Genre" def.2).
Specialized Reference Source:
In-text Citation: According to the idea of "Karma," church volunteers will be rewarded later in their lives.
Specialized Literary Reference Source:
In-Text Citation: Surprisingly, Chopin did not begin to write fiction until the age of 38 (Inge 91).
Excerpts from books or articles reprinted in anthologies (Print). MLA 5.5.6
Use this format to cite articles or excerpts from collections of literary criticism and other multi-volume anthologies.
Examples:
Book:
In-text Citation: According to Olderman, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a modern fable pitting a fabulous kind of good against a fabulous kind of evil” (267).
Article:
In-text Citation: Seligman (242) argues that the language in this comic book novel is even more effective than the illustrations.
OTHER COMMON SOURCES
Film or Video. MLA 5.7.3
(Note: Include original release date if appropriate – see DVD example)
Example:
Film:
In-text Citation: Approximately 10,000 children traveled to England via the Kindertransport to escape the Holocaust (Into the Arms...).
DVD:
In-text Citation: When the American justice system fails his family, Bonasera asks for Don Corleone’s help (The Godfather).
Television or Radio Broadcast. MLA 5.7.1
(Note: Information relating to the episode follows the episode; information related to the series follows the series).
Examples:
Television:
In-text Citation: Shitake mushrooms are easy to grow at home using prepackaged kits ("Mushroom").
Television (no city):
In-text Citation: The gang was formed in the 1990s and has since infiltrated the Maryland prison system ("Dead Man Inc.").
Radio:
In-text Citation: It is common for the "urban poor" to barter with neighbors for good and services ("Does it Cost More…?).
Interviews. MLA 5.7.7
Examples
Broadcast or Published Interview:
In-text Citation: One of the main reasons that investors lost faith in Bear Stearns was because of its "large mortgage portfolio" (Kelly).
Personal Interview:
In-text Citation: Many librarians are glad to see that the new MLA citation standards make it "so much easier for students to correctly cite online sources" (Dempsey).
Citing Sources in the Text of the Paper
Sources with Authors. MLA 6.1 – 6.4
- Supply the author's last name and a page number in parentheses just next to the material that you are citing. Or, if you mention the author's name in your text, simply provide the page number (MLA 6.3).
Example: Seligman (242) argues that the language in this comic book novel is even more effective then the illustrations.
- If there is no page number, provide just the author's name (MLA 6.4.1).
- If you have two or more entries by the same author in your bibliography, put a comma after the author and provide a brief title as well (MLA 6.4.6).
Example: (Kohn, "Unconditional Teaching" 24)
- Two or more works in a single parenthetical reference are separated by semicolons (MLA 6.4.9).
Example: (Kohn, "Unconditional Teaching" 24; Larson 52)
- Online and print sources are cited the same way.
Example Text:
(the text below is taken from: Radford, Marie L. and Gary P. Radford. "Power, Knowledge, and Fear: Feminism, Foucault, and the Stereotype of the Female Librarian." Library Quarterly 67.3 (1997): 250-266.)
The image of the librarian as a "little old lady with the bun, the shawl, the wire specs, and the pencils sticking out of her hair" (Manley 650) or a "fussy old woman of either sex, myopic and repressed, brandishing or perhaps cowering behind a date stamp" (Crowell 167) is totally inconsistent with the growing development and widespread use of electronic information retrieval technologies in modern libraries.
Locke Morrisey and Donald Case have demonstrated that the stereotype of the female librarian "is strongly pronounced among students of all ages" and that their perceptions are primarily shaped by "powerful" television, film, and print images (454).
The works cited section for these paragraphs would appear:
Example Works Cited
Sources without Authors. MLA 6.4.4
- If there is no author, provide the full title, if brief, or a shortened title with a page number (if available).
- Online and print sources are cited the same way in the text.
Example Text:
A New York Times editorial called Ralph Ellison "a writer of universal reach" ("Death" A18).
Example Works Cited

