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MLA Citation Guide (9th Edition): Citation Formats and Examples

This guide provides an overview of MLA style and where to find help with different MLA resources. MLA style is most commonly used to cite sources within the language arts, cultural studies, and other humanities disciplines.

MLA Handbook

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Common MLA Style (9th) Citation Formats and Examples

The parts of your citation must be put in a certain order based on the "style" of citation you are using. Below are examples of MLA.

  Examples
MLA Format for Books

 

Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. City of Publication, Publisher, Publication Date.

 

*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.

 

Example with one author

Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House. MacMurray, 1999.

Example with two authors

 

Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring. Allyn and Bacon, 2000.

 
Example with three or more authors

 

Wysocki, Anne Frances, et al. Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of Composition. Utah State UP, 2004.

 

*Note: If there are three or more authors, list only the first author followed by the phrase et al. (Latin for "and others") in place of the subsequent authors' names. (Note that there is a period after “al” in “et al.” Also note that there is never a period after the “et” in “et al.”).

Do you have the name of an editor rather than an author for the book? Or do you need to give credit to BOTH an editor and an author? See the examples below:

Peterson, Nancy J., editor. Toni Morrison: Critical and Theoretical Approaches. Johns Hopkins UP, 1997.

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre, edited by Margaret Smith, Oxford UP, 1998.

 

This list is not exhaustive. For further information (including information on more unusual styles of book citation formats - reference books, stories within an anthology etc - ) please see the OWL Purdue MLA guide. 

OR - Check out the MLA Handbook from the GGC library!

 

  Examples

Online only Scholarly Article

 

Dolby, Nadine. “Research in Youth Culture and Policy: Current Conditions and Future Directions.” Social Work and Society: The International Online-Only Journal, vol. 6, no. 2, 2008, www.socwork.net/sws/article/view/60/362. Accessed 20 May 2009.

Scholarly Article also in Print

(main difference is the addition of page numbers)

Wheelis, Mark. “Investigating Disease Outbreaks Under a Protocol to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.” Emerging Infectious Diseases, vol. 6, no. 6, 2000, pp. 595-600, wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/6/6/00-0607_article. Accessed 8 Feb. 2009.
Article from Online Database

Alonso, Alvaro, and Julio A. Camargo. “Toxicity of Nitrite to Three Species of Freshwater Invertebrates.” Environmental Toxicology, vol. 21, no. 1, 3 Feb. 2006, pp. 90-94. Wiley Online Library, https://doi.org/10.1002/tox.20155. Accessed 26 May 2009.

 

This list is not exhaustive. For further information (including information on more unusual styles of book citation formats - reference books, stories within an anthology etc - ) please see the OWL Purdue MLA guide. 

OR - Check out the MLA Handbook from the GGC library!

The parts of your citation must be put in a certain order based on the "style" of citation you are using. Common styles at GGC are APA and MLA.

MLA Web-based Articles

 Website Format

 

Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site. Version number, Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available), URL, DOI or permalink. Date of access (if applicable).

 

 Website Example

 

Felluga, Dino. Guide to Literary and Critical Theory. Purdue U, 28 Nov. 2003, www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/. Accessed 10 May 2006.

 
Webpage Example

 

Lundman, Susan. “How to Make Vegetarian Chili.” eHow, www.ehow.com/how_10727_make-vegetarian-chili.html. Accessed 6 July 2015.

 

*Note: For an individual page on a Web site, list the author or alias if known, followed by an indication of the specific page or article being referenced. Usually, the title of the page or article appears in a header at the top of the page. Follow this with the information covered above for entire Web sites. If the publisher is the same as the website name, only list it once.

 

This list is not exhaustive. For further information (including information on more unusual styles of book citation formats - reference books, stories within an anthology etc - ) please see the OWL Purdue MLA guide. 

OR - Check out the MLA Handbook from the GGC library!

 

Works cited entries for periodical sources include three main elements—the author of the article, the title of the article, and information about the magazine, newspaper, or journal. MLA uses the generic term “container” to refer to any print or digital venue (a website or print journal, for example) in which an essay or article may be included. 

  Examples
Standard periodical format

Author. Title. Title of container (self contained if book), Other contributors (translators or editors), Version (edition), Number (vol. and/or no.), Publisher, Publisher Date, Location (pp.). 2nd container’s title, Other contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Pub date, Location (pp.).
Article in a print newspaper Brubaker, Bill. "New Health Center Targets County's Uninsured Patients." Washington Post, 24 May 2007, p. LZ01.
Article in an online newspaper Parker-Pope, Tara. "How to Age Well." The New York Times, 2 Nov. 2017, www.nytimes.com/guides/well/how-to-age-well.
Article in a magazine

Poniewozik, James. "TV Makes a Too-Close Call." Time, 20 Nov. 2000, pp. 70-71.

This list is not exhaustive. For further information please see the OWL Purdue MLA guide. 

OR - Check out the MLA Handbook from the GGC library!

 

 

  Films/Movies
Example

Speed Racer. Directed by Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski, performances by Emile Hirsch, Nicholas Elia, Susan Sarandon, Ariel Winter, and John Goodman, Warner Brothers, 2008.

 

*Note: List films by their title. Include the name of the director, the film studio or distributor, and the release year. If relevant, list performer names after the director's name.
Example

Lucas, George, director. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Twentieth Century Fox, 1977.

 

*Note: To emphasize specific performers or directors, begin the citation with the name of the desired performer or director, followed by the appropriate title for that person.
  YouTube Videos
Example

McGonigal, Jane. “Gaming and Productivity.” YouTube, uploaded by Big Think, 3 July 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkdzy9bWW3E.

 

*Note: Video and audio sources need to be documented using the same basic guidelines for citing print sources in MLA style. Include as much descriptive information as necessary to help readers understand the type and nature of the source you are citing. If the author’s name is the same as the uploader, only cite the author once. If the author is different from the uploader, cite the author’s name before the title.  
 

An Image
Example

Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. Museo Nacional del Prado, www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-family-of-carlos-iv/f47898fc-aa1c-48f6-a779-71759e417e74. Accessed 22 May 2006.

 

*Note: Provide the artist's name, the work of art italicized, the date of creation, the institution and city where the work is housed. Follow this initial entry with the name of the Website in italics, and the date of access.

If the work cited is available on the web only, then provide the name of the artist, the title of the work, and then follow the citation format for a website. If the work is posted via a username, use that username for the author.

 

This list is not exhaustive. For further information (including information on more unusual styles of book citation formats - reference books, stories within an anthology etc - ) please see the OWL Purdue MLA guide. 

OR - Check out the MLA Handbook from the GGC library!