Click on the links below for quick access to examples citing:
Book by One Author
Author's name. Title of book. Publisher, Year of Publication.
The location of the publisher is not needed unless the publisher has offices in more than one city. If the city is needed, it should go before the publisher and be separated by a comma.
Example:
Franke, Damon. Modernist Heresies: British Literary History, 1883-1924. Ohio State UP, 2008.
Book by Two or More Authors
The first author name given follows the last name, first name format; remaining author names appear in first name last name format. If there are three or more authors, include only the first author and then add et al.
Example:
Dorris, Michael, and Louise Erdrich. The Crown of Columbus. HarperCollins Publishers, 1999.
and
Plag, Ingo, et al. Introduction to English Linguistics. Mouton, 2007.
MLA Handbook, 8th ed., pg. 21-25, Sections 2.1 and 2.7.2-3
Author(s). "Title of Essay." Title of Collection, edited by Editor's Name(s). Publisher, Year, Page range of entry.
Example:
More, Hannah. "The Black Slave Trade: A Poem." British Women Poets of the Romantic Era, edited by Paula R. Feldman, Johns Hopkins UP, 1997, pp. 472-82.
Sometimes you may need to cite an entire anthology or collection. To do so, list by editor(s) or compiler(s) name followed by a comma and editor(s)., or compiler(s).
Editor Name, editor. Title of Collection. Publisher, Year.
Example:
Sanchez Prado, Ignacio M., editor. Mexican Literature in Theory. Bloomsbury Academic, 2018.
MLA Handbook, 9th ed., pg. 314-317.
Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal, Volume, Issue number, Publication date, Pages.
The publication date may include a day, week, month, season, or just the year.
Example:
Williams, Linda. “Of Kisses and Ellipses: The Long Adolescence of American Movies.” Critical Inquiry, vol. 32, no. 2, Winter 2006, pp. 288-340.
MLA Handbook, 8th ed. pg. 45.
Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Periodical, Volume, Issue Number, Day Month Year, pages.
Examples:
Weekly:
McEvoy, Dermot. “Little Books, Big Success.” Publishers Weekly, vol. 253, no. 43, 30 Oct. 2006, pp. 26-28.
MLA Handbook, 8th ed., pg. 45
For a newspaper article, the page range may include letters which signify the section of the newspaper: A1, B3, C5, etc. Also, if there is more than one edition available for that date, such as an early and late edition of a newspaper, you should include the edition information after the date: 28 June 2011, late ed. For local publications, if the city name is not part of the newspaper title, include the name in brackets after the title of the newspaper: Globe and Mail [Toronto].
Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Newspaper Day Month Year, edition: pages.
Example:
Jeromack, Paul. "This Once, a David of the Art World Does Goliath a Favor." New York Times 13 July 2002, late ed., pp. B7+.
MLA Handbook, 8th ed., pg. 45, 110-111, Section 2.5.1 and 2.6.1
For entries in encyclopedias and dictionaries, you may cite the source as you would any other work in a collection, however, when citing a widely used reference source, you would not include the publisher information. Also, page range is not required if the encyclopedia is arranged alphabetically. If an author exists, list them at the beginning of the citation, if not, start with the title of the entry.
"Title of Entry." Title of Reference Source. Edition number. Year.
or
Author(s). "Title of Entry." Title of Reference Source. Edited by Editor's Name(s), Edition, Volume, Publisher, Year. Page range of entry.
Examples:
"Japan." The Encyclopedia Americana. 2004 ed.
or
Allen, Anita L. "Privacy in Health Care." Encyclopedia of Bioethics. Edited by Stephen G. Post, 3rd ed., Vol. 4, Macmillan-Thomson, 2004.
MLA Handbook, 8th ed., pg. 38-39
If author is unknown, cite the government agency that issued the document, with the name of the government follwed by the name of the agency. For example, California. Dept. of Industrial Relations.
Government Agency. Title of Publication. Publisher, Date of Publication.
or
When a work is published by an organization that is also its author, begin the entry with the title and list the the organization as the publisher.
Title of Publication. Publisher, Date of Publication.
Example:
United Nations. Consequences of Rapid Population Growth in Developing Countries. Taylor and Francis, 1991.
or
Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America. National Endowment for the Arts, June 2004.
MLA Handbook, 8th ed., pg.25,
In MLA style your bibliography should be called Works Cited.
A hanging indent should be used for each citation.
Within your Works Cited list, your references should be in alphabetical order based on the author's last name. If there is no author listed, use the title of the source.