Citation Resources: MLA Examples - Online and Electronic

Author. Title. Publisher, Publication date. Title of container, URL or location.

Example:

Gikandi, Simon. Ngugi wa Thiong’o. Cambridge UP, 2000. ACLS Humanities E-book, hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.07588.0001.001.

MLA Handbook, 8th ed., pg. 34,  

Author(s). “Title of Article.” Title of Journal, volume, number, Date of Publication, URL.

Example:

Levine, Caroline. "Extraordinary Ordinariness: Realism Now and Then." Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net, no. 63, Apr. 2013, id.erudit.org/iderudit/1025618ar.

Author. “Title of Article.” Title of Journal, Volume, Number, Date of Publication, Page(s). Database, URL or DOI.

Example:

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

or

Lorensen, Jutta. “Between Image and Word, Color, and Time: Jacob Lawrence’s The Migration Series.” African American Review, vol. 40, no. 3, 2006, pp. 571-86. EBSCOHost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=24093790&site=ehost-live. 

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Periodical. Date of Publication, URL.

Example:

Plait, Phil "Climate Change is Partly to Blame for the Mass Extinction of Dinosaurs." Newsweek,6 Jul. 2016,  www.newsweek.com/dinosaur-extinction-climate-change-giant-asteroid-484174. 

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Newspaper or Website, Publisher, Date of Publication, URL.

Example:

Wade, Nicholas. "Meet Luca, the Ancestor of All Living Things." The New York Times, New York Times, 26 Jul. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/07/26/science/last-universal-ancestor.html?hpw&rref=science&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0

or

Kottasova, Ivana. "Amazon to Test Drone Delivery in the UK." CNN.com, 26 Jul, 2016, money.cnn.com/2016/07/26/technology/amazon-delivery-drones-uk/index.html?sr=cnnmoneybin072616amazontestdrone0715VODtop

"Title of Entry." Title of Reference Source. Publisher, Year, URL. 

or

Author(s). "Title of Entry." Title of Reference Source. Edited by Editor's Name(s), Edition, Volume, Publisher, Year, Page range of entry. Database, URL or DOI.

Example:

Stourzh, Gerald. "Hamilton, Alexander (1755–1804)." Encyclopedia of the American Constitution. Edited by Leonard W. Levy and Kenneth L. Karst, 2nd ed., Vol. 3, Macmillan Reference USA, 2000, pp. 1257-1260. Gale Virtual Reference Library. go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?

Start with speaker’s name. Then, give the title of the speech (if any) in quotation marks. Follow with the title of the particular conference or meeting and then the name of the organization. Name the venue and its city (if the name of the city is not listed in the venue’s name). Use the descriptor that appropriately expresses the type of presentation (e.g., Address, Lecture, Reading, Keynote Speech, Guest Lecture, Conference Presentation).

Stein, Bob. “Reading and Writing in the Digital Era.” Discovering Digital Dimensions, Computers and Writing Conference, 23 May 2003, Union Club Hotel, West Lafayette, IN. Keynote Address.

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.

Entire Website:

Author, editor, or compiler name (if available). Name of Website. Publisher, Year of publication. URL.

Example:

Manifold Greatness: The Creation and Afterlife of the King James Bible. Folger Shakespeare Library / Bodleian Libraries, U of Oxford / Harry Ransom Center, U of Texas, Austin, manifoldgreatness.org.

Post or article on a website:

Author, editor, or compiler name (if available). "Title of post." Name of Website, Publisher, date of resource creation (if available), URL.

Example:

Clancy, Kate. “Defensive Scholarly Writing and Science Communication.” Context and Variation, Scientific American Blogs, 24 Apr. 2013, blogs.scientificamerican.com/context-and-variation/2013/04/24/defensive-scholarly-writing-and-science-communication/.

or

Hollmichel, Stefanie. “The Reading Brain: Differences between Digital and Print.” So Many Books, 25 Apr. 2013, somanybooksblog.com/2013/04/25/the-reading-brain-differences-between-digital-and-print/.

MLA Handbook, 8th ed., pg.28 and 41-42

Pseudonyms, including online user names, are generally listed like regular author names.

Tweet:

Name [username]. "Entire text of Tweet." Twitter, Date and Time of Posted Message, URL of message.

Example: 

National Geographic [@NatGeo]. "Do cats communicate in different dialects, like humans do? Science is trying to find out." Twitter, 24 Jul. 2016, 4:43 p.m., twitter.com/NatGeo/status/757360481401208832.

TikTok:

Name [username]. "Video description and hashtags." TikTok, Year, URL of message.

Example: 

Lilly [@uvisaa]. "[I]f u like dark academia there's a good chance you've seen my tumblr #darkacademia." TikTok, 2020. www.tiktok.com/@uvisaa/video/6815708894900391173.

Instagram:

Name. Description of image or video. Instagram, Date, URL of post.

Example: 

Thomas, Angie. Photo of The Hate U Give cover. Instagram, 4 Dec. 2018, www.instagram.com/p/Bq_PaXKgqPw/.

MLA Handbook 9th Ed., pg. 326-327.

Government Agency. Title of Publication. Name of Web site, Date of Publication, URL.

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. Name of Web site, Date of Publication, URL