how to cite a research in mla

MLA Guide (7th edition)

The examples provided in this guide are meant to introduce you to the basics of citing sources using the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (seventh edition). For types of resources not included in this guide (e.g., government documents, manuscript collections, video recordings) and for further information about the examples included below, please consult the MLA Handbook itself , and/or a Reference Librarian . For help with layout, margins, spacing and page numbering, see the MLA Handbook (Fig. 12, page 131). Consider using RefWorks to help you track your research and automatically create a bibliography in MLA style.

If you need help with the current version of MLA, please see the guide for MLA ( 8th edition, 2016). If you are unsure which version of MLA to use, please consult with your professor.

Table of Contents:

Parenthetical Documentation Preparing the List of Works Cited A Brief Note on Footnotes and Endnotes For More Help

PARENTHETICAL DOCUMENTATION

When using MLA documentation style, you need to reference your sources by using a combination of a list of works cited (see below) and parenthetical notation . Whenever you refer to or use another's words, facts or ideas in your paper, you are required to cite the source. Generally, brief parenthetical notations consisting of the author's last name and a page reference are sufficient. For example: (Drucker 30) .

Note: If you mention the author in your sentence, then you need only cite the page number . And if you cite more than one work by the same author , include the title of the work in your notation. For example: (Drucker, Management Cases 30) .

1. ONE AUTHOR

The character Folly denies satirizing Christianity when she says, "it is no part of my present plan to rummage through the lives of popes and priests," yet she spends much of her encomium doing just that (Erasmus 115).

2. TWO OR MORE AUTHORS

Max Weber purported that value systems could be studied "without the social scientist's own values distorting such studies" (Keat and Urry 196).

According to Russell Keat and John Urry in Social Science as Theory, Max Weber believed that value systems could be studied "without the social scientist's own values distorting such studies" (196).

Max Weber believed that individuals can objectively study values without their own values interfering with their judgment (Keat and Urry 196).

3. CORPORATE AUTHOR

Children of Central and Eastern Europe have not escaped the nutritional ramifications of iron deficiency, a worldwide problem (UNICEF 44).

4. NO AUTHOR

Marketers of health services and products will find the National Center for Health Statistics' site useful, particularly its statistics on mortality rates. Discovering a population's leading causes of death "tells the researcher a lot about its underlying health problems" ("Information to Die For" 40).

5. WORK IN AN ANTHOLOGY

Cite the author of the essay or story and not the editor of the anthology unless they are the same.

Although some critics disliked Mel Brook's 1993 parody of Robin Hood, it is actually "in the mainstream of the Robin Hood tradition" (Knight 461).

6. INDIRECT QUOTATION

Chief Joseph concluded his surrender by stating eloquently: "[.. .] I will fight no more forever" (qtd. in Safire 108).

7. ONLINE RESOURCE

If the work is not paginated, include the name of the author or editor within the context of your sentence (for example, from a discussion list).

Posting on the VICTORIA listserv, Karen O'Connell mentioned a relevant novel by Wilkie Collins that deals with the 19th-century use of arsenic as a complexion improver.

If the work is paginated, cite it as you would a print resource.

Imagine that the sentences above could somehow be synthesized and used in a single paper. The works cited page would look like this:

WORKS CITED

Erasmus, Desiderius. The Praise of Folly. Trans. Clarence H. Miller. New Haven:

        Yale University Press, 1979. Print.

"Information to Die For."   Marketing Health Services 22.1 (2002): 40-42.  ABI/Inform.

        Web.  14 Aug. 2009.

Keat, Russell, and John Urry.   Social Theory as Science.   2nd ed.  London: Routledge

        and K. Paul, 1982.  Print.

Knight, Stephen.  "Robin Hood: Men in Tights: Fitting the Tradition Snugly."

        Robin Hood: An Anthology of Scholarship and Criticism.   Ed. Stephen

        Knight.  Woodbridge: D. S. Brewer, 1999.  461-467.  Print.

O'Connell, Karen.  "Re: Poisoning."  VICTORIA.  Indiana U.  3 Nov. 2000.  Web.

        14 Aug. 2009.

Safire, William.   Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History. New York: W. W.

         Norton and Company, 1992. Print.

UNICEF.   Generation in Jeopardy: Children in Central and Eastern Europe and the

         Former Soviet Union. Ed. Alexander Zouev. Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, 1999.

         Print.

PREPARING THE LIST OF WORKS CITED

As demonstrated above, a works cited page consists of an alphabetical listing of the books, articles and other sources that you parenthetically noted in your paper. The works cited page occurs at the end of your paper; however, it is useful to create a draft of it before you begin writing. Following are typical examples of the types of references you will use in your research.

Include some or all of the following elements in your book citation:

• Author or editor
• Title (italicized)
• Translator or compiler
• Volume(s) used
• Name of series
• Place of publication, publisher, and date of publication
• Page numbers
• Name of vendor, database, or provider (italicized)
• Medium of publication consulted (e.g., Print)
• Date of access (Web only; day, month, year)
• Supplementary information and annotation

1. ONE AUTHOR OR EDITOR

Cather, Willa.   The Professor's House.   New York: A. A. Knopf, 1925.  Print.

UNICEF.   Generation in Jeopardy: Children in Central and Eastern Europe

         and the Former Soviet Union.   Ed. Alexander Zouev.  Armonk: M. E.

         Sharpe, 1999.  Print.

Hudson, Valerie N., ed.   Culture and Foreign Policy.   Boulder: L. Rienner

         Publishers, 1997.  Print.

2. TWO OR MORE AUTHORS OR EDITORS

    Names should be given in the order in which they appear on the title page.

Keat, Russell, and John Urry. Social Theory as Science. 2nd ed. London: Routledge

         and K. Paul, 1982. Print.

Kennedy, Mary, Kathy Lubelska, and Val Walsh, eds. Making Connections: Women's

         Studies, Women's Movements, Women's Lives. London: Taylor and Francis,

        1993. Print.

3. ELECTRONIC BOOK

    Include the vendor, database, or provider's name (italicized) and date of access (day, month, year) .

Turam, Berna. Between Islam and the State: The Politics of Engagement. Stanford,

         CA: Stanford UP, 2007. NetLibrary. Web. 14 Aug. 2009.

     If the book is accessed from a SCHOLARLY PROJECT , also include the project     name, place of publication, and the date of the electronic publication if available.

Child, Lydia Maria. An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans.

        Boston: Allen and Ticknor, 1833. Women Writers Online. Brown U. Web. 14

        Aug. 2009.

4. ANTHOLOGY

Knight, Stephen.  "Robin Hood: Men in Tights: Fitting the Tradition Snugly."          

        Robin Hood: An Anthology of Scholarship and Criticism.   Ed. Stephen

Barrick, Richard, John Sullivan, and Alexander White.  "The American Bloody Register."

       Pillars of Salt: An Anthology of Early American Criminal Narratives.   Comp. 

       Daniel E. Williams.  Madison: Madison House, 1993.  233-258.  Print.

5. INTRODUCTION, PREFACE, FOREWORD, OR AFTERWORD

Ritterson, Michael.  Introduction.   The Odin Field: A Story. By Wilhem Raabe.

      Trans. Michael Ritterson.  Studies in German Literature, Linguistics, and Culture.

      Rochester: Camden House, 2001.  xi-xxvii.  Print.

6. MULTIVOLUME WORK

Tomkins, Silvan S.   Affect, Imagery, Consciousness.   4 vols.  New York: Springer,

         1962-1992. Print.

Anthony, Robert N., and James S. Reece.   Accounting Principles.   7th ed.  Chicago:

        Irwin, 1995.  Print.

8. TRANSLATION

Erasmus, Desiderius.   The Praise of Folly.   Trans.  Clarence H. Miller.  New Haven:

        Yale, 1979. Print.

9. ARTICLE IN A REFERENCE BOOK

"Audubon, John James."   The New Encyclopaedia Britannica: Micropaedia.   15th

        ed.  2002.  Print.

"Audubon, John James."   Encyclopaedia Britannica Online.   Encyclopaedia

        Britannica, 2009.  Web.  14 Aug. 2009.

Ebeling, Richard, ed.   Global Free Trade: Rhetoric or Reality?  Hillsdale, MI: Hillsdale

        College Press, 1993.  Print.  Champions of Freedom 20.

B. Articles in Periodicals

Include some or all of the following in your article citation:

• Article title (usually in quotation marks)
• Periodical title (italicized)
• Series/Issue number or name
• Volume number
• Issue number (if available)
• Publication date (year for scholarly journals; day, month, year for others, as available)
• Medium of publication
• Name of database (italicized and placed before medium of publication) (Web only)
• Date of access (day, month, year) (Web only)

1. SCHOLARLY JOURNAL

Freedman, L.  "The Changing Forms of Military Conflict."   Survival 40.4 (1998): 39-56.

        Print.

Kirby, John T.  "Aristotle on Metaphor."   American Journal of Philology 118.4

        (1997): 517-554.  Print.

Online Journal -- Use n. pag. to indicate the absence of inclusive page numbers.

Ketabgian, Tamara.  Rev. of The Body Economic: Life, Death, and Sensation in

        Political Economy and the Victorian Novel, by Catherine Gallagher.  Bryn Mawr

        Review of Comparative Literature 6.2 (2007): n. pag.  Web.  19 Aug. 2009.

Chan, Winnie.  "Curry on the Divide in Rudyard Kipling's Kim and Gurinder Chadha's

        Bend it Like Beckham."  ARIEL: A Review of International English

        Literature 36.3-4 (2005): 1-23. Web.  14. Aug. 2009.

      Full text of an article from a Database -- Include the name of the      database, the name of the database provider and the date of access.      Use n. pag. to indicate the absence of inclusive page numbers.   

Freedman, Lawrence. "The Changing Forms of Military Conflict." Survival 40.4 (1998):

        39-56. ProQuest Research Library.  Web.  14 Aug. 2009.

  Kirby, John T.  "Aristotle on Metaphor."   American Journal of Philology 118.4 (1997):

       517-554.  JSTOR.  Web.  14 Aug. 2009.

2. MAGAZINE

     Monthly or Bimonthly

Goldberger, Paul. "Machines for Living: Architectonic Allure of the Automobile."

        Architectural Digest Oct. 1996: 82.

     Weekly

Levy, Steven, and Brad Stone.  "Silicon Valley Reboots."   Newsweek 25 Mar.

        2002: 42-50.  Print.

        2002: 42-50.  Academic Search Premier.  Web.  14 Aug. 2009.

3. ANONYMOUS ARTICLE

"Information to Die For."   Marketing Health Services 22.1 (2002): 40-42.  Print.

"Information to Die For."   Marketing Health Services 22.1 (2002): 40-42.   ABI/Inform.        14 Aug. 2009.

4. NEWSPAPER

Pianin, Eric.  "Use of Arsenic in Wood Products to End."   The Washington Post 13

       Feb. 2002, final ed.: A2.  Print.

Pianin, Eric.  "Use of Arsenic in Wood Products to End."   The Washington Post 13 Feb.

       2002, final ed.: A2.  LexisNexis Academic.   Web.  14 Aug. 2009.

Nash, Alanna.  "Hit 'em with a lizard!"  Rev. of   Basket Case, by Carl Hiaasen.  New

        York Times 3 Feb. 2002, late ed., sec. 7: 24.  Print.

        York Times 3 Feb.  2002, late ed., sec. 7: 24.  LexisNexis Academic.  Web.  14

C. Web Sites

Following are elements to include when citing entire Web sites. Keep in mind that

if you cannot find all of the elements, you should include whatever is available on the site . The URL is no longer required unless locating the site requires it or your professor requires it.

• Title of Web site (italicized)
• Site publisher/sponsor
• Date of site's publication (if none, use n.d. )
• Date of access (day, month, year)

1. SCHOLARLY PROJECT

Crane, Gregory, ed.  Perseus Digital Library.  Dept. of the Classics, Tufts U.

      n.d.  Web.  14 Aug. 2009.

2. PROFESSIONAL SITE

Financial Accounting Standards Board .  Feb. 2002.  Web.  14 Aug. 2009.

3. PERSONAL SITE

Lewis, Paul.  The Wilkie Collins Pages.   n.d.  Web. 14 Aug. 2009. 

       <http://www.paullewis.co.uk/>.

See also Electronic Book and Periodicals above.

D. Online Postings

To cite a posting from a discussion list, include the following elements if available:

• Author of posting
• Title of posting (from subject line of posting, in quotes)
• Name of discussion list
• Date of posting
• 5. Medium of publication
• Date of access

O'Connell, Karen.  "Re: Poisoning." VICTORIA. Indiana U.  3 Nov. 2000. Web.

A BRIEF NOTE ON FOOTNOTES AND ENDNOTES

Long explanatory footnotes or endnotes can distract the reader. Nevertheless, you may occasionally need to clarify a citation with a bibliographic note . Or you may wish to incorporate information that might interest your reader but which would seem tangential if included within the text of your paper. In this case, you would use a content note. Notes are indicated with consecutive superscript numbers within the text of your paper. The actual note is indented and can occur either as a footnote at the bottom of the page or as an endnote at the end of the paper.

1. BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE

Nineteenth-century critics of cheap, mass-produced fiction feared that the gory subject matter of stories like Sweeney Todd would lead a generation of youth into depravity. 1

          1 For a selection of penny fiction as well as 19th-century criticism of it, see

Haining's The Penny Dreadful .

2. CONTENT NOTE

Charles Knight did not rely solely on the cheaply printed word in publications like the Penny Magazine to educate people; he also mass-produced images to diffuse knowledge visually. 2

2 Patricia Anderson's The Printed Image and the Transformation of Popular Culture, 1790-1860 provides examples of Penny Magazine images, such as depictions of flamingos, reproduced portraits of people like Benjamin Franklin, and engravings of famous artworks like "The Dying Gladiator" and "Laocoon" (50-83).

FOR MORE HELP

Following are links to sites that have additional information and further examples:

• RefWorks : Once you have created an account, go to Tools/Preview Output Style to see examples of MLA style.
• Purdue's Online Writing Lab (OWL) : Excellent source for research, writing and citation tips.
• Citing Sources : Duke University's guide to citing sources. The site offers comparison citation tables with examples from APA , Chicago , MLA and Turabian for both print and electronic works.
• Citing Electronic Primary Sources : From the Library of Congress. Provides MLA and Turabian examples of citing formats such as films, photographs, maps and recorded sound that are accessed electronically.

• Collections
• Services & Support

How to Cite Your Sources

Overview of mla citations, common reference examples, featured resources, understanding mla citations.

• Chicago/Turabian
• Other Styles
• How to Cite AI Tools
• In-text Citations
• Works Cited Page

In-text citations provide brief information about a source and refer the reader to the full citation in the reference list.

Examples of parenthetical in-text citations:

Noble (36) describes the biases inherent in search algorithms.

Many digital media scholars have been investigating how commercial search algorithms contain inherent biases (Noble 36).

Example in-text citation with quotation:

It has become clear that "search results play a powerful role in providing fact and authority" (Noble 36).

For more information about in-text citations, check out this guide from Purdue OWL: In-text Citations

Works Cited list citations provide all the information required about the source and correspond to the in-text citation.

Example of citation on Works Cited page:

Noble, Safiya Umoja. Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism . New York University Press, 2018.

For more examples of how to cite different type of sources (e.g. podcasts, tweets, press releases, and more), check out this guide from the MLA website: Citations by Format

Book by One Author

Mantel, Hilary.  Wolf Hall . Picador, 2010.

Book by an Unknown Author

Beowulf . Translated by Alan Sullivan and Timothy Murphy, edited by Sarah Anderson, Pearson, 2004.

An Edited Book

Sánchez Prado, Ignacio M., editor.  Mexican Literature in Theory . Bloomsbury, 2018.

Online Works

Article on a website.

Deresiewicz, William. “The Death of the Artist—and the Birth of the Creative Entrepreneur.”  The Atlantic , 28 Dec. 2014, theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/01/ the-death-of-the-artist-and-the-birth-of-thecreative-entrepreneur/383497/.

Book on a website

Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Masque of the Red Death.”  The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe , edited by James A. Harrison, vol. 4, Thomas Y. Crowell, 1902, pp. 250-58.  HathiTrust Digital Library , hdl.handle.net/2027/coo.31924079574368.

Journal Article in a Database

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

• MLA Formatting and Style Guide From the Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab). Examples, sample papers, and a PowerPoint presentation.
• MLA Style Center From the Modern Language Association This website will get started with MLA style. Learn how to document sources, set up your paper, and improve your teaching and writing.
• SDSU Library MLA Citations Tutorial
• The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation [Research Desk KF245 .B58] Description suggests consulting this but modifying to suit MLA style.
• Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary Preferred dictionary by many style manuals for spelling, capitalization, etc. Part of the Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Limit to Merriam-Webster Dictionary & Thesaurus when searching.
• Citing Information: MLA From UNC Libraries. Examples of In-text citation, print and online resources plus a sample "Works Cited" page.

• << Previous: APA
• Next: Chicago/Turabian >>
• Last Updated: Mar 4, 2024 4:04 PM
• URL: https://libguides.sdsu.edu/HowToCite

The Library will close at 3:30 p.m. today, Tuesday, January 9 due to the weather-related state of emergency. The Library will reopen tomorrow morning, Wednesday, January 10 at 9:00 a.m. Please check back here for updates. Stay safe, Ducks!

How to Cite Your Sources

• Citation Basics
• Avoiding Plagiarism This link opens in a new window
• Citation Generators
• Citation Management Tools
• Writing Help
• MLA Handbook Plus
• Cite Your Sources
• APA (7th ed.)
• Chicago (16th ed.)
• Citing Sources: Business Documents & Reports
• Citing Sources: Patents & Code

MLA (9th ed.)

The mla style comes from the modern language association and is primarily used in the humanities and arts., mla handbook plus is available online through the library to help you cite every source..

Log into Okta if prompted.

• Works Cited List
• Works Cited: Books & Articles

Works Cited: Online Sources

• Works Cited: MLA Core Elements Template

In-Text Citations

Works cited.

Your Works Cited page includes every item you have cited in text and provides as much bibliographic information as you're able to find so your readers can locate the sources themselves.

Page Format

• Title: Works Cited
• Page title is center-justified on the page, entries are left-justified with a hanging indent (second and subsequent lines indented) of a half-inch.
• Entries listed alphabetically by author, or title of source if no author name.

Reference Format

The core elements of a journal/periodical article citation:, author. “article title.” journal title , vol. n , no. n , [year], pp. n-n . [location]..

Note that if the article is from the publisher website (which is considered self-contained) the URL falls within the punctuation following the page number(s).

Common Questions

• If you're citing an online source, note that including the date you accessed the website is encouraged only when there's no publication date and you can't guarantee the website will still be there in the future. (See Supplemental Elements .)
• A platform such as Canvas is only the container if the item has been published through it: a Library database publishes the full text of an article, but Canvas is only the means through which you might read it. However, a lecture posted to Canvas would be considered published through Canvas and you'd then include the platform as the "container" in your citation. (See Journal/Source Title .)
• PDFs are not considered a separate source type in MLA as instead they're the medium through which you're reading the source itself, such as a book chapter or journal article. In general, the Location field will direct your reader to the primary version of the document through URL or DOI. But if there are multiple versions of the document, include "PDF download" at the end of your citation in the Supplemental Element field to tell your reader which version you are citing.

More info about...

Author | document title | journal/source title (container) | contributor | version | number | publisher | publication date | location | supplemental elements.

Find more about these topics at the MLA Handbook sections mentioned throughout.

More info: MLA Handbook 5.3-22

• Smith, Max.
• Smith, Max, and Sam Jones.
• Smith, Max, et al.
• Matsuo, Bashō.
• Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo.
• Online handles: add in square brackets after author name, unless author name and handle are similar.
• U.S. Department of Education.

DOCUMENT TITLE

More info: MLA Handbook 5.23-30

• “Tapping the Youth Vote.”
• No title? Write a “concise but informative description of the work” (MLA Handbook)
• Subtitle? Sometimes not obvious, so check the copyright page if available.

JOURNAL/SOURCE TITLE (which MLA calls the Container of the document)

More info: MLA Handbook 5.31-37

• Diverse: Issues in Higher Education.
• 1 container : article read in print journal, tv show aired on tv, short story read in an anthology
• 2 containers : journal article in database, tv show on platform, chapter in edited anthology read on a website
• Works considered self-contained : book read in print, manuscript read in person, movie watched in a theater
• What is not a container - things that didn’t publish the thing you’re reading. That is to say, Canvas is not a container of a link to article but it IS the container for a lecture video published in the course shell.

CONTRIBUTOR if applicable

More info: MLA Handbook 5.38-47

• Translators, editors

VERSION if applicable

More info: MLA Handbook 5.48-50

• Edition, if an e-book

NUMBER if part of a sequence

More info: MLA Handbook 5.51-53

• vol. 12, no. 1,
• season 3, episode 4,

More info: MLA Handbook 5.54-67

• Website platform
• It's ongoing - you don't need to list a publisher for a journal because it's an ongoing periodical
• The website and publisher names are the same
• It's a platform others use to put their stuff up (such as YouTube)

PUBLICATION DATE

More info: MLA Handbook 5.68-83

• 4 Aug. 2022.

LOCATION if applicable

More info: MLA Handbook 5.84-99

Location makes reference to the container(s) of the work:

• Journal articles from a publisher website have one container - the journal, made available by the publisher, and the location is the DOI or permalink.
• Journal articles from a Library database have two containers - the journal and the database.

Formatting notes:

• No further location information needed if in print.
• PDF or found online? Add DOI/permalink/URL.
• But if you can't find the DOI or one doesn't exist, use the article permalink : https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciimmunol.abo3420
• Online sources considered SELF-CONTAINED (such as from the publisher's website) : As the DOI/URL/permalink is the location of the self-contained work, it falls within the punctuation following the page number(s).
• MLA Handbook . 9th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2021.
• E-books you read through a database or platform will use the database or platform and URL as the location.

SUPPLEMENTAL ELEMENTS if applicable

More info: MLA Handbook 5.105-119

• Contributor, original publication date, section of a work
• Date of access for online item but only if there's no given publication date or if the website/item might disappear
• More details about the document type (publication status, whether it's a thesis or dissertation, etc.)
• PDF : "[I]f you view a file type, such as a PDF, other than the one presented as the default version of the work on a page where other versions of the work are available, include PDF download, supplementary material , or a similar description in the supplemental element." ( MLA Handbook, 5.112 )

Works Cited: Books and Articles

These are some commonly used source types and how they're formatted. Remember that your Works Cited references will require a hanging indent (second and subsequent lines indented) of a half-inch.

Source type: Print book | E-book | Scholarly article | Newspaper article | Magazine article

Newspaper article from the website; one author.

Astor, Maggie. “What’s on the Minds of 12 Young Voters.” The New York Times , 19 Oct. 2022. NYTimes.com , https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/19/us/politics/young-voters.html.

E-book from a database; one author

Cahill, Cathleen D. Recasting the Vote : How Women of Color Transformed the Suffrage Movement . E-book. The University of North Carolina Press, 2020. EBSCOhost , https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=2432685&site=ehost-live.  

Newspaper article from a database; one author

Gross, Neil. “Does College Make You Vote?” Chronicle of Higher Education , vol. 59, 24 Nov. 2012, p. B2. EBSCOhost , https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=83623976&site=ehost-live.  

Scholarly article from a database; multiple authors

Larson, Lincoln R., et al. “The Future of Wildlife Conservation Funding: What Options Do U.S. College Students Support?” Conservation Science & Practice , vol. 3, no. 10, Oct. 2021, pp. 1–12. EBSCOhost , https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.505.  

Magazine article from a database; one author

Padilla, Dynahlee. “Tapping the Youth Vote.” Diverse: Issues in Higher Education , vol. 37, no. 18, Oct. 2020, pp. 20–21. EBSCOhost , https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=146573844&site=ehost-live.  

Print book ; two authors

Shea, Daniel M., and John Clifford Green. Fountain of Youth: Strategies and Tactics for Mobilizing America's Young Voters . Rowman & Littlefield, 2007.  

Scholarly article from a database; two authors

Spagnuolo, Natalie, and Fady Shanouda. “Who Counts and Who Is Counted? Conversations around Voting, Access, and Divisions in the Disability Community.” Disability & Society , vol. 32, no. 5, June 2017, pp. 701–19. EBSCOhost , https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2017.1324765.  

Wolfe, Rob. “America’s Best Colleges for Student Voting.” Washington Monthly , vol. 54, no. 9/10, Sept. 2022, pp. 60–63. EBSCOhost , https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=158554880&site=ehost-live.

These are some commonly used online source types and how they're formatted. Remember that your Works Cited references will require a hanging indent (second and subsequent lines indented) of a half-inch.

• Access date : If you're citing an online source, note that including the date you accessed the website is encouraged only when there's no publication date and you can't guarantee the website will still be there in the future.
• Containers : For online sources, the MLA handbook states "A website is a container only when it serves as the platform of publication of the particular version of the work you consult" ( MLA Handbook 5.34 ; emphasis added). In that case, you will include the URL/DOI/permalink within the punctuation of the original container (such as a newspaper or website).

Section of a website

“New Jersey.” Ballotpedia , https://ballotpedia.org/New_Jersey. Accessed 18 Oct. 2022.  

Entire website

Ballotpedia , https://ballotpedia.org/Main_Page. Accessed 18 Oct. 2022.  

Government info from a government website

“Electoral College History.” National Archives , 18 Nov. 2019, https://www.archives.gov/electoral-college/history.  

Newspaper article from the newspaper website

Astor, Maggie. “What’s on the Minds of 12 Young Voters.” The New York Times , 19 Oct. 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/19/us/politics/young-voters.html.

MLA Core Elements

MLA formats each work cited using a set of core elements that are included in the citation if applicable and punctuated appropriately.

Find more details about the core elements in the MLA Handbook Plus or use the fill-in template below.

• MLA Interactive Practice Template (MLA 9) "The template is a tool for teaching and learning MLA style, not a citation generator. To verify that your entry is correct, consult the MLA Handbook."

In-text citations are a brief parenthetical reference within the text of your paper that includes the author name and page number so your reader knows where to find the source of your information.

The author name points your reader to the source citation on the works cited list, and the page number shows where in the source you found the quotation or text you used.

More info on in-text citations: MLA Handbook 6.31-77

Example article used throughout : Niemi, Richard G., and Michael J. Hanmer. “Voter Turnout Among College Students: New Data and a Rethinking of Traditional Theories.” Social Science Quarterly , vol. 91, no. 2, June 2010, pp. 301–23. EBSCOhost , https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2010.00694.x.

Quoting or paraphrasing the source

Parentheses are placed within the sentence punctuation and include author's last name and the page number where the relevant text is found..

• Quote: “ Traditional theories about voter turnout do not always fit well with the unique characteristics of college students" (Niemi and Hanmer 303).
• Paraphrase: The voting habits of college students sometimes conflict with more general ideas about voters (Niemi and Hanmer 303).

Articles with more than 3+ authors are referred to in the parenthetical with the first author surname and et al. : (Larson et al. 2).

Attributing the author in text

Parentheses are placed within the sentence punctuation and include only the page number as the author is mentioned in text through use of a signal phrase ..

In the case of 3+ authors , "you may list all the names or provide the name of the first collaborator followed by 'and others' or 'and colleagues.'" ( MLA Handbook Plus 6.5 )

In 2010, Niemi and Hanmer noted that college students are not studied as often as older voters (303).

• Signal and Lead-in Phrases (Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)) A handy list of words and phrases from the Purdue OWL you can use to signal to your reader that you're about to cite a source.

Long quotations (more than 4 lines of prose or 3+ lines of verse)

Indent quotation half an inch from left margin. if the author name is used in text, put just the page number in parentheses following sentence punctuation. if the author name is not used in text, include in parentheses following sentence punctuation..

Niemi and Hanmer observe that

[w]ith the age of college students almost invariant and the meaning and measurement of their education and mobility questionable, several key variables used in models of voter turnout may well not account for varying rates of turnout among college students. Though there is considerable variation among students in hours worked, most student jobs do not mirror the careers they will ultimately obtain, so labor force participation may also be of limited explanatory power. (304)

Writing Help from the WCC

• Using Quotations (Stevens WCC) How to incorporate quotations into your paper from the Stevens Writing & Communication Center. (Note: intranet site; must be logged into myStevens for access.)
• << Previous: Writing Help
• Next: APA (7th ed.) >>
• Last Updated: Mar 25, 2024 12:16 PM
• URL: https://library.stevens.edu/citingsources

1 Castle Point Terrace, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201.216.5200

• Journal Finder

Research Help

• Research Assistance
• Make an Appointment
• How to Cite
• Research Guides
• Borrow & Renew
• Interlibrary Loan
• Print & Copy
• Study Spaces
• Thesis/Dissertations

[email protected]

201-216-5200

Staff Directory

Home / Guides / Citation Guides / MLA Format / MLA Journal Article Citation

How to Cite a Journal Article in MLA

This page is a how-to guide for using scholarly journals as sources and citing them correctly in your papers. Academic journals publish scholarly, peer-reviewed articles written by experts in a specific field. This guide will help you understand what journals are and why they are valuable for your research.

Quickly cite a journal article by using our online form here .

Citing a journal article in mla:, the importance of peer-reviewed academic journals, how journals are organized, where to find journal articles.

• In-text citations
• Works cited references
• Citation with one author
• Citation with two authors
• Citation with three or more authors
• Citation with no known author
• Citation Structures and Examples: Web
• Citation Structures and Examples: Print

Our guide will show you how to cite the journal article both in the text and in the Works Cited page following the guidelines of the Modern Language Association Handbook, 9th Edition.

What is an Academic Journal?

Academic or scholarly journals are periodicals published by universities and other research organizations to present the findings of original research conducted in a particular field. These journals contain highly specific knowledge and are written by experts in that field.

Journals are different from other periodicals such as newspapers or magazines, which cover a broad range of topics and are written in easy to read prose.

Because  journals are written by experts for other experts, they can be difficult to read. The writers often use jargon and other complex language that students may not understand. But that doesn’t mean you should not use journals in your research. Journals are where the most recent research is published and provide in-depth information on a topic.

Tip : Reading the abstract and the conclusion first may help you to understand the article as you read.

Journals are good sources for academic research not only because they are written by experts, but because most (but not all) are also reviewed by other experts before the article is published.

Journals that are peer-reviewed have a board of experts in the field that review articles submitted to the journal. The peer reviewers scrutinize every article closely to validate its findings and ensure that the research was done properly. The process of peer review gives credibility to the journal because it means that every article published has been approved by other experts in the field.

Academic journals are organized in volumes and issues.

• Volume: The volume is all of the editions of the journal published in a calendar year.
• Issue(s):   The issues are all the specific editions of the journal published in that year.

Tip : Journals frequently publish issues around a certain theme, so all of the articles in that issue will relate to a certain topic. This means that there may be other articles in a particular issue that you can use for your research. It pays to check the table of contents for the issue when you find an article that fits your needs.

You will need to include the volume and the issue numbers, and the page numbers in your citations so make sure to write those down when you take notes from a journal.

When you are doing scholarly research, you can’t use popular search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo. These will lead you to popular sources that may not work for a school paper. You need to search for information using an academic database which will lead you to scholarly articles.

Databases are organized computer-based collections of data that allow researchers to find a large number of articles quickly and easily.

Examples of popular general academic databases include:

• Academic Search Premier
• Google Scholar

Examples of popular academic databases focused on specific subjects:

• MEDLINE, PubMed Central — focus on biomedical and life sciences
• Lexis Web — focus on legal information
• Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) — focus on education

Many of these databases charge fees for use. The good news? Many can be accessed through a school or university library. Check your library’s website to see what databases it subscribes to and how you can access them.

Using a Journal Article in a Paper

You can use information from your research in three ways:

• Paraphrase: Take the information from a specific paragraph or section of the article and rewrite it in your own words.
• Summarize: Write a broad overview of the section or the article in your own words.
• Quote: Repeat the exact words used by the author using quotation marks.

Whenever you quote, paraphrase, or summarize information in your paper, you need to follow that information with an in-text citation and create a corresponding reference for the source (in the Works Cited).

Journal Article In-text Citations

Citations within your text are important. Each in-text citation:

• Alerts your reader that you are using information from an outside source.
• Usually appears in parentheses at the end of a sentence.
• Is short and only has enough information to help the reader find the complete reference listed in the Works Cited page at the end of the paper.

A MLA style in-text citation has two parts (MLA Handbook 227-228):

• If there is no author listed, include a shortened version of the title
• While many online sources do not have a page number, academic journals almost always do, even when they are available online.

In most cases, the in-text citation is at the end of the sentence in parentheses. If you use the author’s name in the text, you don’t have to repeat it in the parenthesis at the end. Do not separate the author’s name and the page number with a comma. See below for examples.

Works Cited References for Journal Articles

A Works Cited page is included at the end of your paper. It lists full references/citations for all of the sources mentioned in your paper via your in-text citations.

MLA Containers

In the 9th edition of the official Handbook, MLA includes a new term for citing references, which was first introduced in the 8th edition — containers (134). Periodicals like journals are considered “containers” because they contain the articles that are part of a larger whole.

The container holds the source article and is crucial in identifying the source. The title of the first container, the journal name, is printed in italics and follows the article name. When accessing journals through a database, the database is considered the second container. This title is also printed in italics.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

Another feature in citing sources is the DOI (Handbook 188) . DOI stands for Digital Object Identifier, which is used to permanently identify an article or document and link to it on the web.

Although a website or database may change names, the DOI will not change and will help your readers locate the document from your citation. Whenever possible, list the DOI in place of the URL. When you have a DOI, you do not need to give the URL of the website. Indicate that a reference is a DOI by adding “https://doi.org/” before the DOI number of your source.

Another way to identify an online location is with a permalink. Permalinks are URLs that are identified as a stable link that the publisher promises not to change.

For journal references, the following elements need to be included in your Work(s) Cited entries: 

• The name of the author or authors. Since journal articles often have more than one author, it is helpful to know when to use et al. in MLA .
• Title of article
• Title of journal (the container)
• Volume and issue number
• Date of publication
• Page numbers
• Database (the 2nd container)
• DOI, permalink, or URL
• Date of access (supplemental, but should be included if the information has no publication date listed)

Citing a Journal Article in MLA (found in databases)

The following are examples of how to cite a journal in MLA 9, both in text and as a full reference in the Works Cited. These were all found via a database.

Note that “Date Accessed” is the day that the journal article was found and read. This information is supplemental and does not always need to be included.

Journal Article Citation With One Author

Cite your source

Journal Article Citation With Two Authors

*Note:  When a source has multiple authors, you should always list them in your citation in the same order they are listed in the source.

Journal Article Citation With Three or More Authors

Journal article citation with no known author, citing a journal article in mla (print).

Citing a journal from a print source requires less information than an online source. For a print source, you need the following information:

• The name of the author or authors for articles with one or two authors. For articles with three or more authors, only the first author’s name is used followed by et al.
• The name of the article in quotation marks
• The name of the journal in italics
• The volume and issue numbers of the journal
• The year of publication
• The page number(s)

View Screenshot | Cite your source

Citing an Online Journal Article (not found using a database)

Some journal articles are accessible online without the use of a database. Citing an online journal article not found in a database requires that you cite the website that you used to access the article as the second container. Do not include the https:// in the web address.

*Note : Since journals are usually stable and credible sources, including an access date is supplemental and not required (“When Should I Include an Access Date for an Online Work”).

• Works Cited

MLA Handbook . 9th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2021.  

“When should I include an access date for an online work?” MLA Style Center , Modern Language Association, 29 Dec. 2016, style.mla.org/access-dates/.

Published October 31, 2011. Updated June 6, 2021.

Written by Catherine Sigler. Catherine has a Ph.D. in English Education and has taught college-level writing for 15 years.

MLA Formatting Guide

MLA Formatting

• Annotated Bibliography
• Bibliography
• Block Quotes
• et al Usage
• In-text Citations
• Paraphrasing
• Page Numbers
• Sample Paper
• MLA 8 Updates
• MLA 9 Updates
• View MLA Guide

Citation Examples

• Book Chapter
• Journal Article
• Magazine Article
• Newspaper Article
• Website (no author)
• View all MLA Examples

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

We are sorry that this post was not useful for you!

Let us improve this post!

Tell us how we can improve this post?

It’s 100% free to create MLA citations. The EasyBib Citation Generator also supports 7,000+ other citation styles. These other styles—including APA, Chicago, and Harvard—are accessible for anyone with an EasyBib Plus subscription.

No matter what citation style you’re using (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.) the EasyBib Citation Generator can help you create the right bibliography quickly.

Yes, there’s an option to download source citations as a Word Doc or a Google Doc. You may also copy citations from the EasyBib Citation Generator and paste them into your paper.

Creating an account is not a requirement for generating MLA citations. However, registering for an EasyBib account is free and an account is how you can save all the citation you create. This can help make it easier to manage your citations and bibliographies.

Yes! Whether you’d like to learn how to construct citations on your own, our Autocite tool isn’t able to gather the metadata you need, or anything in between, manual citations are always an option. Click here for directions on using creating manual citations.

If any important information is missing (e.g., author’s name, title, publishing date, URL, etc.), first see if you can find it in the source yourself. If you cannot, leave the information blank and continue creating your citation.

It supports MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard, and over 7,000 total citation styles.

To cite a magazine with multiple authors and no page numbers in MLA style, you need to have basic information including the authors, the article’s title, the magazine’s title, the publication date, and the DOI, permalink, or URL. The templates and examples for in-text citations and a works-cited-list entry of a book written by multiple authors are given below:

In-text citation template and example:

For citations in prose, use the first name and surname of the first author followed by “and others” or “and colleagues” for sources with three or more authors. In subsequent citations, use only the surname of the first author followed by “and others” or “and colleagues.” In parenthetical citations, always use only the surname of the first author followed by “et al.”

Citation in prose:

First mention: Han Ong and colleagues…. or Han Ong and others ….

Subsequent occurrences: Ong and colleagues…. or Ong and others ….

Parenthetical:

….( Ong et al.).

Works-cited-list entry template and example:

The title of the article is in plain text and title case; it is placed inside double quotation marks. The title of the magazine is set in italics and title case. Follow the format given in the template and example for setting the day, month, and year.

Surname, First., et al. “Title of the Article.” Title of the Magazine , Publication Date, DOI/permalink/URL.

Ong, Han, et al. “The Monkey Who Speaks.” The New Yorker , 13 Sept. 2021, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/09/13/the-monkey-who-speaks.

Use only the first author’s name in surname–first name order in the entry followed by “et al.”

To cite an online journal or magazine article in MLA style, you need to have basic information including the author, the article’s title, the journal or magazine’s title, the publication date, and the DOI, permalink, or URL. If available, also include a volume and an issue number of the journal or magazine. The templates for in-text citations and a works-cited-list entry of an online journal article and examples are given below for a source with one author:

For citations in prose, use the first name and surname of the author on the first occurrence. In subsequent citations, use only the surname. In parenthetical citations, always use only the surname of the author.

First mention: Elizabeth Garber ….

Subsequent occurrences: Garber ….

….(Garber).

The title of the journal or magazine article is set in plain roman text and title case; it is placed inside double quotation marks. The title of the journal or magazine is set in italics and title case. Follow the format given in the template and example for writing the publication month or season and year.

Surname, First. “Title of the Article.” Journal or Magazine Title , Volume, Issue, Publication Date, DOI/permalink/URL.

Garber, Elizabeth. “Craft as Activism.” The Journal of Social Theory in Art Education , vol. 33, no.1, spring 2013, www.scholarscompass.vcu.edu/jstae/vol33/iss1/6/ .

MLA Citation Examples

Writing Tools

Citation Generators

Other Citation Styles

Plagiarism Checker

Upload a paper to check for plagiarism against billions of sources and get advanced writing suggestions for clarity and style.

Get Started

• Research Guides
• CUNY Graduate Center's Mina Rees Library

Cite Your Sources

Citing sources.

• Chicago & Turabian Style
• Additional Style Guides & Resources
• Citing Social Media & Other Digital Sources This link opens in a new window
• Mendeley & EndNote
• Citation Managers Compared
• Citation Generators
• Avoiding Plagiarism

Documenting sources is an essential part of the research and writing process. Proper citation of the sources you quote, paraphrase, and mention is important for avoiding plagiarism, giving credit where due, and putting your work in intellectual context. Accurate citations will also help your readers find the works that you're responding to or building on, allowing them to more fully engage with and/or contribute to the scholarly conversation around your work. 

This guide covers the APA, MLA, Chicago, and Turabian styles, and provides links to a number of additional citation styles. 

It also includes information on citation management tools like Zotero and RefWorks, links to several automatic citation generators, and tips for avoiding plagiarism. 

Getting Help

There are many ways to get help from a librarian — choose the method that best suits your needs:

• In Person: Visit the reference desk (2nd floor of library) during reference hours .
• By Chat: Chat with an academic librarian 24/7 . If available, a CUNY librarian will answer your chat.
• By Email: Complete the question submission form  and receive a reply by email during reference hours .
• By Phone: Call the reference desk at (212) 817-7077 during  reference hours .
• By Appointment:  Schedule a one-on-one research consultation by contacting your  subject librarian .
• Next: Citation Styles >>
• Last Updated: Mar 26, 2024 10:32 AM
• URL: https://libguides.gc.cuny.edu/citation

Citation and Plagiarism

• Why Cite Your Sources
• Citing in MLA Style
• Citing Business Resources in APA
• Citing in Chicago/Turabian Style
• Citation Management Tools
• Plagiarism and Turnitin

Citing AI Tools

Apa style guide citation example, mla style guide citation example, chicago style guide citation example, uo's student code and plagiarism, additional resources.

First steps

• Before submitting any work that has been aided or generated by generative AI, always check with your instructor whether tools like ChatGPT can be used for your assignment. If they can, double check to see whether your instructor has provided any guidelines on how the generative AI tools can be used
• Make sure you always verify and evaluate the sources cited by generated AI tools, as generative AI tools can create fake or inaccurate citations

How to cite AI generated content

The following format is appropriate for attribution (although students must check with their instructors to ensure this is sufficient):

• AI tool and version
• Prompt/s or instructions

More information

Check out the  Student and Faculty Guide for using Generative AI LibGuide to learn:

Basic information about generative AI (including what generative AI is and what some examples of generative AI tools are)

Responsible use and best practices in using generative AI (including what to consider if you're going to be using a generative AI tool to create content for an assignment)

Avoiding plagiarism (including how to cite content created by generative AI)

Finding generative AI tools to use in research, teaching, and learning (including what to consider when picking a tool

Here are some guidelines for referencing AI-generated content in APA style:

Provide in-text citations that include the name of the AI tool, its owner, and the year of publication. This includes citing direct quotations and paraphrases, as well as how you used the tool for tasks like editing, generating ideas and data processing. 

Provide further details of how you used the tool in a reference list, appendix, annotated bibliography or similar. Include the prompt you provided and what the generated text offered. If you are unsure of how to cite something, include a note in your text that describes how you used a certain tool. 

Author. (Date).  Name of tool  (Version of tool) [Large language model]. URL

OpenAI. (2023).  ChatGPT  (Mar 14 version) [Large language model].  https://chat.openai.com/chat

In-Text Citation Example:

(OpenAI, 2023)

• APA Style Guide on Citing Generative AI

Here are some guidelines for referencing AI-generated content in MLA style:

• Provide in-text citations of direct quotations and/or paraphrased content
• When citing in MLA, AI-generated content is viewed as a source with no author, so you'll use the title of the source in your in-text citations, and in your reference list. The title you choose should be a brief description of the AI-generated content, such as an abbreviated version of the prompt you used. 
• If you are able to create a shareable link to the chat transcript, include that instead of the tool's URL.

Format: "Description of chat" prompt.  Name of AI tool,  version of AI tool, Company, Date of chat, URL.

Example: 

"Examples of harm reduction initiatives" prompt.  ChatGPT,  23 Mar. version, OpenAI, 4 Mar. 2023, chat.openai.com/chat.

("Examples of harm reduction")

• MLA Style Guide on Citing Generative AI

  Here are some guidelines for referencing AI-generated content in Chicago style:

• Treat the AI tool as the author of the content.
• If possible, describe the prompt used to generate the content in the text. If you are unable to do so,  include that information in a footnote or endnote.
• The date used in your citation will be the date the content was generated.
• A numbered footnote or endnote   might look like this:

Format: 1. Author, Title, Publisher, Date, url for the tool.  

Example (if information about the prompt has been included within the text of your paper):

1. Text generated by ChatGPT, OpenAI, March 7, 2023, https://chat.openai.com/chat. 

Example (including information about the prompt):

1. ChatGPT, response to "Explain how to make pizza dough from common household ingredients," OpenAI, March 7, 2023, https://chat.openai.com/chat. 

• Chicago Style Guide on Citing Generative AI

UO's  Student Conduct Code  states that the use of material taken from any source—whether directly quoted, paraphrased, or otherwise adapted—must be attributed to that source. Please reference it to stay up to date with how the university approaches student use.

What is Plagiarism? 

Presenting another’s material as one’s own, including using another’s words, results, processes or ideas, in whole or in part, without giving appropriate credit. Plagiarism is contingent on the content of the submitted work product, regardless of whether the unattributed material was included intentionally or unintentionally. The use of material taken from any source—whether directly quoted, paraphrased, or otherwise adapted—must be attributed to that source. Plagiarism and Generative Artificial I ntelligence

Plagiarism also includes the submission of material generated by others. This may include:

Artificial intelligence (AI) content generators and generative AI tools such as ChatGPT

Websites with a question-and-answer feature, such as Course Hero, Chegg, and Bing, and

Assistance from tutors or online language translators that results in unoriginal work

• << Previous: Plagiarism and Turnitin
• Last Updated: Mar 29, 2024 8:58 AM
• URL: https://researchguides.uoregon.edu/citing-plagiarism

Contact Us Library Accessibility UO Libraries Privacy Notices and Procedures

1501 Kincaid Street Eugene, OR 97403 P: 541-346-3053 F: 541-346-3485

• Visit us on Facebook
• Visit us on Twitter
• Visit us on Youtube
• Visit us on Instagram
• Report a Concern
• Nondiscrimination and Title IX
• Accessibility
• Privacy Policy
• Find People

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

MLA Works Cited: Other Common Sources

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities. This resource, updated to reflect the MLA Handbook (8 th ed.), offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page.

Several sources have multiple means for citation, especially those that appear in varied formats: films, DVDs, television shows, music, published and unpublished interviews, interviews over e-mail, published and unpublished conference proceedings. The following section discusses these sorts of citations as well as others not covered in the print, periodical, and electronic sources sections.

Use the following format for all sources:

Author. Title. Title of container (self contained if book), Other contributors (translators or editors), Version (edition), Number (vol. and/or no.), Publisher, Publication Date, Location (pages, paragraphs URL or DOI). 2 nd container’s title, Other contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location, Date of Access (if applicable).

An Interview

Interviews typically fall into two categories: print or broadcast published and unpublished (personal) interviews, although interviews may also appear in other, similar formats such as in e-mail format or as a Web document.

Personal Interviews

Personal interviews refer to those interviews that you conduct yourself. List the interview by the name of the interviewee. Include the descriptor Personal interview and the date of the interview.

Smith, Jane. Personal interview. 19 May 2014.

Published Interviews (Print or Broadcast)

List the interview by the full name of the interviewee. If the name of the interview is part of a larger work like a book, a television program, or a film series, place the title of the interview in quotation marks and place the title of the larger work in italics. If the interview appears as an independent title, italicize it. For books, include the author or editor name after the book title.

Note: If the interview from which you quote does not feature a title, add the descriptor, Interview by (unformatted) after the interviewee’s name and before the interviewer’s name.

Gaitskill, Mary. Interview with Charles Bock. Mississippi Review , vol. 27, no. 3, 1999, pp. 129-50.

Amis, Kingsley. “Mimic and Moralist.” Interviews with Britain’s Angry Young Men , By Dale Salwak, Borgo P, 1984.

Online-only Published Interviews

List the interview by the name of the interviewee. If the interview has a title, place it in quotation marks. Cite the remainder of the entry as you would other exclusive web content. Place the name of the website in italics, give the publisher name (or sponsor), the publication date, and the URL.

Note: If the interview from which you quote does not feature a title, add the descriptor Interview by (unformatted) after the interviewee’s name and before the interviewer’s name.

Zinkievich, Craig. Interview by Gareth Von Kallenbach. Skewed & Reviewed , 27 Apr. 2009, www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/1056940-skewed-%2526-reviewed-interviews-craig. Accessed 15 May 2009.

Speeches, Lectures, or Other Oral Presentations (including Conference Presentations)

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.

Panel Discussions and Question-and-Answer Sessions

The MLA Handbook makes a distinction between the formal, rehearsed portion of a presentation and the informal discussion that often occurs after. To format an entry for a panel discussion or question-and-answer session, treat the panel members or speakers as authors by listing them first. If these people are formally listed as panelists, indicate this by following their names with a comma and the title "panelist(s)." Follow with the title of the discussion, or, if there is no title, a simple description. In the latter case, don't capitalize the description. Follow this with the title of the conference or event. End with the date and the location.

Bavis, Jim and Stein, Tammi, panelists. Panel discussion. Dawn or Doom Conference, 4 Nov. 2018, Stewart Hall, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN.

Treat recorded discussions as instances of the appropriate medium (e.g., if you want to cite a recording of a panel discussion hosted on YouTube, cite it the same way you would cite an ordinary online video ).

Published Conference Proceedings

Cite published conference proceedings like a book. If the date and location of the conference are not part of the published title, add this information after the published proceedings title.

Last Name, First Name, editor. Conference Title , Conference Date and Location, Publisher, Date of Publication.

To cite a presentation from published conference proceedings, begin with the presenter’s name. Place the name of the presentation in quotation marks. Follow with publication information for the conference proceedings.

Last Name, First Name. “Conference Paper Title.” Conference Title that Includes Conference Date and Location , edited by Conference Editor(s), Publisher, Date of Publication.

A Painting, Sculpture, or Photograph

Provide the artist's name, the title of the artwork in italics, and the date of composition. Finally, provide the name of the institution that houses the artwork followed by the location of the institution (if the location is not listed in the name of the institution, e.g. The Art Institute of Chicago).

Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV . 1800, Museo del Prado, Madrid.

If the medium and/or materials (e.g., oil on canvas) are important to the reference, you can include this information at the end of the entry. However, it is not required.

For photographic reproductions of artwork (e.g. images of artwork in a book), treat the book or website as a container. Remember that for a second container, the title is listed first, before the contributors. Cite the bibliographic information as above followed by the information for the source in which the photograph appears, including page or reference numbers (plate, figure, etc.).

Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV . 1800, Museo del Prado, Madrid. Gardener's Art Through the Ages , 10 th ed., by Richard G. Tansey and Fred S. Kleiner, Harcourt Brace, p. 939.

If you viewed the artwork on the museum's website, treat the name of the website as the container and include the website's publisher and the URL at the end of the citation. Omit publisher information if it is the same as the name of the website. Note the period after the date below, rather than the comma: this is because the date refers to the painting's original creation, rather than to its publication on the website. Thus, MLA format considers it an "optional element."

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

A Song or Album

Music can be cited multiple ways. Mainly, this depends on the container that you accessed the music from. Generally, citations begin with the artist name. They might also be listed by composers or performers. Otherwise, list composer and performer information after the album title. Put individual song titles in quotation marks. Album names are italicized. Provide the name of the recording manufacturer followed by the publication date.

If information such as record label or name of album is unavailable from your source, do not list that information.

Morris, Rae. “Skin.” Cold, Atlantic Records, 2014. Spotify , open.spotify.com/track/0OPES3Tw5r86O6fudK8gxi.

Online Album

Beyoncé. “Pray You Catch Me.” Lemonade, Parkwood Entertainment, 2016, www.beyonce.com/album/lemonade-visual-album/.

Nirvana. "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Nevermind , Geffen, 1991.

Films or Movies

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.

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.

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.

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

Television Shows

Recorded Television Episodes

Cite recorded television episodes like films (see above). Begin with the episode name in quotation marks. Follow with the series name in italics. When the title of the collection of recordings is different than the original series (e.g., the show Friends is in DVD release under the title Friends: The Complete Sixth Season), list the title that would help researchers to locate the recording. Give the distributor name followed by the date of distribution.

"The One Where Chandler Can't Cry." Friends: The Complete Sixth Season , written by Andrew Reich and Ted Cohen, directed by Kevin Bright, Warner Brothers, 2004.

Broadcast TV or Radio Program

Begin with the title of the episode in quotation marks. Provide the name of the series or program in italics. Also include the network name, call letters of the station followed by the date of broadcast and city.

"The Blessing Way." The X-Files . Fox, WXIA, Atlanta, 19 Jul. 1998.

Netflix, Hulu, Google Play

Generally, when citing a specific episode, follow the format below.

“94 Meetings.” Parks and Recreation, season 2, episode 21, NBC, 29 Apr. 2010. Netflix, www.netflix.com/watch/70152031.

An Entire TV Series

When citing the entire series of a TV show, use the following format.

Daniels, Greg and Michael Schur, creators. Parks and Recreation . Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, 2015.

A Specific Performance or Aspect of a TV Show

If you want to emphasize a particular aspect of the show, include that particular information. For instance, if you are writing about a specific character during a certain episode, include the performer’s name as well as the creator’s.

“94 Meetings.” Parks and Recreation, created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, performance by Amy Poehler, season 2, episode 21, Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, 2010.

If you wish to emphasize a particular character throughout the show’s run time, follow this format.

Poehler, Amy, performer. Parks and Recreation. Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, 2009-2015.

Begin with the title of the episode in quotation marks. Provide the name of the series in italics. Then follow with MLA format per usual.

“Best of Not My Job Musicians.” Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! from NPR, 4 June 2016, www.npr.org/podcasts/344098539/wait-wait-don-t-tell-me.

Spoken-Word Albums such as Comedy Albums

Treat spoken-word albums the same as musical albums.

Hedberg, Mitch. Strategic Grill Locations . Comedy Central, 2003.

Digital Files (PDFs, MP3s, JPEGs)

Determine the type of work to cite (e.g., article, image, sound recording) and cite appropriately. End the entry with the name of the digital format (e.g., PDF, JPEG file, Microsoft Word file, MP3). If the work does not follow traditional parameters for citation, give the author’s name, the name of the work, the date of creation, and the location.

Beethoven, Ludwig van. Moonlight Sonata . Crownstar, 2006.

Smith, George. “Pax Americana: Strife in a Time of Peace.” 2005. Microsoft Word file.

Council of Writing Program Administrators, National Council of Teachers of English, and National Writing Project. Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing . CWPA, NCTE, and NWP, 2011, wpacouncil.org/files/framework-for-success-postsecondary-writing.pdf.

Bentley, Phyllis. “Yorkshire and the Novelist.” The Kenyon Review , vol. 30, no. 4, 1968, pp. 509-22. JSTOR , www.jstor.org.iii/stable/4334841.