Citing Sources in MLA Style
For complete information consult the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7th ed. 2009). Copies are available:
- At the Reference desk
- On the Reference shelves: REF LB 2369. G53 2009
- See also MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (3rd ed.) in REF PN 147 .G444 2008.
New Changes for 2009
- Use italics for titles of books, periodicals, websites, etc. Not underlining.
- Indicate the medium of publication - Print, CD, Web, DVD, etc. for all works cited. See additional info for identifying mediums.
- Always use volume & issue number for periodicals - 6.3 - including for journals with consecutively numbered pages across issues.
- Omit URLs but do include date accessed - 2 Sept. 2009 - for Web items.
- Use database name but omit database provider and library information for articles from library resources.
- Follow periods and other punctuation by one space.
Parenthetical References
Use brief parenthetical references that guide the reader to the source in your works cited list.
This point has already been argued (Tannen 178-85).
OR
Tannen has argued this point (178-85).
LEADS TO [Single Author Book]
Tannen, Deborah. You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. New York: Morrow, 1990. Print.
Two Authors - use both names (Doyle and Barnard 1703)
Three or more Authors use first and et al.: (Gygax, et al. 238)
OR The study by Gygax, et al. found that... (238).- For sources without authors use a short form of the title that starts the citation entry on the Works Cited page.
Scientists report that average temperatures in Antarctica are changing rapidly ("Cooling").
- When citing two or more works by the same author add a short form of the title to guide your reader to the proper reference in your works cited list.
(Morrison Beloved 185) Morrison sees a strong link between…(Song 28)
Give the author's name for the first work and use 3 dashes and a period for the following entries by the same author. List those entries alphabetically by title.
Works Cited
"Cooling Trend in Antarctica." Futurist July Aug. 2008: 15. Academic Search Complete. Web. 31 Aug. 2009.
Morrison, Toni. Beloved: A Novel. New York: Random, 1987. Print.
---. Song of Solomon. New York: Knopf, 1977. Print.
- For print or electronic sources without page numbers add information to help locate exact source.
This important distinction is rarely noted ("White Colonialism" conclusion).
In their opening argument Scott and White state...
See also parenthetical notes in the Works Cited section for:
Works Cited
- Arrange items in alphabetical order by first word of the entry.
- Use hanging indent and double space the entire page - no extra spaces between items.
- Shorten publishers name - see Additional Info / Abbreviations.
Books
Booth, Wayne C., Gregorgy G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. The Craft of Research. 2nd ed. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2003. Print.
Online book
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Ed. Henry Churchyard. 1996. Jane Austen Information Page. Web. 6 Sept. 2002.
No Author
Central Park. New York: U. of Gotham P, 2003. N. pag. Print.
New York Public Library American History Desk Reference. New York, Macmillan, 1997. Print.
Chapters or Sections of Books
Martinez, Z. Nelly. "Isabel Allende's Fictional World: Roads to Freedom." Isabel Allende Today: An Anthology of Essays. Ed. Rosemary G. Feal and Yvette E. Miller. Pittsburgh, PA: Latin Amer. Lit. Rev., 2002. 35-43. Print.
Signed article in an Encyclopedia
When articles are arranged alphabetically omit specific volume and page numbers.
Doyle, Derek and David Barnard. "Palliative Care and Hospice." Encyclopedia of Bioethics. Ed. Stephen G. Post. 3rd ed. 5 vols. New York: Macmillan, 2004. Print.
Online
Gill, Sam D. "Shamanism: North American Shamanism." Encyclopedia of Religion. Ed. Lindsay Jones. 2nd ed. Vol. 12. Detroit: Macmillan, 2005. 8287-8290. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 15 Sept. 2009.
Commonly used Reference books - use edition and omit full publication information
"Noon." The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. Print
"de Kooning, Willem." Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2008. Web. 19 Mar. 2009.
Articles
Single Author from a print journal with consecutive numbering in each issue
Gibson, Suzie. "The Gift of Faith: Rethinking an Ethics of Sacrifice and Decision in Fear and Trembling and The Gift of Death." Philosophy Today 53:2 (2009): 126-135. Print.
Online article with discontinuous page numbers
Christian, Barbara. "The Contrary Women of Alice Walker." The Black Scholar 12.2 (1982): 21-30,70-1. Contemporary Literary Criticism. Web. 15 Sept. 2009.
Multi Author Article from a library database
Gygax, Pascal, Ute Gabriel, Oraine Sarrasin, Jane Oakhill, and Alan Garnham. "Some Grammatical Rules Are More Difficult Than Others: The Case of the Generic Interpretation of the Masculine." European Journal of Psychology of Education 24.2 (2009): 235-246. Academic Search Complete. Web. 22 July 2009.
Corporate Author
Committee on Scholarly Editions. "Guidelines for Editors of Scholarly Editions." Modern Language Association. MLA, 25 Sept. 2007. Web. 22 Jan. 2009.
Magazine Article
Soodalter, Ron. "Captain Gordon's Infamy." Smithsonian June 2007: 58-65. Print.
From a library database
Soodalter, Ron. "Captain Gordon's Infamy." Smithsonian June 2007: 58+. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 14 Jan. 2009.
Online only
Green, Joshua. "The Rove Presidency." The Atlantic.com. Atlantic Monthly Group, Sept. 2007. Web. 20 Nov. 2008.
Newspaper Article
Rosenberg, Geanne. "Electronic Discovery Proves an Effective Legal Weapon." New York Times 31 Mar. 1997, natl. ed.: C5. Print.
From a library database [with additional information about the series]
Richardson, Lynda. "Minority Students Languish in Special Education System." New York Times 6 Apr. 1994, late ed.: A1+. Pt. 1 of a series, A Class Apart: Special Education in New York City. LexisNexis. Web. 15 Aug. 2007.
No Author
"It's Subpoena Time." Editorial. New York Times 8 June 2007, late ed.; A28. Print.
"The Decade of the spy." Newsweek 7 Mar. 1994: 26-27. Print. [Alphabetize in works cited by decade]
Websites
Crane, Stephen. "The Open Boat." Scribner's Magazine 21 (May 1894): 728-740. Electronic Text Center, U of Virginia, 1995. Web. 2 Sept. 2009.
Whittier, John G. "A Prayer." The Freedmen's Book. Ed. L. Maria Child. Boston, 1866. 178 Google Book Search. Web. 15 Aug. 2009.
Films & Videos
Usually begin with the title - begin with name if you are crediting that person's work.
Note original release when relevant; give video date if using DVD or Videocassette.
Like Water for Chocolate [Como agua para chocolate]. Screenplay by Laura Esquivel. Dir. Alfonso Arau. Perf. Lumi Cavazos, Marco Lombardi, and Regina Torne. Buena Vista Home Entertainment, 2000. DVD.
Chaplin, Charlie, dir. Modern Times. 1936. CBS Fox Video, 1992. Videocassette.
Performances
Joplin, Scott. Treemonisha. Dir. Frank Corsaro, Carmen Balthrop, Betty Allen, and Curtis Rayman. Houston Grand Opera Orch. and Chorus. Cond. Gunther Schuller. Miller Theatre, Houston. 18 May 1975. Performance.
Don Carlo. By Giuseppe Verdi. Dir. Franco Zeffirelli. Perf. Luciano Pavarotti and Samuel Ramey. La Scala Orch. and Chorus. Cond. Riccardo Muti. EMI, 1994. Videocassette.
Music
Holiday, Billie, perf. "God Bless the Child." Rec. 9 May 1941. The Essence of Billie Holiday. Columbia, 1991. CD.
Verdi, Giuseppe. Aida. Perf. Montserrat Caballé, Fiorenza Cossotto, Placido Domingo, Piero Cappuccilli, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Luigi Roni, Chorus of the Royal Opera House, New Philharmonia Orch. Cond. Riccardo Muti. EMI, 2001. CD.
Original Art - artist, title, date when known, medium and institution (or Private collection)
Bearden, Romare. The Train. 1974. Photogravure and aquatint. Museum of Mod. Art, New York.
Whitehorse, Harry, Eagle. 2007. Oak. Edgewood Coll. Madison WI.
Reproductions of Art
Evans, Walker. Penny Picture Display. 1936. Photograph. Museum of Mod. Art, New York. The Contest of Meaning: Critical Histories of Photography. Ed. Richard Bolton. Cambridge: MIT P, 1989. Plate 54. Print.
Interviews Published or Broadcast - follow general rules for print and broadcast
Palmer, Parker. Interview by Scott Simon. Weekend Edition. Natl. Public Radio. WHA, Madison WI 2 Apr. 2009. Radio.
Personal Communications
Reed, Ishmael. Telephone interview. 10 Dec. 2007.
Sorby, Angela. Letter to the author. 20 July 2003. MS.
Talarczyk, Al. Message to the author. 20 Aug. 2009. E-mail.
Scripture
- Do not italicize general titles for scripture: Bible, Koran, Talmud.
- Do italicize specific editions: The New Oxford Annotated Bible; The Holy Qur'an.
- When citing a specific edition, note it in the first citation and omit in subsequent references.
- Cite abbreviated titles of books and use a period (rather than a colon) between numbers of chapters and verses.
In one of the most vivid prophetic visions in the Bible, Ezekiel saw "what seemed to be four living creatures," each with the faces of a man, a lion, an ox and an eagle (New Jerusalem Bible, Ezek. 1.5-10). John of Patmos echoes this passage when describing his vision (Rev. 4.6-8).
Works Cited
The Koran. Trans. M.A.S. Abdel Haleem. New York: Oxford UP, 2005. Print.
The New Jerusalem Bible. Henry Wansbrough, gen. ed. New York: Doubleday, 1985. Print.
The New Oxford Annotated Bible. Eds. Bruce M. Metzger and Roland E. Murphy. New York: Oxford UP, 1991. Print. New Revised Standard Version.
Shakespeare & other works available in many editions
- Drama and poems - omit page numbers and use act, scene, book, canto, part and line numbers.
- Use abbreviations for Shakespeare's plays (listed in MLA guides) otherwise shorten titles as for other citations.
- Works published before 1900 - Omit publisher and use Place, date.
(Ham. 1.5.17) (Troilus 1.1-2) (Dante 14.106-111)
Prose works - cite the page for edition you are using followed by a semicolon and add chapter and section information to help readers locate quotation in any edition.
In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Mary Wollstonecraft recollects... (184; ch. 13, sec. 2).
Works Cited
Chaucer, Geoffrey. Troilus and Criseyde. The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. Ed. F. N. Robinson. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton, 1957. 385-479. Print.
Dante Alighieri. Dante's Inferno. Ed. and trans. Mark Musa. Bloomington, Indiana UP, 1995. Print.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Eds. William George Clark and William Aldis Wright. Cambridge, 1866. U of Virginia Lib. Electronic Text Center. Web. 9 Sept. 2009.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Ed. Carol H. Poston. New York: Norton, 1975. Print.
Legal Sources
- Cite major documents and U.S. Code with brief parenthetical citations in your text.
- Do not italicize or use quotation marks for titles in the text or in a Works Cited List.
- Use the short form of the parties in the case.
(US Const., art. 1 sec. 1) No Child Left Behind Act
(21 USC Sec. 1401a. 1988) Declaration of Independence
Works Cited
Stephenson v. Universal Metrics, Inc. No. 00-1397, Supreme Ct. of Wis. 28 March 2002. LexisNexis Academic: Legal Research. Web. 27 Aug. 2009
Wis. Stat. Sec. 48.415 (2004). LexisNexis Academic: Legal Research. Web. 1 Sept. 2009.
Quotations
Short quotations incorporated into your text should be enclosed in "double quotation marks."
- Insert the parenthetical reference where a natural pause would occur (preferably at the end of a sentence) and prior to the final period.
"He was obeyed," writes Joseph Conrad of the company manager in Heart of Darkness, "yet he inspired neither love nor fear, nor even respect" (87).
- Use ellipsis (...) to indicate any words you omitted from the original work.
It may be true that "in the appreciation of medieval art the attitude of the observer is of primary importance..." (Robertson 136).
In surveying various responses to plagues in the Middle Ages, Barbara W. Tuchman writes, "Medical thinking... stressed air as the communicator of disease, ignoring sanitation..." (101-02).
Use brackets [ ] around any words you add within a quotation to make it readable or define a term.
- Use 'single quotation marks' to indicate dialog or quotations within a quotation.
Scientists are studying how much carbon is stored in soil and what difference plowing makes on that amount. "Soil scientist Michel Cavigelli... agrees that no-till fields... can hold more carbon than plowed fields. 'In some instances,' says Cavigelli, 'twice as much at the very surface.'" (Joyce par. 4).
- Use a slash (/) to indicate line breaks in dialog or poetry that you incorporate into the body of your text.
Reflecting on the "incident" in Baltimore, Cullen concludes, "Of all the things that happened there / That's all that I remember" (11-12).
Quotations of more than four lines (or poetry or dialog you want to emphasize) should be set off from your text by beginning a new line, indenting one inch from the left and typing it double-spaced without quotation marks.
Do not indent from the right margin.
Do keep all original punctuation including double quotation marks and line breaks.
Follow the final punctuation mark with a space and the appropriate parenthetical reference.
- For a poetic quotation that begins in the middle of a line, begin where the original begins and do not start at the margin.
I remember
he glanced at me in just that way, independent
and unabashed, the handsome sidelong look
that went round and about but never directly
met my eyes, for that would betray his soul.
He was not being sly, only careful. (43-48)
Use original sources whenever possible. If you use material quoted by an someone else, note that it is "quoted in" and cite the source you have.
Samuel Johnson admitted that Edmund Burke was an "extraordinary man" (qtd. in Boswell 2: 450).
Works Cited
Boswell, James. The life of Johson. Ed. George Birkbeck Hill and L.F. Powell. 6 vols. Oxford: Clarendon, 1934-50. Print
Joyce, Christopher. "Can Dirt Really Save Us From Global Warming?" Morning Edition. Natl. Public Radio. 3 Sept. 2009. Web. 5 Sept. 2009. Transcript.
Additional Info
Identifying Mediums
- Print (includes microform)
- Web
- CD
- CD-ROM
- DVD
- Film
- Radio
- Television
- Address - speeches, conference lectures, etc.
- Performance - for live concerts, plays, etc.
- For digital files NOT on the Web or CD-ROM follow format with the word file (PDF file, JPEG file, MP3 file, Microsoft Word file, etc.)
- MS (manuscript) MSS - plural
- TS (typescript) TSS - plural
Abbreviations
- Months: 3 letter abbreviations except May, June and July - Jan. ,Feb, etc.
- States: Use 2 letter postal code without periods: WI, NY, CT, CA, etc.
- Publishers: Shorten as much as possible -
- omit A, An, The, Co., Corp, Inc., Ltd. Books, House, Press, Publishers
- Use single name: Wiley, Abrams NOT Harry N. Abrams, John Wiley
- McGraw NOT McGraw Hill Farrar NOT Farrar Straus Giroux
- Use common abbreviations UMI, ALA, MLA, GPO, ERIC, NEA
- For less common publishers use standard abbreviations: Latin Amer. Lit. Rev.
- U - University
- P - Press
- Assn. - Association
- Soc. - Society
- Acad. - Academic / Academy
Other Abbreviations
- coll. - college
- dir. - director, directed by
- diss. - dissertation
- e.g. -for example from Latin exempli gratia
- et al. and others from Latin et alii, et aliae, et alia
- front. - frontispiece
- fwd. - forward, forward by
- illus. - illustrator, illustration, illustrated by
- lib. - library
- n, nn - note, notes (used immediately after the number of the page when citing the note or notes 56n 56nn3-5)
- n.d. - no date of publication
- n.p. - no place of publication; no publisher
- n.pag. - no page numbering
- perf. - performer, performed by
- pref.- preface, preface by
- prod. - producer, produced by
- sc. - scene
- sic - thus in the source usually in [ ]
- trans. - translator, translation, translated by