Success Center Guidelines for
MLA Style Citations
For additional examples of MLA citations, see an English Specialist at the Success Center to check out
the MLA Handbook or visit the Modern Language Association Web site: http://www.mla.org.
Type
Parenthetical Citation
Works Cited Entry
BOOKS
General format:
(Author’s last name pg. #).
BOOK BY ONE AUTHOR
(Spacks 26-27).
BOOK BY TWO OR THREE
AUTHORS
(Broer and Holland 127).
BOOK BY FOUR OR MORE
AUTHORS
(Gilman, et al. 34).
BOOK BY AN EDITOR
(Pinney 45).
BOOK BY A CORPORATE
AUTHOR OR ORGANIZATION
(Natl. Research Council
15).
WORK IN AN ANTHOLOGY OR
COLLECTION
(Franklin 24-26).
ONLINE BOOK
(Twain 247).
ARTICLE IN A REFERENCE
BOOK
(Allen 332).
GOVERNMENT PUBLICATION
(United States 25).
ARTICLES FROM
PERIODICALS
(PRINT VERSION)
General format:
(Author’s last name pg. #).
JOURNAL ARTICLE
(Brueggeman and
Moddelmog 320).
MAGAZINE ARTICLE
(Hyman 84).
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
(Pearson A1).
EDITORIAL
(Shaw A72).
General format:
Author’s last name, first name. Book Title: Subtitle. Place of
Publication: Publisher, Year. Medium.
Spacks, Patricia Meyer. Privacy: Concealing the EighteenthCentury Self. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2003. Print.
Broer, Lawrence R., and Gloria Holland. Hemingway and
Women: Female Critics and the Female Voice. Tuscaloosa:
U of Alabama P, 2002. Print.
Gilman, Sander, et al. Hysteria beyond Freud. Berkeley: U of
California P, 1993. Print.
Pinney, Chris C., ed. The Illustrated Veterinary Guide. New
York: McGraw-Hill, 2000. Print.
National Research Council. Beyond Six Billion: Forecasting the
World’s Population. Washington: Natl. Acad., 2000. Print.
Franklin, Benjamin. “Emigration to America.” 1782. The Faber
Book of America. Ed. Christopher Ricks and William L.
Vance. Boston: Faber, 1992. 24-26. Print.
Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York:
Harper, 1912. Google Book Search. Web. 14 June 2011.
Allen, Anita L. “Privacy in Health Care.” Encyclopedia of
rd
Bioethics. Ed. Stephen G. Post. 3 ed. Vol.4. New York:
Macmillan-Thomson, 2004. Print.
United States. Bureau of the Census. Statistical Abstract of
the United States. Washington: GPO. 1990. Print.
General format:
Author’s last name, first name. “Article Title: Subtitle.”
Periodical Title Date*: page range. Medium.
*Date format differs for each type of periodical (see examples
below). For journals only, use volume.issue (year)
Brueggeman, Brenda Jo, and Debra A. Moddelmog. “ComingOut Pedagogy: Risking Identity in Language and Literature
Classrooms.” Pedagogy 2.3 (2002):311-35. Print.
Hyman, Mark. “Play Ball—Even if No One Loves You.”
Business Week 25 Mar. 2002: 84. Print.
Pearson, Rick. “Beleaguered Ryan Gets No Quiet Exit.”
Chicago Tribune 22 Dec. 2002, Chicagoland ed.: A1. Print.
Shaw, Theodore M. “The Debate over Race Needs Minority
Students’ Voices.” Editorial. Chronicle of Higher Education
25 Feb. 2000: A72. Print.
Type
Parenthetical Citation
ARTICLES FROM
PERIODICALS
(ONLINE VERSIONS)
General format:
(Author’s last name pg. #).
ONLINE JOURNAL ARTICLE
(Parla 30).
ONLINE JOURNAL ARTICLE
(without page numbers)
Note: Use n.pag. for
periodicals without page #.
(Shehan and Moras).
JOURNAL ARTICLE FROM AN
ONLINE DATABASE
(Nielson 140).
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE FROM
AN ONLINE DATABASE
(Blumenfeld A33).
WEB SITE DOCUMENTS
General format:
(Author’s last name pg. #).
or
(“Title” pg. #) if no author.
Note: Include <URL> only if
readers would be unable to
find the source without it.
ONLINE MAGAZINE ARTICLE
Note: Title may be
shortened if needed.
(Green).
WEB SITE PAGE
(Oliver).
WEB SITE PAGE
(no author)
(“Six Charged”).
ENTIRE WEB SITE
(Raeburn).
ENTIRE WEB SITE
(no author or editor)
(Purdue OWL).
ONLINE ENCYCLOPEDIA OR
REFERENCE ARTICLE
(“Louis Armstrong”).
ONLINE GOVERNMENT
PUBLICATION (except
Congressional Record)
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
(United States).
(Cong. Rec.).
OTHER ONLINE SOURCES
E-MAIL MESSAGE
(Kriebel).
BLOG ENTRY
(Dent).
(Use screen name if that is
all that is available.)
Works Cited Entry
General format:
Author’s last name, first name. “Article Title: Subtitle.”
Journal Title Vol #.Issue # (Year): Page range. Title of
Database.* Medium. Date of access.
*Include only when using an online database to access article.
For other periodicals, date of access is: day month year (no
commas). Abbreviate all months except May, June, and July.
Parla, Jale. “The Wounded Tongue: Turkey’s Language Reform
and the Canonicity of the Novel.” PMLA 123.1 (2008): 2740. Web. 7 May 2008.
Shehan, Constance L., and Amanda B. Moras. “Deconstruction
Laundry: Gendered Technologies and the Reluctant
Redesign of Household Labor.” Michigan Family Review
11 (2006): n. pag. Web. 8 Nov. 2007.
Nielson, Aldon Lynn. “A Hard Rain.” Callaloo 25.1 (2002): 13545. Academic Search Premier. Web. 17 Mar. 2008.
Blumenfeld, Larry. “House of Blues.” New York Times 11 Nov.
2007: A33. Academic Universe. Web. 31 Dec. 2007.
General format:
Author’s last name, first name. “Article Title.” Title of Web
Site. Publisher/Sponsor of Site,* Date published or
updated. Medium. Date of access.
*If no publisher or sponsor is found, use n.p.
If no date is listed, use n.d.
Green, Joshua. “The Rove Presidency.” The Atlantic.com.
Atlantic Monthly Group, Sept. 2007. Web. 15 May 2008.
Oliver, Rachel. “All About: Forests and Carbon Trading.”
CNN.com. Cable News Network, 11 Feb. 2008. Web. 14
Mar. 2008.
“Six Charged in Alleged N.J. Terror Plot.” WNBC.com. WNBC, 8
May 2007. Web. 9 May 2007.
Raeburn, Bruce Boyd, ed. William Ransom Hogan Archive of
New Orleans Jazz. Tulane U, 13 Apr. 2006. Web. 11 May
2008.
The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The Writing Lab and OWL at
Purdue and Purdue U, 2008. Web. 23 Apr. 2008.
“Louis Armstrong.” Encyclopaedia Britannica Online.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2008. Web. 12 May 2008.
United States. National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon
the United States. The 9/11 Commission Report. By
Thomas H. Kean, et al. 5 Aug. 2004. Web. 12 May 2008.
Cong. Rec. 28 Apr. 2005: D419-D428. Web. 12 May 2008.
(Include only date: page numbers and medium.)
Formats vary; see MLA Handbook for more detail.
Kriebel, David. “Environmental Address.” E-mail to the
author. 8 June 2008.
Dent, Shirley. “Written on the Body: Literary Tattoos.”
Weblog entry. The Blog: Books. Guardian News and
Media, 9 June 2008. Web. 10 June 2008.
Type
Parenthetical Citation
Formats vary; see MLA Handbook for more detail.
OTHER ONLINE SOURCES
ONLINE POSTING
(Post to a bulletin board,
forum, etc.)
(Alvoeiro).
ONLINE INTERVIEW
(Haddon).
ONLINE IMAGE
(“China Town Engulfed”).
VISUAL ARTWORK VIEWED
ONLINE
(Currin).
PHOTOGRAPH VIEWED
ONLINE
(Lange).
ONLINE VIDEO CLIP
(“Daughter Turns”).
AUDIOVISUAL AND
OTHER COMMON
SOURCES
TV PROGRAM
(“Local Ad”).
RADIO PROGRAM
(“Shakespearean
Putdowns”).
BROADCAST INTERVIEW
(Wiesel).
PERSONAL INTERVIEW
(Use also for telephone or email interviews.)
FILM OR VIDEO
(Washburn).
Note: To emphasize the
contribution of an individual,
begin the citation with that
person’s name.
MUSIC RECORDING
Works Cited Entry
(It’s a Wonderful).
Alvoeiro, Jorge. “Neurological Effects of Music.” Online
posting. sci.psychology.misc Newsgroup. 20 June 1996.
Web. 10 Aug. 1996.
Haddon, Mark. Interview by Dave Weich. Powells.com.
Powell’s Books, 24 June 2003. Web. 15 May 2008.
“China Town Engulfed.” Online image. 12 May 2008. BBC
News. BBC, 8 June 2008. Web. 10 June 2008.
Currin, John. Blond Angel. 2001. Indianapolis Museum of Art.
IMA: It’s My Art. Web. 9 May 2007.
Lange, Dorothea. The Migrant Mother. 1936. Prints and
Photographs Div., Lib. of Cong. Dorothea Lange:
Photographer of the People. Web. 9 May 2007.
“Daughter Turns Dad In.” Online video clip. CNN.com. Cable
News Network, 4 Apr. 2008. Web. 10 Apr. 2008.
Formats vary; see MLA Handbook for more detail.
“Local Ad.” Dir. Janson Reitman. The Office. Perf. Steve
Carrell. NBC. WNBC, New York, 12 Dec. 2007. Television.
“Shakespearean Putdowns.” Narr. Robert Siegel and Linda
Wertheimer. All Things Considered. Natl. Public Radio.
WNYC, New York, 6 Apr. 1994. Radio.
Wiesel, Elie. Interview by Ted Koppel. Nightline. ABC. WABC,
New York. 18 Apr. 2002. Television.
Washburn, Cara. Personal* interview. 20 Nov. 2009.
*Substitute “Telephone” or “E-mail” as appropriate.
It’s a Wonderful Life. Dir. Frank Capra. Perf. James Stewart,
Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, and Thomas Mitchell.
1946. Republic, 2001. DVD.
(Capra).
Capra, Frank, dir. It’s a Wonderful Life. . . .
(Holiday).
Holiday, Billie. “God Bless the Child.” Rec. 9 May 1941. The
Essence of Billie Holiday. Columbia, 1991. CD.
Taylor, Billy. “What is Jazz?” John F. Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts, Washington. 14 Feb. 1995. Lecture.
Volkswagen. Advertisement. Men’s Health August 2005: 115.
Print.
Heartbreak House. By George Bernard Shaw. Dir. Robin
Lefevre. Perf. Phillip Bosco and Swoosie Kurtz.
Roundabout Theatre Company. Amer. Airlines Theatre,
New York. 1 Oct. 2006. Performance.
LECTURE, SPEECH, OR
ADDRESS
(Taylor).
ADVERTISEMENT
(Volkswagen).
LIVE PERFORMANCE
Note: To emphasize the
contribution of an individual,
begin the citation with that
person’s name.
(Heartbreak House).
Sources:
th
Ballenger, Bruce. The Curious Researcher. 6 ed. New York: Longman, 2009. Print.
Maimon, Elaine P., Janice Peritz, and Kathleen Blake Yancey. A Writer's Resource: A Handbook for Writing and Research. 3rd ed. Boston:
McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print.
The Modern Language Association. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th ed. New York: MLA, 2009. Print.
General Guidelines for In-Text Citations
Each documentation style in writing has developed for a reason, and each style emphasizes something.
In the case of MLA, the author is emphasized. Therefore, it is preferable to include the author’s first
and last name in a signal phrase the first time a source is used and place the page number at the end.
In subsequent citations, use the author’s last name only.
According to one expert, Cara Washburn, new evidence is emerging about Twain’s life . . . (11).
Washburn also discusses the use of allegory in Twain’s works . . . (20).
Writers may also use a parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence to document sources.
Recent studies about Twain’s inspirations for his short stories show . . . (Washburn 20).
List up to three authors of a work in the parenthetical citation with commas separating their names.
The use of regional dialects by Twain is considered a hallmark . . . (Washburn, Michaels, and Leslie 19).
For works with four or more authors, use the abbreviation et al. with just the first author’s name.
Literary experts continue to find evidence of Twain’s humor . . . (Washburn, et al. 25).
If no author is available, a shortened form of the title may be substituted in the citation.
Many of his song lyrics used slang and Southern dialect . . . (“Louis Armstrong”).
For an organization or corporate author, you may abbreviate common words.
A new survey indicates . . . (Natl. Research Council 15).
When citing two or more works by the same author, add a short reference to the specific work after the
author’s name, using a comma to separate the items. If the author’s name is used in the text, use only
the title and page number in the reference.
(Twain, Tom Sawyer 55) or (Twain, “Celebrated Jumping Frog” 7).
Twain’s skill at telling a tall tale is seen . . . . (“Celebrated Jumping Frog” 7).
If a work does not have set page numbers (e.g., an internet article), do not include them in the citation.
However, if a work has explicit paragraph numbers, use numbers with the abbreviation par. or pars.
Many German romantic musical techniques may have originated in Italian opera (Rothstein, par. 9).
For poems, use line numbers rather than page numbers, using the word lines only in the first citation.
Hughes says that the music “Is honey / Mixed with liquid fire” (lines 19-20).
Hughes concludes that “Trouble / Mellows to a golden note” (43-44).
In general, keep parenthetical references short and place them close to the material cited in a position
that doesn’t interrupt the flow of the writing (usually at the end of the sentence). The final punctuation
is placed after the reference, as shown in the above examples.
For more information about the layout of an MLA style paper, see the “MLA Documentation Style”
and the “MLA Formatting” handouts. For more examples on how to place quotations in your papers,
see the handout “Integrating Quotations in Essays and Research Papers.”