The English Corner at Richland College
MLA Quick Tips and Reference Guide
MLA requires that your paper include certain format specifications:

12 point font

Times New Roman

A heading on the left side in the body of the paper on the first page. It must
include the following information in this order:

Your name

Your professor’s name

Your class

The date the paper is due, formatted day Month year (e.g. 15 March 2016)

Double spacing, including the heading and Works Cited page

One inch margins (no more, no less)

Indent the first line of all paragraphs one half inch

Remove extra line space after the header, the title, and all paragraphs

Use a single space after punctuation and sentences

Your last name and a page number on all pages

An original and creative title that reflects your essay, centered on the page and in
12 point Times New Roman font

A Works Cited after your essay, using a hanging indent and alphabetizing entries
Core Elements of a Citation
The 8th edition of MLA style identifies certain core elements that should appear in the citations
for most types of sources. These core elements can adapt to any new digital mediums that
develop. In a citation, the core elements appear as:
Author. Title of source. Title of container, other contributors, version, number, publisher,
publication date, location.
1. Author: The author is the creator of the source. The author can be a single person,
multiple people, or an organization.
2. Title of source: This is the specific source you are citing and could be a book, a journal
article, a short story or poem, an article on a website, or other source type.
3. Title of container: This is the larger work that your specific source comes packaged in.
For example, you might cite a book chapter as your specific source, but the book itself
would be the container of that source. Some sources might have two containers, for
example, a journal article that is contained in a journal, which is contained in an
academic database. In that case, you would give the information for the original container
and then the later container. Some sources, such as books, are self-contained and do not
need a container citation.
4. Other contributors: This element includes editors, translators, and others who helped to
produce a source but are not the creators of the source.
5. Version: Versions include different editions of a source, such as the second edition of a
book or the director’s cut of a film.
Updated 9/29/2016 by Suzie Baker and Toni Whalen
Handout created by Justine White
www.richlandcollege.edu/englishcorner
6. Number: Number refers to the volume number in a multivolume work like an
encyclopedia or the issue number of a journal. Volume may be abbreviated to vol., and
issue number may be abbreviated to no.
7. Publisher: The publisher is the primary organization responsible for creating a source or
making it public. The publisher might be a publishing company or an organization.
8. Publication Date: The publication date refers to when a source was published. Some
sources may have multiple dates, so cite the one that is most relevant to your use of the
source. Dates should be given as day Month year, e.g. 10 June 2010.
9. Location: The location may refer to the page range for an article or chapter, e.g. pp. 201223. For online sources that have no page numbers, the location could be the website
URL, e.g. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd4MScADY94.
The following are examples of Works Cited citations and corresponding in-text citations.
Basic Book Entry
Author’s last name, first name. Title of Book. Publishing company, year.
Downey, Katherine Brown. Perverse Midrash: Oscar Wilde, Andre Gide, and Censorship of
Biblical Drama. Continuum, 2004.
In-text citation: (Downey 25). In-text citation includes the author’s last name and page number.
Work in an Anthology (Chapter or Section in a Book)
Author’s last name, first name. “Chapter Title.” Title of Book, (editors or translators if
applicable go next, followed by volume or edition,) Publishing company, year, page
numbers.
Butler, Octavia E. “Bloodchild.” Bloodchild and Other Stories, edited by Joe Smith, vol. 2,
Seven Stories, 2005, pp. 1-24.
In-text citation: (Butler 15).
Two Authors
First author’s last name, first name, and second author’s first name last name. Title of
Book. Publishing company, year.
Fisher, John, and Peter Jones. Internet Piracy. Dell, 2010.
In-text citation: (Fisher and Jones 218).
Three or More Authors
For three or more authors, use the first author’s name plus et al. “Et al.” stands for “et alii,”
which is Latin for “and others”; it references the larger team involved in creating the source.
First author’s last name, first name, et al. Title of Book. Publishing company, year.
Fisher, John, et al. Internet Piracy. Dell, 2010.
In-text citation: (Fisher et al. 218).
Updated 9/29/2016 by Suzie Baker and Toni Whalen
Handout created by Justine White
www.richlandcollege.edu/englishcorner
Scholarly Journal in a Database
Author’s last name, first name. “Title of Article.” Title of Journal, volume number, issue
number, year, pages. Database, DOI or URL.
Lunau, Kate. “Altered States.” Maclean’s, vol. 129, no. 1, 2016, pp. 40-44. Academic Search
Complete, ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=8&sid=5c6ca2d5-721b-4dd9-992dc4af002de8de%40sessionmgr4006&hid=4110&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3
d%3d#AN=112010840&db=a9h.
In-text citation: (Abramsky 20).
Article on a Website
Author’s last name, first name. “Title of Article.” Website Title, Publisher, date published,
URL address.
White, Deborah. “Marijuana Legalization Pros & Cons, Will Obama Legalize Marijuana?”
Liberal & Progressive Politics & Perspectives, New York Times, June 2011,
http://usliberals.about.com/od/patriotactcivilrights/i/MarijuanaProCon.htm.
In-text citation: (White).
More Than One Source with the Same Author
Use the same formatting for the individual sources as you normally would. In place of the
author’s name for the second or subsequent sources, put three hyphens followed by a period: ---.
American Humane Association. “American Humane’s Bill to Ban Gas Chambers in Animal
Shelters.” Animals, American Humane Association, 26 April 2010,
www.americanhumane.org/position-statement/gassing-of-shelter-animals/.
---. “Animal Shelter Euthanasia.” Animals, American Humane Association, 2010,
www.americanhumane.org/fact-sheet/animal-shelter-euthanasia-2/
In-text citations: (American “American”). for the first source, OR (American “Animal”). for the
second source.
Advertisement Online
Updated 9/29/2016 by Suzie Baker and Toni Whalen
Handout created by Justine White
www.richlandcollege.edu/englishcorner
Product name. “Title of Commercial.” Website Title, Publisher, date published, URL
address.
Chrysler. “Halftime in America.” YouTube, 5 Feb 2012,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIVjCghMo2E.
In-text citation: (Chrysler).
Posting on an Electronic Forum
Username. Comment on “Title of forum.” Title of website, date of comment, time of
comment, URL address.
Bigboy485. Comment on “Halftime in America.” YouTube, 20 March 2012, 11:15 p.m.,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIVjCghMo2E.
In-text citation: (Bigboy485).
No Author Listed
“Article Title.” Website Title, Publisher, date published, URL address.
“Outstanding Commercial 2010.” Emmys.com, Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, 2010,
www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/2010/outstanding-commercial.
In-text citation: (“Outstanding”). Use enough words from the title to be able to clearly identify
the entry on the Works Cited page.
Song on a CD
Artist. “Song Title.” Title of CD, Production company, month (if available) and year of
production.
The Beatles. “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Apple
Records, 1967.
In-text citation: (The Beatles 12). Be sure to include the line number for the quoted material.
Follow the same convention when quoting from a poem or a play.
Government or Organization Website
Organization Name. “Article Title.” Website Title, Publisher, date published, URL address.
Federal Bureau of Investigation. “Telemarketing Fraud.” Common Fraud Schemes, U.S. Dept. of
Justice, www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety/common-fraud-schemes.
In-text citation: (Federal).
Updated 9/29/2016 by Suzie Baker and Toni Whalen
Handout created by Justine White
www.richlandcollege.edu/englishcorner
Listing the Author in the Text
If you refer to the author of your quote in the text, then you do not need to list him or her in the
parentheses at the end of the sentence. You only need the page number.
According to Professor Frederick Turner at The University of Texas at Dallas, “no truly
great poetry has been written in English since the Second World War” (77).
Turner, Frederick. “Mighty Poets in their Misery Dead: A Polemic on the Contemporary Poetic
Scene.” The Missouri Review, vol. 4, no. 1, 1980, pp. 77-96.
A Quote within a Quote
If you find a quote you want to use that is quoted within another source, it is best to find the
original source of the quote and cite it. If you cannot find the original source, you must give the
original author credit for doing the research or interview in the body of the essay. Your Works
Cited entry should only reflect the source you took the quote from, not the original source.
According to First Lady Michelle Obama, the power of an artistic performance can be
diplomatic: “That's the beauty of arts and culture, music and dance. It's a universal voice”
(qtd. in Brown).
Brown, Laura. “Michelle Obama: America's Got Talent.” Fashion Trends and Women's Fashion
Shows - Harper’s BAZAAR, Hearst Communications, 13 Oct. 2010,
www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/latest/news/a591/michelle-obama-interview/.
Block Quotes
Block quotes are formatted differently than in-text quotes. The quote must be a minimum of five
lines long. Set the quote off by a left indent (do not center), double-space the quote, do not use
quotation marks, and place final punctuation before the citation.
Grammarian and author Joseph Williams argues sentence length and variation are
important:
Those who can write individually clear and concise sentences have achieved a
good deal, and much more if they can assemble them into coherent passages. But
a writer who can’t write clear sentences longer than twenty words or so is like a
composer who can write only short jingles. No one can communicate complex
ideas in short sentences alone, so you have to know how to assemble a sentence
Updated 9/29/2016 by Suzie Baker and Toni Whalen
Handout created by Justine White
www.richlandcollege.edu/englishcorner
long and complex enough to express complex ideas, but still clear enough to be
read easily. You can do that, if you know some principles of sentence
construction that go beyond SUBJECTS and VERBS, CHARACTERS and
ACTIONS. (166)
Williams, Joseph M. Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace. 6th ed.,Longman, 2000.
However, many block quotes are unnecessary. Ask yourself if the entire quote is necessary for
understanding or clarity. If the answer is no, then reduce your quote to only the most important
information.
When discussing sentence length and variation, grammarian and author Joseph Williams
declares that “no one can communicate complex ideas in short sentences alone, so you
have to know how to assemble a sentence long and complex enough to express complex
ideas, but still clear enough to be read easily” (166).
Missing Elements
If your source is missing any of the core elements with your source, such as a publication date or
version, simply leave that element out of your citation. However, if your source is missing
multiple elements that should exist for that type of source, you may want to reconsider the
credibility of your source.
Updated 9/29/2016 by Suzie Baker and Toni Whalen
Handout created by Justine White
www.richlandcollege.edu/englishcorner