MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION (MLA)
QUICK REFERENCE
The following guidelines and examples are from the Modern Language Association (MLA) Handbook for
Writers of Research Papers 7thEdition. This set of guidelines, or “style sheet,” is preferred in English
courses and other humanities courses here at SU. Again, check with your professor or instructor about
which style is appropriate for your particular class. You can find the latest copy of this book in the
reference department (Call Number: Ref. LB2369 .G53 2009) of the library or you can visit the MLA
website at http://www.mla.org.
Important Notes:
• MLA style requires double-spaced works cited. The following examples are
single-spaced to conserve space.
• MLA style allows for the consistent use of either italics or underlining.
• Remember to remove the hyperlink when typing URLs.
Encyclopedias
Print Examples* Treat an encyclopedia article or dictionary entry as you would a
piece in a collection. If the article is signed, give the author’s name first. If no author is
given (unsigned article), begin with title.
Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Article Title.” Title of Encyclopedia. Edition. Publisher:
Place of Publication. Year of Publication. Print.
Example: Strahle, Warren C. “Rockets.” The World Book Encyclopedia. 2000 ed. 2000. Print.
John B. Cade Library Reference Department
[email protected] 771-2875
http://www.lib.subr.edu
Electronic Encyclopedias
Electronic Examples* If no author is given (unsigned article), begin with title.
Author. “Article Title.” Title of Encyclopedia. Publication Date. Web. Day Month Year of access.
Garrow, David J. “Martin Luther King.” World Book Advanced. 2009. Web. 11 May 2009.
PRINT REFERENCES
BOOKS
Books* If no author is given (unsigned article), begin with title.
Author’s name. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Print.
Franke, Damon. Modernistic Heresies: British Literary History, 1883-1924.
Columbus: Ohio State UP, 2008. Print.
John B. Cade Library Reference Department
[email protected] 771-2875
http://www.lib.subr.edu
A Book by Two or More Authors
Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. The Craft of Research.
2nd ed. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2003. Print.
Dictionary “Dictionary entry.” Dictionary Title. Edition. Publication Year. Print.
“Azimuthal Equidistant Projection.” Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.
11th. Ed. 2003. Print.
PERIODICALS (JOURNALS, MAGAZINES & NEWSPAPERS)
Print Examples * If no author is given (unsigned article), begin with title.
JOURNAL
Journal
Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Title of Journal Volume.Number (Year):
Page Number(s). Print.
Piper, Andrew. “Rethinking the Print Object: Goethe and the Book of Everything.” PMLA 121.1
(2006): 124-38. Print.
John B. Cade Library Reference Department
[email protected] 771-2875
http://www.lib.subr.edu
A PERIODICAL PUBLICATION IN AN ONLINE DATABASE
Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Title of Journal Volume.Number (Year):
Page Number(s). Title of the Database. Web. Date of access (day, month, and year).
Tolson, Nancy. “Making Books Available: The Role of Early Librarians, Libraries, and
Booksellers in the Promotion of African American Children’s Literature.”
African American Review 32.1 (1998): 9-16. JSTOR. Web. 5 June 2009.
MAGAZINE
Magazine
Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Magazine Title Date: Page Numbers. Print.
Weintraub, Arlene. “A Thousand-Year Plan for Nuclear Waste.” Business Week 6
May 2002: 94-96. Print.
John B. Cade Library Reference Department
[email protected] 771-2875
http://www.lib.subr.edu
Electronic Magazine Example
Schultz, Stacey. “Would-Be Quitters Get Help Winning Against Nicotine.” US News & World
Report 29 Apr. 2000:58. 5. Academic Search Complete. Web. March 2006.
MLA Newspaper
Newspaper
Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Newspaper Title Date, Edition, Section:
Page Numbers. Print.
Jeromack, Paul. “This Once, a David of the Art World Does Goliath a Favor.” Wall Street
Journal 13 July 2008:C1+. Print.
Electronic Newspaper Example:
Dwyer, Jim. “Yeates Meets the Digital Age, Full of Passionate Intensity.” New York
Times 20 July 2008, early ed., Arts and Leisure sec.:1+. Newspaper Source. Web.
12 May 2009.
John B. Cade Library Reference Department
[email protected] 771-2875
http://www.lib.subr.edu
Other MLA Electronic Sources
General Website
GENERAL WEBSITE * If no author is given (unsigned article), begin the title.
Author’s Last Name, First Name. Title of Site. Name of institution or organization associated
with the site. Web. Date of access.
United States. Dept. of Justice. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Law
Enforcement and Juvenile Crime. By Howard N. Snyder. 2001. National Criminal Justice
Reference Service. Web. 15 May 2008.
GOVERNMENT PUBLICATION* If you do not know the writer of the document, cite the
government agency as the author, followed by the name of the agency, using an abbreviation if
the context makes it clear.
Name of the government agency, Title. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication. Print.
Dept. of Labor. Child Care: A Workforce Issue. Washington: GPO, 1988. Print.
PAMPHLET * Treat a brochure or pamphlet as you would a book.
Author. Title. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication. Print.
Modern Language Association. Language Study in the Age of Globalization: The College-Level
Experience. New York: MLA, n.d. Print.
John B. Cade Library Reference Department
[email protected] 771-2875
http://www.lib.subr.edu
MLA Works Cited Page
The list of works cited appears at the end of the paper. Begin the list on a new page and
number each page, continuing the page numbers of the text. For example, if the text of
your research paper ends on page 10, the works-cited list begins on page 11. The page
number appears in the upper right-hand corner, half an inch from the top and flush with
the right margin (see fig. 12). Center the title, Works Cited, an inch from the top of the
page. Double-space between the title and the first entry. Begin each entry flush with the
left margin; if an entry runs more than one line, indent the subsequent line or lines onehalf inch from the left margin. This format is sometimes called hanging indention, and
you can set your word processor to create it automatically for a group of paragraphs.
Hanging indention makes alphabetical lists easier to use. Double-space the entire list,
both between and within entries. Continue the list on as many pages as necessary.
The top of the first page of a works-cited list.
John B. Cade Library Reference Department
[email protected] 771-2875
http://www.lib.subr.edu
Arrangement of Entries
Alphabetize entries in the list of works cited by the author’s last name, using the letterby-letter system. In this system, the order of names is determined by the letters before the
commas that separate last names and first names. Spaces and other punctuation marks are
ignored.
Citing sources in the text
The list of works cited at the end of your research paper plays an important role in your
acknowledgment of sources (see chapter 5 MLA ), but the list does not in itself provide
sufficiently detailed and precise documentation. You must indicate to your readers not
only what works you used in writing the paper but also what you derived from each
source and where in the work you found the material. The most practical way to
supply this information is to insert a brief parenthetical acknowledgment in your paper
wherever you incorporate another’s words, facts, or ideas. Usually the author’s last
name and a page reference are enough to identify the source and the specific location
from which you borrowed material.
Example: Citing sources in text
Medieval Europe was a place both of “raids, pillages, slavery, and extortion” and of
“traveling merchants, monetary exchange, towns if not cities, and active markets in
grain” (Townsend 10).
The parenthetical reference “(Townsend 10)” indicates that the quotations come
from page 10 of a work by Townsend. Given the author’s last name, your readers
can find complete publication information for the source in the alphabetically
arranged list of works cited that follows the text of your paper.
Example: Arrangement of works cited
Townsend, Robert M. The Medieval Village Economy. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1993.
Print.
Readability Keep parenthetical references as brief—and as few—as clarity and accuracy permit.
Give only the information needed to identify a source, and do not add a parenthetical
reference unnecessarily.
The paired sentences below illustrate alternative ways of identifying authors. Note
that sometimes one version is more concise than the other.
John B. Cade Library Reference Department
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If you are citing an entire work, for example, rather than a specific part of it, the author’s
name in the text may be the only documentation required.
EXAMPLE: Citing an entire work
“Booth has devoted an entire book to the subject” needs no parenthetical documentation
if the list of works cited includes only one work by Booth.
REMEMBER: The parenthetical reference “(Townsend 10)” indicates that the
quotations come from page 10 of a work by Townsend. Given the author’s last name,
your readers can find the complete publication information for the source in the
alphabetically arranged list of works cited that follows the text of your paper.
Author’s Name in Text Tannen has argued this point (178-85).
Author’s Name in Reference This point has already been argued (Tannen 178-85).
Authors’ Names in Text Others, like Jakobson and Waugh (210-15), hold the opposite point of view.
Authors’ Names in Reference Others hold the opposite point of view (e.g., Jakobson and Waugh 210-15).
Author’s Name in Text Only Daiches has seen this relation (2: 776-77).
Author’s Name in Reference Only one scholar has seen this relation (Daiches 2: 776-77).
Author’s Name in Text It may be true, as Robertson maintains, that “in the appreciation of medieval art the
attitude of the observer is of primary importance . . .” (136).
A reference directly after a quotation follows the closing quotation mark.
John B. Cade Library Reference Department
[email protected] 771-2875
http://www.lib.subr.edu
In the late Renaissance, Machiavelli contended that human beings were by nature
“ungrateful” and “mutable” (1240), and Montaigne thought them “miserable and puny”
(1343).
Example: Defining a source in the text at the start.
According to Karl F. Zender, Romeo and Juliet presents an opposition between
two worlds: “the world of the everyday,” associated with the adults in the play,
and “the world of romance,” associated with the two lovers (138). Romeo and
Juliet’s language of love nevertheless becomes “fully responsive to the tang of
actuality” (141).
This technique can be useful when an entire paragraph is based on material from a
single source.
John B. Cade Library Reference Department
[email protected] 771-2875
http://www.lib.subr.edu