MLA Style
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USING MLA STYLE
This brief handout was compiled using the MLA Handbook, Eighth edition. Examples were adapted from various sources
and revised June, 2016. For further information, please refer to the MLA handbook.
THE FIRST PAGE
1” Top Margin
Your Last Name and Page #
Writer’s Full Name
Professor’s Name
Title is centered but not
underlined or in
quotation marks
Course Name and Number
The entire
paper is
double-spaced
Day Month Year
Start a
running
header ½”
from the top
Title of Paper
Choose a standard font and size (for example, Times New Roman, 12 point). Use the same font style and
Use tab key to
set a ½”
indent at the
start of each
paragraph
size throughout the paper. Use italics only to add emphasis in your text or as specified in citation rules (mainly
for titles of works).
Double-space throughout, including text, titles, quotations and works cited entries. Do not use extra space
before or after paragraphs. Leave a single space between one sentence and another unless your instructor prefers
1” Side
Margin
two. Left align paragraphs.
A separate title page is not necessary in MLA style; on the first page of your paper (flush left), write your
name, professor’s name, name of the course, date, and center the title of your paper, as shown above. Do not
boldface, underline or enlarge font of title. Capitalize major words.
Insert your last name and page number on all pages, half an inch from top edge of paper and on the right.
You can do this using the header feature in MS word.
Place tables, pictures, and other graphic figures as close to the related text as possible. Number figures
continuously or by chapter, and give a descriptive caption/title followed by a reference entry (because figures are
cited within the text).
Use white, 8.5 by 11-inch paper. Leave one inch margins on all sides. Print on one side of paper. Bind,
paper clip, or staple, as your instructor specifies.
Format Works Cited entries as hanging-indented paragraphs, which means that the first line of each entry
must stick out on the left. See example on following pages.
1” Bottom Margin
1” Side
Margin
MLA Style
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IN-TEXT CITATION
In-text citation is a brief reference to the source of other writers’ words or ideas included in your
text. This reference is meant to help the reader locate the corresponding Works Cited entry.
[NOTE: It is often easier to construct your Works Cited page first, then go back and to complete your
in-text citations!]
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When you borrow or build on other writers’ words or ideas, indicate author and page number of
the source in parentheses; do not insert a comma between the author’s last name and page
number; place the punctuation mark after the parenthetical reference:
One of the paradoxes of democracy is that “individual freedom is possible when there is
discipline regulated by the society” (Doe 23).
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If you have already mentioned the author’s name before the quotation, you only need to write the
page number in the parentheses:
John Doe discusses this paradox of democracy when “individual freedom is possible when
there is discipline regulated by the society” (23).
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If you cite two or more works by the same author, add the title of the work between author name
and page reference. Shorten title using key word(s) if it is long. Note the comma here:
(Doe, Policy 87)
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For two or three authors of the same work, cite all last names. There should be a comma before
“and”:
(Doe, Smith, and Williams 183-84)
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For more than three authors, there are options: either list all names or the first author’s last
name followed by “et al.”. Do not use a period after “et” or a comma after “al.”:
Doe, Smith, and Williams argued that technology is not value-free (122).
Technology is not value free (Doe et al. 122).
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For electronic and other non-print sources that do not have page numbers, try to give the section
or paragraph number and indicate that the number does not refer to a page. You need not give
page number of a one-page source. Note the use of punctuation when a word or phrase comes
between author name and page number:
(Doe, par. 3) or (Myth of Poverty, sec. 3)
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On occasion an author will quote another author/text. This quote is considered an indirect
source (source quoted in another source). Try to go to the original text whenever possible; if
you must cite indirectly, use the following format:
Researchers Botan and McCreadie point out that “workers are objects of information
collection without participating in the process of exchanging the information . . .” (qtd. in Kizza
and Ssanyu 14).
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You only need to cite and indicate personal communication within your text (as in-text citation);
you need not create separate bibliographic entry for it in the Works Cited section:
In an email John Brown sent me, he asserted that “global warming is not just a fact, it is the
most severe threat to mankind” (July 13, 2007).
MLA Style
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WORKS CITED
The “Works Cited” page is an alphabetical list of bibliographic entries for each work you
reference in your text. This list allows readers to trace your research path. As you do the
groundwork for your paper, record citation information for each source that you use;
never wait until the end of your writing process to “add in” citation information.
Format
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Begin the Works Cited section on a new page; number it continuously with the
body of the paper. Center the title Works Cited, or Work Cited (for just one
citation). Do not underline, or add quotation marks; see below.
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Keep the one-inch page margins, double-spaced format and flush left margin of regular text.
Format entries as hanging indented (which means that the first line of each entry
should be at the left margin and the rest of the lines should be indented half an
inch).
OLD Anatomy of an MLA Works Cited Page (example source is a book)
Author’s Last Name[comma]
Author’s Other Names[period]
Italicize Title of Book[period]
(Capitalize first letter of key
words)
Special information
about edition,
translation, volume,
etc., about the book, if
Keep the same header
as before and continue
the page count
Doe 42
Keep the margins
the same as before
and double-space
throughout
Works Cited
1” Margin
½” Indent
Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Oxford Sherlock Holmes. Ed. Owen Dudley Edwards. 9
1” Margin
vols. New York: Oxford UP, 1993. Print.
Place of Publication [colon]
Name of Publisher[comma]
Date of
Publication[period]
Indicate where
source originates
(Print or Web)
NEW Anatomy of an MLA Works Cited Page (example source is a book)
Author’s Last Name[comma]
Author’s Other Names[period]
Italicize Title of Book[period]
(Capitalize first letter of key
words)
Special information
about edition,
translation, volume,
etc., about the book, if
Keep the same header
as before and continue
the page count
Doe 42
Works Cited
1” Margin
½” Indent
Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Oxford Sherlock Holmes. Ed. Owen Dudley Edwards.
vols. Oxford UP, 1993.
Name of Publisher[comma]
Date of
Publication[period]
Keep the margins
the same as before
and double-space
throughout
1” Margin
MLA Style
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THE CORE ELEMENTS
1. Author
2. Title of Source
3. Title of Container
4. Other Contributors
5. Version
6. Number
7. Publisher
8. Publication Date
9. Location
(pages/URL)
Author
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Alphabetize Works Cited entries by the last name of the author you cited. When there is no author,
alphabetize by the title of work.
When last names are similar, consider the full first names as well for alphabetical order.
When there are multiple works by the same author, replace the author's name with three hyphens (---)
and list the entries of that author's works by their titles in alphabetical order.
When a source has two authors, include them in the order in which they appear in the work. Reverse
the first of the names, follow it with a comma and ‘and’, and give the second name in normal order.
Marquart, James W., Sheldon Ekland Olson, and Jonathan R. Sorensen. The Rope, the Chair and the
Needle: Capital Punishment in Texas, 1923-1990. U of Texas P, 1994.
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For three or more authors, reverse the first name and follow it with a comma and et al.
Follow this information with a period.
Title of Source
• A title is italicized if the source is self-contained and independent. This includes books, or a collection
of essays, stories, or poems.
Papandreou, Giorgos. Modern Recipes for Traditional Families. Michigan State P, 2004.
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A title is placed in quotation marks if the source is part of a larger work. For example, the title of an
essay, story, or a poem in a collection.
When a work that is normally independent appears in a collection, the work's title remains in italics.
The title of a periodical is set in italics, and the title of an article in the periodical goes in quotation
marks. Web sites are also italicized, while articles on a Web site are put in quotations.
Smith, John. “Inventing the Wheel.” Breakthroughs of the Century, vol. 45, no. 6, 2009, 85-98.
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When a source is untitled, provide a brief description of the work, neither italicized nor enclosed in
quotation marks. Capitalize the first word of the description and any proper nouns in it. However, the
description may include the title of another work to which the one being documented is connected.
MLA Style
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Follow this information with a period.
Title of Container
• When the source being documented forms a part of a larger whole, the larger whole is considered a
container that holds the source. The title of the container is italicized and is followed by a comma.
Baron, Naomi S. “Redefining Reading: The Impact of Digital Communication Media.” PMLA, vol.
128, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 193-200.
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The container may be a book that is a collection of essays, stories, poems, or other works; it could also
be a periodical, Web site, or even a library/online database such as JSTOR.
A container can be placed within another larger container. It is best to account for all the containers
that enclose your source. Add core elements 3-9 (from “Title of container” to “Location”) to the end
of the entry to account for additional containers.
Follow this information with a comma.
Other contributors
• Aside from the author, other people may be credited in the source as contributors. If their participation
is noted in your research, or used to identify the work, name the other contributors in the entry.
• Precede each name with a description of their role. These descriptions include adapted by, edited by,
translated by, etc.…
Chartier, Roger. The Order of Books: Readers, Authors, and Libraries in Europe between the
Fourteenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Translated by Lydia G. Cochrane, Stanford UP, 1994.
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Version
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Follow this information with a comma.
Always indicate the version of a source, such as a book, that has been released in multiple editions.
Newcomb, Horace, editor. Television: The Critical View. 7th ed., Oxford UP, 2007.
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Follow this information with a comma.
Number
• Some sources may be part of a numbered sequence. Texts too long to be printed in one book, are
issued in volumes, which may be numbered. Always indicate the volume number of any multi-volume
sets that you cite.
• Some Journals may have both volume and issue numbers. If so, include both and separate them using
a comma.
Baron, Naomi S. “Redefining Reading: The Impact of Digital Communication Media.” PMLA, vol.
128, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 193-200.
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Follow this information with a comma.
Publisher
• Organizations that are primarily responsible for producing a source or making it available to the
public, are cited as the publisher.
• Whenever a publisher name contains the titles University Press or Press, abbreviate these titles by
using the letters U (university) and P (press).
Jacobs, Alan. The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction. Oxford UP, 2011.
MLA Style
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If two or more organizations are named in the source, and seem equally responsible for the work, cite
both using a forward slash (/) to separate the names.
A publisher’s name may be omitted, because it is unnecessary or if not available, from the following
publications: periodicals, works published by its author or editor, Web sites whose titles are almost the
same as the name of the publisher, and Web sites not involved in producing the works it makes
available.
Follow this information with a comma.
Publication date
• For books, look for the date of publication on the title page. If not there, check the book’s copyright
page. If more than one date appears, select the most recent one.
• When citing books with more than one edition, cite the date of the edition you used.
• When sources have multiple publication dates, cite the date that is most relevant to your use of the
source. Write the full date as you find it. If a source was compiled over time, cite a range of dates.
Deresiewicz, William. “The Death of the Artist-and the Birth of the Creative Entrepreneur.” The
Atlantic, Jan.-Feb. 2015, pp. 92-97.
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Follow this information with a comma.
Location
• In print sources, page numbers (p.) or a range of page numbers (pp.) specifies the location of a text.
• The location of an online work is commonly indicated by its URL, or Web address. The use of URLs
is encouraged, however, always follow your instructor’s preference.
Web site
address
(URL)
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Some publishers assign DOIs to their online publications. When possible, citing a DOI is preferable to
citing a URL.
Chan, Evans. “Postmodernism and Hong Kong Cinema.” Postmodern Culture, vol. 10, no. 3, May
2000. Project Muse, doi:10.1353/pmc.2000.0021.
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Follow this information with a period.
MLA Style
OPTIONAL ELEMENTS
*Your decision whether to include optional elements depends on their importance to your use of the source.
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Date of original publication
City of publication
Total number of volumes
Series name
Unexpected work description (e.g. Radio broadcast transcript)
In person Lecture or Address
Information about prior publication
Citing from the U.S. Congress (number of congress session) + (document type and number)
Date of access for Web based sources
OTHER RESOURCES
There are many good resources available for learning to use the MLA citation style. The USF
library has many good sources, handbooks, and publication manuals, and there are many good
electronic sources listed below. After consulting these resources and working with your
instructor or editor for clarification, the USF Writing Center would be glad to help.
Online Citation Generators
While there are a growing number of useful electronic tools to help you create your MLA citations
(such as RefWorks, available through the USF library website), be aware that you must still
understand how the citation process functions. Without this understanding, these tools can easily
provide you with incorrect citation formatting. Also take note that these electronic tools generally only
provide Works Cited information and will not help you with your In-text citations. In addition, these
electronic tools may not be updated to the most recent MLA Edition. For these reasons, you should
always begin with a basic understanding of MLA style.
Online Resources
The USF Library website for citing sources and RefWorks:
http://guides.lib.usf.edu/CitingSources
Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL):
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
Diana Hacker’s online resource for documentation and research:
http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/home.html
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