Guide
to MLA Documentation Style
This is the standard of documentation adopted by the Modern Language Association. It replaces the practice of using footnotes to mark citations of sources. Instead, the writer briefly identifies sources in the text
itself or by author and page in
parentheses. For electronic sources, the page number may be omitted. At the end of the paper, an alphabetically arranged list titled
Works Cited replaces the endnotes
page and in many cases the
bibliography as well. If there are works that the writer consulted but did not cite, they are listed alphabetically on a
separate Works Consulted page.
Use the following as a guide when citing sources.
Wherever possible, include the reference as part of the text in your paper. For example, if you were writing
a
paper about
you would cite the reference
in the text this way:
In her autobiography, Memoirs of a Seattle Girlhood, Elspeth Wetly
describes growing up in
Note
that the punctuation (the
period) follows the parentheses.
When it’s awkward to include the source as part
of the text, enclose the citation
in parentheses following the relevant material. For example, if you wanted to make a general statement about
reactions to
People
who grew up there
frequently point out that
in (Wetly 219).
The author’s last name is included within the parentheses when the author is not mentioned in the text. It is not necessary to include the title within the parentheses unless more than one work by the same author (or works by authors with the same name) is cited in your paper.
If consecutive citations
are made from the same source, only the
page number is required in the citations following the initial citation.
If another work is cited between citations from a single work, the author’s name must be
repeated as well.
The following passage shows examples of the preceding guidelines.
In Memoirs of a Seattle Girlhood, the
author says that people who grew up there complain that
The sources cited in your text are listed alphabetically on the Works Cited page. This
list is where detailed
information such as the date and place of publication is included. The Works Cited list should be double spaced with no extra spaces between sources. All but the first line
of each entry are indented five
spaces.
Sample Citations on the Reverse of This Page
Italic or Underline?
In all cases, italic is the correct form for titles of
journals, magazines, work of art, etc. Underlining is used as a way to tell
print shops to set type in italics and became common in non-published materials
such as college essays when most students used typewriters to write their
papers. Now that we have the ability to italicize using word processing
software, underlining is no longer necessary, but if your instructor prefers underlining,
by all means, underline.
A BOOK
BY ONE AUTHOR
List the author’s name (last name first), the title of the book (in
italics), the city where it was published (if several cities are listed, use
the one in this country or the first one if they are all in this country), and
the year it was published (use the most recent year if more than one is
listed). For more than one source by the same author, list the author in the
first entry only; all others begin with three hyphens, as illustrated below.
Wetly, Elspeth.
Memoirs
of a
A BOOK
BY MULTIPLE AUTHORS
If there are two authors, the second is listed by first name then last name. For more than two authors, you need only list the first one. The Latin term “et al” refers to the subsequent authors.
Strunk, William
and E. B. White. The Elements of Style.
3rd ed.
A WORK IN AN ANTHOLOGY
List the author of the work, the title of the work (in quotes), the title of the book, the editor of the book, place of publication, publisher, date, and the page(s) on which the work appears.
Faulkner,
William. “Dry September.” Modern
Stories in English. Ed. W.H. New and Hj. Rosengarten.
AN
ARTICLE IN A MAGAZINE
List the author, the title of the article, the name of the magazine, the date of the magazine (for weekly periodicals, list the day, month abbreviation, and year) and the pages on which the article appears.
Beedy, Kevin J., Ph.D.
“The Politics of Animal Rights.” The Animals’ Agenda Mar. 1990:
17-21.
An article with no author is listed by the title of the article.
“Some Help for Working Moms.”
Time
AN ELECTRONIC SOURCE
Follow the model for a magazine, except for page numbers. Give the date of electronic publication, the latest update, or posting. Then give the date you retrieved the source and the electronic address. Such addresses may be divided at slash marks (I), with the slash coming at the end of the line.
Landsburg, Steven B. “Who Shall Inherit the Earth?” Slate
1 May 1997. 23 May 1997 <http://wwwslate.com/Economics/97-05-01/EconOmicS.aSp>.
If you are using a source not
covered in this handout (a
government publication, an interview, a film or a videotape, for
example), consult The MLA Style Manual, which lists just about every conceivable source.