MLA Citations

In-text Citations: Always cite your sources!

An in-text citation is a brief reference in your text that indicates the source you consulted.

• It should direct readers to the entry in your works-cited list for that source.

• It should be unobtrusive: provide the citation information without interrupting your own text.

• In general, the in-text citation will be the author’s last name (or abbreviated title) with a page number, enclosed in parentheses.

• There are two options for in-text citations:

The author's name may appear either in the sentence itself (1st example) or in parentheses following the quotation or paraphrase (2nd example), but the page number(s) should always appear in parentheses, not in the text of your sentence. 

1.) Human beings have been described by Kenneth Burke as "symbol-using animals" (3).

2.) Human beings have been described as "symbol-using animals" (Burke 3).

If multiple page numbers: ..."symbol-using animals"(Bruke 3-4).

If poetry: ..."symbol-using animals"(Bruke lines 5-6).

• The period goes outside the parenthesis unless the quote ends with "?"or"!"

• Avoid "cold quotes" by leading into your quotation with your own wording. 

We see so many global warming hotspots in North America likely because this region has "more readily accessible climatic data and more comprehensive programs to monitor and study environmental change . . ." ("Impact of Global Warming").

• For a source with no author use the title of the source. See the above example.

• For quotations that are more than four lines of prose or three lines of verse, place quotations in a free-standing block of text and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, with the entire quote indented 1/2 inch from the left margin while maintaining double-spacing. Your parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark. When quoting verse, maintain original line breaks. (You should maintain double-spacing throughout your essay.)

For example, when citing more than four lines of prose, use the following examples:

Nelly Dean treats Heathcliff poorly and dehumanizes him throughout her narration: They entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even in their room, and I had no more sense, so, I put it on the landing of the stairs, hoping it would be gone on the morrow. By chance, or else attracted by hearing his voice, it crept to Mr. Earnshaw's door, and there he found it on quitting his chamber. Inquiries were made as to how it got there; I was obliged to confess, and in recompense for my cowardice and inhumanity was sent out of the house. (Bronte 78)

Works Cited Entry: The Sources List the End of your Paper

A works cited entry goes on the last page of your paper under the title Works Cited.

• Double-space all citations, but do not skip spaces between entries.

• Indent the second and subsequent lines of citations by 0.5 inches to create a hanging indent.

• List page numbers of sources efficiently, when needed. If you refer to a journal article that appeared on pages 225 through 250, list the page numbers on your Works Cited page as pp. 225-50 (Note: MLA style dictates that you should omit the first sets of repeated digits. In our example, the digit in the hundreds place is repeated between 225 and 250, so you omit the 2 from 250 in the citation: pp. 225-50). If the excerpt spans multiple pages, use “pp.”  Note that MLA style uses a hyphen in a span of pages.

• If only one page of a print source is used, mark it with the abbreviation “p.” before the page number (e.g., p. 157). If a span of pages is used, mark it with the abbreviation “pp.” before the page number (e.g., pp. 157-68).

• If you're citing an article or a publication that was originally issued in print form but that you retrieved from an online database, you should type the online database name in italics. You do not need to provide subscription information in addition to the database name.

• For online sources, you should include a location to show readers where you found the source. Many scholarly databases use a DOI (digital object identifier). Use a DOI in your citation if you can; otherwise use a URL. Delete “http://” from URLs. The DOI or URL is usually the last element in a citation and should be followed by a period.

• All works cited entries end with a period.

• Capitalize each word in the titles of articles, books, etc, but do not capitalize articles (the, an), prepositions, or conjunctions unless one is the first word of the title or subtitle: Gone with the Wind, The Art of War, There Is Nothing Left to Lose.

• Use italics (instead of underlining) for titles of larger works (books, magazines) and quotation marks for titles of shorter works (poems, articles)

• Entries are listed alphabetically by the author's last name (or, for entire edited collections, editor names). Author names are written with the last name first, then the first name, and then the middle name or middle initial when needed.

Works Cited

MLA Works Cited Page: Basic Format - Purdue OWL® - Purdue University.

owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_page_basic_format.html.