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WelcometothePurdueOWL
ThispageisbroughttoyoubytheOWLatPurdue
(https://owl.english.purdue.edu/).Whenprintingthispage,youmustinclude
theentirelegalnoticeatbottom.
Contributors:TonyRussell,AllenBrizee,ElizabethAngeli,RussellKeck,JoshuaM.Paiz,
MichelleCampbell,RodrigoRodríguezFuentes,DanielP.Kenzie,SusanWegener,Maryam
Ghafoor,PurdueOWLStaff.
Summary:
MLA(ModernLanguageAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtowritepapersandcite
sourceswithintheliberalartsandhumanities.Thisresource,updatedtoreflecttheMLA
Handbook(8
th
ed.),offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofMLAresearchpapers,intext
citations,endnotes/footnotes,andtheWorksCitedpage.
MLAFormattingandStyleGuide
ThefollowingoverviewshouldhelpyoubetterunderstandhowtocitesourcesusingMLA
eighthedition,includingthelistofworkscitedandintextcitations.
PleaseusetheexampleatthebottomofthispagetocitethePurdueOWLinMLA.Seealso
ourMLAvidcastseriesonthePurdueOWLYouTubeChannel.
CreatingaWorksCitedlistusingtheeighthedition
MLAhasturnedtoastyleofdocumentationthatisbasedonageneralmethodthatmaybe
appliedtoeverypossiblesource,tomanydifferenttypesofwriting.Butsincetextshavebecome
increasinglymobile,andthesamedocumentmaybefoundinseveraldifferentsources,
followingasetoffixedrulesisnolongersufficient.
Thecurrentsystemisbasedonafewprinciples,ratherthananextensivelistofspecificrules.
Whilethehandbookstillgivesexamplesofhowtocitesources,itisorganizedaccordingtothe
processofdocumentation,ratherthanbythesourcesthemselves.Thisprocessteacheswritersa
flexiblemethodthatisuniversallyapplicable.Onceyouarefamiliarwiththemethod,youcan
useittodocumentanytypeofsource,foranytypeofpaper,inanyfield.
Hereisanoverviewoftheprocess:
Whendecidinghowtociteyoursource,startbyconsultingthelistofcoreelements.Theseare
thegeneralpiecesofinformationthatMLAsuggestsincludingineachWorksCitedentry.In
yourcitation,theelementsshouldbelistedinthefollowingorder:
1.Author.
2.Titleofsource.
3.Titleofcontainer,
4.Othercontributors,
5.Version,
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6.Number,
7.Publisher,
8.Publicationdate,
9.Location.
Eachelementshouldbefollowedbythepunctuationmarkshownhere.Earliereditionsofthe
handbookincludedtheplaceofpublication,andrequiredpunctuationsuchasjournaleditionsin
parentheses,andcolonsafterissuenumbers.Inthecurrentversion,punctuationissimpler(just
commasandperiodsseparatetheelements),andinformationaboutthesourceiskepttothe
basics.
Author
Begintheentrywiththeauthor’slastname,followedbyacommaandtherestofthename,as
presentedinthework.Endthiselementwithaperiod.
Said,EdwardW.CultureandImperialism.Knopf,1994.
Titleofsource
Thetitleofthesourceshouldfollowtheauthor’sname.Dependinguponthetypeofsource,it
shouldbelistedinitalicsorquotationmarks.
Abookshouldbeinitalics:
Henley,Patricia.TheHummingbirdHouse.MacMurray,1999.
Awebsiteshouldbeinitalics:
Lundman,Susan."HowtoMakeVegetarianChili."eHow,www.ehow.com/how_10727_make
vegetarianchili.html.*
Aperiodical(journal,magazine,newspaperarticle)shouldbeinquotationmarks:
Bagchi,Alaknanda."ConflictingNationalisms:TheVoiceoftheSubalterninMahaswetaDevi's
BashaiTudu."TulsaStudiesinWomen'sLiterature,vol.15,no.1,1996,pp.4150.
Asongorpieceofmusiconanalbumshouldbeinquotationmarks:
Beyoncé."PrayYouCatchMe."Lemonade,ParkwoodEntertainment,2016,
www.beyonce.com/album/lemonadevisualalbum/.
*TheeightheditionhandbookrecommendsincludingURLswhencitingonlinesources.For
moreinformation,seethe“OptionalElements”sectionbelow.
Titleofcontainer
Unlikeearlierversions,theeightheditionreferstocontainers,whicharethelargerwholesin
whichthesourceislocated.Forexample,ifyouwanttociteapoemthatislistedinacollection
ofpoems,theindividualpoemisthesource,whilethelargercollectionisthecontainer.Thetitle
ofthecontainerisusuallyitalicizedandfollowedbyacomma,sincetheinformationthatfollows
nextdescribesthecontainer.
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Kincaid,Jamaica."Girl."TheVintageBookofContemporaryAmericanShortStories,editedby
TobiasWolff,Vintage,1994,pp.30607.
Thecontainermayalsobeatelevisionseries,whichismadeupofepisodes.
“94Meetings.”ParksandRecreation,createdbyGregDanielsandMichaelSchur,performance
byAmyPoehler,season2,episode21,DeedleDeeProductionsandUniversalMedia
Studios,2010.
Thecontainermayalsobeawebsite,whichcontainsarticles,postings,andotherworks.
Zinkievich,Craig.InterviewbyGarethVonKallenbach.Skewed&Reviewed,27Apr.2009,
www.arcgames.com/en/games/startrekonline/news/detail/1056940skewed%2526
reviewedinterviewscraig.Accessed15Mar.2009.
Insomecases,acontainermightbewithinalargercontainer.Youmighthavereadabookof
shortstoriesonGoogleBooks,orwatchedatelevisionseriesonNetflix.Youmighthavefound
theelectronicversionofajournalonJSTOR.Itisimportanttocitethesecontainerswithin
containerssothatyourreaderscanfindtheexactsourcethatyouused.
“94Meetings.”ParksandRecreation,season2,episode21,NBC,29Apr.2010.Netflix,
www.netflix.com/watch/70152031?trackId=200256157&tctx=0%2C20%2C0974d361
27cd44de9c2a2d9d868b9f6412120962.
Langhamer,Claire.“LoveandCourtshipinMidTwentiethCenturyEngland.”Historical
Journal,vol.50,no.1,2007,pp.17396.ProQuest,doi:10.1017/S0018246X06005966.
Accessed27May2009.
Othercontributors
Inadditiontotheauthor,theremaybeothercontributorstothesourcewhoshouldbecredited,
suchaseditors,illustrators,translators,etc.Iftheircontributionsarerelevanttoyourresearch,or
necessarytoidentifythesource,includetheirnamesinyourdocumentation.
Note:Intheeighthedition,termslikeeditor,illustrator,translator,etc.,arenolongerabbreviated.
Foucault,Michel.MadnessandCivilization:AHistoryofInsanityintheAgeofReason.
TranslatedbyRichardHoward,VintageRandomHouse,1988.
Woolf,Virginia.Jacob’sRoom.AnnotatedandwithanintroductionbyVaraNeverow,Harcourt,
Inc.,2008.
Version
Ifasourceislistedasaneditionorversionofawork,includeitinyourcitation.
TheBible.AuthorizedKingJamesVersion,OxfordUP,1998.
Crowley,Sharon,andDebraHawhee.AncientRhetoricsforContemporaryStudents.3rded.,
Pearson,2004.
Number
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Ifasourceispartofanumberedsequence,suchasamultivolumebook,orjournalwithboth
volumeandissuenumbers,thosenumbersmustbelistedinyourcitation.
Dolby,Nadine.“ResearchinYouthCultureandPolicy:CurrentConditionsandFuture
Directions.”SocialWorkandSociety:TheInternationalOnlineOnlyJournal,vol.6,
no.2,2008,www.socwork.net/sws/article/view/60/362.Accessed20May2009
“94Meetings.”ParksandRecreation,createdbyGregDanielsandMichaelSchur,performance
byAmyPoehler,season2,episode21,DeedleDeeProductionsandUniversalMedia
Studios,2010.
Quintilian.InstitutioOratoria.TranslatedbyH.E.Butler,vol.2,LoebHarvardUP,1980.
Publisher
Thepublisherproducesordistributesthesourcetothepublic.Ifthereismorethanonepublisher,
andtheyareallarerelevanttoyourresearch,listtheminyourcitation,separatedbyaforward
slash(/).
Klee,Paul.TwitteringMachine.1922.MuseumofModernArt,NewYork.TheArtchive,
www.artchive.com/artchive/K/klee/twittering_machine.jpg.html.AccessedMay2006.
Women'sHealth:ProblemsoftheDigestiveSystem.AmericanCollegeofObstetriciansand
Gynecologists,2006.
Daniels,GregandMichaelSchur,creators.ParksandRecreation.DeedleDeeProductionsand
UniversalMediaStudios,2015.
Note:thepublisher’snameneednotbeincludedinthefollowingsources:periodicals,works
publishedbytheirauthororeditor,aWebcitewhosetitleisthesamenameasitspublisher,a
Webcitethatmakesworksavailablebutdoesnotactuallypublishthem(suchasYouTube,
WordPress,orJSTOR).
Publicationdate
Thesamesourcemayhavebeenpublishedonmorethanonedate,suchasanonlineversionof
anoriginalsource.Forexample,atelevisionseriesmighthaveairedonabroadcastnetworkon
onedate,butreleasedonNetflixonadifferentdate.Whenthesourcehasmorethanonedate,it
issufficienttousethedatethatismostrelevanttoyouruseofit.Ifyou’reunsureaboutwhich
datetouse,gowiththedateofthesource’soriginalpublication.
Inthefollowingexample,MutantEnemyistheprimaryproductioncompany,and“Hush”was
releasedin1999.Thisisthewaytocreateageneralcitationforatelevisionepisode.
“Hush.”BuffytheVampireSlayer,createdbyJossWhedon,performancebySarahMichelle
Gellar,season4,MutantEnemy,1999.
However,ifyouarediscussing,forexample,thehistoricalcontextinwhichtheepisode
originallyaired,youshouldcitethefulldate.Becauseyouarespecifyingthedateofairing,you
wouldthenuseWBTelevisionNetwork(ratherthanMutantEnemy),becauseitwasthenetwork
(ratherthantheproductioncompany)thatairedtheepisodeonthedateyou’reciting.
“Hush.”BuffytheVampireSlayer,createdbyJossWhedon,performancebySarahMichelle
Gellar,season4,episode10,WBTelevisionNetwork,14Dec.1999.
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Location
Youshouldbeasspecificaspossibleinidentifyingawork’slocation.
Anessayinabook,oranarticleinjournalshouldincludepagenumbers.
Adiche,ChimamandaNgozi.“OnMondayofLastWeek.”TheThingaroundYourNeck,Alfred
A.Knopf,2009,pp.7494.
ThelocationofanonlineworkshouldincludeaURL.
Wheelis,Mark."InvestigatingDiseaseOutbreaksUnderaProtocoltotheBiologicalandToxin
WeaponsConvention."EmergingInfectiousDiseases,vol.6,no.6,2000,pp.595600,
wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/6/6/000607_article.Accessed8Feb.2009.
Aphysicalobjectthatyouexperiencedfirsthandshouldidentifytheplaceoflocation.
Matisse,Henri.TheSwimmingPool.1952,MuseumofModernArt,NewYork.
Optionalelements
Theeightheditionisdesignedtobeasstreamlinedaspossible.Theauthorshouldincludeany
informationthathelpsreaderseasilyidentifythesource,withoutincludingunnecessary
informationthatmaybedistracting.Thefollowingisalistofselectoptionalelementsthat
shouldbepartofadocumentedsourceatthewriter’sdiscretion.
Dateoforiginalpublication:
Ifasourcehasbeenpublishedonmorethanonedate,thewritermaywanttoincludebothdates
ifitwillprovidethereaderwithnecessaryorhelpfulinformation.
Erdrich,Louise.LoveMedicine.1984.PerennialHarper,1993.
Cityofpublication:
Theseventheditionhandbookrequiredthecityinwhichapublisherislocated,buttheeighth
editionstatesthatthisisonlynecessaryinparticularinstances,suchasinaworkpublished
before1900.Sincepre1900workswereusuallyassociatedwiththecityinwhichtheywere
published,yourdocumentationmaysubstitutethecitynameforthepublisher’sname.
Thoreau,HenryDavid.Excursions.Boston,1863.
Dateofaccess:
Whenyouciteanonlinesource,theMLAHandbookrecommendsincludingadateofaccesson
whichyouaccessedthematerial,sinceanonlineworkmaychangeormoveatanytime.
Bernstein,Mark."10TipsonWritingtheLivingWeb."AListApart:ForPeopleWhoMake
Websites,16Aug.2002,alistapart.com/article/writeliving.Accessed4May2009.
URLs:
Asmentionedabove,whiletheeightheditionrecommendsincludingURLswhenyouciteonline
sources,youshouldalwayscheckwithyourinstructororeditorandincludeURLsattheir
discretion.
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DOIs:
ADOI,ordigitalobjectidentifier,isaseriesofdigitsandlettersthatleadstothelocationofan
onlinesource.ArticlesinjournalsareoftenassignedDOIstoensurethatthesourceislocatable,
eveniftheURLchanges.IfyoursourceislistedwithaDOI,usethatinsteadofaURL.
Alonso,Alvaro,andJulioA.Camargo."ToxicityofNitritetoThreeSpeciesofFreshwater
Invertebrates."EnvironmentalToxicology,vol.21,no.1,3Feb.2006,pp.9094.Wiley
OnlineLibrary,doi:10.1002/tox.20155.
Creatingintextcitationsusingtheeighthedition
Theintextcitationisabriefreferencewithinyourtextthatindicatesthesourceyouconsulted.It
shouldproperlyattributeanyideas,paraphrases,ordirectquotationstoyoursource,andshould
directreaderstotheentryinthelistofworkscited.Forthemostpart,anintextcitationisthe
author’snameandpagenumber(orjustthepagenumber,iftheauthorisnamedinthe
sentence)inparentheses:
Imperialismis“thepractice,thetheory,andtheattitudesofadominatingmetropolitancenter
rulingadistantterritory”(Said9).
or
AccordingtoEdwardW.Said,imperialismisdefinedby“thepractice,thetheory,andthe
attitudesofadominatingmetropolitancenterrulingadistantterritory”(9).
WorkCited
Said,EdwardW.CultureandImperialism.Knopf,1994.
Whencreatingintextcitationsformediathathasaruntime,suchasamovieorpodcast,include
therangeofhours,minutesandsecondsyouplantoreference,likeso(00:02:1500:02:35).
Again,yourgoalistoattributeyoursourceandprovideyourreaderwithareferencewithout
interruptingyourtext.Yourreadersshouldbeabletofollowtheflowofyourargumentwithout
becomingdistractedbyextrainformation.
Finalthoughtsabouttheeighthedition
ThecurrentMLAguidelinesteachyouawidelyapplicableskill.Onceyoubecomefamiliarwith
thecoreelementsthatshouldbeincludedineachentryintheWorksCitedlist,youwillbeable
tocreatedocumentationforanytypeofsource.Whilethehandbookstillincludeshelpful
examplesthatyoumayuseasguidelines,youwillnotneedtoconsultiteverytimeyouneedto
figureouthowtociteasourceyou’veneverusedbefore.Ifyouincludethecoreelements,inthe
properorder,usingconsistentpunctuation,youwillbefullyequippedtocreatealistofworks
citedonyourown.
HowtoCitethePurdueOWLinMLA
EntireWebsite
ThePurdueOWL.PurdueUWritingLab,2016.
IndividualResources
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Contributors'namesandthelastediteddatecanbefoundintheorangeboxesatthetopofevery
pageontheOWL.
Contributors'names."TitleofResource."ThePurdueOWL,PurdueUWritingLab,Lastedited
date.
Russell,Tony,etal."MLAFormattingandStyleGuide."ThePurdueOWL.PurdueUWriting
Lab,2Aug.2016.
Contributors:TonyRussell,AllenBrizee,ElizabethAngeli,RussellKeck,JoshuaM.Paiz,
MichelleCampbell,RodrigoRodríguezFuentes,DanielP.Kenzie,SusanWegener,Maryam
Ghafoor,PurdueOWLStaff.
Summary:
MLA(ModernLanguageAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtowritepapersandcite
sourceswithintheliberalartsandhumanities.Thisresource,updatedtoreflecttheMLA
Handbook(8
th
ed.),offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofMLAresearchpapers,intext
citations,endnotes/footnotes,andtheWorksCitedpage.
MLAInTextCitations:TheBasics
GuidelinesforreferringtotheworksofothersinyourtextusingMLAstylearecoveredin
chapter6oftheMLAHandbookandinchapter7oftheMLAStyleManual.Bothbooksprovide
extensiveexamples,soit'sagoodideatoconsultthemifyouwanttobecomeevenmorefamiliar
withMLAguidelinesorifyouhaveaparticularreferencequestion.
Basicintextcitationrules
InMLAstyle,referringtotheworksofothersinyourtextisdonebyusingwhatisknownas
parentheticalcitation.Thismethodinvolvesplacingrelevantsourceinformationinparentheses
afteraquoteoraparaphrase.
GeneralGuidelines
Thesourceinformationrequiredinaparentheticalcitationdepends(1.)uponthesource
medium(e.g.Print,Web,DVD)and(2.)uponthesource’sentryontheWorksCited
(bibliography)page.
Anysourceinformationthatyouprovideintextmustcorrespondtothesourceinformation
ontheWorksCitedpage.Morespecifically,whateversignalwordorphraseyouprovideto
yourreadersinthetext,mustbethefirstthingthatappearsonthelefthandmarginofthe
correspondingentryintheWorksCitedList.
Intextcitations:Authorpagestyle
MLAformatfollowstheauthorpagemethodofintextcitation.Thismeansthattheauthor'slast
nameandthepagenumber(s)fromwhichthequotationorparaphraseistakenmustappearinthe
text,andacompletereferenceshouldappearonyourWorksCitedpage.Theauthor'snamemay
appeareitherinthesentenceitselforinparenthesesfollowingthequotationorparaphrase,but
thepagenumber(s)shouldalwaysappearintheparentheses,notinthetextofyoursentence.For
example:
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WordsworthstatedthatRomanticpoetrywasmarkedbya"spontaneousoverflowofpowerful
feelings"(263).
Romanticpoetryischaracterizedbythe"spontaneousoverflowofpowerfulfeelings"
(Wordsworth263).
Wordsworthextensivelyexploredtheroleofemotioninthecreativeprocess(263).
Bothcitationsintheexamplesabove,(263)and(Wordsworth263),tellreadersthatthe
informationinthesentencecanbelocatedonpage263ofaworkbyanauthornamed
Wordsworth.Ifreaderswantmoreinformationaboutthissource,theycanturntotheWorks
Citedpage,where,underthenameofWordsworth,theywouldfindthefollowinginformation:
Wordsworth,William.LyricalBallads.London:OxfordUP,1967.Print.
Intextcitationsforprintsourceswithknownauthor
ForPrintsourceslikebooks,magazines,scholarlyjournalarticles,andnewspapers,providea
signalwordorphrase(usuallytheauthor’slastname)andapagenumber.Ifyouprovidethe
signalword/phraseinthesentence,youdonotneedtoincludeitintheparentheticalcitation.
HumanbeingshavebeendescribedbyKennethBurkeas"symbolusinganimals"(3).
Humanbeingshavebeendescribedas"symbolusinganimals"(Burke3).
TheseexamplesmustcorrespondtoanentrythatbeginswithBurke,whichwillbethefirstthing
thatappearsonthelefthandmarginofanentryintheWorksCited:
Burke,Kenneth.LanguageasSymbolicAction:EssaysonLife,Literature,andMethod.
Berkeley:UofCaliforniaP,1966.Print.
Intextcitationsforprintsourcesbyacorporateauthor
Whenasourcehasacorporateauthor,itisacceptabletousethenameofthecorporation
followedbythepagenumberfortheintextcitation.Youshouldalsouseabbreviations(e.g.,
nat'lfornational)whereappropriate,soastoavoidinterruptingtheflowofreadingwithoverly
longparentheticalcitations.
Intextcitationsforprintsourceswithnoknownauthor
Whenasourcehasnoknownauthor,useashortenedtitleoftheworkinsteadofanauthorname.
Placethetitleinquotationmarksifit'sashortwork(suchasanarticle)oritalicizeitifit'sa
longerwork(e.g.plays,books,televisionshows,entireWebsites)andprovideapagenumber.
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"6).
Inthisexample,sincethereaderdoesnotknowtheauthorofthearticle,anabbreviatedtitleof
thearticleappearsintheparentheticalcitationwhichcorrespondstothefullnameofthearticle
whichappearsfirstatthelefthandmarginofitsrespectiveentryintheWorksCited.Thus,the
writerincludesthetitleinquotationmarksasthesignalphraseintheparentheticalcitationin
ordertoleadthereaderdirectlytothesourceontheWorksCitedpage.TheWorksCitedentry
appearsasfollows:
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"TheImpactofGlobalWarminginNorthAmerica."GlobalWarming:EarlySigns.1999.Web.
23Mar.2009.
We'lllearnhowtomakeaWorksCitedpageinabit,butrightnowit'simportanttoknowthat
parentheticalcitationsandWorksCitedpagesallowreaderstoknowwhichsourcesyou
consultedinwritingyouressay,sothattheycaneitherverifyyourinterpretationofthesourcesor
usethemintheirownscholarlywork.
Authorpagecitationforclassicandliteraryworkswithmultipleeditions
Pagenumbersarealwaysrequired,butadditionalcitationinformationcanhelpliteraryscholars,
whomayhaveadifferenteditionofaclassicworklikeMarxandEngels'sTheCommunist
Manifesto.Insuchcases,givethepagenumberofyouredition(makingsuretheeditionislisted
inyourWorksCitedpage,ofcourse)followedbyasemicolon,andthentheappropriate
abbreviationsforvolume(vol.),book(bk.),part(pt.),chapter(ch.),section(sec.),orparagraph
(par.).Forexample:
MarxandEngelsdescribedhumanhistoryasmarkedbyclassstruggles(79;ch.1).
Citingauthorswithsamelastnames
Sometimesmoreinformationisnecessarytoidentifythesourcefromwhichaquotationistaken.
Forinstance,iftwoormoreauthorshavethesamelastname,providebothauthors'firstinitials
(oreventheauthors'fullnameifdifferentauthorsshareinitials)inyourcitation.Forexample:
Althoughsomemedicalethicistsclaimthatcloningwillleadtodesignerchildren(R.Miller12),
othersnotethattheadvantagesformedicalresearchoutweighthisconsideration(A.Miller46).
Citingaworkbymultipleauthors
Forasourcewithtwoauthors,listtheauthors’lastnamesinthetextorintheparenthetical
citation:
BestandMarcusarguethatoneshouldreadatextforwhatitsaysonitssurface,ratherthan
lookingforsomehiddenmeaning(9).
Theauthorsclaimthatsurfacereadinglooksatwhatis“evident,perceptible,apprehensiblein
texts”(BestandMarcus9).
Correspondingworkscitedentry:
Best,David,andSharonMarcus.“SurfaceReading:AnIntroduction.”Representations,vol.108,
no.1,Fall2009,pp.121.JSTOR,doi:10.1525/rep.2009.108.1.1
Forasourcewiththreeormoreauthors,listonlythefirstauthor’slastname,andreplacethe
additionalnameswithetal.
AccordingtoFranck,etal,“CurrentagriculturalpoliciesintheU.S.arecontributingtothepoor
healthofAmericans”(327).
TheauthorsclaimthatonecauseofobesityintheUnitedStatesisgovernmentfundedfarm
subsidies(Franck,etal.327).
Correspondingworkscitedentry:
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Franck,Caroline,etal.“AgriculturalSubsidiesandtheAmericanObesityEpidemic.”American
JournalofPreventativeMedicine,vol.45,no.3,Sept.2013,pp.327333.
Citingmultipleworksbythesameauthor
Ifyoucitemorethanoneworkbyaparticularauthor,includeashortenedtitlefortheparticular
workfromwhichyouarequotingtodistinguishitfromtheothers.Putshorttitlesofbooksin
italicsandshorttitlesofarticlesinquotationmarks.
Citingtwoarticlesbythesameauthor:
Lightenorhasarguedthatcomputersarenotusefultoolsforsmallchildren("TooSoon"38),
thoughhehasacknowledgedelsewherethatearlyexposuretocomputergamesdoesleadto
bettersmallmotorskilldevelopmentinachild'ssecondandthirdyear("HandEye
Development"17).
Citingtwobooksbythesameauthor:
Murraystatesthatwritingis"aprocess"that"varieswithourthinkingstyle"(WritetoLearn6).
Additionally,Murrayarguesthatthepurposeofwritingisto"carryideasandinformationfrom
themindofonepersonintothemindofanother"(AWriterTeachesWriting3).
Additionally,iftheauthor'snameisnotmentionedinthesentence,youwouldformatyour
citationwiththeauthor'snamefollowedbyacomma,followedbyashortenedtitleofthework,
followed,whenappropriate,bypagenumbers:
Visualstudies,becauseitissuchanewdiscipline,maybe"tooeasy"(Elkins,"VisualStudies"
63).
Citingmultivolumeworks
Ifyoucitefromdifferentvolumesofamultivolumework,alwaysincludethevolumenumber
followedbyacolon.Putaspaceafterthecolon,thenprovidethepagenumber(s).(Ifyouonly
citefromonevolume,provideonlythepagenumberinparentheses.)
...asQuintilianwroteinInstitutioOratoria(1:1417).
CitingtheBible
Inyourfirstparentheticalcitation,youwanttomakeclearwhichBibleyou'reusing(and
underlineoritalicizethetitle),aseachversionvariesinitstranslation,followedbybook(donot
italicizeorunderline),chapterandverse.Forexample:
Ezekielsaw"whatseemedtobefourlivingcreatures,"eachwithfacesofaman,alion,anox,
andaneagle(NewJerusalemBible,Ezek.1.510).
IffuturereferencesemploythesameeditionoftheBibleyou’reusing,listonlythebook,
chapter,andverseintheparentheticalcitation.
Citingindirectsources
Sometimesyoumayhavetouseanindirectsource.Anindirectsourceisasourcecitedin
anothersource.Forsuchindirectquotations,use"qtd.in"toindicatethesourceyouactually
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consulted.Forexample:
Ravitcharguesthathighschoolsarepressuredtoactas"socialservicecenters,andtheydon'tdo
thatwell"(qtd.inWeisman259).
Notethat,inmostcases,aresponsibleresearcherwillattempttofindtheoriginalsource,rather
thancitinganindirectsource.
CitingnonprintorsourcesfromtheInternet
WithmoreandmorescholarlyworkbeingpostedontheInternet,youmayhavetociteresearch
youhavecompletedinvirtualenvironments.WhilemanysourcesontheInternetshouldnotbe
usedforscholarlywork(referencetheOWL'sEvaluatingSourcesofInformationresource),
someWebsourcesareperfectlyacceptableforresearch.Whencreatingintextcitationsfor
electronic,film,orInternetsources,rememberthatyourcitationmustreferencethesourcein
yourWorksCited.
Sometimeswritersareconfusedwithhowtocraftparentheticalcitationsforelectronicsources
becauseoftheabsenceofpagenumbers,butoften,thesesortsofentriesdonotrequireanysort
ofparentheticalcitationatall.ForelectronicandInternetsources,followthefollowing
guidelines:
IncludeinthetextthefirstitemthatappearsintheWorkCitedentrythatcorrespondsto
thecitation(e.g.authorname,articlename,websitename,filmname).
YoudonotneedtogiveparagraphnumbersorpagenumbersbasedonyourWebbrowser’s
printpreviewfunction.
UnlessyoumustlisttheWebsitenameinthesignalphraseinordertogetthereadertothe
appropriateentry,donotincludeURLsintext.OnlyprovidepartialURLssuchaswhen
thenameofthesiteincludes,forexample,adomainname,likeCNN.comorForbes.com
asopposedtowritingouthttp://www.cnn.comorhttp://www.forbes.com.
Miscellaneousnonprintsources
WernerHerzog'sFitzcarraldostarsHerzog'slongtimefilmpartner,KlausKinski.Duringthe
shootingofFitzcarraldo,HerzogandKinskiwereoftenatodds,buttheirexplosiverelationship
fosteredamemorableandinfluentialfilm.
Duringthepresentation,JaneYatesstatedthatinventionandprewritingareareasofrhetoricthat
needmoreattention.
Inthetwoexamplesabove“Herzog”fromthefirstentryand“Yates”fromthesecondleadthe
readertothefirstitemeachcitation’srespectiveentryontheWorksCitedpage:
Herzog,Werner,dir.Fitzcarraldo.Perf.KlausKinski.FilmverlagderAutoren,1982.
Yates,Jane."InventioninRhetoricandComposition."GapsAddressed:FutureWorkinRhetoric
andComposition,CCCC,PalmerHouseHilton,2002.
Electronicsources
OneonlinefilmcriticstatedthatFitzcarraldo"hasbecomenotoriousforitsnearfailureand
manyobstacles"(Taylor,“Fitzcarraldo”).
ThePurdueOWLisaccessedbymillionsofuserseveryyear.Its"MLAFormattingandStyle
Guide"isoneofthemostpopularresources(Russelletal.).
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Inthefirstexample,thewriterhaschosennottoincludetheauthornameintext;however,two
entriesfromthesameauthorappearintheWorksCited.Thus,thewriterincludesboththe
author’slastnameandthearticletitleintheparentheticalcitationinordertoleadthereaderto
theappropriateentryontheWorksCitedpage(seebelow).Inthesecondexample,“Russellet
al.”intheparentheticalcitationgivesthereaderanauthornamefollowedbytheabbreviation“et
al.,”meaning,“andothers,”forthearticle“MLAFormattingandStyleGuide.”Both
correspondingWorksCitedentriesareasfollows:
Taylor,Rumsey."Fitzcarraldo."Slant,13Jun.2003,
www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/fitzcarraldo/.
Russell,Tony,etal."MLAFormattingandStyleGuide."ThePurdueOWL,2Aug.2016,
owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/.
Multiplecitations
Tocitemultiplesourcesinthesameparentheticalreference,separatethecitationsbyasemi
colon:
...ashasbeendiscussedelsewhere(Burke3;Dewey21).
Timebasedmediasources
Whencreatingintextcitationsformediathathasaruntime,suchasamovieorpodcast,include
therangeofhours,minutesandsecondsyouplantoreference,likeso(00:02:1500:02:35).
Whenacitationisnotneeded
Commonsenseandethicsshoulddetermineyourneedfordocumentingsources.Youdonotneed
togivesourcesforfamiliarproverbs,wellknownquotationsorcommonknowledge.Remember,
thisisarhetoricalchoice,basedonaudience.Ifyou'rewritingforanexpertaudienceofa
scholarlyjournal,forexample,they'llhavedifferentexpectationsofwhatconstitutescommon
knowledge.
Contributors:TonyRussell,AllenBrizee,ElizabethAngeli,RussellKeck,JoshuaM.Paiz,
MichelleCampbell,RodrigoRodríguezFuentes,DanielP.Kenzie,SusanWegener,Maryam
Ghafoor,PurdueOWLStaff.
Summary:
MLA(ModernLanguageAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtowritepapersandcite
sourceswithintheliberalartsandhumanities.Thisresource,updatedtoreflecttheMLA
Handbook(8
th
ed.),offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofMLAresearchpapers,intext
citations,endnotes/footnotes,andtheWorksCitedpage.
MLAFormattingQuotations
Whenyoudirectlyquotetheworksofothersinyourpaper,youwillformatquotationsdifferently
dependingontheirlength.Belowaresomebasicguidelinesforincorporatingquotationsinto
yourpaper.PleasenotethatallpagesinMLAshouldbedoublespaced.
Shortquotations
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Toindicateshortquotations(fewerthanfourtypedlinesofproseorthreelinesofverse)inyour
text,enclosethequotationwithindoublequotationmarks.Providetheauthorandspecificpage
citation(inthecaseofverse,providelinenumbers)inthetext,andincludeacompletereference
ontheWorksCitedpage.Punctuationmarkssuchasperiods,commas,andsemicolonsshould
appearaftertheparentheticalcitation.Questionmarksandexclamationpointsshouldappear
withinthequotationmarksiftheyareapartofthequotedpassagebutaftertheparenthetical
citationiftheyareapartofyourtext.
Forexample,whenquotingshortpassagesofprose,usethefollowingexamples:
Accordingtosome,dreamsexpress"profoundaspectsofpersonality"(Foulkes184),though
othersdisagree.
AccordingtoFoulkes'sstudy,dreamsmayexpress"profoundaspectsofpersonality"(184).
Isitpossiblethatdreamsmayexpress"profoundaspectsofpersonality"(Foulkes184)?
Whenshort(fewerthanthreelinesofverse)quotationsfrompoetry,markbreaksinshort
quotationsofversewithaslash,(/),attheendofeachlineofverse(aspaceshouldprecedeand
followtheslash).
Cullenconcludes,"Ofallthethingsthathappenedthere/That'sallIremember"(1112).
Longquotations
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oneinchfromtheleftmargin;maintaindoublespacing.Onlyindentthe
firstlineofthequotationbyanadditionalquarterinchifyouarecitingmultipleparagraphs.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)
Whencitinglongsections(morethanthreelines)ofpoetry,keepformattingasclosetothe
originalaspossible.
Inhispoem"MyPapa'sWaltz,"TheodoreRoethkeexploreshischildhoodwithhisfather:
Thewhiskeyonyourbreath
Couldmakeasmallboydizzy;
ButIhungonlikedeath:
Suchwaltzingwasnoteasy.
WeRompeduntilthepans
Slidfromthekitchenshelf;
Mymother'scountenance
Couldnotunfrownitself.(quotedinShrodes,Finestone,Shugrue202)
Whencitingtwoormoreparagraphs,useblockquotationformat,evenifthepassagefromthe
paragraphsislessthanfourlines.Indentthefirstlineofeachquotedparagraphanextraquarter
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inch.
In"AmericanOriginsoftheWritingacrosstheCurriculumMovement,"DavidRussellargues,
WritinghasbeenanissueinAmericansecondaryandhighereducationsince
papersandexaminationscameintowideuseinthe1870s,eventuallydrivingout
formalrecitationandoralexamination....
Fromitsbirthinthelatenineteenthcentury,progressiveeducationhaswrestled
withtheconflictwithinindustrialsocietybetweenpressuretoincrease
specializationofknowledgeandofprofessionalwork(upholdingdisciplinary
standards)andpressuretointegratemorefullyaneverwiderningnumberof
citizensintointellectuallymeaningfulactivitywithinmasssociety(promoting
socialequity)....(3)
Addingoromittingwordsinquotations
Ifyouaddawordorwordsinaquotation,youshouldputbracketsaroundthewordstoindicate
thattheyarenotpartoftheoriginaltext.
JanHaroldBrunvand,inanessayonurbanlegends,states,"someindividuals[whoretellurban
legends]makeapointoflearningeveryrumorortale"(78).
Ifyouomitawordorwordsfromaquotation,youshouldindicatethedeletedwordorwordsby
usingellipsismarks,whicharethreeperiods(...)precededandfollowedbyaspace.For
example:
Inanessayonurbanlegends,JanHaroldBrunvandnotesthat"someindividualsmakeapointof
learningeveryrecentrumorortale...andinashorttimealivelyexchangeofdetailsoccurs"
(78).
Pleasenotethatbracketsarenotneededaroundellipsesunlessaddingbracketswouldclarify
youruseofellipses.
Whenomittingwordsfrompoetryquotations,useastandardthreeperiodellipses;however,
whenomittingoneormorefulllinesofpoetry,spaceseveralperiodstoaboutthelengthofa
completelineinthepoem:
Thesebeauteousforms,
Throughalongabsence,havenotbeentome
Asisalandscapetoablindman'seye:
....................
Feltintheblood,andfeltalongtheheart;
Andpassingevenintomypurermind,
Withtranquilrestoration...(2224,2830)
Contributors:TonyRussell,AllenBrizee,ElizabethAngeli,RussellKeck,JoshuaM.Paiz,
MichelleCampbell,RodrigoRodríguezFuentes,DanielP.Kenzie,SusanWegener,Maryam
Ghafoor,PurdueOWLStaff.
Summary:
MLA(ModernLanguageAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtowritepapersandcite
sourceswithintheliberalartsandhumanities.Thisresource,updatedtoreflecttheMLA
Handbook(8
th
ed.),offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofMLAresearchpapers,intext
citations,endnotes/footnotes,andtheWorksCitedpage.
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MLAEndnotesandFootnotes
Becauselongexplanatorynotescanbedistractingtoreaders,mostacademicstyleguidelines
(includingMLAandAPA,theAmericanPsychologicalAssociation)recommendlimiteduseof
endnotes/footnotes;however,certainpublishersencourageorrequirenotereferencesinlieuof
parentheticalreferences.
MLAdiscouragesextensiveuseofexplanatoryordigressivenotes.MLAstyledoes,however,
allowyoutouseendnotesorfootnotesforbibliographicnotes,whichrefertootherpublications
yourreadersmayconsult.Thefollowingaresomeexamples:
1.SeeBlackmur,especiallychapters3and4,foraninsightfulanalysisofthistrend.
2.Ontheproblemsrelatedtorepressedmemoryrecovery,seeWollens12035;foracontrasting
view,seePyle43;Johnson,Hull,Snyder2135;Krieg7891.
3.Severalotherstudiespointtothissameconclusion.SeeJohnsonandHull4579,Kather23
31,Krieg5057.
Or,youcanalsouseendnotes/footnotesforoccasionalexplanatorynotes(alsoknownascontent
notes),whichreferstobriefadditionalinformationthatmightbetoodigressiveforthemaintext:
4.Ina1998interview,shereiteratedthispointevenmorestrongly:"Iamanartist,nota
politician!"(Weller124).
Numberingendnotesandfootnotesinthedocumentbody
EndnotesandfootnotesinMLAformatareindicatedintextbysuperscriptarabicnumbersafter
thepunctuationofthephraseorclausetowhichthenoterefers:
Somehavearguedthatsuchaninvestigationwouldbefruitless.
6
Scholarshavearguedforyearsthatthisclaimhasnobasis,
7
sowewoulddowelltoignoreit.
Notethatwhenalongdashappearsinthetext,thefootnote/endnotenumberappearsbeforethe
dash:
Foryears,scholarshavefailedtoaddressthispoint
8
—afactthatsuggeststheircowardicemore
thantheircarelessness.
Donotuseasterisks(*),anglebrackets(>),orothersymbolsfornotereferences.Thelistof
endnotesandfootnotes(eitherofwhich,forpaperssubmittedforpublication,shouldbelistedon
aseparatepage,asindicatedbelow)shouldcorrespondtothenotereferencesinthetext.
Formattingendnotesandfootnotes
EndnotesPage
MLArecommendsthatallnotesbelistedonaseparatepageentitledNotes(centered,no
formatting).UseNoteifthereisonlyonenote.TheNotespageshouldappearbeforetheWorks
Citedpage.Thisisespeciallyimportantforpapersbeingsubmittedforpublication.
Thenotesthemselvesshouldbelistedbyconsecutivearabicnumbersthatcorrespondtothe
notationinthetext.Notesaredoublespaced.Thefirstlineofeachendnoteisindentedfive
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spaces;subsequentlinesareflushwiththeleftmargin.Placeaperiodandaspaceaftereach
endnotenumber.Providetheappropriatenoteafterthespace.
Footnotes(belowthetextbody)
The8
th
editionoftheMLAHandbookdoesnotspecifyhowtoformatfootnotes.SeetheMLA
StyleCenterforadditionalguidanceonthistopicandfollowyourinstructor'soreditor's
preferences.
Contributors:TonyRussell,AllenBrizee,ElizabethAngeli,RussellKeck,JoshuaM.Paiz,
MichelleCampbell,RodrigoRodríguezFuentes,DanielP.Kenzie,SusanWegener,Maryam
Ghafoor,PurdueOWLStaff.
Summary:
MLA(ModernLanguageAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtowritepapersandcite
sourceswithintheliberalartsandhumanities.Thisresource,updatedtoreflecttheMLA
Handbook(8
th
ed.),offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofMLAresearchpapers,intext
citations,endnotes/footnotes,andtheWorksCitedpage.
MLAWorksCitedPage:BasicFormat
AccordingtoMLAstyle,youmusthaveaWorksCitedpageattheendofyourresearchpaper.
AllentriesintheWorksCitedpagemustcorrespondtotheworkscitedinyourmaintext.
Basicrules
BeginyourWorksCitedpageonaseparatepageattheendofyourresearchpaper.It
shouldhavethesameoneinchmarginsandlastname,pagenumberheaderastherestof
yourpaper.
LabelthepageWorksCited(donotitalicizethewordsWorksCitedorputthemin
quotationmarks)andcenterthewordsWorksCitedatthetopofthepage.
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
22550.NotethatMLAstyleusesahypheninaspanofpages.
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.
AdditionalbasicrulesnewtoMLA2016
NewtoMLA2016:
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.
Capitalizationandpunctuation
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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)
Listingauthornames
Entriesarelistedalphabeticallybytheauthor'slastname(or,forentireeditedcollections,editor
names).Authornamesarewrittenlastnamefirst;middlenamesormiddleinitialsfollowthefirst
name:
Burke,Kenneth
Levy,DavidM.
Wallace,DavidFoster
Donotlisttitles(Dr.,Sir,Saint,etc.)ordegrees(PhD,MA,DDS,etc.)withnames.Abook
listinganauthornamed"JohnBigbrain,PhD"appearssimplyas"Bigbrain,John";do,however,
includesuffixeslike"Jr."or"II."Puttingitalltogether,aworkbyDr.MartinLutherKing,Jr.
wouldbecitedas"King,MartinLuther,Jr."Herethesuffixfollowingthefirstormiddlename
andacomma.
Morethanoneworkbyanauthor
Ifyouhavecitedmorethanoneworkbyaparticularauthor,ordertheentriesalphabeticallyby
title,andusethreehyphensinplaceoftheauthor'snameforeveryentryafterthefirst:
Burke,Kenneth.AGrammarofMotives.[...]
.ARhetoricofMotives.[...]
Whenanauthororcollectioneditorappearsbothasthesoleauthorofatextandasthefirst
authorofagroup,listsoloauthorentriesfirst:
Heller,Steven,ed.TheEducationofanEDesigner.
Heller,Steven,andKarenPomeroy.DesignLiteracy:UnderstandingGraphicDesign.
Workwithnoknownauthor
Alphabetizeworkswithnoknownauthorbytheirtitle;useashortenedversionofthetitleinthe
parentheticalcitationsinyourpaper.Inthiscase,BoringPostcardsUSAhasnoknownauthor:
Baudrillard,Jean.SimulacraandSimulations.[...]
BoringPostcardsUSA.[...]
Burke,Kenneth.ARhetoricofMotives.[...]
Contributors:TonyRussell,AllenBrizee,ElizabethAngeli,RussellKeck,JoshuaM.Paiz,
MichelleCampbell,RodrigoRodríguezFuentes,DanielP.Kenzie,SusanWegener,Maryam
Ghafoor,PurdueOWLStaff.
Summary:
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MLA(ModernLanguageAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtowritepapersandcite
sourceswithintheliberalartsandhumanities.Thisresource,updatedtoreflecttheMLA
Handbook(8
th
ed.),offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofMLAresearchpapers,intext
citations,endnotes/footnotes,andtheWorksCitedpage.
MLAWorksCitedPage:Books
Whenyouaregatheringbooksources,besuretomakenoteofthefollowingbibliographicitems:
theauthorname(s),othercontributorssuchastranslatorsoreditors,thebook’stitle,editionsof
thebook,thepublicationdate,thepublisher,andthepagination.
The8
th
editionoftheMLAhandbookhighlightsprinciplesoverprescriptivepractices.
Essentially,awriterwillneedtotakenoteofprimaryelementsineverysource,suchasauthor,
title,etc.andthenassorttheminageneralformat.Thus,inusingthismethodology,awriterwill
beabletosourceaspecificitemthatmaynotbeincludedinthislist.
Rememberthesechangesfrompreviouseditions:
CommasareusedinsteadofperiodsbetweenPublisher,PublicationDate,andPagination.
Mediumisnolongernecessary.
ContainersarenowapartoftheMLAprocess,inlightoftechnology.Periodsshouldbe
usedbetweenContainers.
DOIsshouldbeusedinsteadofURLSwhenavailable.
Usethephrase,“Accessedon”insteadoflistingthedateortheabbreviation,“n.d.”
Belowisthegeneralformatforanycitation:
Author.Title.Titleofcontainer(selfcontainedifbook),Othercontributors(translatorsor
editors),Version(edition),Number(vol.and/orno.),Publisher,PublicationDate,
Location(pages,paragraphsURLorDOI).2
nd
container’stitle,Othercontributors,
Version,Number,Publisher,Publicationdate,Location,DateofAccess(ifapplicable).
BasicBookFormat
Theauthor’snameorabookwithasingleauthor'snameappearsinlastname,firstnameformat.
Thebasicformforabookcitationis:
LastName,FirstName.TitleofBook.Publisher,PublicationDate.
BookwithOneAuthor
Gleick,James.Chaos:MakingaNewScience.Penguin,1987.
Henley,Patricia.TheHummingbirdHouse.MacMurray,1999.
BookwithMoreThanOneAuthor
Whenabookhasmultipleauthors,ordertheauthorsinthesamewaytheyarepresentedinthe
book.Thefirstgivennameappearsinlastname,firstnameformat;subsequentauthornames
appearinfirstnamelastnameformat.
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Gillespie,Paula,andNealLerner.TheAllynandBaconGuidetoPeerTutoring.Allynand
Bacon,2000.
Iftherearethreeormoreauthors,listonlythefirstauthorfollowedbythephraseetal.(Latinfor
"andothers")inplaceofthesubsequentauthors'names.(Notethatthereisaperiodafter“al”in
“etal.”Alsonotethatthereisneveraperiodafterthe“et”in“etal.”).
Wysocki,AnneFrances,etal.WritingNewMedia:TheoryandApplicationsforExpandingthe
TeachingofComposition.UtahStateUP,2004.
TwoorMoreBooksbytheSameAuthor
Listworksalphabeticallybytitle.(RemembertoignorearticleslikeA,An,andThe.)Providethe
author’snameinlastname,firstnameformatforthefirstentryonly.Foreachsubsequententry
bythesameauthor,usethreehyphensandaperiod.
Palmer,WilliamJ.DickensandNewHistoricism.St.Martin's,1997.
.TheFilmsoftheEighties:ASocialHistory.SouthernIllinoisUP,1993.
BookbyaCorporateAuthororOrganization
Acorporateauthormayincludeacommission,acommittee,agovernmentagency,oragroup
thatdoesnotidentifyindividualmembersonthetitlepage.
Listthenamesofcorporateauthorsintheplacewhereanauthor’snametypicallyappearsatthe
beginningoftheentry.
AmericanAllergyAssociation.AllergiesinChildren.RandomHouse,1998.
Whentheauthorandpublisherarethesame,skiptheauthor,andlistthetitlefirst.Then,listthe
corporateauthoronlyasthepublisher.
FairHousing—FairLending.AspenLaw&Business,1985.
BookwithNoAuthor
Listbytitleofthebook.Incorporatetheseentriesalphabeticallyjustasyouwouldwithworks
thatincludeanauthorname.Forexample,thefollowingentrymightappearbetweenentriesof
workswrittenbyDean,ShaunandForsythe,Jonathan.
EncyclopediaofIndiana.Somerset,1993.
Rememberthatforanintext(parenthetical)citationofabookwithnoauthor,providethename
oftheworkinthesignalphraseandthepagenumberinparentheses.Youmayalsousea
shortenedversionofthetitleofthebookaccompaniedbythepagenumber.Formore
informationseetheIntextCitationsforPrintSourceswithNoKnownAuthorsectionofIntext
Citations:TheBasics.
ATranslatedBook
Ifyouwanttoemphasizetheworkratherthanthetranslator,citeasyouwouldanyotherbook.
Add“translatedby”andfollowwiththename(s)ofthetranslator(s).
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Foucault,Michel.MadnessandCivilization:AHistoryofInsanityintheAgeofReason.
TranslatedbyRichardHoward,VintageRandomHouse,1988.
Ifyouwanttofocusonthetranslation,listthetranslatorastheauthor.Inplaceoftheauthor’s
name,thetranslator’snameappears.Hisorhernameisfollowedbythelabel,“,editor.”Ifthe
authorofthebookdoesnotappearinthetitleofthebook,includethename,witha“By”after
thetitleofthebookandbeforethepublisher.Notethatthistypeofcitationislesscommonand
shouldonlybeusedforpapersorwritinginwhichtranslationplaysacentralrole.
Howard,Richard,translator.MadnessandCivilization:AHistoryofInsanityintheAgeof
Reason.ByMichelFoucault,VintageRandomHouse,1988.
RepublishedBook
Booksmayberepublishedduetopopularitywithoutbecominganewedition.Neweditionsare
typicallyrevisionsoftheoriginalwork.Forbooksthatoriginallyappearedatanearlierdateand
thathavebeenrepublishedatalaterone,inserttheoriginalpublicationdatebeforethe
publicationinformation.
Forbooksthatareneweditions(i.e.differentfromthefirstorothereditionsofthebook),seeAn
EditionofaBookbelow.
Butler,Judith.GenderTrouble.1990.Routledge,1999.
Erdrich,Louise.LoveMedicine.1984.PerennialHarper,1993.
AnEditionofaBook
Therearetwotypesofeditionsinbookpublishing:abookthathasbeenpublishedmorethan
onceindifferenteditionsandabookthatispreparedbysomeoneotherthantheauthor(typically
aneditor).
ASubsequentEdition
Citethebookasyounormallywould,butaddthenumberoftheeditionafterthetitle.
Crowley,Sharon,andDebraHawhee.AncientRhetoricsforContemporaryStudents.3rded.,
Pearson,2004.
AWorkPreparedbyanEditor
Citethebookasyounormallywould,butaddtheeditorafterthetitlewiththelabel,"Editedby"
Bronte,Charlotte.JaneEyre.EditedbyMargaretSmith,OxfordUP,1998.
AnthologyorCollection(e.g.CollectionofEssays)
Tocitetheentireanthologyorcollection,listbyeditor(s)followedbyacommaand"editor"or,
formultipleeditors,"editors."Thissortofentryissomewhatrare.Ifyouarecitingaparticular
piecewithinananthologyorcollection(morecommon),seeAWorkinanAnthology,
Reference,orCollectionbelow.
Hill,CharlesA.,andMargueriteHelmers,editors.DefiningVisualRhetorics.LawrenceErlbaum
Associates,2004.
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Peterson,NancyJ.,editor.ToniMorrison:CriticalandTheoreticalApproaches.JohnsHopkins
UP,1997.
AWorkinanAnthology,Reference,orCollection
Worksmayincludeanessayinaneditedcollectionoranthology,orachapterofabook.The
basicformisforthissortofcitationisasfollows:
Lastname,Firstname."TitleofEssay."TitleofCollection,editedbyEditor'sName(s),
Publisher,Year,Pagerangeofentry.
Someexamples:
Harris,Muriel."TalktoMe:EngagingReluctantWriters."ATutor'sGuide:HelpingWritersOne
toOne,editedbyBenRafoth,Heinemann,2000,pp.2434.
Swanson,Gunnar."GraphicDesignEducationasaLiberalArt:DesignandKnowledgeinthe
UniversityandThe'RealWorld.'"TheEducationofaGraphicDesigner,editedby
StevenHeller,AllworthPress,1998,pp.1324.
NoteonCrossreferencingSeveralItemsfromOneAnthology:Ifyoucitemorethanoneessay
fromthesameeditedcollection,MLAindicatesyoumaycrossreferencewithinyourworkscited
listinordertoavoidwritingoutthepublishinginformationforeachseparateessay.Youshould
considerthisoptionifyouhaveseveralreferencesfromasingletext.Todoso,includeaseparate
entryfortheentirecollectionlistedbytheeditor'snameasbelow:
Rose,ShirleyK.,andIrwinWeiser,editors.TheWritingProgramAdministratorasResearcher.
Heinemann,1999.
Then,foreachindividualessayfromthecollection,listtheauthor'snameinlastname,firstname
format,thetitleoftheessay,theeditor'slastname,andthepagerange:
L'Eplattenier,Barbara."FindingOurselvesinthePast:AnArgumentforHistoricalWorkon
WPAs."RoseandWeiser,pp.13140.
Peeples,Tim."'Seeing'theWPAWith/ThroughPostmodernMapping."RoseandWeiser,pp.
15367.
Pleasenote:Whencrossreferencingitemsintheworkscitedlist,alphabeticalordershouldbe
maintainedfortheentirelist.
PoemorShortStoryExamples:
Burns,Robert."Red,RedRose."100BestLovedPoems,editedbyPhilipSmith,Dover,1995,p.
26.
Kincaid,Jamaica."Girl."TheVintageBookofContemporaryAmericanShortStories,edited
byTobiasWolff,Vintage,1994,pp.30607.
Ifthespecificliteraryworkispartoftheauthor'sowncollection(alloftheworkshavethesame
author),thentherewillbenoeditortoreference:
Whitman,Walt."ISingtheBodyElectric."SelectedPoems.Dover,1991,pp.1219.
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Carter,Angela."TheTiger'sBride."BurningYourBoats:TheCollectedStories.Penguin,1995,
pp.15469.
ArticleinaReferenceBook(e.g.Encyclopedias,Dictionaries)
Forentriesinencyclopedias,dictionaries,andotherreferenceworks,citethepieceasyouwould
anyotherworkinacollectionbutdonotincludethepublisherinformation.Also,ifthereference
bookisorganizedalphabetically,asmostare,donotlistthevolumeorthepagenumberofthe
articleoritem.
"Ideology."TheAmericanHeritageDictionary.3rded.,1997.
AMultivolumeWork
Whencitingonlyonevolumeofamultivolumework,includethevolumenumberafterthe
work'stitle,orafterthework'seditorortranslator.
Quintilian.InstitutioOratoria.TranslatedbyH.E.Butler,vol.2,LoebHarvardUP,1980.
Whencitingmorethanonevolumeofamultivolumework,citethetotalnumberofvolumesin
thework.Also,besureinyourintextcitationtoprovideboththevolumenumberandpage
number(s).(SeeCitingMultivolumeWorksontheInTextCitations–TheBasicspage,which
youcanaccessbyfollowingtheappropriatelinkatthebottomofthispage.)
Quintilian.InstitutioOratoria.TranslatedbyH.E.Butler,LoebHarvardUP,1980.4vols.
Ifthevolumeyouareusinghasitsowntitle,citethebookwithoutreferringtotheothervolumes
asifitwereanindependentpublication.
Churchill,WinstonS.TheAgeofRevolution.Dodd,1957.
AnIntroduction,Preface,Foreword,orAfterword
Whencitinganintroduction,apreface,aforeword,oranafterword,writethenameofthe
author(s)ofthepieceyouareciting.Thengivethenameofthepartbeingcited,whichshould
notbeitalicizedorenclosedinquotationmarks;initalics,providethenameoftheworkandthe
nameoftheauthoroftheintroduction/preface/forward/afterward.Finishthecitationwiththe
detailsofpublicationandpagerange.
Farrell,ThomasB.Introduction.NormsofRhetoricalCulture,byFarrell,YaleUP,1993,pp.1
13.
Ifthewriterofthepieceisdifferentfromtheauthorofthecompletework,thenwritethefull
nameoftheprincipalwork'sauthoraftertheword"By."Forexample,ifyouweretociteHugh
DalzielDuncan’sintroductionofKennethBurke’sbookPermanenceandChange,youwould
writetheentryasfollows:
Duncan,HughDalziel.Introduction.PermanenceandChange:AnAnatomyofPurpose,by
KennethBurke,1935,3rded.,UofCaliforniaP,1984,pp.xiiixliv.
OtherPrint/BookSources
CertainbooksourcesarehandledinaspecialwaybyMLAstyle.
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BookPublishedBefore1900
Originalcopiesofbookspublishedbefore1900areusuallydefinedbytheirplaceofpublication
ratherthanthepublisher.Unlessyouareusinganeweredition,citethecityofpublicationwhere
youwouldnormallycitethepublisher.
Thoreau,HenryDavid.Excursions.Boston,1863.
TheBible
Italicize“TheBible”andfollowitwiththeversionyouareusing.Rememberthatyourintext
(parentheticalcitation)shouldincludethenameofthespecificeditionoftheBible,followedby
anabbreviationofthebook,thechapterandverse(s).(SeeCitingtheBibleatInTextCitations:
TheBasics.)
TheBible.AuthorizedKingJamesVersion,OxfordUP,1998.
TheBible.TheNewOxfordAnnotatedVersion,3rded.,OxfordUP,2001.
TheNewJerusalemBible.EditedbySusanJones,Doubleday,1985.
AGovernmentPublication
Citetheauthorofthepublicationiftheauthorisidentified.Otherwise,startwiththenameofthe
nationalgovernment,followedbytheagency(includinganysubdivisionsoragencies)that
servesastheorganizationalauthor.Forcongressionaldocuments,besuretoincludethenumber
oftheCongressandthesessionwhenthehearingwasheldorresolutionpassedaswellasthe
reportnumber.USgovernmentdocumentsaretypicallypublishedbytheGovernmentPrinting
Office.
UnitedStates,Congress,Senate,CommitteeonEnergyandNaturalResources.Hearingonthe
GeopoliticsofOil.GovernmentPrintingOffice,2007.110thCongress,1stsession,
SenateReport1118.
UnitedStates,GovernmentAccountabilityOffice.ClimateChange:EPAandDOEShouldDo
MoretoEncourageProgressUnderTwoVoluntaryPrograms.GovernmentPrinting
Office,2006.
APamphlet
Citethetitleandpublicationinformationforthepamphletjustasyouwouldabookwithoutan
author.Pamphletsandpromotionalmaterialscommonlyfeaturecorporateauthors(commissions,
committees,orothergroupsthatdoesnotprovideindividualgroupmembernames).Ifthe
pamphletyouarecitinghasnoauthor,citeasdirectedbelow.Ifyourpamphlethasanauthorora
corporateauthor,putthenameoftheauthor(lastname,firstnameformat)orcorporateauthorin
theplacewheretheauthornametypicallyappearsatthebeginningoftheentry.(SeealsoBooks
byaCorporateAuthororOrganizationabove.)
Women'sHealth:ProblemsoftheDigestiveSystem.AmericanCollegeofObstetriciansand
Gynecologists,2006.
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YourRightsUnderCaliforniaWelfarePrograms.CaliforniaDepartmentofSocialServices,
2007.
DissertationsandMaster'sTheses
Dissertationsandmaster'sthesesmaybeusedassourceswhetherpublishedornot.Citethework
asyouwouldabook,butincludethedesignationDissertation(orMA/MSthesis)followedby
thedegreegrantingschoolandtheyearthedegreewasawarded.
Ifthedissertationispublished,italicizethetitleandincludethepublicationdate.Youmayalso
includetheUniversityMicrofilmsInternational(UMI)ordernumberifyouchoose:
Bishop,KarenLynn.DocumentingInstitutionalIdentity:StrategicWritingintheIUPUI
ComprehensiveCampaign.Dissertation,PurdueUniversity,2002.UMI,2004.
Bile,Jeffrey.Ecology,Feminism,andaRevisedCriticalRhetoric:TowardaDialectical
Partnership.Dissertation,OhioUniversity,2005.UMI,2006.AAT3191701.
Iftheworkisnotpublished,putthetitleinquotationmarksandendwiththedatethedegreewas
awarded:
Graban,TarezSamra."TowardsaFeminineIronic:UnderstandingIronyintheOppositional
DiscourseofWomenfromtheEarlyModernandModernPeriods."Dissertation,Purdue
University,2006.
Stolley,Karl."TowardaConceptionofReligionasaDiscursiveFormation:Implicationsfor
PostmodernCompositionTheory."MAthesis,PurdueUniversity,2002.
Contributors:TonyRussell,AllenBrizee,ElizabethAngeli,RussellKeck,JoshuaM.Paiz,
MichelleCampbell,RodrigoRodríguezFuentes,DanielP.Kenzie,SusanWegener,Maryam
Ghafoor,PurdueOWLStaff.
Summary:
MLA(ModernLanguageAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtowritepapersandcite
sourceswithintheliberalartsandhumanities.Thisresource,updatedtoreflecttheMLA
Handbook(8
th
ed.),offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofMLAresearchpapers,intext
citations,endnotes/footnotes,andtheWorksCitedpage.
MLAWorksCited:Periodicals
Periodicalsincludemagazines,newspapers,andscholarlyjournals.Workscitedentriesfor
periodicalsourcesincludethreemainelements—theauthorofthearticle,thetitleofthearticle,
andinformationaboutthemagazine,newspaper,orjournal.MLAusesthegenericterm
“container”torefertoanyprintordigitalvenue(awebsiteorprintjournal,forexample)in
whichanessayorarticlemaybeincluded.
Usethefollowingformatforallcitations:
Author.Title.Titleofcontainer(selfcontainedifbook),Othercontributors(translatorsor
editors),Version(edition),Number(vol.and/orno.),Publisher,PublisherDate,Location
(pp.).2
nd
container’stitle,Othercontributors,Version,Number,Publisher,Pubdate,
Location.
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ArticleinaMagazine
Citebylistingthearticle'sauthor,puttingthetitleofthearticleinquotationsmarks,and
italicizingtheperiodicaltitle.Followwiththedateofpublication.Remembertoabbreviatethe
month.Thebasicformatisasfollows:
Author(s)."TitleofArticle."TitleofPeriodical,DayMonthYear,pages.
Poniewozik,James."TVMakesaTooCloseCall."Time,20Nov.2000,pp.7071.
Buchman,Dana."ASpecialEducation."GoodHousekeeping,Mar.2006,pp.14348.
ArticleinaNewspaper
Citeanewspaperarticleasyouwouldamagazinearticle,butnotethedifferentpaginationina
newspaper.Ifthereismorethanoneeditionavailableforthatdate(asinanearlyandlateedition
ofanewspaper),identifytheeditionafterthearticletitle.
Brubaker,Bill."NewHealthCenterTargetsCounty'sUninsuredPatients."WashingtonPost,24
May2007,p.LZ01.
Krugman,Andrew."FearofEating."NewYorkTimes,21May2007,lateed.,p.A1.
Ifthenewspaperisalesswellknownorlocalpublication,includethecitynameinbracketsafter
thetitleofthenewspaper.
Behre,Robert."PresidentialHopefulsGetFinalCrackatCoreofS.C.Democrats."Postand
Courier[Charleston,SC],29Apr.2007,p.A11.
Trembacki,Paul."BreesHopestoWinHeismanforTeam."PurdueExponent[WestLafayette,
IN],5Dec.2000,p.20.
AReview
Tociteareview,includethetitleofthereview(ifavailable),thenthephrase,“Reviewof”and
providethetitleofthework(initalicsforbooks,plays,andfilms;inquotationmarksforarticles,
poems,andshortstories).Finally,provideperformanceand/orpublicationinformation.
ReviewAuthor."TitleofReview(ifthereisone)."ReviewofPerformanceTitle,by
Author/Director/Artist.TitleofPeriodical,DayMonthYear,page.
Seitz,MattZoller."LifeintheSprawlingSuburbs,IfYouCanReallyCallItLiving."Review
ofRadiantCity,directedbyGaryBurnsandJimBrown,NewYorkTimes,30May2007,
p.E1.
Weiller,K.H.ReviewofSport,Rhetoric,andGender:HistoricalPerspectivesandMedia
Representations,editedbyLindaK.Fuller.Choice,Apr.2007,p.1377.
AnEditorial&LettertotheEditor
Citeasyouwouldanyarticleinaperiodical,butincludethedesignators"Editorial"or"Letter"
toidentifythetypeofworkitis.
"OfMinesandMen."Editorial.WallStreetJournal,easternedition,24Oct.2003,p.A14.
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Hamer,John.Letter.AmericanJournalismReview,Dec.2006/Jan.2007,p.7.
AnonymousArticles
Citethearticletitlefirst,andfinishthecitationasyouwouldanyotherforthatkindof
periodical.
"Business:GlobalWarming'sBoomTown;TourisminGreenland."TheEconomist,26May
2007,p.82.
"Aging;WomenExpecttoCareforAgingParentsbutSeldomPrepare."Women'sHealth
Weekly,10May2007,p.18.
AnArticleinaScholarlyJournal
Ascholarlyjournalcanbethoughtofasacontainer,asarecollectionsofshortstoriesorpoems,
atelevisionseries,orevenawebsite.Acontainercanbethoughtofasanythingthatisapartofa
largerbodyofworks.Inthiscase,citetheauthorandtitleofarticleasyounormallywould.
Then,putthetitleofthejournalinitalics.Includethevolumenumber(“vol.”)andissuenumber
(“no.”)whenpossible,separatedbycommas.Finally,addtheyearandpagenumbers.
Author(s)."TitleofArticle."TitleofJournal,Volume,Issue,Year,pages.
Bagchi,Alaknanda."ConflictingNationalisms:TheVoiceoftheSubalterninMahasweta
Devi'sBashaiTudu."TulsaStudiesinWomen'sLiterature,vol.15,no.1,1996,pp.41
50.
Duvall,JohnN."The(Super)MarketplaceofImages:TelevisionasUnmediatedMediationin
DeLillo'sWhiteNoise."ArizonaQuarterly,vol.50,no.3,1994,pp.12753.
AnArticleinaSpecialIssueofaScholarlyJournal
Whenanarticleappearsinaspecialissueofajournal,citethenameofthespecialissueinthe
entry’stitlespace,initalics,andendwithaperiod.Addthedescriptor“specialissueof”and
includethenameofthejournal,alsoinitalics,followedbytherestoftheinformationrequired
forastandardscholarlyjournalcitation.
Webentriesshouldfollowasimilarformat,andshouldincludeaURL,DOI,orpermalink.
Burgess,Anthony."PoliticsintheNovelsofGrahamGreene."LiteratureandSociety,special
issueofJournalofContemporaryHistory,vol.2,no.2,1967,pp.9399.
Case,SueEllen.“Eve'sApple,orWomen'sNarrativeBytes.”Technocriticismand
Hypernarrative,specialissueofModernFictionStudies,vol.43,no.3,1997,pp.631
50.ProjectMuse,doi:10.1353/mfs.1997.0056.
Contributors:TonyRussell,AllenBrizee,ElizabethAngeli,RussellKeck,JoshuaM.Paiz,
MichelleCampbell,RodrigoRodríguezFuentes,DanielP.Kenzie,SusanWegener,Maryam
Ghafoor,PurdueOWLStaff.
Summary:
MLA(ModernLanguageAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtowritepapersandcite
sourceswithintheliberalartsandhumanities.Thisresource,updatedtoreflecttheMLA
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Handbook(8
th
ed.),offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofMLAresearchpapers,intext
citations,endnotes/footnotes,andtheWorksCitedpage.
MLAWorksCited:ElectronicSources(Web
Publications)
Itisalwaysagoodideatomaintainpersonalcopiesofelectronicinformation,whenpossible.It
isgoodpracticetoprintorsavewebpagesor,better,useaprogramlikeAdobeAcrobattokeep
yourowncopiesforfuturereference.MostwebbrowserswillincludeURL/electronicaddress
informationwhenyouprint,whichmakeslaterreferenceeasy.Also,youmightusethe
Bookmarkfunctioninyourwebbrowserinordertoreturntodocumentsmoreeasily.
ImportantNoteontheUseofURLsinMLA
IncludeaURLorwebaddresstohelpreaderslocateyoursources.Becausewebaddressesare
notstatic(i.e.,theychangeoften)andbecausedocumentssometimesappearinmultipleplaces
ontheweb(e.g.,onmultipledatabases),MLAencouragestheuseofcitingcontainerssuchas
Youtube,JSTOR,Spotify,orNetflixinordertoeasilyaccessandverifysources.However,MLA
onlyrequiresthewww.address,soeliminateallhttps://whencitingURLs.
ManyscholarlyjournalarticlesfoundindatabasesincludeaDOI(digitalobjectidentifier.Ifa
DOIisavailable,citetheDOInumberinsteadoftheURL.
Onlinenewspapersandmagazinessometimesincludea“permalink,”whichisashortened,stable
versionofaURL.Lookfora“share”or“citethis”buttontoseeifasourceincludesapermalink.
Ifyoucanfindapermalink,usethatinsteadofaURL.
AbbreviationsCommonlyUsedwithElectronicSources
Ifpagenumbersarenotavailable,usepar.orpars.todenoteparagraphnumbers.Usethesein
placeofthep.orpp.abbreviation.
MLAalsousesthephrase,“Accessedon”todenotewhichdateyouaccessedthewebpagewhen
availableornecessary.Itisnotrequiredtodosobutespeciallyencouragedwhenthereisno
copyrightdatelistedonawebsite.
BasicStyleforCitationsofElectronicSources(IncludingOnlineDatabases)
HerearesomecommonfeaturesyoushouldtryandfindbeforecitingelectronicsourcesinMLA
style.NoteveryWebpagewillprovideallofthefollowinginformation.However,collectas
muchofthefollowinginformationaspossiblebothforyourcitationsandforyourresearch
notes:
Authorand/oreditornames(ifavailable)
Articlenameinquotationmarks.
Titleofthewebsite,project,orbookinitalics.
Anyversionnumbersavailable,includingeditions(ed.),revisions,postingdates,volumes
(vol.),orissuenumbers(no.).
Publisherinformation,includingthepublishernameandpublishingdate.
Takenoteofanypagenumbers(p.orpp.)orparagraphnumbers(par.orpars.).
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Dateyouaccessedthematerial(DateAccessed).
URL(withoutthehttps://)DOIorpermalink.
Remembertocitecontainersafteryourregularcitation.Examplesofcontainersare
collectionsofshortstoriesorpoems,atelevisionseries,orevenawebsite.Acontaineris
anythingthatisapartofalargerbodyofworks.
Usethefollowingformat:
Author.Title.Titleofcontainer(selfcontainedifbook),Othercontributors(translatorsor
editors),Version(edition),Number(vol.and/orno.),Publisher,PublicationDate,Location
(pages,paragraphsand/orURL,DOIorpermalink).2
nd
container’stitle,Othercontributors,
Version,Number,Publisher,Publicationdate,Location,DateofAccess(ifapplicable).
CitinganEntireWebSite
Itisagoodideatolistyourdateofaccessbecausewebpostingsareoftenupdated,and
informationavailableononedatemaynolongerbeavailablelater.WhenusingtheURL,besure
toincludethecompleteaddressforthesiteexceptforthehttps://.
Editor,author,orcompilername(ifavailable).NameofSite.Versionnumber,Nameof
institution/organizationaffiliatedwiththesite(sponsororpublisher),dateofresourcecreation(if
available),URL,DOIorpermalink.Dateofaccess(ifapplicable).
ThePurdueOWLFamilyofSites.TheWritingLabandOWLatPurdueandPurdueU,2008,
owl.english.purdue.edu/owl.Accessed23Apr.2008.
Felluga,Dino.GuidetoLiteraryandCriticalTheory.PurdueU,28Nov.
2003,www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/.Accessed10May2006.
CourseorDepartmentWebsites
Givetheinstructorname.Thenlistthetitleofthecourse(ortheschoolcatalogdesignationfor
thecourse)initalics.Giveappropriatedepartmentandschoolnamesaswell,followingthe
coursetitle.
Felluga,Dino.SurveyoftheLiteratureofEngland.PurdueU,Aug.2006,
web.ics.purdue.edu/~felluga/241/241/Home.html.Accessed31May2007.
EnglishDepartment.PurdueU,20Apr.2009,www.cla.purdue.edu/english/.
APageonaWebSite
ForanindividualpageonaWebsite,listtheauthororaliasifknown,followedbythe
informationcoveredaboveforentireWebsites.Ifthepublisheristhesameasthewebsitename,
onlylistitonce.
"Athlete'sFootTopicOverview."WebMD,25Sept.2014,www.webmd.com/skinproblems
andtreatments/tc/athletesfoottopicoverview.
Lundman,Susan."HowtoMakeVegetarianChili."eHow,www.ehow.com/how_10727_make
vegetarianchili.html.Accessed6July2015.
AnImage(IncludingaPainting,Sculpture,orPhotograph)
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Providetheartist'sname,theworkofartitalicized,thedateofcreation,theinstitutionandcity
wheretheworkishoused.FollowthisinitialentrywiththenameoftheWebsiteinitalics,and
thedateofaccess.
Goya,Francisco.TheFamilyofCharlesIV.1800.MuseoNacionaldelPrado,Madrid.Museo
NacionaldelPrado,www.museodelprado.es/en/thecollection/artwork/thefamilyof
carlosiv/f47898fcaa1c48f6a77971759e417e74.Accessed22May2006.
Klee,Paul.TwitteringMachine.1922.MuseumofModernArt,NewYork.TheArtchive,
www.artchive.com/artchive/K/klee/twittering_machine.jpg.html.AccessedMay2006.
Iftheworkiscitedonthewebonly,thenprovidethenameoftheartist,thetitleofthework,and
thenfollowthecitationformatforawebsite.Iftheworkispostedviaausername,usethat
usernamefortheauthor.
Adams,CliftonR.“PeoplerelaxbesideaswimmingpoolatacountryestatenearPhoenix,
Arizona,1928.”Found,NationalGeographicCreative,2June2016,
natgeofound.tumblr.com/.
AnArticleinaWebMagazine
Providetheauthorname,articlenameinquotationmarks,titleofthewebmagazineinitalics,
publishername,publicationdate,URL,andthedateofaccess.
Bernstein,Mark."10TipsonWritingtheLivingWeb."AListApart:ForPeopleWhoMake
Websites,16Aug.2002,alistapart.com/article/writeliving.Accessed4May2009.
AnArticleinanOnlineScholarlyJournal
Forallonlinescholarlyjournals,providetheauthor(s)name(s),thenameofthearticlein
quotationmarks,thetitleofthepublicationinitalics,allvolumeandissuenumbers,andtheyear
ofpublication.IncludeaURL,DOI,orpermalinktohelpreaderslocatethesource.
ArticleinanOnlineonlyScholarlyJournal
MLArequiresapagerangeforarticlesthatappearinScholarlyJournals.Ifthejournalyouare
citingappearsexclusivelyinanonlineformat(i.e.thereisnocorrespondingprintpublication)
thatdoesnotmakeuseofpagenumbers,indicatetheURLorotherlocationinformation.
Dolby,Nadine.“ResearchinYouthCultureandPolicy:CurrentConditionsandFuture
Directions.”SocialWorkandSociety:TheInternationalOnlineOnlyJournal,vol.6,no.
2,2008,www.socwork.net/sws/article/view/60/362.Accessed20May2009.
ArticleinanOnlineScholarlyJournalThatAlsoAppearsinPrint
Citearticlesinonlinescholarlyjournalsthatalsoappearinprintasyouwouldascholarlyjournal
inprint,includingthepagerangeofthearticle.ProvidetheURLandthedateofaccess.
Wheelis,Mark."InvestigatingDiseaseOutbreaksUnderaProtocoltotheBiologicalandToxin
WeaponsConvention."EmergingInfectiousDiseases,vol.6,no.6,2000,pp.595600,
wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/6/6/000607_article.Accessed8Feb.2009.
AnArticlefromanOnlineDatabase(orOtherElectronicSubscriptionService)
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Citearticlesfromonlinedatabases(e.g.LexisNexis,ProQuest,JSTOR,ScienceDirect)andother
subscriptionservicesascontainers.Thus,providethetitleofthedatabaseitalicizedbeforethe
DOIorURL.IfaDOIisnotprovided,usetheURLinstead.Providethedateofaccessifyou
wish.
Alonso,Alvaro,andJulioA.Camargo."ToxicityofNitritetoThreeSpeciesofFreshwater
Invertebrates."EnvironmentalToxicology,vol.21,no.1,3Feb.2006,pp.9094.Wiley
OnlineLibrary,doi:10.1002/tox.20155.
Langhamer,Claire.“LoveandCourtshipinMidTwentiethCenturyEngland.”Historical
Journal,vol.50,no.1,2007,pp.17396.ProQuest,doi:10.1017/S0018246X06005966.
Accessed27May2009.
Email(includingEmailInterviews)
Givetheauthorofthemessage,followedbythesubjectlineinquotationmarks.Statetowhom
tomessagewassentwiththephrase,“Receivedby”andtherecipient’sname.Includethedate
themessagewassent.Usestandardcapitalization.
Kunka,Andrew."Re:ModernistLiterature."ReceivedbyJohnWatts,15Nov.2000.
Neyhart,David."Re:OnlineTutoring."ReceivedbyJoeBarbato,1Dec.2016.
AListserv,DiscussionGroup,orBlogPosting
Citewebpostingsasyouwouldastandardwebentry.Providetheauthorofthework,thetitleof
thepostinginquotationmarks,thewebsitenameinitalics,thepublisher,andthepostingdate.
Followwiththedateofaccess.Includescreennamesasauthornameswhenauthornameisnot
known.Ifbothnamesareknown,placetheauthor’snameinbrackets.
Editor,screenname,author,orcompilername(ifavailable).“PostingTitle.”NameofSite,
Versionnumber(ifavailable),Nameofinstitution/organizationaffiliatedwiththesite
(sponsororpublisher),URL.Dateofaccess.
Salmar1515[SalHernandez].“Re:BestStrategy:FencedPasturesvs.MaxNumberof
Rooms?”BoardGameGeek,29Sept.2008,boardgamegeek.com/thread/343929/best
strategyfencedpasturesvsmaxnumberrooms.Accessed5Apr.2009.
ATweet
Beginwiththeuser'sTwitterhandleinplaceoftheauthor’sname.Next,placethetweetinits
entiretyinquotations,insertingaperiodafterthetweetwithinthequotations.Includethedate
andtimeofposting,usingthereader'stimezone;separatethedateandtimewithacommaand
endwithaperiod.Includethedateaccessedifyoudeemnecessary.
@tombrokaw."SCdemonstratedwhyallthedebatesaretheenginesofthiscampaign."Twitter,
22Jan.2012,3:06a.m.,twitter.com/tombrokaw/status/160996868971704320.
@PurdueWLab."Springbreakisaroundthecorner,andallourlocationswillbeopennext
week."Twitter,5Mar.2012,12:58p.m.,
twitter.com/PurdueWLab/status/176728308736737282.
AYouTubeVideo
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Videoandaudiosourcesneedtobedocumentedusingthesamebasicguidelinesforcitingprint
sourcesinMLAstyle.Includeasmuchdescriptiveinformationasnecessarytohelpreaders
understandthetypeandnatureofthesourceyouareciting.Iftheauthor’snameisthesameas
theuploader,onlycitetheauthoronce.Iftheauthorisdifferentfromtheuploaded,citethe
author’snamebeforethetitle.
“8HotDogGadgetsputtotheTest.”YouTube,uploadedbyCrazyRussianHacker,6June2016,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBlpjSEtELs.
McGonigal,Jane.“GamingandProductivity.”YouTube,uploadedbyBigThink,3July2012,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkdzy9bWW3E.
ACommentonaWebsiteorArticle
Listtheusernameastheauthor.Usethephrase,Commenton,beforethetitle.Usequotation
marksaroundthearticletitle.Namethepublisher,date,time(listedonnearthecomment),and
theURL.
NotOmniscentEnough.Commenton"FlightAttendantTellsPassengerto‘ShutUp’After
ArgumentAfterPasta."ABCNews,9Jun2016,4:00p.m.,abcnews.go.com/US/flight
attendanttellspassengershutargumentpasta/story?id=39704050.
Contributors:TonyRussell,AllenBrizee,ElizabethAngeli,RussellKeck,JoshuaM.Paiz,
MichelleCampbell,RodrigoRodríguezFuentes,DanielP.Kenzie,SusanWegener,Maryam
Ghafoor,PurdueOWLStaff.
Summary:
MLA(ModernLanguageAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtowritepapersandcite
sourceswithintheliberalartsandhumanities.Thisresource,updatedtoreflecttheMLA
Handbook(8
th
ed.),offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofMLAresearchpapers,intext
citations,endnotes/footnotes,andtheWorksCitedpage.
MLAWorksCited:OtherCommonSources
Severalsourceshavemultiplemeansforcitation,especiallythosethatappearinvariedformats:
films,DVDs,T.Vshows,music,publishedandunpublishedinterviews,interviewsoveremail;
publishedandunpublishedconferenceproceedings.Thefollowingsectiongroupsthesesortsof
citationsaswellasothersnotcoveredintheprint,periodical,andelectronicsourcessections.
Usethefollowingformatforallsources:
Author.Title.Titleofcontainer(selfcontainedifbook),Othercontributors(translatorsor
editors),Version(edition),Number(vol.and/orno.),Publisher,PublicationDate,
Location(pages,paragraphsURLorDOI).2
nd
container’stitle,Othercontributors,
Version,Number,Publisher,Publicationdate,Location,DateofAccess(ifapplicable).
AnInterview
Interviewstypicallyfallintotwocategories:printorbroadcastpublishedandunpublished
(personal)interviews,althoughinterviewsmayalsoappearinother,similarformatssuchasine
mailformatorasaWebdocument.
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PersonalInterviews
Personalinterviewsrefertothoseinterviewsthatyouconductyourself.Listtheinterviewbythe
nameoftheinterviewee.IncludethedescriptorPersonalinterviewandthedateoftheinterview.
Smith,Jane.Personalinterview.19May2014.
PublishedInterviews(PrintorBroadcast)
Listtheinterviewbythefullnameoftheinterviewee.Ifthenameoftheinterviewispartofa
largerworklikeabook,atelevisionprogram,orafilmseries,placethetitleoftheinterviewin
quotationmarks.Placethetitleofthelargerworkinitalics.Iftheinterviewappearsasan
independenttitle,italicizeit.Forbooks,includetheauthororeditornameafterthebooktitle.
Note:Iftheinterviewfromwhichyouquotedoesnotfeatureatitle,addthedescriptor,Interview
by(unformatted)aftertheinterviewee’snameandbeforetheinterviewee’sname.
Gaitskill,Mary.InterviewwithCharlesBock.MississippiReview,vol.27,no.3,1999,pp.129
50.
Amis,Kingsley.“MimicandMoralist.”InterviewswithBritain’sAngryYoungMen,ByDale
Salwak,BorgoP,1984.
OnlineonlyPublishedInterviews
Listtheinterviewbythenameoftheinterviewee.Iftheinterviewhasatitle,placeitinquotation
marks.Citetheremainderoftheentryasyouwouldotherexclusivewebcontent.Placethename
ofthewebsiteinitalics,givethepublishername(orsponsor),thepublicationdate,andtheURL.
Note:Iftheinterviewfromwhichyouquotedoesnotfeatureatitle,addthedescriptor
Interviewby(unformatted)aftertheinterviewee’snameandbeforetheinterviewer’sname.
Zinkievich,Craig.InterviewbyGarethVonKallenbach.Skewed&Reviewed,27Apr.2009,
www.arcgames.com/en/games/startrekonline/news/detail/1056940skewed%2526
reviewedinterviewscraig.Accessed15Mar.2009.
Speeches,Lectures,orOtherOralPresentations(includingConferencePresentations)
Providethespeaker’sname.Then,givethetitleofthespeech(ifany)inquotationmarks.Follow
withthetitleoftheparticularconferenceormeetingandthenthenameoftheorganization.
Namethevenueanditscity(ifthenameofthecityisnotlistedinthevenue’sname).Usethe
descriptorthatappropriatelyexpressesthetypeofpresentation(e.g.,Address,Lecture,Reading,
KeynoteSpeech,GuestLecture,ConferencePresentation).
Stein,Bob.“ReadingandWritingintheDigitalEra.”DiscoveringDigitalDimensions,
ComputersandWritingConference,23May2003,UnionClubHotel,WestLafayette,
IN.KeynoteAddress.
PublishedConferenceProceedings
Citepublishedconferenceproceedingslikeabook.Ifthedateandlocationoftheconferenceare
notpartofthepublishedtitle,addthisinformationafterthepublishedproceedingstitle.
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LastName,FirstName,editor.ConferenceTitlethatIncludesConferenceDateandLocation,
Publisher,DateofPublication.
LastName,FirstName,editor.ConferenceTitlethatDoesNotIncludeConferenceDateand
Location,ConferenceDate,ConferenceLocation,Publisher,DateofPublication.
Tociteapresentationfromapublishedconferenceproceedings,beginwiththepresenter’sname.
Placethenameofthepresentationinquotationmarks.Followwithpublicationinformationfor
theconferenceproceedings.
LastName,FirstName.“ConferencePaperTitle.”ConferenceTitlethatIncludesConference
DateandLocation,editedbyConferenceEditor(s),Publisher,DateofPublication.
APainting,Sculpture,orPhotograph
Providetheartist'sname,thetitleoftheartworkinitalics,thedateofcomposition,andthe
mediumofthepiece.Finally,providethenameoftheinstitutionthathousestheartwork
followedbythelocationoftheinstitution(ifthelocationisnotlistedinthenameofthe
institution,e.g.TheArtInstituteofChicago).
Goya,Francisco.TheFamilyofCharlesIV.1800,oiloncanvas,MuseodelPrado,Madrid.
Forphotographicreproductionsofartwork(e.g.imagesofartworkinabook),treatthebookor
websiteasacontainer.Rememberthatforasecondcontainer,thetitleislistedfirst,beforethe
contributors.Citethebibliographicinformationasabovefollowedbytheinformationforthe
sourceinwhichthephotographappears,includingpageorreferencenumbers(plate,figure,etc.).
Goya,Francisco.TheFamilyofCharlesIV.1800,MuseodelPrado,Madrid.Gardener'sArt
ThroughtheAges,10
th
ed.,byRichardG.TanseyandFredS.Kleiner,HarcourtBrace,p.
939.
ASongorAlbum
Musiccanbecitedmultipleways.Mainly,thisdependsonthecontainerthatyouaccessedthe
musicfrom.Generally,citationsbeginwiththeartistname.Theymightalsobelistedby
composersorperformers.Otherwise,listcomposerandperformerinformationafterthealbum
title.Putindividualsongtitlesinquotationmarks.Albumnamesareitalicized.Providethename
oftherecordingmanufacturerfollowedbythepublicationdate.
Ifinformationsuchasrecordlabelornameofalbumisunavailablefromyoursource,donotlist
thatinformation.
Spotify
RaeMorris.“Skin.”Cold,AtlanticRecords,2014,Spotify,
open.spotify.com/track/0OPES3Tw5r86O6fudK8gxi.
OnlineAlbum
Beyoncé.“PrayYouCatchMe.”Lemonade,ParkwoodEntertainment,
2016,www.beyonce.com/album/lemonadevisualalbum/.
CD
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Nirvana."SmellsLikeTeenSpirit."Nevermind,Geffen,1991.
FilmsorMovies
Listfilmsbytheirtitle.Includethenameofthedirector,thefilmstudioordistributor,andthe
releaseyear.Ifrelevant,listperformernamesafterthedirector'sname.
TheUsualSuspects.DirectedbyBryanSinger,performancesbyKevinSpacey,GabrielByrne,
ChazzPalminteri,StephenBaldwin,andBeneciodelToro,Polygram,1995.
Toemphasizespecificperformersordirectors,beginthecitationwiththenameofthedesired
performerordirector,followedbytheappropriatetitleforthatperson.
Lucas,George,director.StarWarsEpisodeIV:ANewHope.TwentiethCenturyFox,1977.
TelevisionShows
RecordedTelevisionEpisodes
Citerecordedtelevisionepisodeslikefilms(seeabove).Beginwiththeepisodenamein
quotationmarks.Followwiththeseriesnameinitalics.Whenthetitleofthecollectionof
recordingsisdifferentthantheoriginalseries(e.g.,theshowFriendsisinDVDreleaseunderthe
titleFriends:TheCompleteSixthSeason),listthetitlethatwouldhelpresearcherstolocatethe
recording.Givethedistributornamefollowedbythedateofdistribution.
"TheOneWhereChandlerCan'tCry."Friends:TheCompleteSixthSeason,writtenbyAndrew
ReichandTedCohen,directedbyKevinBright,WarnerBrothers,2004.
BroadcastTVorRadioProgram
Beginwiththetitleoftheepisodeinquotationmarks.Providethenameoftheseriesorprogram
initalics.Alsoincludethenetworkname,calllettersofthestationfollowedbythedateof
broadcastandcity.
"TheBlessingWay."TheXFiles.Fox,WXIA,Atlanta,19Jul.1998.
Netflix,Hulu,GooglePlay
Generally,whencitingaspecificepisode,followtheformatbelow.
“94Meetings.”ParksandRecreation,season2,episode21,NBC,29Apr.2010.
Netflix,www.netflix.com/watch/70152031?
trackId=200256157&tctx=0%2C20%2C0974d36127cd44de9c2a2d9d868b9f64
12120962.
AnEntireTVSeries
WhencitingtheentireseriesofaTVshow,usethefollowingformat.
Daniels,GregandMichaelSchur,creators.ParksandRecreation.DeedleDeeProductionsand
UniversalMediaStudios,2015.
ASpecificPerformanceorAspectofaTVShow
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Ifyouwanttoemphasizeaparticularaspectoftheshow,includethatparticularinformation.For
instance,ifyouarewritingaboutaspecificcharacterduringacertainepisode,includethe
performer’snameaswellasthecreator’s.
“94Meetings.”ParksandRecreation,createdbyGregDanielsandMichaelSchur,performance
byAmyPoehler,season2,episode21,DeedleDeeProductionsandUniversalMedia
Studios,2010.
Ifyouwishtoemphasizeaparticularcharacterthroughouttheshow’sruntime,followthis
format.
Poehler,Amy,performer.ParksandRecreation.DeedleDeeProductionsandUniversalMedia
Studios,20092015.
Podcasts
“BestofNotMyJobMusicians.”WaitWait…Don’tTellMe!fromNPR,4June
2016,http://www.npr.org/podcasts/344098539/waitwaitdonttellme.
SpokenWordAlbumssuchasComedyAlbums
Treatspokenwordalbumsthesameasmusicalalbums.
Hedberg,Mitch.StrategicGrillLocations.ComedyCentral,2003.
DigitalFiles(PDFs,MP3s,JPEGs)
Determinethetypeofworktocite(e.g.,article,image,soundrecording)andciteappropriately.
Endtheentrywiththenameofthedigitalformat(e.g.,PDF,JPEGfile,MicrosoftWordfile,
MP3).Iftheworkdoesnotfollowtraditionalparametersforcitation,givetheauthor’sname,the
nameofthework,thedateofcreation,andthelocation.
Beethoven,Ludwigvan.MoonlightSonata.Crownstar,2006.
Smith,George.“PaxAmericana:StrifeinaTimeofPeace.”2005.MicrosoftWordfile.
CouncilofWritingProgramAdministrators,NationalCouncilofTeachersofEnglish,and
NationalWritingProject.FrameworkforSuccessinPostsecondaryWriting.CWPA,
NCTE,andNWP,2011,wpacouncil.org/files/frameworkforsuccesspostsecondary
writing.pdf.
Bentley,Phyllis.“YorkshireandtheNovelist.”TheKenyonReview,vol.30,no.4,1968,pp.509
22.JSTOR,www.jstor.org.iii/stable/4334841.
Contributors:TonyRussell,AllenBrizee,ElizabethAngeli,RussellKeck,JoshuaM.Paiz,
MichelleCampbell,RodrigoRodríguezFuentes,DanielP.Kenzie,SusanWegener,Maryam
Ghafoor,PurdueOWLStaff.
Summary:
MLA(ModernLanguageAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtowritepapersandcite
sourceswithintheliberalartsandhumanities.Thisresource,updatedtoreflecttheMLA
Handbook(8
th
ed.),offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofMLAresearchpapers,intext
citations,endnotes/footnotes,andtheWorksCitedpage.
10/21/2016 PurdueOWL
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/owlprint/747/ 36/57
MLAAdditionalResources
It'salwaysbesttoconsultthecurrentMLAHandbookforanyMLAquestion.Ifyouareusing
MLAstyleforaclassassignment,it'salsoagoodideatoconsultyourprofessor,advisor,TA,or
othercampusresourcesforhelp.They'retheoneswhocantellyouhowthestyleshouldapplyin
yourparticularcase.
TheMLAStyleCenterisanewonlineresourcewithadditionalinformationaboutMLAstyle.
Forextraordinaryquestionsthataren'tcoveredclearlyinthestylemanualorhaven'tbeen
answeredbyyourteacheroradvisor,Purduestudents,staffandfacultycanmakean
appointmentatthePurdueWritingLab.Ifyou'reoffcampus,consulttheWritingCenter
Directorytofindawritingcenternearyou.
PrintresourcesfromtheModernLanguageAssociation
MLAHandbook(8thedition)ISBN9781603292627
Contributors:TonyRussell,AllenBrizee,ElizabethAngeli,RussellKeck,JoshuaM.Paiz,
MichelleCampbell,RodrigoRodríguezFuentes,DanielP.Kenzie,SusanWegener,Maryam
Ghafoor,PurdueOWLStaff.
Summary:
MLA(ModernLanguageAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtowritepapersandcite
sourceswithintheliberalartsandhumanities.Thisresource,updatedtoreflecttheMLA
Handbook(8
th
ed.),offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofMLAresearchpapers,intext
citations,endnotes/footnotes,andtheWorksCitedpage.
MLAAbbreviations
ThereareafewcommontrendsinabbreviatingthatyoushouldfollowwhenusingMLA,though
therearealwaysexceptionstotheserules.Foracompletelistofcommonabbreviationsusedin
academicwriting,seeSection1.6intheMLAHandbook(8thed.).
Uppercaseletterabbreviations
Donotuseperiodsorspacesinabbreviationscomposedsolelyofcapitalletters,exceptinthe
caseofpropernames:
US,MA,CD,HTML
P.D.James,J.R.R.Tolkien,E.B.White
unlessthenameisonlycomposedofinitialsonly:
FDR
Lowercaseletterabbreviations
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Useaperiodiftheabbreviationendsinalowercaseletter,unlessreferringtoanInternetsuffix,
wheretheperiodshouldcomebeforetheabbreviation:
assn.,conf.,Eng.,esp.
.com,.edu,.gov(URLsuffixes)
Note:Degreenamesareanotableexceptiontothelowercaseabbreviationrule.
PhD,EdD,PsyD
Useperiodsbetweenletterswithoutspacingifeachletterrepresentsawordincommonlower
caseabbreviations:
a.m.,e.g.,i.e.
Othernotableexceptions:
mph,os,rpm,ns,lb
Abbreviationsincitations
Condensecitationsasmuchaspossibleusingabbreviations.
TimeDesignations
Remembertofollowcommontrendsinabbreviatingtimeandlocationwithincitations.Month
nameslongerthanfourlettersusedinjournalandmagazinecitations:
Jan.,Feb.,Mar.,Apr.,Aug.,Sept.,Oct.,Nov.,Dec.
GeographicNames
Usegeographicnamesofstatesandcountries.Abbreviatecountry,province,andstatenames.
Logan,UT;Manchester,Eng.;Sherbrooke,QC
ScholarlyAbbreviations
Listcommonscholarlyabbreviationsastheyappearbelow:
anon.foranonymous
c.orca.forcirca
ch.forchapter
dept.fordepartment
ed.foredition
etal.formultiplenames(translatesto"andothers")
fwd.forforeword
jour.forjournal
lib.forlibrary
no.fornumber
PforPress(usedforacademicpresses)
p.forpage,pp.forpages
par.forparagraphwhenpagenumbersareunavailable
qtd.inforquotedin
rev.forrevised
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sec.orsect.forsection
ser.forseries
trans.fortranslation
UforUniversity(forexample,PurdueU)
UPforUniversityPress(forexample,YaleUPorUofCaliforniaP)
var.forvariant
vol.forvolume
PublisherNames
Citepublishers’namesinfullastheyappearontitleorcopyrightpages.Forexample,citethe
entirenameforapublisher(e.g.W.W.NortonorLiverightPublishing).
Exceptionsarelistedbelow:
Omitarticlesandbusinessabbreviations(likeCorp.,Inc.,Co.,andLtd.).
Usetheacronymofthepublisherifthecompanyiscommonlyknownbythatabbreviation
(e.g.MLA,ERIC,GPO).Forpublisherswhoarenotknownbyanabbreviation,writethe
entirename.
UseonlyUandPwhenreferringtouniversitypresses(e.g.CambridgeUPorUof
ChicagoP)
Formoreinformationonscholarlyabbreviations,seeSection1.6.3oftheMLAHandbook(8
th
ed.).Seealsothefollowingexamples:
UofCaliforniaP
MITP
UtahStateUP
TeachersCollegeP
ChronicleBooks
VintageBooks
McGrawHill
Little,Brown
Contributors:TonyRussell,AllenBrizee,ElizabethAngeli,RussellKeck,JoshuaM.Paiz,
MichelleCampbell,RodrigoRodríguezFuentes,DanielP.Kenzie,SusanWegener,Maryam
Ghafoor,PurdueOWLStaff.
Summary:
MLA(ModernLanguageAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtowritepapersandcite
sourceswithintheliberalartsandhumanities.Thisresource,updatedtoreflecttheMLA
Handbook(8
th
ed.),offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofMLAresearchpapers,intext
citations,endnotes/footnotes,andtheWorksCitedpage.
MLASampleWorksCitedPage
ThispageprovidesanexampleofaWorksCitedpageinMLA2016format.
WorksCited
Dean,Cornelia."ExecutiveonaMission:SavingthePlanet."TheNewYorkTimes,22May
2007,www.nytimes.com/2007/05/22/science/earth/22ander.html?_r=0.Accessed12May
2016.
10/21/2016 PurdueOWL
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/owlprint/747/ 39/57
Ebert,Roger.ReviewofAnInconvenientTruth,directedbyDavisGuggenheim.rogerebert.com,
1June2006,http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/aninconvenienttruth2006.Accessed
15June2016.
Gowdy,John."AvoidingSelforganizedExtinction:TowardaCoevolutionaryEconomicsof
Sustainability."InternationalJournalofSustainableDevelopmentandWorld
Ecology,vol.14,no.1,2007,pp.2736.
AnInconvenientTruth.DirectedbyDavisGuggenheim,performancesbyAlGoreandBilly
West,Paramount,2006.
Leroux,Marcel.GlobalWarming:MythOrReality?:TheErringWaysofClimatology.Springer,
2005.
Milken,Michael,etal."OnGlobalWarmingandFinancialImbalances."NewPerspectives
Quarterly,vol.23,no.4,2006,p.63.
Nordhaus,WilliamD."AfterKyoto:AlternativeMechanismstoControlGlobal
Warming."AmericanEconomicReview,vol.96,no.2,2006,pp.3134.
."GlobalWarmingEconomics."Science,vol.294,no.5545,9Nov.2001,pp.128384,DOI:
10.1126/science.1065007.
Regas,Diane.“ThreeKeyEnergyPoliciesThatCanHelpUsTurntheCorneronClimate.”
EnvironmentalDefenseFund,1June2016,www.edf.org/blog/2016/06/01/3keyenergy
policiescanhelpusturncornerclimate.Accessed19July2016.
Revkin,AndrewC.“ClintononClimateChange.”TheNewYorkTimes,17May2007,
www.nytimes.com/video/world/americas/1194817109438/clintononclimate
change.html.Accessed29July2016.
Shulte,Bret."PuttingaPriceonPollution."USNews&WorldReport,vol.142,no.17,14May
2007,p.37.Ebsco,Accessno:24984616.
Uzawa,Hirofumi.EconomicTheoryandGlobalWarming.CambridgeUP,2003.
Contributors:TonyRussell,AllenBrizee,ElizabethAngeli,RussellKeck,JoshuaM.Paiz,
MichelleCampbell,RodrigoRodríguezFuentes,DanielP.Kenzie,SusanWegener,Maryam
Ghafoor,PurdueOWLStaff.
Summary:
MLA(ModernLanguageAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtowritepapersandcite
sourceswithintheliberalartsandhumanities.Thisresource,updatedtoreflecttheMLA
Handbook(8
th
ed.),offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofMLAresearchpapers,intext
citations,endnotes/footnotes,andtheWorksCitedpage.
MLASamplePaper
ThisresourcecontainsasampleMLApaperthatadherestothe2016updates.Todownloadthe
MLAsamplepaper,selecttheMLASamplePaperPDFfileintheMediaboxabove.
Contributors:TonyRussell,AllenBrizee,ElizabethAngeli,RussellKeck,JoshuaM.Paiz,
MichelleCampbell,RodrigoRodríguezFuentes,DanielP.Kenzie,SusanWegener,Maryam
10/21/2016 PurdueOWL
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/owlprint/747/ 40/57
Ghafoor,PurdueOWLStaff.
Summary:
MLA(ModernLanguageAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtowritepapersandcite
sourceswithintheliberalartsandhumanities.Thisresource,updatedtoreflecttheMLA
Handbook(8
th
ed.),offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofMLAresearchpapers,intext
citations,endnotes/footnotes,andtheWorksCitedpage.
MLATables,Figures,andExamples
Thepurposeofvisualmaterialsorotherillustrationsistoenhancetheaudience'sunderstanding
ofinformationinthedocumentand/orawarenessofatopic.Writerscanembedseveraltypesof
visualsusingmostbasicwordprocessingsoftware:diagrams,musicalscores,photographs,or,
fordocumentsthatwillbereadelectronically,audio/videoapplications.
Generalguidelines
Collectsources.GatherthesourceinformationrequiredforMLAdocumentationforthe
sourcemediumoftheillustration(e.g.print,Web,podcast).
Determinewhattypesofillustrationsbestsuityourpurpose.Considerthepurposeof
eachillustration,howitcontributestothepurposeofthedocumentandthereader's
understanding,andwhetherornottheaudiencewillbeabletoviewand/orunderstandthe
illustrationeasily.
Useillustrationsofthebestquality.Avoidblurry,pixilated,ordistortedimagesforboth
printandelectronicdocuments.Oftenpixelationanddistortionoccurswhenwriters
manipulateimagesizes.Keepimagesintheiroriginalsizesorusephotoeditingsoftware
tomodifythem.Reproducedistortedgraphs,tables,ordiagramswithspreadsheetor
publishingsoftware,butbesuretoincludeallsourceinformation.Alwaysrepresentthe
originalsourceinformationfaithfullyandavoidunethicalpracticesoffalserepresentation
ormanipulation.
Useillustrationssparingly.Decidewhatitemscanbestimprovethedocument'sabilityto
augmentreaders'understandingoftheinformation,appreciationforthesubject,and/or
illustrationofthemainpoints.Donotprovideillustrationsforillustrations'sake.
Scrutinizeillustrationsforhowpotentiallyinformativeorpersuasivetheycanbe.
Donotuseillustrationstoboostpagelength.Inthecaseofstudentpapers,instructors
oftendonotcountthespacetakenupbyvisualaidstowardtherequiredpagelengthofthe
document.Rememberthattextsexplain,whileillustrationsenhance.Illustrationscannot
carrytheentireweightofthedocument.
Labels,captions,andsourceinformation
Illustrationsappeardirectlyembeddedinthedocument,exceptinthecaseofmanuscriptsthat
arebeingpreparedforpublication.(Forpreparingmanuscriptswithvisualmaterialsfor
publication,seeNoteonManuscriptsbelow.)Eachillustrationmustincludealabel,anumber,a
captionand/orsourceinformation.
Theillustrationlabelandnumbershouldalwaysappearintwoplaces:thedocument
maintext(e.g.seefig.1)andneartheillustrationitself(Fig.1).
Captionsprovidetitlesorexplanatorynotes.
Sourceinformationdocumentationwillalwaysdependuponthemediumofthesource
illustration.Ifyouprovidesourceinformationwithallofyourillustrations,youdonot
needtoprovidethisinformationontheWorksCitedpage.
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Sourceinformationandnoteform
Forsourceinformation,MLAlistssourcesinnoteform.Theseentriesappearmuchlikestandard
MLAbibliographicentrieswithafewexceptions:
AuthornamesareinFirst_Name—Last_Nameformat.
Commasaresubstitutedforperiods(exceptinthecaseoftheperiodthatendstheentry).
Publicationinformationforbooks(publisher,year)appearsinparentheses.
Relevantpagenumbersfollowthepublicationinformation.
Note:Usesemicolonstodenoteentrysectionswhenlongseriesofcommasmakethesesections
difficulttoascertainasbeinglikeorseparate.(Seeexamplesbelow.)TheMLAHandbook8
th
editionstatesthatifthetableorillustrationcaptionprovidescompletecitationinformationabout
thesourceandthesourceisnotcitedinthetext,authorsdonotneedtolistthesourceinthe
WorksCitedlist.
ExamplesDocumentingsourceinformationin"Noteform"
Book
TomShachtman,AbsoluteZeroandtheConquestofCold,HoughtonMifflin,1999,p.35.
Website(usingsemicolonstogrouplikeinformationtogether)
UnitedStates;Dept.ofCommerce;CensusBureau;Manufacturing,Mining,andConstruction
Statistics;HousingUnitsAuthorizedbyBuildingPermits;USDept.ofCommerce,5Feb.
2008;table1a.
Inthisexample,thecommasinManufacturing,Mining,andConstructionStatisticspromptthe
needforsemicolonsinorderfortheseriesinformationtobereadeasily.EvenifManufacturing,
Mining,andConstructionStatisticshadnotappearedintheentry,themultiple"authornames"of
UnitedStates,Dept.ofCommerce,andCensusBureauwouldhavenecessitatedtheuseofa
semicolonbeforeandafterthetitleandbetweenensuingsectionstotheendoftheentry.
Furthermore,thepublisheranddateinastandardentryareseparatedbyacommaandbelong
together;thus,theirinclusionhere(USDept.ofCommerce,5Feb.2008)alsonecessitatesthe
semicolons.
MLAdocumentationfortables,figures,andexamples
MLAprovidesthreedesignationsfordocumentillustrations:tables,figures,andexamples(see
specificsectionsbelow).
Tables
Refertothetableanditscorrespondingnumeralintext.Donotcapitalizethewordtable.
Thisistypicallydoneinparentheses(e.g."(seetable2)").
Situatethetablenearthetexttowhichitrelates.
Alignthetableflushlefttothemargin.
LabelthetableTableandprovideitscorrespondingArabicnumeral.Nopunctuationis
necessaryafterthelabelandnumber(seeexamplebelow).
Onthenextline,provideacaptionforthetable,mostoftenthetabletitle.Usestandard
capitalizationrules.
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Placethetablebelowthecaption,flushleft,makingsuretomaintainbasicMLAstyle
formatting(e.g.oneinchmargins).
Belowthetitle,signalthesourceinformationwiththedescriptor"Source,"followedbya
colon,thenprovidethecorrectMLAbibliographicinformationforthesourceinnoteform
(seeinstructionsandexamplesabove).Useahangingindentforlinesafterthefirst.Ifyou
providesourceinformationwithyourillustrations,youdonotneedtoprovidethis
informationontheWorksCitedpage.
Ifadditionalcaptioninformationorexplanatorynotesisnecessary,uselowercaseletters
formattedinsuperscriptinthecaptioninformationortable.Belowthesourceinformation,
indent,provideacorrespondinglowercaseletter(notinsuperscript),aspace,andthenote.
Labels,captions,andnotesaredoublespaced.
TableExample
Intextreference:
In1985,womenaged65andolderwere59%morelikelythanmenofthesameagetoresideina
nursinghome,andthough11,700lesswomenofthatagegroupwereenrolledin1999,menover
thesametimeperiodrangedfrom30,000to39,000personswhilewomenaccountedfor49,000
to61,500(seetable1).
Tablereference:
Table1
Rateofnursinghomeresidenceamongpeopleage65orolder,bysexandagegroup,1985,
1995,1997,1999
a
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ImageCaption:ExampleTable
Source:FederalInteragencyForumonAgingRelatedStatistics,OlderAmericans2008:Key
IndicatorsofWellBeing,FederalInteragencyForumonAgingRelatedStatistics,Mar.2008,
table35A.
a.Note:Ratesfor65andovercategoryareageadjustedusingthe2000standardpopulation.
Beginningin1997,populationfiguresareadjustedfornetunderenumerationusingthe1990
NationalPopulationAdjustmentMatrixfromtheU.S.CensusBureau.Peopleresidingin
personalcareordomiciliarycarehomesareexcludedfromthenumerator.
Figures
Allvisuals/illustrationsthatarenottablesormusicalscoreexamples(e.g.maps,diagrams,
charts,videos,podcasts,etc.)arelabeledFigureorFig.
RefertothefigureintextandprovideanArabicnumeralthatcorrespondstothefigure.
Donotcapitalizefigureorfig.
MLAdoesnotspecifyalignmentrequirementsforfigures;thus,theseimagesmaybe
embeddedasthereaderseesfit.However,continuetofollowbasicMLAStyleformatting
(e.g.oneinchmargins).
Belowthefigure,providealabelnameanditscorrespondingarabicnumeral(noboldor
italics),followedbyaperiod(e.g.Fig.1.).Here,FigureandFig.arecapitalized.
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Beginningwiththesamelineasthelabelandnumber,provideatitleand/orcaptionas
wellasrelevantsourceinformationinnoteform(seeinstructionsandexamplesabove).If
youprovidesourceinformationwithyourillustrations,youdonotneedtoprovidethis
informationontheWorksCitedpage.
FiguresExample
Intextreference:
SomereadersfoundHarry’sfinalbattlewithVoldemortadisappointment,andrecently,the
podcast,MuggleCastdebatedthesubject(seefig.2).
Figurecaption(belowanembeddedpodcastfileforadocumenttobeviewedelectronically):
Fig.2.HarryPotterandVoldemortfinalbattledebatefromAndrewSimsetal.;“Show166”;
MuggleCast;MuggleNet.com,19Dec.2008,www.mugglenet.com/2015/11/thesnapedebate
rowlingspeaksout.
Examples
ThedescriptorExampleonlyreferstomusicalillustrations(e.g.portionsofamusical
score).ExampleisoftenabbreviatedEx.
RefertotheexampleintextandprovideanArabicnumeralthatcorrespondstothe
example.Donotcapitalizeexampleorex.
Supplytheillustration,makingsuretomaintainbasicMLAStyleformatting(e.g.oneinch
margins).
Belowtheexample,providethelabel(capitalizedExampleorEx.)andnumberanda
captionortitle.Thecaptionortitlewilloftentaketheformofsourceinformationalong
withanexplanation,forexample,ofwhatpartofthescoreisbeingillustrated.Ifyou
providesourceinformationwithyourillustrations,youdonotneedtoprovidethis
informationontheWorksCitedpage.
Noteonmanuscripts
Donotembedillustrations(tables,figures,orexamples)inmanuscriptsforpublication.Put
placeholdersinthetexttoshowwheretheillustrationswillgo.Typetheseplaceholdersontheir
ownline,flushleft,andbracketed(e.g.[table1]).Attheendofthedocument,providelabel,
number,caption,andsourceinformationinanorganizedlist.Sendfilesforillustrationsinthe
appropriateformattoyoureditorseparately.Ifyouprovidesourceinformationwithyour
illustrations,youdonotneedtoprovidethisinformationontheWorksCitedpage.
Contributors:TonyRussell,AllenBrizee,ElizabethAngeli,RussellKeck,JoshuaM.Paiz,
MichelleCampbell,RodrigoRodríguezFuentes,DanielP.Kenzie,SusanWegener,Maryam
Ghafoor,PurdueOWLStaff.
Summary:
MLA(ModernLanguageAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtowritepapersandcite
sourceswithintheliberalartsandhumanities.Thisresource,updatedtoreflecttheMLA
Handbook(8
th
ed.),offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofMLAresearchpapers,intext
citations,endnotes/footnotes,andtheWorksCitedpage.
MLAPowerPointPresentation
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SelecttheMLAPowerPointPresentationlinkintheMediaboxabovetodownloadslidesthat
provideadetailedreviewoftheMLAcitationstyle.
Contributors:TonyRussell,AllenBrizee,ElizabethAngeli,RussellKeck,JoshuaM.Paiz,
MichelleCampbell,RodrigoRodríguezFuentes,DanielP.Kenzie,SusanWegener,Maryam
Ghafoor,PurdueOWLStaff.
Summary:
MLA(ModernLanguageAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtowritepapersandcite
sourceswithintheliberalartsandhumanities.Thisresource,updatedtoreflecttheMLA
Handbook(8
th
ed.),offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofMLAresearchpapers,intext
citations,endnotes/footnotes,andtheWorksCitedpage.
MLAUndergraduateSamplePaper
ThisresourcecontainsanundergraduatesampleMLApaperthatadherestothe2009updates.
SelecttheUndergraduateMLA2009SamplePaperPDFfileintheMediaboxabove.
Contributors:TonyRussell,AllenBrizee,ElizabethAngeli,RussellKeck,JoshuaM.Paiz,
MichelleCampbell,RodrigoRodríguezFuentes,DanielP.Kenzie,SusanWegener,Maryam
Ghafoor,PurdueOWLStaff.
Summary:
MLA(ModernLanguageAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtowritepapersandcite
sourceswithintheliberalartsandhumanities.Thisresource,updatedtoreflecttheMLA
Handbook(8
th
ed.),offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofMLAresearchpapers,intext
citations,endnotes/footnotes,andtheWorksCitedpage.
MLAClassroomPoster
TheMLAposteratthelinkbelowisaprintablejpgfileyoumaydownloadandprintoutat
differentsizesforuseinclassrooms,writingcenters,orasapocketreference.Pleasekeepin
mindthatthefilesize,asaprintqualityresource(120dpi),islarge,soitmaytakeawhileto
download.Youmayadjusttheprintsizeoftheposterfromyourprintmenu.Asis,theposteris
27x36inches.
Becausetheposterisquitelarge,standardprinterscannotprinttheposter.Ifyoudonothave
accesstoaprinterthatcanprintlargedocuments,contactalocalprintshoptoprinttheposter.
ThePurdueOWLcannotgrantrequeststoprintandmailposters.
Ifyoudonothaveaccesstoaprintshoptoprinttheposter,pleaseusetheresourceswehave
availablehereforprintingonstandard8.5x11inchpaper.Gotoresourceyouwouldliketo
print,scrolldowntothebottomofthepage,andclick"FullResourceforPrinting."
AlsopleasenotethattheposteronlycontainsbasicMLAguidelines.Fordetailedinstructions,
pleaseseethecompleteOWLMLAresourceshere.
ThePurdueOWLMLAClassroomPosterwasdevelopedbyKateBouwensforthePurdue
ProfessionalWritingPurdueOWLInternshipclass,English490,inspring2009.
PurdueOWLMLAClassroomPoster(Pleasenote:TheposterisbestviewedinFirefox.)
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Contributors:TonyRussell,AllenBrizee,ElizabethAngeli,RussellKeck,JoshuaM.Paiz,
MichelleCampbell,RodrigoRodríguezFuentes,DanielP.Kenzie,SusanWegener,Maryam
Ghafoor,PurdueOWLStaff.
Summary:
MLA(ModernLanguageAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtowritepapersandcite
sourceswithintheliberalartsandhumanities.Thisresource,updatedtoreflecttheMLA
Handbook(8
th
ed.),offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofMLAresearchpapers,intext
citations,endnotes/footnotes,andtheWorksCitedpage.
MLAFrequentlyAskedQuestions(FAQs)
ThefollowingFAQsaddressissuesinMLAcitationand/orformatting.Furtherinformationon
MLAstyleandcitationcanbefoundatthePurdueOWL’sMLAStyleandFormatting
resource.
IhavetowriteapaperinMLAformat.WherecanIlearnmoreaboutwritinginMLA?
ThePurdueOWLmaintainsanextensiveresourcethatdealswithMLAstyle.SeeourMLA
FormattingandStyleGuide.Additionally,theMLAStyleCenterisanofficialresourcethat
providesanswerstofrequentlyaskedquestions,guidanceonformattingresearchpapers,
documentationtips,andotherassistanceinwritingpaperinMLAformat.
HowdoIuseMLAcitationsandlistofworkscitedinaPowerPointpresentation?
Tocitesourcesinaslidepresentation,MLAsuggestsincludingbriefcitationsoneachslidethat
includesmaterialfromyoursources,includingquotations,summariesandparaphrases,images,
ordata.Includeaworkscitedlistonaslideattheendofyourpresentation.MLAalsosuggests
providingyourlistofsourcestoyouraudience,eitherthroughaURLorprintedcopythatyou
handoutinyourpresentation.Formoredetails,seetheMLAHandbook,8thed.,pp.12728.
HowdoIciteemail?
Whenyoudocumentanemailinyourlistofworkscited,usethesubjectofthemessageasthe
title.Thetitleshouldbecapitalizedandinquotationmarks.
Boyle,AnthonyT.“Re:Utopia.”ReceivedbyDanielJ.Cahill,21June1997.
Whatisacontainer?
Unlikeearlierversions,theeightheditionhandbookreferstocontainers,whicharethelarger
wholesinwhichthesourceislocated.Forexample,ifyouwanttociteapoemthatislistedina
collectionofpoems,theindividualpoemisthesource,whilethelargercollectionisthe
container.Thetitleofthecontainerisusuallyitalicizedandfollowedbyacomma,sincethe
informationthatfollowsnextdescribesthecontainer.Acontainercouldbeatelevisionseries,
whichismadeupofepisodes,awebsite,whichcontainsarticlesandpostings,ormanyother
sourceswithinsources.
Bazin,Patrick.“TowardMetareading.”TheFutureoftheBook,editedbyGeoffreyNunberg,U
ofCaliforniaP,1996,pp.15368.
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“Hush.”BuffytheVampireSlayer,createdbyJossWhedon,performancebySarahMichelle
Gellar,season4,episode10,MutantEnemy,1999.
WhatisaDOI?
ADOI,ordigitalobjectidentifier,isaseriesofdigitsandlettersthatleadstothelocationofan
onlinesource.ArticlesinjournalsareoftenassignedDOIstoensurethatthesourceislocatable,
eveniftheURLchanges.IfyoursourcehasaDOI,usethatinsteadof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.
DoIneedtoincludeaURLwhenIdocumentonlinesourcesinmylistofworkscited?
MLA’seightheditionhandbookrecommendsincludingURLswhendocumentinganonline
source.Thisissoyourreadershavethemostspecificinformationwhenattemptingtolocateyour
source.IfyourteacherprefersthatyoudonotincludeURLsinyourworkscitedlist,besureto
followher/hisinstructions.
Gay,Roxane.“WhoGetstobeAngry?”TheNewYorkTimes,10June2016,
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/opinion/sunday/whogetstobeangry.html?_r=0
Whenthetitleofanewspaperbeginswithanarticle(the,a,an)doIneedtoincludeitwhen
Ilistthetitleinmycitation?
Yes.Thisisoneofthechangesintheeightheditionhandbook.Previously,MLAdidnotrequire
thearticleinthetitleofaperiodical(newspaper,journal,magazine),buttheupdatedhandbook
statesthatthearticleshouldnowbeconsideredpartofthetitle.Thearticleshouldbecapitalized
anditalicized.Forexample,refertoTheNewYorkTimes,(ratherthanNewYorkTimes),when
citingitinyourtextorworkscitedlist.
HowdoIciteebooksorKindlebooks?
Anebookisconsideredaversion,soitshouldbelistedafterthetitleofthebook,beforethe
publicationinformation.Ifyouknowthetypeofebookyouused(suchasKindleorEbook
library),besuretospecifythat.Avoidusingdevicespecificnumberingsystems,sincetheywill
varyamongdifferentdevices.Ifthebookhaschapters,sections,orotherstablenumbering
systems,itispermissibletoidentifypartsofthetextthatway.
Theile,VerenaandLindaTredennick,editors.NewFormalismandLiteraryTheory.Kindleed.,
PalgraveMacmillan,2013.
HowdoIciteatweet?
Thefulltextofthetweetshouldbeyourtitle.Enclosethetextinquotationmarks,andinclude
thedate,time,andURL.
@persiankiwi.“Wehavereportoflargestreetbattlesineast&westofTehrannow
#Iranelection.”Twitter,23June2009,11:15a.m.,
twitter.com/persiankiwi/status/2298106072.
Ifyouknowtherealnameofanauthorlistedunderapseudonym,additinparenthesis(this
informationisnotrequired,butincludeitifitwillbehelpfultoyourreaders).
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@lclambeck(LindaLambeck).“The#bridgeportschoolfundingupshot:thestatelegislature
lackspoliticalwilltodorightthing.”Twitter,7June2016,5:59p.m.,
twitter.com/lclambeck/status/752985641261162496.
HowdoIciteabookthatIaccessedonline?
Citethebookjustlikeyouwouldifitwereinprint.Thenaddthenameofthedatabaseor
websiteyouusedtoaccesstheonlinebook,andaddaURLorotherlocationindicatorattheend
ofthecitation.
Pettegree,Andrew.TheInventionofNews:HowtheWorldCametoKnowaboutItself.YaleUP,
2014.eBookCollection(EBSCOhost),0search.ebscohost.com.iiiserver.ualr.edu/
login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=692353&site=ehostlive&scope=site.
HowdoIciteanunpublishedmanuscript/document?
Author.TitleofManuscript/Document.dateofcomposition(atleastyear),alongwith"thename
andlocationofthelibrary,researchinstitution,orpersonalcollectionhousingthematerial."
Henderson,GeorgeWylie.BabyLouandtheAngelBud.CollectionofRoslynKirklandAllen,
NewYork.
HowdoIcitetheUSConstitution?
Ingeneral,donotitalicizeorencloseinquotationmarksthetitleoflaws,acts,andsimilar
documentsineitherthetextorthelistofworkscited(DeclarationofIndependence,Constitution
oftheUnitedStates,TaftHartleyAct).Suchtitlesareusuallyabbreviated,andtheworksare
citedbysections.Theyearsareaddedifrelevant.
Becausethesedirectivesaren’tveryspecific,youcanusethefollowingexampleasaguidefor
theWorksCitedentry:
U.S.Constitution.Art./Amend.XII,Sec.3.
Youneedonlyprovideeitherthearticlenumberortheamendmentnumberasappropriate.
Thecomplementaryparentheticalcitationiswrittenas(USConst.amend.XII,sec.3).You
mightalsoreferencetheU.S.Constitutioninthesentenceitselfandonlyprovidetheamendment
andsectionnumberintheparenthesesattheendofthesentence.
HowdoIciteadefinitionfromanonlinedictionary,likeDictionary.com?
Inmostcases,aworddefinedinanonlinedictionaryiswithintwocontainers:theoriginalsource
andthewebsource.Besuretoitalicizebothcontainers,andincludetheURL.Theaccessdateis
optional,butincludeitifitwillbesthelpyourreaderslocatethesource.
“Perchloricacid.”TheAmericanHeritageStedman’sMedicalDictionary,HoughtonMifflin,
1995.Dictionary.com,www.dictionary.com/browse/perchloricacid?s=t.Accessed13
Dec.2010.
HowdoIciteafootnote?
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Theeightheditionhandbookdoesnotaddressthisquestion,soweadvisefollowingtheformat
traditionallyrecommendedbytheMLAstyleguidelines.Thisstatesthatcitinganotherauthor’s
footnoteinyourowntextshouldincludethefollowing,inparentheses:author’sname,thepage
number,thelettern(toindicatenote),andthenotenumber.Therearenospacesbetweenthe
pagenumber,thelettern,andthenotenumber.
(Smith123n6)
HowdoIcitegenealogiesandbirth/deathcertificates?
Thisisaveryparticularandaverypeculiarcase.MLAdoesnotofferanyguidelinesonhowto
handlegenealogiesandbirthcertificates.However,aftersearchingthroughweb,wehavefound
thefollowingresourcesthatmightbeusefultoyou:
Genealogy.comoffersamethodofcitingbirth/deathcertificates.Followthelinkandscrolldown
to“OfficialRecords.”
Inaddition,Archive.govoffersaleafletcalledCitingRecordsintheNationalArchivesofthe
UnitedStates.
HowdoIcitetheinformationfromfoodnutritionlabels?
Treatfoodnutritionlabelsasyouwouldanyothersource.Makesuretoincludethecore
elements,intheproperorder,andprovideasmuchinformationasyourreaderswillneedto
locatethesource.
“NutritionLabelofKraftMacaroniandCheese.”Kraftfoods,PayLessSupermarket,2016.
HowdoIciteaninformationalplaqueoraninformationcard?
Treatinformationalplaques/cardsasyouwouldanyothersource.Makesuretoincludethecore
elements,intheproperorder,andprovideasmuchinformationasyourreaderswillneedto
locatethesource.Usethetitleoftheplaqueasthetitleofyoursource.Ifyouhaveexperienced
anobjectfirsthand,suchasinamuseum,givethenameoftheplace,thecityinwhichitis
located,andthedatesoftheexhibition.
“AlexanderMcQueen’sGothic.”GothictoGoth:RomanticEraFashionanditsLegacy,
WadsworthAthenaeum,Hartford,Connecticut,March5July10,2016.
WhenIamrepeatedlyquotingorparaphrasingthesamesourceinmypaper,doIhaveto
keepcitingthatsourceattheendofeachsentence?
Whenyoureferencethesamesourcemorethanonceinthesameparagraph,andnoothersource
intervenes,youmaygivetheintextcitationjustonceattheendoftheparagraph.If,however,
thistechniquecreatesanyambiguityaboutyourreference,itisbettertocitethesourceevery
timeyoureferenceit.
Forexample:
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.RomeoandJuliet’slanguageofloveneverthelessbecomes“fullyresponsivetothetang
ofactuality”(Zender138,141).
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Thismakesclearthatthefirstquotationisfromthefirstpagenumberintheparentheses,andthe
secondquotationisfromthesecondnumber.
Thereareotherwaystodothisaswell.Youmaycitetheauthor’snamewiththepagenumber
afterthefirstdirectquotation,andjustlistthepagenumberafterthesecondquotation.
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
(Zender138).RomeoandJuliet’slanguageofloveneverthelessbecomes“fullyresponsivetothe
tangofactuality”(141).
IfIquotefromtwodifferentsourcesinthesamesentence,howdoIciteboth?
WhiletheMLAdoesnotprohibitreferencestomorethanonesourceinthesamesentence,itis
generallybesttobeginanewsentencewhenreferringtoanewsource.Yourgoalistopresent
yourinformationasclearlyaspossiblesothatyourreaderscanbestfollowyourpoints.Withthat
inmind,ifyoufindyourselfattemptingtocitetwosourcesinthesamesentence,chancesare,
yourideaswillbeclearerifyoubreakthemintotwosentences.
Forexample:
Thereisnoofficialconsensusonhowtodefinethenewformalism.Somescholarsassertthatthe
methodisdifficulttopindown(Wolfson9).Ontheotherhand,somesaythataneoformalist
approachmaybeusedtoexamineatext’stranshistoricaleffect(Marcovits591).
IfI“justknow”afactoridea(somethingIlearnedinhighschool,forexample),doIhave
tocitemyhighschoolcourseortextbook?
Thisquestionfallsundertheissueofcommonknowledge.Commonknowledgegenerally
includesbiographicalinformation,datesofhistoricalevents,andotherundisputed,widely
availableinformation.Ifyouthinkthatyouraverage,reasonablereaderalreadyacceptsthis
informationasfact,itisnotnecessarytodocumentit.
Contributors:TonyRussell,AllenBrizee,ElizabethAngeli,RussellKeck,JoshuaM.Paiz,
MichelleCampbell,RodrigoRodríguezFuentes,DanielP.Kenzie,SusanWegener,Maryam
Ghafoor,PurdueOWLStaff.
Summary:
MLA(ModernLanguageAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtowritepapersandcite
sourceswithintheliberalartsandhumanities.Thisresource,updatedtoreflecttheMLA
Handbook(8
th
ed.),offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofMLAresearchpapers,intext
citations,endnotes/footnotes,andtheWorksCitedpage.
MLABibliographyHandouts
Contributors:TonyRussell,AllenBrizee,ElizabethAngeli,RussellKeck,JoshuaM.Paiz,
MichelleCampbell,RodrigoRodríguezFuentes,DanielP.Kenzie,SusanWegener,Maryam
Ghafoor,PurdueOWLStaff.
Summary:
MLA(ModernLanguageAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtowritepapersandcite
sourceswithintheliberalartsandhumanities.Thisresource,updatedtoreflecttheMLA
10/21/2016 PurdueOWL
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/owlprint/747/ 51/57
Handbook(8
th
ed.),offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofMLAresearchpapers,intext
citations,endnotes/footnotes,andtheWorksCitedpage.
MLAClassroomMiniposters
ThisresourcecontainslinkstoclassroomminipostersthataddressselectedtopicsinMLA.
Currently,wehavepostersthatexplaincitingonlinejournalsandjournalarticlesaccessedfrom
aninsitutionaldatabase.Ourpostersareavailableintwosizes,22x15inchesand8.5x11.Please
clicktheappropriatelinkstodownloadtheposterofyourchosing.
CitingOnlineJournalsMiniposter
The22x15"postercanbefoundhere.
The8.5x11"postercanbefoundhere.
CitingJournalsfromanInstitutionalDatabase
The22x15"postercanbefoundhere.
The8.5x11"postercanbefoundhere.
Contributors:TonyRussell,AllenBrizee,ElizabethAngeli,RussellKeck,JoshuaM.Paiz,
MichelleCampbell,RodrigoRodríguezFuentes,DanielP.Kenzie,SusanWegener,Maryam
Ghafoor,PurdueOWLStaff.
Summary:
MLA(ModernLanguageAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtowritepapersandcite
sourceswithintheliberalartsandhumanities.Thisresource,updatedtoreflecttheMLA
Handbook(8
th
ed.),offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofMLAresearchpapers,intext
citations,endnotes/footnotes,andtheWorksCitedpage.
MLAClassroomMiniposters
Contributors:TonyRussell,AllenBrizee,ElizabethAngeli,RussellKeck,JoshuaM.Paiz,
MichelleCampbell,RodrigoRodríguezFuentes,DanielP.Kenzie,SusanWegener,Maryam
Ghafoor,PurdueOWLStaff.
Summary:
MLA(ModernLanguageAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtowritepapersandcite
sourceswithintheliberalartsandhumanities.Thisresource,updatedtoreflecttheMLA
Handbook(8
th
ed.),offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofMLAresearchpapers,intext
citations,endnotes/footnotes,andtheWorksCitedpage.
MLAEighthEdition:What'sNewand
Different
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InApril2016,MLAreplaceditsseventheditionresourceswithaneweighthedition.This
updatedversionreflectsthewaysinwhichdigitalpublicationhaschangedhowwritersand
researchersdocumentsources.Therefore,theneweditionincludessignificantshiftsinthe
approachtosourcedocumentationinacademicwriting.Whileearliereditionsemphasizedthe
importanceoffollowingspecificguidelinesforformatting,theeightheditionfocusesonthe
practiceandprocessofscholarlydocumentation.Thelogichereisbasic:astyleguideshould
offeramethodthatiswidelyapplicable.Ratherthaninsistingthatwritersfollowstrictcitation
formulas,thishandbookoutlinestheprinciplesofMLAdocumentationandexplainshowwriters
canusetheminmanydifferentsituations.
Forthisreason,theneweditionfocusesonthewriter’sstrategyandindividualdecisions.Notall
scholarlyproseisthesame,andeverywritershouldevaluateher/hisreadersanddeterminehow
tobestengagethem.Thewriter’sgoalshouldbetoprovideadocumentandlistofsourcesthatis
easyforreaderstouse,sothatthereadingexperienceisinformativeandenjoyable.
Likeearliereditions,thishandbookincludesinformationonevaluatingsources,avoiding
plagiarism,usingquotations,constructingabbreviations,andothertopicsimportanttothe
scholarlywriter.Butwhatisdifferentabouttheeightheditionisthatitrecommendsauniversal
setofguidelinesthatwriterscanapplytoanysource,inanyfield.Inthepast,writerswould
createanentryinaworkscitedlistbylookingatMLA’sinstructionsforhowtociteaspecific
typeofsource.Forexample,ifyouneededtociteafilm,youwouldconsultthehandbooktosee
theproperformatfordocumentingfilm.Inthisnewedition,MLAexplainsthatthismethodisno
longerpractical,sincetypesofsourcesaresometimesundefinable,oraccessibleinmorethan
oneway(forinstance,aYouTubeclipfromafilmisnotthesameastheoriginalfilmitself).
Therefore,theeightheditionoffersanewmodelforentriesinaworkscitedlist,sothatrather
thanconsultingthehandbookfortheproperwaytodocumentaspecifictypeofsource,the
writercreatesentriesbyconsultingMLA’slistofcoreelementsandcompilingtheminthe
recommendedorder.
Coreelementsarethosebasicpiecesofinformationthatshouldbecommontoallsources,from
bookstoarticles,fromlecturestotweets.TheMLAcoreelementsareasfollows:
Author Number
Titleofsource Publisher
Titleofcontainer Publicationdate
Othercontributors Location
Version
Ifyouhaveincludedtheseelementsandassembledtheminawaythatmakessensetoyour
readers,thenyourworkscitedentrieswillbeconsistentandthorough.
LookforupdatestoOWLsresourcesandmoredetailedinformationaboutchangestoMLA
guidelinescomingsoon.
Examples
Sincetheeightheditionfocusesontheprinciplesofdocumentingsources,ratherthanonstrict
adherencetoaparticularformatforeachsource,citationsinthisneweditionvaryonlyslightly
fromtheoldways.Whencomparingworkscitedentriesintheneweightheditionwiththe
formerseventhedition,seethatdifferencesincitationstyleareminimal;punctuationis
streamlined,volumeandissuenumbersareidentifiedassuch,andthereisnoexcessinformation
suchascityofpublicationormediatype.
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Notethedifferencesincitingaprintbookwithoneauthor:
Eighthedition(thenewway):
Jacobs,Alan.ThePleasuresofReadinginanAgeofDistraction.OxfordUP,2011.
Inthisversion,onlythemostessentialinformationisincluded(author’sname,booktitle,
publisher,anddate).Notethatthecityofpublicationisnotneeded,andthemediumof
publicationiseliminated.
Seventhedition(theoldway):
Jacobs,Alan.ThePleasuresofReadinginanAgeofDistraction.Oxford:OxfordUP,2011.
Print.
Thisversionincludesthecityofpublication(Oxford)andthemedium(print),whichthenew
eightheditiondoesnotrequire.
Thedifferencesincitinganarticlefromascholarlyjournal:
Eighthedition:
Kincaid,Jamaica.“InHistory.”Callaloo,vol.24,no.2,Spring2001,pp.62026.
Thisversionidentifiesthevolume(24),thenumber(2),andthepagenumbers(62026)ofthe
scholarlyjournal,ratherthanleavingthosenumberswithoutclearexplanation.Thishelpsreaders
bestmakesenseofyourcitationandallowsthemtolocateyoursourcewithoutgettingbogged
downwithextrainformationorreferencesthatcanbedifficulttodecipher.Alsonotethat
punctuationissimple;onlycommasseparatethejournaltitle,volume,number,date,andpage
numbers.
Seventhedition:
Kinkaid,Jamaica.“InHistory.”Callaloo24.2(Spring2001):62026.Web.
Thisversionincludesthevolumeandnumber(24.2),andpagenumbers(62026)ofthejournal,
butdoesnotexplainthosereferences.Theseventheditionemphasizedfollowingastrict
punctuationformula,suchasparenthesesaroundthedateandthecolon,whiletheneweighth
editionfocusesonprovidingthisinformationinamorestreamlinedmannerbyusingonly
commastoseparateeachcomponent.
Takeaways
IfyouarealreadyfamiliarwithtraditionalMLAcitationmethods,continuetousethemina
moresimplifiedform.Sincetheeightheditionemphasizesthewriter’sfreedomtocreate
referencesbasedontheexpectationsoftheaudience,considerwhatyourreadersneedtoknowif
theywanttofindyoursource.
ThinkofMLAstyleprinciplesasflexibleguides,ratherthanrules.Partofyour
responsibilityasawriteristoevaluateyourreadersanddecidewhatyourparticular
audienceneedstoknowaboutyoursources.
Yourgoalistoinform,persuade,andotherwiseconnectwithyouraudience;errorfree
writing,alongwithtrustworthydocumentation,allowsreaderstofocusonyourideas.
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Intextcitationsshouldlookconsistentthroughoutyourpaper.Theprinciplesbehindin
textcitationshavechangedverylittlefromtheseventhtotheeightheditions.
Listofworkscited/worksconsultedneedstoincludebasiccoreinformation,suchas
author’sname,titleofsource,publicationdate,andotherinformation,dependingonthe
typeofsource.Eachentryshouldbeuniformandsimple,butshouldgiveenough
informationsothatyourreaderscanlocateyoursources.
TheseupdatedMLAguidelinesarebasedonasimpletheory:onceyouknowthebasic
principlesofstyleandcitation,youcanapplythatknowledgewidely,andgenerateuseful
documentationforanytypeofpublication,inanyfield.
Foramoredetailedoverviewofhowtocitesourcesusingtheeighthedition,seeHowtoCite
DocumentSourcesinMLAStyle:AnOverview.
Contributors:TonyRussell,AllenBrizee,ElizabethAngeli,RussellKeck,JoshuaM.Paiz,
MichelleCampbell,RodrigoRodríguezFuentes,DanielP.Kenzie,SusanWegener,Maryam
Ghafoor,PurdueOWLStaff.
Summary:
MLA(ModernLanguageAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtowritepapersandcite
sourceswithintheliberalartsandhumanities.Thisresource,updatedtoreflecttheMLA
Handbook(8
th
ed.),offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofMLAresearchpapers,intext
citations,endnotes/footnotes,andtheWorksCitedpage.
MLA8thEdition:What'sNewandDifferent
Contributors:TonyRussell,AllenBrizee,ElizabethAngeli,RussellKeck,JoshuaM.Paiz,
MichelleCampbell,RodrigoRodríguezFuentes,DanielP.Kenzie,SusanWegener,Maryam
Ghafoor,PurdueOWLStaff.
Summary:
MLA(ModernLanguageAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtowritepapersandcite
sourceswithintheliberalartsandhumanities.Thisresource,updatedtoreflecttheMLA
Handbook(8
th
ed.),offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofMLAresearchpapers,intext
citations,endnotes/footnotes,andtheWorksCitedpage.
MLAGeneralFormat
MLAstylespecifiesguidelinesforformattingmanuscriptsandusingtheEnglishlanguagein
writing.MLAstylealsoprovideswriterswithasystemforreferencingtheirsourcesthrough
parentheticalcitationintheiressaysandWorksCitedpages.
WriterswhoproperlyuseMLAalsobuildtheircredibilitybydemonstratingaccountabilityto
theirsourcematerial.Mostimportantly,theuseofMLAstylecanprotectwritersfrom
accusationsofplagiarism,whichisthepurposefuloraccidentaluncrediteduseofsourcematerial
byotherwriters.
IfyouareaskedtouseMLAformat,besuretoconsulttheMLAHandbook(8thedition).
PublishingscholarsandgraduatestudentsshouldalsoconsulttheMLAStyleManualandGuide
toScholarlyPublishing(3rdedition).TheMLAHandbookisavailableinmostwritingcenters
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andreferencelibraries;itisalsowidelyavailableinbookstores,libraries,andattheMLAweb
site.SeetheAdditionalResourcessectionofthishandoutforalistofhelpfulbooksandsites
aboutusingMLAstyle.
PaperFormat
ThepreparationofpapersandmanuscriptsinMLAstyleiscoveredinchapterfouroftheMLA
Handbook,andchapterfouroftheMLAStyleManual.Belowaresomebasicguidelinesfor
formattingapaperinMLAstyle.
GeneralGuidelines
Typeyourpaperonacomputerandprintitoutonstandard,white8.5x11inchpaper.
Doublespacethetextofyourpaper,andusealegiblefont(e.g.TimesNewRoman).
Whateverfontyouchoose,MLArecommendsthattheregularanditalicstypestyles
contrastenoughthattheyarerecognizableonefromanother.Thefontsizeshouldbe12pt.
Leaveonlyonespaceafterperiodsorotherpunctuationmarks(unlessotherwiseinstructed
byyourinstructor).
Setthemarginsofyourdocumentto1inchonallsides.
Indentthefirstlineofparagraphsonehalfinchfromtheleftmargin.MLArecommends
thatyouusetheTabkeyasopposedtopushingtheSpaceBarfivetimes.
Createaheaderthatnumbersallpagesconsecutivelyintheupperrighthandcorner,one
halfinchfromthetopandflushwiththerightmargin.(Note:Yourinstructormayaskthat
youomitthenumberonyourfirstpage.Alwaysfollowyourinstructor'sguidelines.)
Useitalicsthroughoutyouressayforthetitlesoflongerworksand,onlywhenabsolutely
necessary,providingemphasis.
Ifyouhaveanyendnotes,includethemonaseparatepagebeforeyourWorksCitedpage.
EntitlethesectionNotes(centered,unformatted).
FormattingtheFirstPageofYourPaper
Donotmakeatitlepageforyourpaperunlessspecificallyrequested.
Intheupperlefthandcornerofthefirstpage,listyourname,yourinstructor'sname,the
course,andthedate.Again,besuretousedoublespacedtext.
Doublespaceagainandcenterthetitle.Donotunderline,italicize,orplaceyourtitlein
quotationmarks;writethetitleinTitleCase(standardcapitalization),notinallcapital
letters.
Usequotationmarksand/oritalicswhenreferringtootherworksinyourtitle,justasyou
wouldinyourtext:FearandLoathinginLasVegasasMoralityPlay;HumanWearinessin
"AfterApplePicking"
Doublespacebetweenthetitleandthefirstlineofthetext.
Createaheaderintheupperrighthandcornerthatincludesyourlastname,followedbya
spacewithapagenumber;numberallpagesconsecutivelywithArabicnumerals(1,2,3,
4,etc.),onehalfinchfromthetopandflushwiththerightmargin.(Note:Yourinstructor
orotherreadersmayaskthatyouomitlastname/pagenumberheaderonyourfirstpage.
Alwaysfollowinstructorguidelines.)
HereisasampleofthefirstpageofapaperinMLAstyle:
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ImageCaption:TheFirstPageofanMLAPaper
SectionHeadings
WriterssometimesuseSectionHeadingstoimproveadocument’sreadability.Thesesections
mayincludeindividualchaptersorothernamedpartsofabookoressay.
Essays
MLArecommendsthatwhenyoudivideanessayintosectionsthatyounumberthosesections
withanarabicnumberandaperiodfollowedbyaspaceandthesectionname.
1.EarlyWritings
2.TheLondonYears
3.TravelingtheContinent
4.FinalYears
Books
MLAdoesnothaveaprescribedsystemofheadingsforbooks(formoreinformationon
headings,pleaseseepage146intheMLAStyleManualandGuidetoScholarlyPublishing,3rd
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edition).Ifyouareonlyusingonelevelofheadings,meaningthatallofthesectionsaredistinct
andparallelandhavenoadditionalsectionsthatfitwithinthem,MLArecommendsthatthese
sectionsresembleoneanothergrammatically.Forinstance,ifyourheadingsaretypicallyshort
phrases,makealloftheheadingsshortphrases(andnot,forexample,fullsentences).Otherwise,
theformattingisuptoyou.Itshould,however,beconsistentthroughoutthedocument.
Ifyouemploymultiplelevelsofheadings(someofyoursectionshavesectionswithinsections),
youmaywanttoprovideakeyofyourchosenlevelheadingsandtheirformattingtoyour
instructororeditor.
SampleSectionHeadings
Thefollowingsampleheadingsaremeanttobeusedonlyasareference.Youmayemploy
whateversystemofformattingthatworksbestforyousolongasitremainsconsistent
throughoutthedocument.
Numbered:
1.SoilConservation
1.1Erosion
1.2Terracing
2.WaterConservation
3.EnergyConservation
Formatted,unnumbered:
Level1Heading:bold,flushleft
Level2Heading:italics,flushleft
Level3Heading:centered,bold
Level4Heading:centered,italics
Level5Heading:underlined,flushleft
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