Work Citation in Mla Format
Work Citation in MLA Format
In MLA 9th edition, a "work cited" entry follows this core pattern: Author Last, First. Title of Work. Publisher, Year. The full list lives on a "Works Cited" page at the end of your paper, and every source you mention in-text needs a matching entry there.
That's the short version. Here's what changes when your source isn't a tidy printed book.
The MLA 9 Core Elements
MLA 9 (published by the Modern Language Association in 2021) uses nine optional building blocks. You fill in the ones that apply and skip the rest:
- Author.
- Title of source.
- Title of container.
- Other contributors.
- Version.
- Number.
- Publisher.
- Publication date.
- Location (page range, URL, or DOI).
A "container" is whatever holds your source. A short story sits inside an anthology. An article sits inside a journal. A journal sits inside JSTOR. You can have nested containers, and you cite both.
How Each Element Is Punctuated
Author ends with a period. Title of source ends with a period. Everything from "Title of container" through "Location" is separated by commas, and the whole container ends with a period. If you have a second container, start a new comma-separated string after that period.
Indent the second line and every line after it by 0.5 inches. That's a hanging indent. Double-space everything, including between entries. Don't add an extra blank line.
A Worked Example
Say you're citing a journal article by Maria Lopez called "Memory and Light," published in volume 47, issue 2 of Modern Fiction Studies in 2019, pages 220 to 245, found through Project MUSE with a DOI.
Lopez, Maria. "Memory and Light." Modern Fiction Studies, vol. 47, no. 2, 2019, pp. 220-45. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/mfs.2019.0033.
Notice the two containers: the journal itself, then Project MUSE. The DOI sits in the "Location" slot for the outer container. Page ranges drop repeated digits in MLA, so 220-245 becomes 220-45.
In-Text Citation Pairs With Your Works Cited Entry
Inside your paragraph, you cite by author last name and page number, no comma between them: (Lopez 231). If you name the author in your sentence, just use the page: "Lopez argues for a quieter reading of the scene (231)."
If there's no author, use a shortened title in quotation marks or italics, matching how it appears in your Works Cited. Two authors: (Lopez and Chen 14). Three or more: (Lopez et al. 14).
Common Source Types at a Glance
Book with one author Smith, John. The Quiet Year. Penguin, 2018.
Chapter in an edited book Reyes, Ana. "Borders and Sound." Listening Across Disciplines, edited by Kara Lee, Routledge, 2020, pp. 88-104.
Website article Chen, Wei. "Why the River Bent." Atlas Obscura, 14 Mar. 2022, www.atlasobscura.com/articles/river-bent.
YouTube video "How Citations Work." YouTube, uploaded by The Library Channel, 7 Sept. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=abc123.
Film Past Lives. Directed by Celine Song, A24, 2023.
What Trips People Up
You're not required to include a URL in MLA 9, but most instructors expect one for web sources. Prefer a DOI over a URL when both exist, because DOIs don't rot.
Dates use day-month-year with abbreviated months: 7 Sept. 2021. May, June, and July aren't abbreviated.
Publisher names drop "Inc.", "Co.", and "Ltd.". Use "UP" for "University Press" (Oxford UP, not Oxford University Press).
If a source has no listed author, alphabetize it by the first significant word of the title (skip "A," "An," "The"). Don't write "Anonymous" unless the author is actually credited that way.
For two authors, only the first name is inverted: Lopez, Maria, and Wei Chen. For three or more, use the first author and "et al." in your Works Cited too: Lopez, Maria, et al.
Quick Sanity Check Before You Submit
Title is "Works Cited," centered, plain text. No bold, no underline, no quotation marks. Entries alphabetized by author last name (or by first title word when there's no author). Hanging indent on every entry. Double-spaced throughout.
Get those right and you've handled the parts graders actually check.