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How to Cite a Journal Article in MLA

This page is a how-to guide for using scholarly journals as sources and citing them correctly in your papers. Academic journals publish scholarly, peer-reviewed articles written by experts in a specific field. This guide will help you understand what journals are and why they are valuable for your research.

Quickly cite a journal article by using our online form here .

Citing a journal article in mla:, the importance of peer-reviewed academic journals, how journals are organized, where to find journal articles.

• In-text citations
• Works cited references
• Citation with one author
• Citation with two authors
• Citation with three or more authors
• Citation with no known author
• Citation Structures and Examples: Web
• Citation Structures and Examples: Print

Our guide will show you how to cite the journal article both in the text and in the Works Cited page following the guidelines of the Modern Language Association Handbook, 9th Edition.

What is an Academic Journal?

Academic or scholarly journals are periodicals published by universities and other research organizations to present the findings of original research conducted in a particular field. These journals contain highly specific knowledge and are written by experts in that field.

Journals are different from other periodicals such as newspapers or magazines, which cover a broad range of topics and are written in easy to read prose.

Because  journals are written by experts for other experts, they can be difficult to read. The writers often use jargon and other complex language that students may not understand. But that doesn’t mean you should not use journals in your research. Journals are where the most recent research is published and provide in-depth information on a topic.

Tip : Reading the abstract and the conclusion first may help you to understand the article as you read.

Journals are good sources for academic research not only because they are written by experts, but because most (but not all) are also reviewed by other experts before the article is published.

Journals that are peer-reviewed have a board of experts in the field that review articles submitted to the journal. The peer reviewers scrutinize every article closely to validate its findings and ensure that the research was done properly. The process of peer review gives credibility to the journal because it means that every article published has been approved by other experts in the field.

Academic journals are organized in volumes and issues.

• Volume: The volume is all of the editions of the journal published in a calendar year.
• Issue(s):   The issues are all the specific editions of the journal published in that year.

Tip : Journals frequently publish issues around a certain theme, so all of the articles in that issue will relate to a certain topic. This means that there may be other articles in a particular issue that you can use for your research. It pays to check the table of contents for the issue when you find an article that fits your needs.

You will need to include the volume and the issue numbers, and the page numbers in your citations so make sure to write those down when you take notes from a journal.

When you are doing scholarly research, you can’t use popular search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo. These will lead you to popular sources that may not work for a school paper. You need to search for information using an academic database which will lead you to scholarly articles.

Databases are organized computer-based collections of data that allow researchers to find a large number of articles quickly and easily.

Examples of popular general academic databases include:

• Academic Search Premier
• Google Scholar

Examples of popular academic databases focused on specific subjects:

• MEDLINE, PubMed Central — focus on biomedical and life sciences
• Lexis Web — focus on legal information
• Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) — focus on education

Many of these databases charge fees for use. The good news? Many can be accessed through a school or university library. Check your library’s website to see what databases it subscribes to and how you can access them.

Using a Journal Article in a Paper

You can use information from your research in three ways:

• Paraphrase: Take the information from a specific paragraph or section of the article and rewrite it in your own words.
• Summarize: Write a broad overview of the section or the article in your own words.
• Quote: Repeat the exact words used by the author using quotation marks.

Whenever you quote, paraphrase, or summarize information in your paper, you need to follow that information with an in-text citation and create a corresponding reference for the source (in the Works Cited).

Journal Article In-text Citations

Citations within your text are important. Each in-text citation:

• Alerts your reader that you are using information from an outside source.
• Usually appears in parentheses at the end of a sentence.
• Is short and only has enough information to help the reader find the complete reference listed in the Works Cited page at the end of the paper.

A MLA style in-text citation has two parts (MLA Handbook 227-228):

• If there is no author listed, include a shortened version of the title
• While many online sources do not have a page number, academic journals almost always do, even when they are available online.

In most cases, the in-text citation is at the end of the sentence in parentheses. If you use the author’s name in the text, you don’t have to repeat it in the parenthesis at the end. Do not separate the author’s name and the page number with a comma. See below for examples.

Works Cited References for Journal Articles

A Works Cited page is included at the end of your paper. It lists full references/citations for all of the sources mentioned in your paper via your in-text citations.

MLA Containers

In the 9th edition of the official Handbook, MLA includes a new term for citing references, which was first introduced in the 8th edition — containers (134). Periodicals like journals are considered “containers” because they contain the articles that are part of a larger whole.

The container holds the source article and is crucial in identifying the source. The title of the first container, the journal name, is printed in italics and follows the article name. When accessing journals through a database, the database is considered the second container. This title is also printed in italics.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

Another feature in citing sources is the DOI (Handbook 188) . DOI stands for Digital Object Identifier, which is used to permanently identify an article or document and link to it on the web.

Although a website or database may change names, the DOI will not change and will help your readers locate the document from your citation. Whenever possible, list the DOI in place of the URL. When you have a DOI, you do not need to give the URL of the website. Indicate that a reference is a DOI by adding “https://doi.org/” before the DOI number of your source.

Another way to identify an online location is with a permalink. Permalinks are URLs that are identified as a stable link that the publisher promises not to change.

For journal references, the following elements need to be included in your Work(s) Cited entries: 

• The name of the author or authors. Since journal articles often have more than one author, it is helpful to know when to use et al. in MLA .
• Title of article
• Title of journal (the container)
• Volume and issue number
• Date of publication
• Page numbers
• Database (the 2nd container)
• DOI, permalink, or URL
• Date of access (supplemental, but should be included if the information has no publication date listed)

Citing a Journal Article in MLA (found in databases)

The following are examples of how to cite a journal in MLA 9, both in text and as a full reference in the Works Cited. These were all found via a database.

Note that “Date Accessed” is the day that the journal article was found and read. This information is supplemental and does not always need to be included.

Journal Article Citation With One Author

Cite your source

Journal Article Citation With Two Authors

*Note:  When a source has multiple authors, you should always list them in your citation in the same order they are listed in the source.

Journal Article Citation With Three or More Authors

Journal article citation with no known author, citing a journal article in mla (print).

Citing a journal from a print source requires less information than an online source. For a print source, you need the following information:

• The name of the author or authors for articles with one or two authors. For articles with three or more authors, only the first author’s name is used followed by et al.
• The name of the article in quotation marks
• The name of the journal in italics
• The volume and issue numbers of the journal
• The year of publication
• The page number(s)

View Screenshot | Cite your source

Citing an Online Journal Article (not found using a database)

Some journal articles are accessible online without the use of a database. Citing an online journal article not found in a database requires that you cite the website that you used to access the article as the second container. Do not include the https:// in the web address.

*Note : Since journals are usually stable and credible sources, including an access date is supplemental and not required (“When Should I Include an Access Date for an Online Work”).

• Works Cited

MLA Handbook . 9th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2021.  

“When should I include an access date for an online work?” MLA Style Center , Modern Language Association, 29 Dec. 2016, style.mla.org/access-dates/.

Published October 31, 2011. Updated June 6, 2021.

Written by Catherine Sigler. Catherine has a Ph.D. in English Education and has taught college-level writing for 15 years.

MLA Formatting Guide

MLA Formatting

• Annotated Bibliography
• Bibliography
• Block Quotes
• et al Usage
• In-text Citations
• Paraphrasing
• Page Numbers
• Sample Paper
• MLA 8 Updates
• MLA 9 Updates
• View MLA Guide

Citation Examples

• Book Chapter
• Journal Article
• Magazine Article
• Newspaper Article
• Website (no author)
• View all MLA Examples

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No matter what citation style you’re using (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.) the EasyBib Citation Generator can help you create the right bibliography quickly.

Yes, there’s an option to download source citations as a Word Doc or a Google Doc. You may also copy citations from the EasyBib Citation Generator and paste them into your paper.

Creating an account is not a requirement for generating MLA citations. However, registering for an EasyBib account is free and an account is how you can save all the citation you create. This can help make it easier to manage your citations and bibliographies.

Yes! Whether you’d like to learn how to construct citations on your own, our Autocite tool isn’t able to gather the metadata you need, or anything in between, manual citations are always an option. Click here for directions on using creating manual citations.

If any important information is missing (e.g., author’s name, title, publishing date, URL, etc.), first see if you can find it in the source yourself. If you cannot, leave the information blank and continue creating your citation.

It supports MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard, and over 7,000 total citation styles.

To cite a magazine with multiple authors and no page numbers in MLA style, you need to have basic information including the authors, the article’s title, the magazine’s title, the publication date, and the DOI, permalink, or URL. The templates and examples for in-text citations and a works-cited-list entry of a book written by multiple authors are given below:

In-text citation template and example:

For citations in prose, use the first name and surname of the first author followed by “and others” or “and colleagues” for sources with three or more authors. In subsequent citations, use only the surname of the first author followed by “and others” or “and colleagues.” In parenthetical citations, always use only the surname of the first author followed by “et al.”

Citation in prose:

First mention: Han Ong and colleagues…. or Han Ong and others ….

Subsequent occurrences: Ong and colleagues…. or Ong and others ….

Parenthetical:

….( Ong et al.).

Works-cited-list entry template and example:

The title of the article is in plain text and title case; it is placed inside double quotation marks. The title of the magazine is set in italics and title case. Follow the format given in the template and example for setting the day, month, and year.

Surname, First., et al. “Title of the Article.” Title of the Magazine , Publication Date, DOI/permalink/URL.

Ong, Han, et al. “The Monkey Who Speaks.” The New Yorker , 13 Sept. 2021, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/09/13/the-monkey-who-speaks.

Use only the first author’s name in surname–first name order in the entry followed by “et al.”

To cite an online journal or magazine article in MLA style, you need to have basic information including the author, the article’s title, the journal or magazine’s title, the publication date, and the DOI, permalink, or URL. If available, also include a volume and an issue number of the journal or magazine. The templates for in-text citations and a works-cited-list entry of an online journal article and examples are given below for a source with one author:

For citations in prose, use the first name and surname of the author on the first occurrence. In subsequent citations, use only the surname. In parenthetical citations, always use only the surname of the author.

First mention: Elizabeth Garber ….

Subsequent occurrences: Garber ….

….(Garber).

The title of the journal or magazine article is set in plain roman text and title case; it is placed inside double quotation marks. The title of the journal or magazine is set in italics and title case. Follow the format given in the template and example for writing the publication month or season and year.

Surname, First. “Title of the Article.” Journal or Magazine Title , Volume, Issue, Publication Date, DOI/permalink/URL.

Garber, Elizabeth. “Craft as Activism.” The Journal of Social Theory in Art Education , vol. 33, no.1, spring 2013, www.scholarscompass.vcu.edu/jstae/vol33/iss1/6/ .

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MLA Style (9th Edition) Citation Guide: Journal Articles

• Introduction to MLA Style
• Journal Articles
• Magazine/Newspaper Articles
• Books & Ebooks
• Government & Legal Documents
• Biblical Sources
• Secondary Sources
• Videos/DVDs/TV Shows
• How to Cite: Other
• 9th Edition Updates
• Additional Help

Table of Contents

Basic style for citations of electronic sources (including online databases), journal article from library database with doi or a url, journal article in print.

Note: For your Works Cited list, all citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

If there is no known author, start the citation with the title of the article instead.

Access Date

Date of access is optional in MLA 8th/9th edition; it is recommended for pages that may change frequently or that do not have a copyright/publication date.

In your works cited list, abbreviate months as follows: 

January = Jan. February = Feb. March = Mar. April = Apr. May = May June = June July = July August = Aug. September = Sept. October = Oct. November = Nov. December = Dec.

Spell out months fully in the body of your paper. 

Here are some common features you should try to 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); last names first.
• "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.).
• ​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.
• “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.
• Date you accessed the material (Date Accessed)—While not required, it is highly recommended, especially when dealing with pages that change frequently or do not have a visible copyright date.
• 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.

Cite 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.

The eighth edition of the MLA Handbook does not require that you include a date of access—the date on which you consulted a work—when you cite an online work from a reliable, stable source. However, you may include an access date as an optional element if it will be useful to others. (See the MLA Handbook, eighth edition, pp. 50–53, for more on optional elements.)

Including an access date for an online work may be especially useful if the work lacks a publication date or if you suspect that the work may be altered or removed, which is more common with informal or self-published works. Place the access date at the end of the entry.

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article: Subtitle if Any."  Name of Journal , vol. Volume Number, no. Issue Number, Date of Publication, pp. First Page Number-Last Page Number.  N ame of Database,  doi:DOI number/URL/ Permalink . 

Works Cited List Example:

Cardanay, Audrey. “Illustrating Motion, Music, and Story.” General Music Today, vol. 29, no. 3, 2016, pp. 25-29. Academic Search Premier , doi:10.1177/1048371315626498.

In-Text Citation Example:

(Author's Last Name Page Number)

Example: ( Cardanay  444)

Two Authors

First Author's Last Name, First Name, and Second Author's First Name Last Name. "Title of Article: Subtitle if Any."  Name of Journal , vol. Volume Number, no. Issue Number, Date of Publication, pp. First Page Number-Last Page Number.  Name of Database ,  doi:DOI number/URL/Permalink.

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.

(First Author's Last Name and Second Author's Last Name Page Number)

Example: (Best and Marcus 18)

Three or More Authors

For sources with three or more authors, list only the first author’s name followed by the phrase et al. (Latin for “and others”)

First Author's Last Name, First Name et al. "Title of Article: Subtitle if Any." Name of Journal, vol. Volume Number, no. Issue Number, Date of Publication, pp. First Page Number-Last Page Number.  Name of Database,  doi:DOI number/URL/Permalink. 

Isaac, Kathleen et al. "Incorporating Spirituality in Primary Care." Journal of Religion and Health , vol. 55, no. 3, 2016, pp. 1065-77. ATLA Religion Database , login.uportland.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=114118885&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

(First Author's Last Name et al. Page Number)

Example: (Isaac et al. 1067)

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article: Subtitle if Any."  Name of Journal , vol. Volume Number, no. Issue Number, Date of Publication, pp. First Page Number-Last Page Number.  

Poythress, Vern S. "Rain Water Versus a Heavenly Sea in Genesis 1:6-8." The Westminster Theological Journal, vol. 77, no. 2, 2015, pp. 181-91.

Example: (Poythress 183)

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MLA Citation (7th edition)

• Citing a book
• Citing the Parts of a Books

In Text Citations

Basic journal article citation, scholarly journal article - print, scholarly journal article - from a library database, magazine article - print, magazine article - from a library database.

• Citing a newspaper article
• Citing a Website
• MLA Resources

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For an overview of the various ways to cite information in text in MLA style, see the Purdue OWL , which provides an overview of the basic in text citation formats.

Author's last name, Author's first name.   "Title of the Article."   Name of   Publication  volume.issue (Year): pages.   Medium of

          publication.

Additional information required in citations of electronic journals:

After the page numbers, include the name of the database or website the piece comes from, and include the date the information was accessed after the medium of publication.

Mueller, Ned.   "The Teddy Bears' Picnic: Four-Year-Old Children's  Personal Constructs in Relation to Behavioural Problems and

          to  Teacher Global Concern."    Journal of Child Psychology and   Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines   37.4 (1996): 381-389.  

          Print.

Otgaar, Henry, Ingrid Candel, Harald Merckelbach, and Kimberley A. Wade.   "Abducted by a UFO: Prevalence Information Affects

          Young Children's False Memories for an Implausible Event."   Applied Cognitive Psychology   23.1 (2009): 115-125.  

          Psychology and Behavioral Sciences  Collection .  Web.  12 Aug. 2010.

Magazines are cited differently than journal publications. See if you can spot the difference between the journal citations above and the magazine citations below.

Davies, Paul.   "Are ALIENS Among Us?"    Scientific American  Dec. 2007:  62-69.   Print.

Citations from magazines for the general public, such as Scientific American , Time , Newsweek , or People , do not require volume or issue number, and the date is not placed in parentheses.

Brandt, Andrew.   "Gummi Bears Trick a Fingerprint Scanner."   PC   World  Aug 2004: 124-125.   Academic Search

          Complete .   Web. 10 June 2009.

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How to Cite Your Sources

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MLA (9th ed.)

The mla style comes from the modern language association and is primarily used in the humanities and arts., mla handbook plus is available online through the library to help you cite every source..

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• Works Cited List
• Works Cited: Books & Articles

Works Cited: Online Sources

• Works Cited: MLA Core Elements Template

In-Text Citations

Works cited.

Your Works Cited page includes every item you have cited in text and provides as much bibliographic information as you're able to find so your readers can locate the sources themselves.

Page Format

• Title: Works Cited
• Page title is center-justified on the page, entries are left-justified with a hanging indent (second and subsequent lines indented) of a half-inch.
• Entries listed alphabetically by author, or title of source if no author name.

Reference Format

The core elements of a journal/periodical article citation:, author. “article title.” journal title , vol. n , no. n , [year], pp. n-n . [location]..

Note that if the article is from the publisher website (which is considered self-contained) the URL falls within the punctuation following the page number(s).

Common Questions

• If you're citing an online source, note that including the date you accessed the website is encouraged only when there's no publication date and you can't guarantee the website will still be there in the future. (See Supplemental Elements .)
• A platform such as Canvas is only the container if the item has been published through it: a Library database publishes the full text of an article, but Canvas is only the means through which you might read it. However, a lecture posted to Canvas would be considered published through Canvas and you'd then include the platform as the "container" in your citation. (See Journal/Source Title .)
• PDFs are not considered a separate source type in MLA as instead they're the medium through which you're reading the source itself, such as a book chapter or journal article. In general, the Location field will direct your reader to the primary version of the document through URL or DOI. But if there are multiple versions of the document, include "PDF download" at the end of your citation in the Supplemental Element field to tell your reader which version you are citing.

More info about...

Author | document title | journal/source title (container) | contributor | version | number | publisher | publication date | location | supplemental elements.

Find more about these topics at the MLA Handbook sections mentioned throughout.

More info: MLA Handbook 5.3-22

• Smith, Max.
• Smith, Max, and Sam Jones.
• Smith, Max, et al.
• Matsuo, Bashō.
• Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo.
• Online handles: add in square brackets after author name, unless author name and handle are similar.
• U.S. Department of Education.

DOCUMENT TITLE

More info: MLA Handbook 5.23-30

• “Tapping the Youth Vote.”
• No title? Write a “concise but informative description of the work” (MLA Handbook)
• Subtitle? Sometimes not obvious, so check the copyright page if available.

JOURNAL/SOURCE TITLE (which MLA calls the Container of the document)

More info: MLA Handbook 5.31-37

• Diverse: Issues in Higher Education.
• 1 container : article read in print journal, tv show aired on tv, short story read in an anthology
• 2 containers : journal article in database, tv show on platform, chapter in edited anthology read on a website
• Works considered self-contained : book read in print, manuscript read in person, movie watched in a theater
• What is not a container - things that didn’t publish the thing you’re reading. That is to say, Canvas is not a container of a link to article but it IS the container for a lecture video published in the course shell.

CONTRIBUTOR if applicable

More info: MLA Handbook 5.38-47

• Translators, editors

VERSION if applicable

More info: MLA Handbook 5.48-50

• Edition, if an e-book

NUMBER if part of a sequence

More info: MLA Handbook 5.51-53

• vol. 12, no. 1,
• season 3, episode 4,

More info: MLA Handbook 5.54-67

• Website platform
• It's ongoing - you don't need to list a publisher for a journal because it's an ongoing periodical
• The website and publisher names are the same
• It's a platform others use to put their stuff up (such as YouTube)

PUBLICATION DATE

More info: MLA Handbook 5.68-83

• 4 Aug. 2022.

LOCATION if applicable

More info: MLA Handbook 5.84-99

Location makes reference to the container(s) of the work:

• Journal articles from a publisher website have one container - the journal, made available by the publisher, and the location is the DOI or permalink.
• Journal articles from a Library database have two containers - the journal and the database.

Formatting notes:

• No further location information needed if in print.
• PDF or found online? Add DOI/permalink/URL.
• But if you can't find the DOI or one doesn't exist, use the article permalink : https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciimmunol.abo3420
• Online sources considered SELF-CONTAINED (such as from the publisher's website) : As the DOI/URL/permalink is the location of the self-contained work, it falls within the punctuation following the page number(s).
• MLA Handbook . 9th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2021.
• E-books you read through a database or platform will use the database or platform and URL as the location.

SUPPLEMENTAL ELEMENTS if applicable

More info: MLA Handbook 5.105-119

• Contributor, original publication date, section of a work
• Date of access for online item but only if there's no given publication date or if the website/item might disappear
• More details about the document type (publication status, whether it's a thesis or dissertation, etc.)
• PDF : "[I]f you view a file type, such as a PDF, other than the one presented as the default version of the work on a page where other versions of the work are available, include PDF download, supplementary material , or a similar description in the supplemental element." ( MLA Handbook, 5.112 )

Works Cited: Books and Articles

These are some commonly used source types and how they're formatted. Remember that your Works Cited references will require a hanging indent (second and subsequent lines indented) of a half-inch.

Source type: Print book | E-book | Scholarly article | Newspaper article | Magazine article

Newspaper article from the website; one author.

Astor, Maggie. “What’s on the Minds of 12 Young Voters.” The New York Times , 19 Oct. 2022. NYTimes.com , https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/19/us/politics/young-voters.html.

E-book from a database; one author

Cahill, Cathleen D. Recasting the Vote : How Women of Color Transformed the Suffrage Movement . E-book. The University of North Carolina Press, 2020. EBSCOhost , https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=2432685&site=ehost-live.  

Newspaper article from a database; one author

Gross, Neil. “Does College Make You Vote?” Chronicle of Higher Education , vol. 59, 24 Nov. 2012, p. B2. EBSCOhost , https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=83623976&site=ehost-live.  

Scholarly article from a database; multiple authors

Larson, Lincoln R., et al. “The Future of Wildlife Conservation Funding: What Options Do U.S. College Students Support?” Conservation Science & Practice , vol. 3, no. 10, Oct. 2021, pp. 1–12. EBSCOhost , https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.505.  

Magazine article from a database; one author

Padilla, Dynahlee. “Tapping the Youth Vote.” Diverse: Issues in Higher Education , vol. 37, no. 18, Oct. 2020, pp. 20–21. EBSCOhost , https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=146573844&site=ehost-live.  

Print book ; two authors

Shea, Daniel M., and John Clifford Green. Fountain of Youth: Strategies and Tactics for Mobilizing America's Young Voters . Rowman & Littlefield, 2007.  

Scholarly article from a database; two authors

Spagnuolo, Natalie, and Fady Shanouda. “Who Counts and Who Is Counted? Conversations around Voting, Access, and Divisions in the Disability Community.” Disability & Society , vol. 32, no. 5, June 2017, pp. 701–19. EBSCOhost , https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2017.1324765.  

Wolfe, Rob. “America’s Best Colleges for Student Voting.” Washington Monthly , vol. 54, no. 9/10, Sept. 2022, pp. 60–63. EBSCOhost , https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=158554880&site=ehost-live.

These are some commonly used online source types and how they're formatted. Remember that your Works Cited references will require a hanging indent (second and subsequent lines indented) of a half-inch.

• Access date : If you're citing an online source, note that including the date you accessed the website is encouraged only when there's no publication date and you can't guarantee the website will still be there in the future.
• Containers : For online sources, the MLA handbook states "A website is a container only when it serves as the platform of publication of the particular version of the work you consult" ( MLA Handbook 5.34 ; emphasis added). In that case, you will include the URL/DOI/permalink within the punctuation of the original container (such as a newspaper or website).

Section of a website

“New Jersey.” Ballotpedia , https://ballotpedia.org/New_Jersey. Accessed 18 Oct. 2022.  

Entire website

Ballotpedia , https://ballotpedia.org/Main_Page. Accessed 18 Oct. 2022.  

Government info from a government website

“Electoral College History.” National Archives , 18 Nov. 2019, https://www.archives.gov/electoral-college/history.  

Newspaper article from the newspaper website

Astor, Maggie. “What’s on the Minds of 12 Young Voters.” The New York Times , 19 Oct. 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/19/us/politics/young-voters.html.

MLA Core Elements

MLA formats each work cited using a set of core elements that are included in the citation if applicable and punctuated appropriately.

Find more details about the core elements in the MLA Handbook Plus or use the fill-in template below.

• MLA Interactive Practice Template (MLA 9) "The template is a tool for teaching and learning MLA style, not a citation generator. To verify that your entry is correct, consult the MLA Handbook."

In-text citations are a brief parenthetical reference within the text of your paper that includes the author name and page number so your reader knows where to find the source of your information.

The author name points your reader to the source citation on the works cited list, and the page number shows where in the source you found the quotation or text you used.

More info on in-text citations: MLA Handbook 6.31-77

Example article used throughout : Niemi, Richard G., and Michael J. Hanmer. “Voter Turnout Among College Students: New Data and a Rethinking of Traditional Theories.” Social Science Quarterly , vol. 91, no. 2, June 2010, pp. 301–23. EBSCOhost , https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2010.00694.x.

Quoting or paraphrasing the source

Parentheses are placed within the sentence punctuation and include author's last name and the page number where the relevant text is found..

• Quote: “ Traditional theories about voter turnout do not always fit well with the unique characteristics of college students" (Niemi and Hanmer 303).
• Paraphrase: The voting habits of college students sometimes conflict with more general ideas about voters (Niemi and Hanmer 303).

Articles with more than 3+ authors are referred to in the parenthetical with the first author surname and et al. : (Larson et al. 2).

Attributing the author in text

Parentheses are placed within the sentence punctuation and include only the page number as the author is mentioned in text through use of a signal phrase ..

In the case of 3+ authors , "you may list all the names or provide the name of the first collaborator followed by 'and others' or 'and colleagues.'" ( MLA Handbook Plus 6.5 )

In 2010, Niemi and Hanmer noted that college students are not studied as often as older voters (303).

• Signal and Lead-in Phrases (Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)) A handy list of words and phrases from the Purdue OWL you can use to signal to your reader that you're about to cite a source.

Long quotations (more than 4 lines of prose or 3+ lines of verse)

Indent quotation half an inch from left margin. if the author name is used in text, put just the page number in parentheses following sentence punctuation. if the author name is not used in text, include in parentheses following sentence punctuation..

Niemi and Hanmer observe that

[w]ith the age of college students almost invariant and the meaning and measurement of their education and mobility questionable, several key variables used in models of voter turnout may well not account for varying rates of turnout among college students. Though there is considerable variation among students in hours worked, most student jobs do not mirror the careers they will ultimately obtain, so labor force participation may also be of limited explanatory power. (304)

Writing Help from the WCC

• Using Quotations (Stevens WCC) How to incorporate quotations into your paper from the Stevens Writing & Communication Center. (Note: intranet site; must be logged into myStevens for access.)
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MLA Style Citation Examples

• Books/eBooks
• Images and Media
• Gov't/Legal
• Unpublished
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• Online with DOI
• Online without DOI from a database
• Online without DOI from a nondatabase

NOTE: To standardize citations, all DOIs need to be proceeded by https: doi.org/ before the DOI number (p. 194).

WORKS CITED (ONE AUTHOR)

(For more examples, see pages 194 and 319-321 of the 9th edition)

IN TEXT 

(Caoncannon-Gibney 432).

WORKS CITED (TWO AUTHORS)

Barchas, Janine, and Devoney Looser. "Introduction: What's Next for Jane Austen?"  Texas Studies in Literature & Language , vol. 61, no. 4, winter 2019, pp. 335-344.  EBSCOhost,  https://doi.org/10.7560/tsll61401.

(Barchas and Looser 340).

WORKS CITED (THREE OR MORE AUTHORS)

Miano, Alice, et al. "Exploring the Effects of a Short-Term Spanish Immersion Program in a Postsecondary Setting."  Foreign Language Annals , vol. 49, no. 2, summer 2016, pp. 287-301.  EBSCOhost , https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12194.

(Miano et al. 293).

NOTE: To standardize permalinks/URLS, omit http:// or https://. When the permalink/URL is more than three lines, truncate it to the host name (do not use a shortening service website such as bit.ly) (p. 195-196.)

(For more examples, see pages 138, 178, and 319-321 of the 9th edition)

(Hlinak 22).

  WORKS CITED (TWO AUTHORS)

Pierce, Jennifer B., and Micah Bateman. "Song of 2000 Whitman Lovers."  Chronicle of Higher Education , vol. 61, no. 17, Jan. 2015, pp. 10-12.  EBSCOhost , https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mzh&AN=2015870518&site=eds-live&scope=site.

(Pierce and Bateman 10).

WORKS CITED (THREE OR MORE AUTHORS)

Sableski, Mary-Kate, et al. "Children's Literature and Classroom Communities: Helping Teachers and Students Navigate Traumatic Events." Journal of Children's Literature , vol. 47, no. 1, spring 2021, pp. 134-140.  EBSCOhost , https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=149982986&site=eds-live&scope=site.

(Sableski et al. 135).

(For more examples, see pages 319-321 of the 9th edition)

(For more examples, see pages 158, 164, and 319 of the 9th edition)

(Franke 3).

• Online, from database
• Online, from nondatabase

(For more examples, see page 323 in the 9th edition)

(Mead 40).

WORKS CITED (ONE AUTHOR - No season, volume number, or issue number)

WORKS CITED (ONE AUTHOR - With season, volume number, or issue number)

Kirsch, Adam. "The Classicist Who Killed Homer."  The New Yorker , vol. 97, no. 16, 14 June 2021, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/06/14/the-classicist-who-killed-homer.

IN TEXT  

(Rodriguez et al. 131).

(For more examples, see page 321-322 in the 9th edition)

(Beckerman).

(Cooper et al.).

WORKS CITED (Opinion or Editorial)

Editorial Board. "Lift Chicago's 10 p.m. Curfew on Liquor Sales: "'We are not Wheaton.'"  Chicago Tribune , 1 June 2021, www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/editorials/ct-editorial-chicago-liquor-sales-lightfoot-20210601-tt4unndnc5acblui67co7lfz3y-story.html.

(Editorial Board).

       IN TEXT

       (Kingsley).

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Citing an article in MLA style

When citing an article in MLA style, your citation should follow one of the basic formats below.

Article with a DOI

A DOI, or digital object identifier, is a unique string of numbers and letters associated with an online publication. You can use DOIs to easily find a journal article. You can learn more in our guide to finding a DOI .

Author Last Name, First Name. “Title of the Article.” Journal/Magazine/Newspaper Title , vol., issue no., Year, pages # - #, Name of Database , DOI.

Richardson, Janice. "Spinoza, Feminism and Privacy: Exploring an Immanent Ethics of Privacy." Feminist Legal Studies , vol. 22, no. 3, 2014, pp. 225-241. Genderwatch , https://doi.org/10.1007/s10691-014-9271-3 .

Article without a DOI, from an academic research database or print version

If you have found an article in a database but it does not have a DOI, you can use a permalink or shortened database URL. Permalinks are usually found in the “Share” options of an article in a database, and stand for “Permanent Link” – use these instead of just copy-pasting from the browser, as they are more stable and less likely to break over time.

Author Last Name, First Name. "Title of the Article." Journal/Magazine/Newspaper Title , vol., no., Year, page # - #, Name of Database , Permalink.

Russell, Bertrand. “The Expanding Mental Universe.” Saturday Evening Post , vol. 232, no. 3, pp. 24-93. Academic Search Premier , https://unr.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=17824382&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Article without a DOI, with a non-database URL

You do not need to include https://www in your shortened URL.

Author Last Name, First Name. “Title of the Article.” Journal/Magazine/Newspaper Title , vol., no., Day Month Year OR Season, Permalink or shortened URL. Accessed Day Month Year.

Ramanan, Mohan. "The Classical Music Culture of South India." Indialogs: Spanish Journal of India Studies , vol. 1, 01 July 2014, pp. 134-45, revistes.uab.cat/indialogs/article/view/v1-ramanan/pdf. Accessed 10 Aug. 2017.

More information

To see more examples and other situations of citing books in MLA style, see the library's online MLA Citation Guide . You can also find the MLA Handbook (9th edition) in the Knowledge Center’s reference collection and in the Book Stacks. Purdue’s Online Writing Lab also has a comprehensive guide to MLA style .

• Cite: Why? When?
• Book or E-book

Article or Class Handout

• Web Sources
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools
• In-Text Citation
• Format Your Paper

Prefer a video tutorial?

Click below to watch: .

Key Elements

• "Article title" (in quotes)
• Publication title (italicized)
• For journals, volume and issue number
• Publication date (use year for journals)
• Page number (p.) or page numbers (pp.)
• From database: D atabase (italicized) , permanent link
• Web site URL (no http) and date a ccessed

Journal Article (p. 27)

List the article title in quotes after the author. The journal title goes after the article title and is italicized.

From Database (p. 48)

After the publication date, include the database in italics and then the DOI or permanent link to the article.

Online (p. 48)

After the publication date , include the Web site name in italics, then the DOI. No DOI? Include the Web link to the article and the date you accessed it .

Magazine Article (p. 27)

List the article title in quotes after the author . The  magazine title goes after the article title and is italicized.

After the publication date , include the database in italics and then the DOI or permanent link to the article .

After the publication date , include the Web site name in italics, then the DOI. No DOI? Include the Web link to the article and the date you accessed it .

Newspaper Article (p. 27)

List the article title in quotes after the author . The  newspaper title goes after the article title and is italicized.  If article isn't on consecutive pages, cite the section and page number where the article begins, then put "+" after the page number.

No Author (p. 24)

If there is no author, start with the article's title, omitting a, an, or the from the beginning.

Review of a Work

Start with the author of the article

Class Handout

After the handout title,  add the description "Student handout " and the name of the college.

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MLA Citation Guide: Citing in the body of your paper

• "Works Cited" List Outlined
• Books and book chapters
• Periodicals
• Citing in the body of your paper
• MLA Online Tutorials

In-Text Citations (see pages 54 - 58, 116 - 128 of the MLA Handbook, 8th Edition)

In the body of your paper, use parenthetical documentation (Chapter 5 of MLA Handbook ). The purpose of your documentation is for your readers to be able to locate the sources which you cite in your text when they look at your bibliography ("Works Cited") located at the end of your paper. You give the minimum of information necessary for your readers to do this, such as just the author's last name and the page(s) to which you refer.

• When you omit the author's name in your sentence:

This point has already been argued (Tannen 178-85).

• When you include the author's name in your sentence:

Tannen has argued this point (178-85).

• When you cite more than one work by the same author (shortened version of title is acceptable, using first words:

Shakespeare's King Lear has been called a "comedy of the grotesque" (Frye,  Anatomy 237).

• When the work has more than one author:

Others hold the opposite point of view (e.g., Kerrigan and Braden 210-15).

• When the work has no author, use title (shortened form is ok) of article or book:

A New York Times editorial called Ralph Ellison "a writer of universal reach" ("Death").

• If your source uses explicit paragraph numbers rather than page numbers -- as some publications on the web do -- give the relevant number or numbers, preceded by the label par. or pars .  Change the label appropriately if another kind of part is numbered in the source instead of pages, such as sections ( sec., secs .) or chapters ( ch., chs .). If the author's name begins such a citation, place a comma after the name.

There is little evidence here for the claim that "Eagleton has belittled the gains of postmodernism" (Chan, par.41).

• When a source has no page numbers or any other kind of part number, no number should be given in a parenthetical citation.  Do not count unnumbered paragraphs or other parts.

"As we read we . . . construct the terrain of a book" (Hollmichel), something that is more difficult when the text reflows on a screen.

• In parenthetical citations of a literary work available in multiple editions, such as commonly studied novel, play, or poem, it is often helpful to provide division numbers in addition to, or instead of, page numbers, so that readers can find references in any edition of the work.

Austen begins the final chapter of Mansfield Park with a dismissive "Let other pens dwell," thereby announcing her decision to avoid dwelling on the professions of love made by Fanny and Edmund (533; vol.3, ch.17).

• For works in time-based media, such as audio and video recordings, cite relevant time or range of times.  Give the numbers of the hours, minutes and seconds as displayed on your media player, separating the numbers with colons.

Buffy's promise that "there's not going to be incidents like at my old school" is obviously not one on which she can follow through ("Buffy" 00:03:16-17).

Subject Guide

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How do I cite a work accessed through Wayback Machine ?

Wayback Machine is an archive of websites that lives on the Internet Archive ’s site, so you would treat the Internet Archive as the container of the archived web page you view. Include the archived web page’s information in container 1 of your entry. In container 2, include Internet Archive in the Title of Container element and the URL that Wayback Machine provides for the archived page in the Location element:

Collazo, Julie Schwietert. “Cuban Quimbombo (Afro-Cuban Okra).” The Latin Kitchen , 25 Feb. 2014. Internet Archive , web.archive.org/web/20180324130552/http:// thelatinkitchen.com:80/blogs/kitchen/cuban-quimbombo-afro-cuban-okra.

For information on citing other types of archived works, see our posts on citing artifacts in digital archives and citing materials in physical archives and collections . 

U.S. Constitution.net

How to cite this site – the u.s. constitution online – usconstitution.net, how to cite this site.

Jump to: Citing the Constitution

It is very important when writing a paper for a school project (at any level, from elementary school to graduate school) to properly cite your sources. Where did you find your information? Citations are placed in the text as footnotes or endnotes, and/or placed at the end of your work in a bibliography. This page will handle a few different possibilities. The first is to answer the question “How do I cite a page on this site?” or, as I like to say, “How to cite the site.”

There are two main areas that someone might wish to cite on this site. The first is one of the pages found on the site. Several are simply electronic copies of historical documents, while others are research pages or opinion pages. You should be able to discern which is which pretty easily. Unless the information is a copy of a historical document, and unless otherwise noted, everything here is written by the Webmaster, Steve Mount.

Here is a standard way to cite an HTML page published on the Internet, according to the Columbia Guide to Online Style :

• Mount, Steve. “Constitutional Topic: Martial Law.” USConstitution.net. 30 Nov 2001. http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_mlaw.html (3 Dec 2001)

Specifically, the data is as follows: Author, Title, Site, Modification Date (found at the bottom of every page), URL, and the date the page was accessed. The two dates are critical because of the changeable nature of the Web.

The next citation uses the APA format. This standard comes from the American Psychological Association, and is often used in psychology and other social sciences:

• Mount, S. (2010). Constitutional topic: due process. Retrieved February 23, 2011 from http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_duep.html

Specifically, the data is as follows: Author, Modification Year (found at the bottom of every page), page title, the date the page was accessed, and the URL.

Finally, the MLA style is often used. This style comes from The Modern Language Association. With this style, citations are noted in the text and full references are given in a Works Cited list at the end of the paper.

• Inline: (Mount)
• Works Cited: Mount, Steve. “Constitutional Topic: The Census.” USConstitution.net . 3 Jan. 2011. 27 Feb. 2011 .

Specifically, the data is as follows: Author, Title, Site, Modification Date, thee date the page was accessed, and URL.

The second source of information is this site’s Message Boards. The primary information available in the Message Boards is opinion. Because the opinions are those of the posters, the citation of a message needs to include the name or handle of the poster. Here is an example, in the Columbia Style, for a posting from the Classic Boards on this site:

• Ian. “Re: Question regarding Law.” 2 Dec 2001. USConstitution.net Q&A Board. http://www.usconstitution.net/cgi-bin/wwwbmsg.cgi?const&001280.wwb (3 Dec 2001)

The data is as follows: Poster, Subject, Date Posted, Board Name, URL, and date accessed.

All posts created after November 2003 used the new messaging software. Here is an example for a posting using the new software:

• Andy. “Re: Impeach Scalia?” 5 Feb 2004. Debate Archives. http://www.usconstitution.net/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=debarch;action=display;num=1077548457 (25 Feb 2004)

Citing the U.S. Constitution

Another common question involves how to cite the Constitution itself. There are two forms, a long form and a short form. In a legal document, the short form will suffice in all instances, whereas in a non-legal paper, the long form should be used once, and the short form can be used thereafter.

• “The Constitution of the United States,” Article 1, Section 8, Clause 5.
• “The Constitution of the United States,” Amendment 5.

Short Form:

• U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 5.
• U.S. Const. am. 5.

In place of the “§” symbol, the abbreviation “sect.” can be used. In a paper dealing primarily with the Constitution, there is no need to mention “U.S. Const.”

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

MLA Works Cited Page: Books

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

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, by using this methodology, a writer will be able to cite any source regardless of whether it’s included in this list.

Please note these changes in the new edition:

• 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. Commas should be used after container titles.
• DOIs should be used instead of URLS when available.
• Use the term “Accessed” instead of listing the date or the abbreviation, “n.d."

Below is the general format for any citation:

Author. Title. Title of container (do not list container for standalone books, e.g. novels), 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 . City of Publication, Publisher, Publication Date.

* Note: the City of Publication should only be used if the book was published before 1900, if the publisher has offices in more than one country, or if the publisher is unknown in North America.

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 two authors, order the authors in the same way they are presented in the book. Start by listing the first name that appears on the book in last name, first name format; subsequent author names appear in normal order (first name last name format).

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, you should 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).

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, “translator.” 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.

Note that the format for citing sources with important contributors with editor-like roles follows the same basic template:

...adapted by John Doe...

Finally, in the event that the source features a contributor that cannot be described with a past-tense verb and the word "by" (e.g., "edited by"), you may instead use a noun followed by a comma, like so:

...guest editor, Jane Smith...

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.

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.

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 entry name 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 our in-text citations resource .)

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/foreword/afterword. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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. Unlike previous editions, MLA 8 specifies no difference in style for published/unpublished works.

The main elements of a dissertation citation are the same as those for a book: author name(s), title (italicized) , and publication date. Conclude with an indication of the document type (e.g., "PhD dissertation"). The degree-granting institution may be included before the document type (though this is not required). If the dissertation was accessed through an online repository, include it as the second container after all the other elements.

Bishop, Karen Lynn. Documenting Institutional Identity: Strategic Writing in the IUPUI Comprehensive Campaign . 2002. Purdue University, PhD dissertation.

Bile, Jeffrey. Ecology, Feminism, and a Revised Critical Rhetoric: Toward a Dialectical Partnership . 2005. Ohio University, PhD dissertation.

Mitchell, Mark. The Impact of Product Quality Reducing Events on the Value of Brand-Name Capital: Evidence from Airline Crashes and the 1982 Tylenol Poisonings.  1987. PhD dissertation.  ProQuest Dissertations and Theses.

List the names of corporate authors in the place where an author’s name typically appears at the beginning of the entry if the author and publisher are not the same.

Fair Housing—Fair Lending. Aspen Law & Business, 1985.