MLA stands for Modern Language Association. It is a way to format your paper and give credit to your sources.
Who uses MLA style?
When constructing a citation in MLA, you will use the following elements below for any source. Learn more and see examples in the MLA Handbook Plus chapter on the core elements.
The information on this page comes from the MLA Handbook, 9th Edition. This book can be cited in MLA style like this:
MLA Handbook. 9th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2021.
The elements used here are: [2. Title of source] MLA Handbook. [5. Version] 9th ed., [7. Publisher] Modern Language Association of America, [8. Publication date] 2021. Because the publisher is an organization who is also the author, this organization - the Modern Language Association - is only listed once, as the publisher.
An in-text citation for this handbook could be (MLA Handbook 45) to refer specifically to something on page 45.
Journal Article (More about citing journal articles on MLA Handbook Plus)
on the works cited page:
Lorensen, Jutta. “Between Image and Word, Color, and Time: Jacob Lawrence’s The Migration Series.” African American Review, vol. 40, no. 3,2006, pp. 571-86. Academic Search Premier, each.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? Drect=true&db=f5h&AN=24093790&site=eho st-live.
in text: (Lorensen 577)
Newspaper Article (More about citing the news)
Fessenden, Ford, et al. "The Battle for New York's Key Voting Blocs in the Primaries." New York Times, 19 Apr. 2016, p. A 14. ProQuest Central, ezproxy.caldwell.edu:2048/login?url=http:// search.proquest.com/ docview/1781721245?accountid=26523.
(Fessenden et al. A14)
Book (More about citing books in different situations)
Dorris, Michael, and Louise Erdrich. The Crown of Columbus. HarperCollins Publishers, 1999.
(Dorris and Erdrich 110-12)
Article from a Book (More about citing works that are part of a larger book)
Copeland, Edward. “Money.” The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen, edited by Copeland and Juliet McMaster, Cambridge UP, 1997, pp. 131-48.
(Copeland 135)
Webpage on a Website (More about citing websites)
“Natalie Breaks Down as Three-Court Battle Ends.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 11 Apr. 2007, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/knews/1548221/ Natallie-breaks-down-as-three-court-battle- ends.html.
("Natalie Breaks Down")
Film on an App (More about citing movies)
Mamma Mia. Directed by Phyllida Lloyd, Universal Pictures, 2008. Netflix app.
(Mamma Mia) or (Mamma Mia 59:03-61:23) - cite a specific scene with timestamps in the page number spot
When constructing a citation for a works cited page, you will use the following list of nine elements that a source can have. You will not need all of the elements for any one source. The author and title elements are followed by a period and the other elements are followed by a comma, until the end. The end of the citation - no matter which element is last - has a period.
Access MLA Handbook Plus online here or go to the front desk & ask to use the reserve hard copy.
MLA Style 101 teaches the fundamentals of MLA documentation style through a series of short videos paired with quizzes, plus a final assessment.
Rice, Kylan. "'Light—enabling Light': Emily Dickinson and the Apparatus of the
Poet's I." Women's Studies, vol. 47, no. 3, Apr. 2018, pp. 317-32.
Academic Search Premier, https://doi.org/10.1080/00497878.2018.1449995.
This citation is for an academic article found in a journal that was accessed through a library database. This means there are two containers: the journal and the database. The article is inside the journal which is inside the database. Fill in all of the relevant information for the first container (here there's the title of the container, the number, date of publication, and location, which is page numbers) and then fill in the second container (here, the title of the container and the location, which is a DOI).
In the text of the paper, your parenthetical citation for a quote from this article might be (Rice 320) indicating that the quote is from page 320.