Citations Using MLA 9th Edition

MLA WORKS CITED LIST

Authors
Number of Format Example
Authors
No Author If no author is given, skip the author and start with the title. Article Title.

1 Author Last Name, First Name. Prasad, Vinay.

2 Authors Last Name, First Name, and First Name Last Name. Smith, Jay and Mary Reyes.

3+ Authors Last Name, First Name of First Author, et al. Smith, Jay, et al.

Association or The name of the association or company. If a work is written American Cancer Society.
Company and published by an organization, list the organization as the Microsoft.
publisher only.
Pseudonyms Use pseudonyms and online usernames like regular author @jsmith.
names.
Editor or Other If the person or group’s role was something than creating the Chan, Blair, editor.
Role content, follow the name with a descriptive label. Krishna, Raj, producer.

Works Cited Entries

Type of Source Example of MLA 9th Edition Works Cited Entry

Format: Author(s). Title of Book. Edition, Publisher, Year. Database Name (if electronic).
Example (Print Book)
Smith, John. Social Media Basics. Revised ed., Smithfield Publisher, 2015.
Entire Book
Example (E-Book)
McEvoy, Sean. Shakespeare: The Basics. 2nd ed., Routledge, 2006. eBook Collection.

Note: If any information is not given, skip it. Double-space all entries.

Format: Author(s). "Title of Part." Title of Book, edited by Editor, edition, vol. #, Publisher,
Year, page number(s). Database Name (if electronic).
Example (E-Book in a Database)
Part of a book (chapter, Hennessy, Michael. “Sinking the Titanic.” Critical Survey of Poetry, edited by Frank Magill, 2nd
essay, story, poem,
ed., vol. 1, Harvard UP, 1991, pp. 80-89. Literature Resource Center.
encyclopedia entry, etc.)
Example (Print)
Fallows, James. “Throwing Like a Girl.” The Norton Field Guide to Writing with Readings and
Handbook, 5th ed., W. W. Norton, 2019, pp. 137-41.
Note: If citing a play or novel, italicize the title instead of using quotation marks.
Note: if piece is a single page, use: p. for page number; if article is multiple pages, use: pp.

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Citations Using MLA 9th Edition

Type of Source Example of MLA 9th Edition Works Cited Entry

Format: Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal, vol. #, no. #, Date of publication, page
number(s). Database Name (if electronic).
Example (Database without DOI)
Journal Article
Godwin, John. "Wallace’s 'Jest'." Explicator, vol. 61, no. 2, 2003, pp. 122-24. General OneFile.
(print & database)
Example (Database with DOI)
Goldman, Ann. “Reading Primo Levi Reading Dante.” The Georgia Review, vol. 64, no. 1, 2010,
pp. 69-88, doi:10.1632/adfl.43.2.11. Literature Resource Center.

Format: Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Magazine/Newspaper, Date of Publication,

Magazine Article
page number(s). Database Name (if electronic).
(print & database) Example (Database)
Medeiros, Brian. "Keep Cows Comfortable." Dairy Today, 13 Oct. 2011, pp. 33+. General
OneFile.
Example (Online)
Deresiewicz, William. “The Death of the Artist—and the Birth of the Creative Entrepreneur.”
The Atlantic, 28 Dec. 2014, theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/01/ the-death-
of-the-artist-and-the-birth-of-thecreative-entrepreneur/383497/.
Note: Remove the https:// when listing URLs or DOIs

Format: “Title of article.” Title of Section within the Database, Publisher, Date of Article.
Articles Written for a
Database Example
“Social Democrats win most seats in German elections to the Bundestag. ”Political
Intelligence Wire, CountyWatch, 29 Sept. 2021.

Format: Interviewee. Interview. Conducted by Interviewer, Date of Interview.

Example
Personal Interview
Smith, Jane. Interview. Conducted by John Doe, 24 Oct. 2015.

Note: for published interviews, follow MLA format for published materials

Format: Author, “Title.” Narrator. Website or Source, URL. Date Accessed, Format.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. "To Adam Scryven." Narrated by Tom Farrell. Baragona's Literary
Digital Sources
Resources, alanbaragona.wordpress.com/the-criyng-and-the-soun/to-adam-
scryven/. Accessed 30 September, 2021, MP3 format.
Note: Including the format is critical: MP3, streaming video, etc.

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Citations Using MLA 9th Edition

IN-TEXT CITATIONS - MLA

If you quote, paraphrase, or summarize a source in your paper, it needs to be cited in the text. An in-
text citation contains just enough information to help the reader find the source on the
Works Cited page.

Type In-Text Citation Example

(Hennessy 81).
Typical in-text Place the author's last name and page number
or
citation with 1 in parenthesis. Always place the period outside
(Hennessy 81-82).
author and page the parenthesis. Notice that you do not use
number(s) the abbreviation “pp” or “p” for in-text
citations.
If a source has no page numbers, omit the (National Parks Service)
No page numbers
page number. Use the title or the author’s (Jones)
name to indicate your source.
If the source has no author, your in-text ("Noon" 508)
No author/
citation will use the title of the source that or
Anonymous author
starts your works cited entry. The title may (Faulkner's Novels 25)
appear in the sentence itself or, abbreviated,
before the page number in parenthesis. Follow
the same format as the Works Cited entry (i.e.
if the title is in quotes or italics in the Works
Cited entry, then it should match — quotes or
italics — in the in-text entry.) Exclude any
initial article in the title such as a, an, the.
Titles can be abbreviated as long as it's clear
which title on the Works Cited page you're
referring to.
If the entry on the Works Cited page begins (Dorris and Erdrich 23)
2 authors
with the names of two authors, include both
last names in the in-text citation, connected by
and.
3 or more authors If the source has three or more authors, (Burdick et al. 42)
include the first author's last name followed by
et al.

Author mentioned If author is mentioned in the sentence, include Hennessy tells how Auden's
in the sentence only the page number(s) in parenthesis. Do not writing was popular with
repeat the author's name. contemporary readers and critics
(81).

Authors with the If you use works by more than one author with (N. Baron 194)
same last name the same last name, add the author's first
and
initial. If the first initial is shared too, include
the authors' full first name. (Nan Baron 26)

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Citations Using MLA 9th Edition

Type In-Text Citation Example

Sources by same If using two or more sources by the same (Baron, "Redefining" 4)
author author include a short, abbreviated form of the
(Baron, "Information" 9)
source's title, separate by a comma.

Corporate author Abbreviate terms that are commonly (United States,

abbreviated, such as Department (Dept.). If the
Dept. of Labor 147)
corporate author is identified on the Works
Cited page by the names of administrative
units separated by commas, give all the names
in the in-text citation (for example, United
States, Dept. of Labor).

Paragraph numbers If your source uses paragraph, section or (Jones, par. 6)

chapter numbers rather than page numbers —
or
give the relevant number or numbers,
preceded by the appropriate label (par., pars., (Jones, pars. 6-10)
sec., secs., ch., or chs). Place a comma after the
author's name.

State the name of the element that begins

Scripture (Bible, your entry: title or author. Use an abbreviation (New Jerusalem Bible, 1 Chron.
Talmud, Koran, of the book with chapter and verse numbers 21.8)
etc.) rather than pages.

You should take material from an original

source whenever possible but if you quote an
author’s quotation of a source you didn’t
Indirect quotes (qtd. in Boswell 450)
consult, put the abbreviation, qtd. In. If your
prose makes it clear that this is a second-hand
source, there’s no need to use the “qtd. in”

Tips for handling block quotes for plays,

See MLA Handbook 9th ed.,
Poems / Plays poems, including special abbreviations for
p. 255-260, 299
works from Shakespeare.

For audio and video recordings, cite the

relevant time or time span. Give the numbers
Media ("Buffy" 00:03:16-17)
indicating hours, minutes, and seconds
separated by colons.

Based on Spartanburg Community College Library’s MLA Guide, https://libguides.sccsc.edu/MLA and Santa Fe
College Library’s MLA Citation Guide https://sfcollege.libguides.com/mla

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