Note: All citations should be double spaced and the 2nd & following lines indented 5 spaces. Additional format information provided below.
Book
Format:
Author last name, first name. Title of book. City of publication: Publisher,
publication year.
Example:
Okuda, Michael, and Denise Okuda. Star Trek Chronology: The History of the
Future. New York: Pocket, 1993.
Electronic book
Format:
Author last name, first name. Title of book. City of publication: Publisher,
publication year. Name of sponsoring institution. Day month year of access <web address url>.
Example:
Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Boston: Houghlin Mifflin,
2001. Virginia Wesleyan College Hofheimer Library. 26 June 2003 <http://www.netLibrary.com>.
Article or chapter within books
Format:
Author last name, first name. "Title of chapter." Title of Book Ed. first
name last name. City of publication: Publisher, publication year. Pages of chapter.
Example:
James, Nancy E. "Two Sides of Paradise: The Eden Myth According to Kirk and
Spock." Spectrum of the Fantastic. Ed. Donald Palumbo. Westport: Greenwood,
1988. 219-223.
Encyclopedia or other multi-volume work
Format:
Author last name, first name. "Title
of article." Title of Work. Edition #. Publication year.
Example:
Barron, Neil. "Science Fiction." The Encyclopedia Americana. International
ed. 2002.
Article from Literature Resource Center
Format:
Author last name, first name. "Title of article." Name of Database, Edition
Publication year. Literature Resource Center. Gale. Name of library. Day month year of access <http://www.galegroup.com>.
Example:
Eisinger, Chester E. "Herzog: Overview." Reference Guide to American Literature,
3rd ed. 1994. Literature Resource Center. Gale. Virginia Wesleyan College Hofheimer Library. 19 Jan. 2005 <http://www.galegroup.com>.
Article from a printed journal
Format:
Author last name, first name. "Title of article." Title of journal volume
# (publication year): pages.
Example:
Wilcox, Rhonda. "Shifting Roles and Synthetic Women in Star Trek: The Next Generation." Studies
in Popular Culture 13.2 (1991): 53-65.
Article from an online journal
Format:
Author last name, first name. "Title of article". Title of journal volume. issue
(publication year): pages. Day month year of access <web address url>.
Example:
Rohrbaugh, Guy, and Louis deRosset. "A New Route to the Necessity of Origin." Mind 113.452 (2004):
705-725. 5 Jan. 2005
<http://mind.oupjournals.org/>.
Journal article from an online database
Format:
Author last name, first name. "Title of article." Title of journal volume
number. issue if available (publication year): pages. Database Name. Database
Publisher. Name of library. Day month year of access <database url>.
Example:
Gump, Steven E. "The Cost of Cutting Class: Attendance as a Predictor of Student
Success." College Teaching 53.1 (2005): 21-26.OmniFile Full
Text Mega. H.W. Wilson. Virginia Wesleyan College Hofheimer Library.
5 Feb. 2006 <http://www.hwwilson.com>.
Article from a print magazine
Format:
Author last name, first name. "Title of article." Title of Magazine day
month year of publication: pages.
Example:
Pimental, David, and Anne Wilson. "World Population, Agriculture and Malnutrition." World
Watch Sept.-Oct. 2004: 23-25.
Article from an online magazine
Format:
Author last name, first name. "Title of article." Title of Magazine volume.
issue (publication year): pages. Day month year of access <web address
url>.
Example:
Kiser, Rick. "No One Rules the Net, Not Yet." Information Today 21. 9
(Oct. 2004). 6 Jan. 2005 <http://www.infotoday.com/>.
Magazine article from an online database
Format:
Author last name, first name. "Title of article." Title of Magazine Volume
number issue if available (publication year): pages. Name of database. Database
publisher. Library name. Day month year of access <web address
url>.
Example:
Miller, Michael J. "The Year of Living Musically." PC Magazine 23.23 (2004): 7. Academic Search Elite. EBSCO. Virginia Wesleyan College Hofheimer
Library. 6 Jan. 2007 <http://search.epnet.com>.
Article from a print newspaper
Format:
Author last name, first name. "Title of article." Title of newspaper day
month year of publication: pages.
Example:
Perez, Evan. "New Pressure to Simplify Air Fares." Wall Street Journal 5
Jan. 2005: D1, D8.
Article from an online newspaper
Format:
Author last name, first name. "Title of article." Title of newspaper day
month year of publication. Day month year of access <web address
url>.
Example:
White, Susan E. "Former Wal-Mart Greeter Accuses Chain of Discrimination." Virginian-Pilot 24 July 2007. 25 July 2007 <http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=128980&ran=89393>.
Newspaper article from a database
Format:
Author last name, first name. "Title of article." Title of newspaper Volume
number publication date day month year: pages. Database name. Database
publisher. Library name. Day month year of access <web address
url>.
Example:
Biers, John M. "Corporate Acquirers Screen Targets for Possible Corruption." Wall
Street Journal 3 Dec. 2004: A8. ABI/INFORM. Proquest. Virginia Wesleyan
College Hofheimer Library. 6 June 2007 <http://proquest.umi.com>.
Online scholarly or institutional project
Format:
Author last name, first name [if given]. Title of web document. Editor [if given]. Date of website creation or update. Name of institution affiliated with the site. Day month year of access <web address url>.
Example:
Baumgartern, Linda. Looking at Eighteenth-Century Clothing. 2007. Colonial
Williamsburg Foundation. 12 Aug. 2007 <http://www.history.org/history/clothing/intro/clothing.cfm>.
Online government publication
Format:
Issuing agency. Document title. Day month year of publication. Day month year of access ,web address url>.
Example:
U.S. Dept. of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. National Institute of Justice. Investigations Involving the Internet and Computer Networks. 5 Mar. 2007. 26 Oct. 2007
<http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/210798.pdf>.
Musical composition
Format:
Composer last name, first name. Title of composition, form, number, or key.
Example:
Berlioz, Hector. Symphonie Fantastique, op. 14.
Sound recording
Format:
Artist last name, first name. Title of recording. Manufacturer, date of issue.
Example:
Holiday, Billie. The Essence of Billie Holiday. Columbia, 1991.
Song from a sound recording
Format:
Artist last name, first name. "Title of song." Day month year of recording. [if given] Title of recording. Manufacturer, date of issue.
Example:
The Beatles. "I'm Only Sleeping." Rec. 5 Aug. 1966. Revolver. Capitol, 1990.
Painting, sculpture, or photograph
Format:
Artist last name, first name. Title of work. Year of creation. Institution or collection that houses work, city of instituion or collection.
Example:
Manet, Edouard. Music Lesson. 1870. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Photographic reproduction of a painting, sculpture, or photograph
Artist last name, first name. Title of work. Year of creation. Institution or collection that houses work, city of instituion or collection. [Publication information for source]
Example:
El Greco. Burial of Count Orgaz. 1586. San Tome, Toledo. Renaissane Perspectives in Literature and the Visual Arts. By Murray Roston. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1987. 274.
Notes
- In MLA style, the alphabetical list of works cited is titled Works Cited and is composed on a separate page from the essay. Number each page, continuing the page numbers of the text.
- Arrange the items on your reference list alphabetically by author, interfiling books, articles, etc.
- Doublespace all lines.
- Indent the second and following lines 5 spaces (or one half inch).
- When a Web address must be divided at the end of a line, break it after a slash. Do not insert a hyphen.
- If no author is given, start with the title.
- Abbreviate the names of all months except May, June, and July.
- When an article does not appear on consecutive pages, give the number of the first page and a plus sign: 56+.
- Underlining and italics are equivalent; select one or the other to use throughout your essay.
- If the encyclopedia does not arrange its articles alphabetically, treat the encyclopedia article as if it were a book article. Specific volume and page numbers are cited in the text, not in the list of references.
- For guidelines concerning differences between journals and magazine, consult the library's webpage: Magazine vs journal.
- For magazines, do not give volume and issue numbers even if they are listed. Do list the complete publication date of the magazine.
- Websites: include the title of the web page, the name of the entire web site, the organization that posted it (this may be the same as the name of the website). Also include the full date the page was created or last updated (day, month, year if available) and the date you looked at it.
- Internet Magazine Articles:
- As for page numbers, different databases will provide different information. Include the range of pages (ex. 25-28.); or the starting page followed by a hyphen, a blank space, and a period (ex. 64- .); or the total number of pages or paragraphs (ex. 12 pp. or 33 pars.). If no page information is given, then leave it out.
- The rules concerning a title within a title are not displayed here for purposes of clarity. See the printed version of the manual for details.
- For documents and situations not listed here, see the printed version of the manual: MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (2003) by Joseph Gibaldi [Ref LB2369 .G532003].
Additional information
Citing Information - UNC Chapel Hill Libraries
MLA in-text parenthetical citations - Duke University Libraries
Frequently asked questions about MLA style from the Modern Language Association