Each source cited in the text or notes of your project should appear in a list at the end of the paper, after any endnotes. Title the list Works Cited (If you want to document works you merely consulted but did not cite, give the list a different title, such as Works Cited and Consulted.)
Entries in the works-cited list are created using the MLA template of core elements--facts common to most sources, like author, title, and publisher. The core elements of a citation are listed below in their order of appearance along with the punctuation that follow each element. Any element that is not relevant should be omitted from the citation.
Author. Title of Source. Title of Container, Other Contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location.
Each of these elements is discussed in greater detail with specific examples in the relevant tabs on the side.
Citation Examples
Note: Omit any information that does not apply to your source.
Book
Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Chapter or Section." Title of the Work. Translated by or Edited by First Name Last Name, Vol. number, Publisher, year the book was published, page number(s).
Davis, Angela Y. Blues Legacies and Black Feminism. Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday. Pantheon, 1998.
Different Version or Edition
Milkis, Sidney M., and Michael Nelson. The American Presidency: Origins and Development, 1776-1993. 2nd ed., CQ Press, 1994.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Edited by Deidre Shauna Lynch, Norton Critical Edition, 3rd ed., W.W. Norton, 2009.
Published in an E-Book Version
Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Chapter or Section." Title of the Work. Translated by or Edited by First Name Last Name, Vol. number, E-book edition, Publisher, year the book was published, page number(s).
MLA Handbook. 9th ed., e-book ed. Modern Language Association of America, 2021.
O'Connor, Patricia. Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English. E-book ed., Riverhead Books, 2009.
Anthology (Short Story, Poem, Play, Essay)
Last Name, First Name. "Title of the Piece." Title of Book. Editor, Publisher, Date of Publication, pp.
Baraka, Amiri. "Norman's Date." The Jazz Fiction Anthology. Edited by Sascha Feinstein and David Rife, Indiana UP, 2009, pp. 66-77.
Comic Book or Graphic Narrative
Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of the Book. Illustrated by First Name Last Name of artist, Publisher, Date of Publication.
Loeb, Jeph. Batman: The Long Halloween. Illustrated by Tim Sale, Warner, 1998.
Additional examples for book citations can be found under the Author and Title tabs on the left (source with no author, translator, editor as translator, corporate author, etc.).
Journal Article
Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of the Article." Title of the Journal, vol. number, issue number, date, page (p. 28) or page range (pp. 28-35).
Broggs, Collen Glenney. "Public Reading and the Civil War Draft Lottery." American Periodicals, vol. 26, no. 2, 2016, pp. 149-66.
Journal Article in a Database
Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of the Article." Title of the Journal, vol. number, issue number, date, page (p. 28) or page range (pp. 28-35). Name of Database, DOI or URL.
Bockelman, Brian. "Buenos Aires Bohéme: Argentina and the Transatlantic Bohemian Renaissance, 1890-1910." Modern/Modernity, vol. 23, no. 1,
Jan. 2016, pp. 37-63. Project Muse, https://doi.org/10.1353/ mod.2016.0011.
Newspaper Article
Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of the Article." Title of the Newspaper. First Name, Last Name of any other contributors, Version, Numbers, Date of publication, Location (Page Range).
Haughney, Christine. "Women Unafraid of Condo Commitment." The New York Times, late ed., 10 Dec. 2006, sec. 11 PP. 1+
(Note: If an article is not printed on consecutive pages, write only the first page number and a plus sign, leaving no intervening space).
Newspaper Article Published Online
Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of the Article." Title of the Newspaper. First Name, Last Name of any other contributors, Version, Numbers, Date of publication, Location (DOI, Permalink, or URL).
Parker-Pope, Tara. "How to Age Well." The New York Times, 2 Nov. 2017, www.nytimes.com/gides/well/how-to-age-well.
Website
Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of the Article or Webpage." Title of the Website. First Name, Last Name of any other contributors, Name of the publisher, Date of publication, Location (URL).
Eaves, Morris, et al., editors The William Blake Archive. 1996-2014, www.blakearchive.org.
Government Publication
Author (Government agency), Name of the Agency. "Title of Source." Title of Container, edition/version, publication date.
Begin the entry with the name of the government, followed by a comma and then the name of the agency. (e.g., California, Department of Industrial Relations)
U.S. Department of Labor. Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2014-2015. Skyhorse Publishing, 2014.
Government Website
Author (Government agency), Name of the Agency. "Title of Source." Title of Container, edition/version, publication date, URL.
United States, Congress, House. Improving Broadband Access for Veterans Act of 2016. Congress.gov, www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-
bill/6394/text.
Book/Film Review
Last Name, First Name of reviewer. "Title of Review Article." (If there is no title, skip this). Review of the Title that is being reviewed, by First Name, Last Name of author. Name of Publication in which review appears. Number, Date, page, database, URL.
Rohrbaugh, Lisa. Review of Zero Zone by Scott O'Connor. Library Journal, 1 July 2020, www.libraryjournal.com/?reviewDetail=Zero-zone.
Digital Image
Digital Images are pictures that can be viewed electronically by a computer or digital device. They can include photographs, illustrations, or graphics found on a website, database, or scanned and saved to your computer.
Creator's Last Name, First Name. "Title of the Digital Image." Title of the Website, First Name, Last Name of any contributors, Version (if applicable), Number (if applicable), Publisher, Publication date, URL.
Example of a citation for a digital photograph found on a database in MLA 9:
Sheldon, Natasha. Photograph of The Muleteer. "Human Remains in Pompeii: The Body Casts," by Sheldon, 23 Mar. 2014, Decoded Past,
decodedpast.com/human-remains-pompeii-body-casts/7532/.
Painting
Bearden, Romare. The Train. 1975, Museum of Modern Art, New York City.
Bearden, Romare. The Train. 1975, MOMA, www.moma.org/collection/works/65232?locale-en.
Digital Image from a Database
Creator's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Image." Title of the journal or container the image was found on. First Name Last Name of any other contributors responsible for the image, Version of the image (if applicable), Any numbers associated with the image (such as volume and issue number, if applicable), Publisher, Publication date, Location. Title of database or second container, URL or DOI number.
Example of a citation for a digital image found on a database in MLA 9:
Silver, Walter. Factory. 1986. New York Public Library Digital Collections, digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/51fd9310-ea71-0131-8221-58d385a7bbd0.
DVD/Video
Title of DVD/Video. Director, Performed by/Narrated by/Created by, Publisher/Distributor, Date of publication.
Opening Night. Directed by John Cassavetes, Faces Distribution, 1977.
Streaming Video
Creator's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Video." Title of Container. Date. URL.
"I, Borg. " Star Trek: the Next Generation, season 5, episode 23, Paramount Pictures, 1992. Netflix, www. netflix.com.
Interview
Last Name, First Name of person being interviewed. Interview type (personal, email, phone), Date or range of dates.
Salter, Margaret. Interview. Conducted by Susan Lang, 22 Oct. 2002.
Wexler, Jojo. Telephone interview with the author. 11 Feb. 2019
Last Name, First Name of sender. Subject of email message. First Name, Last Name of person who received the message. Date.
Elahi, Nareen. E-mail to Standards Committee. 15 Ja. 2019
Zamora, Estelle. E-mail to Penny Kinkaid. 3 May 2018.
Tweet
Username (Author). "Use Full Text of Tweet as Title." Container Name. Date, Time, URL.
Fogarty, Mignon [@GrammarGirl]. "Every once in a while, that Gmail notice asking if you meant to reply to a 5-day-old message is quite helpful." Twitter,
13 Feb. 2019, twitter.com/GrammarGirl/status/1095734401550303232.
Speech/Lecture/Conference/Oral Presentation
Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Presentation." Title of Event, Publisher/Institution, Date, Description (Unpublished Conference Paper, Speech, Lecture, etc).
Stein, Bob. “Reading and Writing in the Digital Era.” Discovering Digital Dimensions, Computers and Writing Conference, 23 May 2003, Union Club Hotel,
West Lafayette, IN. Keynote Address
