Author.
Begin the entry with the author's last name followed by a comma and the rest of the name as presented in the work. A period ends the author entry.
State the author's name fully and exactly as it appears in the source with the exception of very famous persons such as Shakespeare or Dante.
It is acceptable to use simplified names of famous authors (Dante, Virgil, etc.).
Pseudonyms are also acceptable. If you know the real name of an author listed in pseudonym, you may add it in a parenthesis.
Omit titles given to authors such as Dr., Sir, Saint, etc. in the works cited list.
Consult section 1.1.4 of the MLA Handbook for referencing foreign authors.
Source with one author
Mitchell, Margaret. Gone with the Wind. New York: Macmillan, 1961.
Source with two authors
Include the authors in the order in which they are presented in the work.
Jakobson, Roman, and Linda R. Waugh. The Sound Shape of Language. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1979.
Source with three or more authors - reverse the first of the names and and follow it with a comma and et al
Wysocki, Anne Frances, et al. Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of Composition.
Utah State UP, 2004.
Edited volume
If the source is an edited volume, the editor is the author and the name follows a descriptive label.
Nunberg, Geofffrey, editor. The Future of the Book. U. of California P, 1996.
A source with two editors
Holland, Merlin, and Rupert Hart-Davis, editors. The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde. Henry Holt, 2000.
Three or more editors
Baron, Sabrina Alcorn, et al., editors. Agent of Change: Print Culture Studies after Elizabeth L. Einstein. U of
Massachusetts P/ Center for the Book, Library of Congress, 2007.
No author or editor
If a source has no author or editor, begin with the title of the work.
New York Public Library Student's Desk Reference. Prentice, 1993.
Book with an Author and Editor or Translator
Bronte, Emily. Wuthering Heights. 1847. David Daiches, editor. Penguin, 1985.
Work by a translator
If your focus is not on the translator or translation, begin with the title as follows:
Beowulf. Translated by Alan Sullivan and Timothy Murphy, edited by Sarah Anderson, Pearson, 2004.
Work by a translator
If your focus is on the translator or translation, the translator takes the place of the author.
Pevear, Richard, and Larissa Volokhonsky, translators. Crime and Punishment . By Feodor Dostoevsky, Vintage eBooks,
1993.
Sullivan, Alan, and Timothy Murphy, translators. Beowulf. Edited by Sarah Anderson, Pearson, 2004.
Media
If the focus of your work is on a contributor such as a producer or screenwriter, begin with the person's name and use a descriptive label.
Gellar, Sarah Michelle, performer. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Mutant Enemy, 1997-2003.
Whedon, Joss, creator. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Mutant Enemy, 1997-2003.
If the focus of your work is not on a particular contributor begin with the title. You can include information on the director and other participants in the position of other contributors.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Created by Joss Whedon, performance by Sarah Michelle Gellar, Mutant Enemy, 1997-2003.
Corporate Author (Institution, Organization, Association or Government Agency)
Do not include the word "The" before the name of any organization in the works cited list.
American Medical Association. The American Medical Association Encyclopedia of Medicine. New York: Random, 1989.
When a work's author and publisher are separate organizations, give both names, starting the entry with the author's name first.
United Nations. Consequences of Rapid Population Growth in Developing Countries. Taylor and Francis, 1991.
For a work published by an organization which is also the author, begin with the title; the organization is the publisher.
Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America. National Endowment for the Arts, June 2004.
Government agency as author
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)
New York State, Committee on State Prisons. Investigation of the New York State Prisons. 1883. Arno Press, 1974.
Names are arranged from the largest entity to the smallest
(e.g., United States, Congress, House)
United States, Congress, House, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Al Qaeda: The Many Faces of an Islamist
Extremist Threat. Government Printing Office, 2006. 109th Congress, 2nd Session, House Report 615.
