MLA Style Guide 9th Edition
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WORKS CITED PAGE
• Core Elements Overview 2-4
• Periodicals – ONLINE & PRINT 5
o Journals 5-6
o Magazine or Newspaper Article 6-7
• Books – ELECTRONIC & PRINT 8
o Work or Chapter in an Anthology 9
o Entry in a Reference Book 9
• Websites 10
o Work on a Website 10
o ENTIRE Website 10
o Court Case 11
• Social Media & Personal Communication 11
o Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok… 11
o Unpublished Letter or Unpublished Interview 11-12
o E-mail/Text Message 12
o Blog Entry 12
• Audiovisual Media 13
o Film/DVD/Video Recording 13
o Single Episode from a TV series 13
o Streaming Video 14
o Online Video 14
o Podcast 15
• Art or Artifact 15
o Original 16
o Live Presentation 16
• Class Resources 16
o Lecture 16
o Generals GO 16
o Discussion Board Post 17
The Modern Language Association (MLA) provides guidance to
scholars studying and writing about literature, culture, and
languages, particularly English. If there is something that is not
in this quick guide, please see a Librarian, the MLA Handbook or
OWL Purdue.
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CORE ELEMENTS OVERVIEW
MLA’s bibliography page is called a Works Cited page. This page has a
list of core elements that creates the citations, and you need to fulfill
as many of the elements as possible. Some information will not be
available for a source; if this is the case than leave that element out.
WORKS CITED NOTES
AUTHOR TYPES
ONE AUTHOR
• Give the author’s last name followed by their first name and any middle initial.
• Do not include degrees (PhD, M.D., etcetera)
TEMPLATE:
Author’s Last Name, First Name.
SAMPLES:
Mantel, Hilary.
Jennings, Noel K.
TWO AUTHORS
• The first author is listed last name, first name.
• The first author’s name is followed by the word and.
• The second author’s name is given first name last name.
• List names in the order that they are given in the source material.
TEMPLATE:
1
st
Author’s Last Name, First Name and 2
nd
Author’s First Name Last Name.
SAMPLE:
Bernstein, Carl, and Bob Woodward.
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THREE OR MORE AUTHORS
• The first author is listed last name, first name.
• Other authors’ names are replaced by the Latin phrase et al. the abbreviation for et alia, meaning
“and others.”
TEMPLATE:
Author’s Last Name, First Name, et al.
SAMPLE:
Bosmia, Anand, et al.
Boerman-Cornell, William, et al.
TWO OR MORE WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR
• When using more than one work by an author, organize entries alphabetically by the title of the
work.
• Provide the author’s name for the first entry.
• After the first entry, use three hyphens in place of the author’s name. End the section with a
period.
SAMPLE:
Baldwin, James. “Letter from a Region in My Mind.” The New Yorker, vol. 94 no. 39, 6 Nov. 1962, pp. 30-
39.
- - -. “Sonny’s Blues.” The Oxford Book of American Short Stories, edited by Joyce Carol Oates, Oxford
UP, 2013, pp. 483-513.
EDITOR, TRANSLATOR, DIRECTOR, ETC.
• If there is an editor, translator, or other contributor, rather than an author, put their names
after the title of the work.
• Include the individual’s role followed by the word by and their first and last name.
TEMPLATE:
Author’s Last Name, First Name. Title of Work. Editor/Translate/Editor/Translate/Another Role by
First Name Last Name, Publisher, Date.
SAMPLES:
Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary. Translated by Lydia Davis, Viking Adult. 2010.
McEwen, Alastair, translator. Ocean Sea. By Alessandro Baricco, Canongate Books, 2008.
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ORGANIZATION OR GOVERNMENT AS AUTHOR
• When using a source authored by an organization or government agency, put them in the
author’s spot in the front of the citation.
• If the organization or government agency is the publisher as well as the author, then start the
entry with the title of work and list the organization or government in the publisher’s spot.
TEMPLATE:
Organization’s Name or Government Agency (if different from publisher). Title of Work. Publisher,
Date.
SAMPLES:
Most U.S. Teens See Anxiety and Depression as a Major Problem Among Their Peers. Pew Research
Center. 20 Feb. 2019.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “Rabies: A Forgotten Killer.” Vital Signs, Government Printing
Office, 12 June 2019.
NO/UNKONWN AUTHOR
• When the author is unknown, begin the entry with the title of the work.
SAMPLES:
Diary of an Oxygen Thief. Gallery Books, 2016.
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ENTRY TEMPLATES BY SOURCE TYPE
JOURNALS, MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS
JOURNAL ARTICLES – ONLINE & PRINT
JOURNAL ARTICLE FORMATTING NOTES:
Print and Online sources:
• Use title case capitalization for article and journal titles.
• Place quotes around article titles.
• Italicize journal titles.
• Volume is abbreviated vol.
• Issue number is abbreviated no.
Online sources:
• When available, include a DOI or digital object identifier. DOI format is https://doi.org/xxxxx.
• Use a permalink if available; this is better to use than a URL (which may change).
• When providing URLs, do not use anything before www.
• Include a date of access if no publication date is available or if required by your instructor.
JOURNAL ARTICLE – FROM A DATABASE
TEMPLATE
Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Title of Journal, volume number, issue number,
Date of Publication, page range. Database Name, DOI or URL. Accessed Day Month Year (if
required).
SAMPLES
Clapton, William and Laura J. Shepherd. "Lessons from Westeros: Gender and Power in Game of
Thrones." Politics, vol. 37, no. 1, Jan. 2017, pp. 5 -18. Academic Search Complete,
https://doi.org/10.1177/0263395715612101. Accessed 14 Aug. 2018.
Case, Sue-Ellen. “Eve's Apple, or Women's Narrative Bytes.” Technocriticism and Hypernarrative, special
issue of Modern Fiction Studies, vol. 43, no. 3, 1997, pp. 631-50. Project Muse,
doi:10.1353/mfs.1997.0056.
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ONLINE JOURNAL ARTICLE
TEMPLATE
Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Title of Journal, volume number, issue number,
Date of Publication, page range. DOI or URL. Accessed Day Month Year (if required).
SAMPLE
Carson, Anne. “Eddy.” Paris Review, no. 221, summer 2017.
www.theparisreview.org/fiction/6945/eddyanne-carson. Accessed 18 June 2019.
PRINT JOURNAL ARTICLE
TEMPLATE
Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Title of Journal, volume number, issue number,
Date of Publication, page range.
SAMPLE
Sperling, Alison. "Freak Temporality: Female Adolescence in the Novels of Carson McCullers." Girlhood
Studies, no. 1, 2016, pp. 88 -104.
MAGAZINE & NEWSPAPER ARTICLES – ONLINE & PRINT
MAGAZINE & NEWSPAPER ARTICLE FORMATTING NOTES:
• Publication date:
o Include all available date information.
o All months over four letters are abbreviated.
o If there is no publication date, include a date of accessed at the end of entry.
• If a volume or issue numbers are available, include them after the title.
o vol. for volume number; no. for issue number.
• If no author is given, then begin the entry with the article’s title.
• To designate page numbers, use p. (for one page) or pp. (for a page range).
Online sources:
• When available, include a DOI or digital object identifier. DOI format is https://doi.org/xxxxx.
• Use a permalink if available; this is better to use than a URL (which may change).
• When providing URLs, do not use anything before www.
• Include a date of access if no publication date is available or if required by your instructor.
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MAGAZINE OR NEWSPAPER ARTICLE FROM A DATABASE
TEMPLATE
Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Magazine or Newspaper Title, Date of Publication,
page(s). Database name, DOI or URL. Accessed Day Month Year (if required).
SAMPLE
Pala, Christopher. "Anthrax Island." The New York Times Magazine, 12 Jan. 2003, p. 36. Gale Literature
Resource Center, suny-mvc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01SUNY_MVC/romaec/cdi_
proquest_miscellaneous_215481291 6. Accessed 25 Feb. 2019.
ONLINE MAGAZINE OR NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
TEMPLATE
Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Magazine or Newspaper Title, Date of Publication,
page(s), URL. Accessed Day Month Year (if required).
SAMPLE
Bergner, Daniel. “The Struggles of Rejecting the Gender Binary.” The New York Times, 4 June 2019,
www.nytimes.com/2019/06/04/magazine/gender-nonbinary.html. Accessed 6 June 2019.
PRINT MAGAZINE OR NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
TEMPLATE
Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Magazine or Newspaper Title, volume number,
issue number (when available), Date of Publication, page(s).
SAMPLE
Fernandez, Sandy M. “This Football Player Had a Secret Eating Disorder.” Choices/Current Health, no. 6,
1 Mar. 2017, pp. 10-15.
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BOOKS – ELECTRONIC AND PRINT
BOOK FORMATTING NOTES:
• Give the publisher as brief a form as possible. Omit business terms like Company (Co.),
Corporation (Corp.), Incorporated (Inc.), and Limited (Ltd.). Retain publishing industry terms like
Books and Press.
• For academic presses, replace the word university with U and press with P. Replace the term
University Press with UP.
• For an edition other than the first, add the edition name or number after the title.
• If your source is a multivolume work, place the abbreviation Vol. or vol. and the volume number
after the title of the work.
PRINT BOOK
TEMPLATE
Author’s Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Year of Publication.
SAMPLE
Carson, Anne. Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse. Vintage Contemporaries, 1999.
EBOOK FROM A DATABASE
TEMPLATE:
Author’s Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Year of Publication. Name of Database, DOI
or URL. Accessed Day Month Year (if required).
SAMPLE
Eisen, Lauren-Brooke. Inside Private Prisons: An American Dilemma in the Age of Mass Incarceration.
Columbia UP, 2018. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost),
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true& db=nlebk&AN=1628840&site=eds-live.
EBOOK NOT FROM A DATABASE
TEMPLATE
Author’s Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. E-book or type of e-book, Publisher, Year of
Publication.
SAMPLE
Gawande, Atul. Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. Kindle ed. Metropolitan Books,
2014.
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WORK OR CHAPTER IN AN EDITED COLLECTION OR ANTHOLOGY
TEMPLATE
Work or Chapter Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Work or Chapter.” Title of Collection or
Anthology, edited by First and Last Name of Editor(s), Publisher, Year of Publication, page
range of article or chapter.
SAMPLE
Oates, Joyce Carol. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” The Norton Introduction to
Literature, edited by Kelly J. Mays, W.W. Norton, 2017, pp. 94 -108.
ENTRY IN A REFERENCE BOOK—DICTIONARY/ENCYCLOPEDIA
• If a reference entry is unsigned, start with the title of the entry.
PRINT REFERENCE BOOK
TEMPLATE
Entry Author’s Last Name, First Name (if available). “Title of Entry.” Title of Reference Work, edited by
First and Last Name of Editor(s) (if applicable), Edition Number (if applicable), Publisher, Date
of Publication, page(s).
SAMPLE
Miller, Benjamin D. and Claire Brackman Keane. “Cat Scratch Disease (Fever).” Encyclopedia and
Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health, 3rd ed., W.B. Saunders, 1983, pp. 200 -201.
ONLINE REFERENCE WORK
• Online reference work entries include the same information as their print counterparts (when
available) as well as a DOI (https://doi.org/xxx-xx) or URL and, if required, a date of access.
SAMPLE
Adkins, A. W. H., and John Richard Thornhill Pollard. “Greek Mythology.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 13
Feb. 2019, www.britannica.com/topic/Greek -mythology.
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WEBSITES
FORMATTING NOTES:
• When providing URLs, remove everything before www.
• Publication date:
o It is common practice to include all available date information.
o All months over four letters are abbreviated.
• Include a date of access for online material if no publication is date available.
• Author - If no author is given, begin the entry with the title of work.
• If the author of the work is an organization and that organization is also the publisher, start the
entry with the title of the work and list the organization as the publisher.
• Publisher
o Personal websites the author is the publisher – DO NOT REPEAT!
o When the publisher is the same as the title of the website, omit the publisher.
WORK ON A WEBSITE
TEMPLATE
Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of the Work.” Title of Website. Publisher of Website (if
different from website title), Date of Publication, URL. Accessed Day Month Year (if required).
SAMPLES
Frye, Carrie. “How to Be a Monster: Life Lessons from Lord Byron.” The Awl, Michael Macher, 15 Mar.
2013, www.theawl.com/2013/03/how-to-be-a-monster-life-lessons-from-lord-byron/.
Accessed 20 June 2019.
“Problem Statement.” The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, Temple University,
www.insideoutcenter.org/about-problem-statement.html. Accessed 21 June 2019.
ENTIRE WEBSITE
TEMPLATE
Last Name, First Name, role or contribution to website (if other than author). Title of Website.
Publisher of Website (if different from website title), Date of Publication, URL. Accessed Day
Month Year (if required).
SAMPLE
Hoke, Jeff. The Museum of Lost Wonder. 2017, www.lostwonder.org/. Accessed 21 June 2019.
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COURT CASE ON A WEBSITE
TEMPLATE
Government Entity. Name of Case. Day Month Year of Decision. Title of the Website, Publisher, URL.
Accessed Day Month Year (if required).
SAMPLE
United States, Supreme Court. Brown v. Board of Education. 17 May 1954. Legal Information Institute,
Cornell U Law School, www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/347/483.
SOCIAL MEDIA & PERSONAL COMMUNICATION
FORMATTING NOTES
• When providing URLs, remove everything before and including any double forward slash //.
SOCIAL MEDIA: FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM, ETC.
TEMPLATE
Author’s Last Name, First Name (if known) or Handle. “Full text of brief untitled post.” or “Title of post.”
or Descriptive label. Name of Site, Day Month Year, Time, URL.
SAMPLES
@9scientist. “Cognitive Challenge.” Facebook, 28 Aug. 2008, 12:31 pm,
www.facebook.com/notes/9scientist/cognitive-challenge/146223732737/?__tn__=HH-R
Bates, Jordan. Image of altered Google friendship definition. Facebook, 14 May 2019, 7:20 am,
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156006890705824&set=a.10150532548955824&type=3
&theater
UNPUBLISHED LETTER
TEMPLATE
Sender’s Last Name, First Name. Letter to the author. Day Month Year.
SAMPLE
Atwood, Margaret. Letter to the author. 17 Sept. 2017.
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UNPUBLISHED INTERVIEW
TEMPLATE
Interviewee’s Last Name, First Name. Interview. Conducted by Interviewer’s First and Last Name(s),
Day Month Year that interview was conducted.
SAMPLE
Vuong, Ocean. Interview. Conducted by Khin Aung, 17 Sept. 2019.
Jones, Nick. Telephone interview with the author. 22 Oct. 2021.
E-MAIL OR TEXT MESSAGE
TEMPLATE
Sender’s Last Name, First Name. Text or Email to Recipient(s) name. Day Month Year sent.
SAMPLE
Martin, George Raymond Richard. Text message to Thiha Tayza. 21 Jan. 2019.
Rios, Victor. E-mail to the author. 22 Oct. 2018.
BLOG ENTRY
TEMPLATE
Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Blog Entry.” Name of Blog, Day Month Year, Time, URL.
Accessed Day Month Year (if required).
SAMPLE
Fritz, Katherine. “Me, Too.” I Am Begging My Mother Not to Read This Blog, 17 Oct. 2017,
iambeggingmymothernottoreadthisblog.com/2017/10/17/me -too/. Accessed 22 June 2019.
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AUDIOVISUAL & MEDIA
FILM | DVD | TELEVISION | VIDEO
FORMATTING NOTES
Contributors
• Key contributors are individuals relevant to your focus and can be named before the title of the
work.
o If a paper analyzes the writing in a film, the screenwriter is a key contributor.
o If the focus is on the performance, the performer is a key contributor.
o If you name a key contributor, include the contributor’s role after their name.
• Other contributors are listed after the title. The individual’s role is given before their name. If
not given as a key contributor, it is customary to list the director here.
FILM/DVD/VIDEO RECORDING
TEMPLATE
Key Contributor’s Last Name, First Name, role (optional element). Movie Title. Other contributor’s
Role by First Name Last Name, Production Company or Distributor, Year of Release.
SAMPLES
Crowe, Russell, performer. A Beautiful Mind. Directed by Ron Howard, Imagine Entertainment, 2001.
Locke. Performed by Thomas Hardy, directed by Steven Knight. Shoebox Films/IM Global, 2013.
SINGLE EPISODE FROM A SERIES
• If you viewed the episode on a streaming service, include the streaming service after the
publication date and add the Name of Streaming Service and URL. If you did not watch the
episode on the air date, only a year is required.
TEMPLATE
Key Contributor’s Last Name, First Name, role (optional element). “Title of Episode.” Title of Show,
contributor’s role by First Name Last Name (optional), season number, episode number,
Network, Day Month Year of Airing.
SAMPLE
"Furs by Sebastian." Maniac, created by Patrick Somerville and Nick Cuse, season 1, episode 4, Netflix, 21
Sept. 2018.
Scott, Andrew, performer. “Smithereens.” Black Mirror, created by Charlie Booker, season 5, episode 2,
Netflix, 2019, Amazon Prime, www.amazon.com/Black-Mirror/dp/B087QNHVKQ
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STREAMING VIDEO
• Videos viewed via Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime include the name of the streaming service in
the entry.
TEMPLATE
Key Contributor’s Last Name, First Name, role (optional element). Title of Film or Program.
Contributor’s Role by First and Last Name (optional element), Production Company or
Distributor, Copyright date. Streaming Service, URL.
SAMPLES
Marling, Brit, and Zal Batmanglij, creators. The OA. Plan B Entertainment, 2016. Netflix,
www.netflix.com/title/80044950.
ONLINE VIDEO
• Author: When the creator of an online video is apparent, list the author before the title. If not, do
not.
• If the author’s name is the same as the uploader, do not repeat the author’s name.
• Styling the Title: For long works, such as movies, or works that appear to be independent use italics.
• For short works, such as music videos, or works that are part of a larger whole, use quotation
marks.
TEMPLATE
Author’s Last Name, First Name (if available) “Title of Video.” or Title of Video. Name of Host Site,
uploaded by screen name (if different from author), date uploaded, URL.
SAMPLES
Lavarone, Luca, and Raffaello Durso. Doll Test: The Effects of Racism on Children. YouTube, uploaded by
Fanpage.it, Mar 21, 2016, youtu.be/QRZPw-9sJtQ.
Salads, Joey. “Taking Child in Front of Parents.” YouTube, 18, Aug. 2018, youtu.be/TQwqRwgjQFg.
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PODCAST
TEMPLATE
Last Name, First Name, role. “Title of Episode.” Title of Program, season, episode (when available),
Sponsor, Date of Release, URL (if accessed online) or Service. Accessed Day Month Year (if
accessed online).
SAMPLES
Parvaz, Dorothy, storyteller. “Bearing Witness.” The Moth Radio Hour, The Moth and Jay Allison of Atlantic
Public Media, 12 Feb. 2019. Spotify.
Shankar Vedantam, host. “What Can a Personality Test Tell Us about Who We Are?” Hidden Brain, NPR,
15 Apr. 2019, 4:27 PM, www.npr.org/2019/04/12/712876949/what-can-a-personality-test-tell-
usabout-who-we-are/. Accessed 20 June 2019.
ART OR ARTIFACT
ONLINE
TEMPLATE
Artist’s Last Name, First Name. Title of Work. Year Created. Name of Site, URL. Accessed Day Month
Year (if required by instructor).
SAMPLE
Nerdrum, Odd. Crossing the Border. 2014. Nerdrum, nerdrum.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/
Crossing-the-border.jpg. Accessed 24 June 2019.
IN A BOOK
TEMPLATE
Artist’s Last Name, First Name. Title of Work. Year Created. Title of Book, by Author’s First and Last
Name, Publisher, Year of Publication, page.
SAMPLE
Van Eyck, Jan, Arnolfini Portrait. 1434. Art across Time, 4th ed., by Laurie Schneider Adams, McGraw Hill,
2011, p. 520.
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ORIGINAL
TEMPLATE
Artist’s Last Name, First Name. Title of Work. Year Created. Site, City.
SAMPLE
Brown, Tommy. Porch Girl. 1984. Munson Williams Proctor Art Institute, Utica.
LIVE PRESENTATION
TEMPLATE
Presenter or Performer’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Presentation.” Sponsoring Institution, Date
of
Presentation or Performance, Location
SAMPLE
Amal Kassir, Amal. “The Muslim on the Airplane.” Mohawk Valley Community College, 20 Feb.
2019, Schafer Theater, Utica.
CLASS RESOURCES
LECTURE
• Cite material heard in a lecture as a presentation. See previous entry
COURSE MATERIAL UPLOADED TO GENERALS ONLINE
• If the source is untitled, provide a sentence case description. Example: “Week two slides.”
TEMPLATE
Author’s Last Name, First Name (if available).” Title of Course Material.” Blackboard or Other LMS,
uploaded by Instructor’s First Name Last Name (optional), Upload Day Month Year, URL.
SAMPLES
Morgan, Tracy. “French Revolution.” Generals Online, uploaded by John McClean,
13 Nov 2021, herkimer.open.suny.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/HI112/PowerPoint_WW/
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DISCUSSION BOARD COMMENT
While MLA does NOT provide guidelines for Blackboard, it gives the following format for discussion
board comments.
TEMPLATE
Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of the Thread.” Name of Forum, Day Month Year of posting,
Website on which Forum is contained (if applicable), URL.
SAMPLE
Flangie, Regina. “Smelly Cat.” Week 5: Original Song, 12 Feb. 2021 10:33 pm,
Blackboard, herkimer.blackboard.com/webapps/discussionboard/do/forum?action
,
.
