MLA Handbook. 9th ed., The Modern Language Association of America
ISBN: 9781603293518 (Paperback)
ISBN: 9781603295628 (Spiral)
ISBN: 9781603295611 (Hardcover)
This LibGuide was created by Kelly Scott, Kari Kain, Cathy Summers, Grace Gillespie, and Jamie Pappas. Some parts are a direct translation of the Spanish version of the MLA 9th edition libguide, created by Alleya Rodríguez Vázquez and Isamar Abreu Gómez.
What is a list of Works Cited?
Cited sources are listed at the end of the paper. MLA calls this list Works Cited (5.1).
Each entry, or citation, is organized alphabetically and double spaced. There is a margin of one half (.5) inch for the second line of the work cited. This is known as a hanging indent. This spacing format is the same for all types of resources.
Want more information on Works Cited? Watch the video below!
Watch this quick tutorial on how to add hanging indentations.
Entries on the works cited page are built using elements that are common to most sources. This allows writers to create a citation for any type of source. See below for a description of each of the core elements.
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Core Elements of an MLA Citation |
|
|---|---|
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Author |
The creator of the work. |
|
Title |
The name of the work. |
|
Container Title |
Where the work is contained or hosted. |
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Contributor(s) |
Translators, editors, illustrators, narrators, etc. |
|
Version |
In what edition is the work housed? |
|
Number |
The number of the series. |
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Publisher |
The organization responsible for the publication of the source. |
|
Publication Date |
This can be a full date or the year only. |
Note: A source can be self-contained (be its own container) or have one or more containers. See section 5.100 - 5.103 of the MLA Handbook, 9th Edition for more information.
|
You can see each of the elements in the examples below. For more information on style (italics, quotes, etc) for specific elements of a citation, check the MLA Handbook 9th Edition or Purdue Owl.
Citation Example for an Authored Book |
|
|---|---|
| Format | Author. Title of Work. Publisher, Date of Publication. |
| Example |
Davis, Angela Y. Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holliday. Pantheon, 1998. |
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Citation Example for an Article |
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|---|---|
|
Format |
Author. “Title of Article.” Name of Journal, volume number, edition number, date, pages. |
|
Example |
Antoine-Dunne, Jean. “Sound and Vision in the Caribbean Imaginary.” Journal of West Indian Literature, vol. 18, no. 2, 2010, p. 95–114. |
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Citation Example for an Article from a Database |
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|---|---|
|
Format |
Author. “Title of Article.” Name of Journal, volume number, edition number, date, pages, Database Name, online location or URL. |
|
Example |
Antoine-Dunne, Jean. “Sound and Vision in the Caribbean Imaginary.” Journal of West Indian Literature, vol. 18, no. 2, 2010, p. 95–114. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23019919 |
When writing a citation that uses a title, the grammatical rules of the language in which the source is found are observed. The tables below will help you to understand the differences when capitalizing titles in English and in Spanish. For more details, see sections 2.65 and 2.69 of the MLA Handbook, 9th Edition.
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English Sources All the words of the title are in uppercase, with the exception of: |
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|---|---|
|
Articles |
The Wind in the Willows |
|
Prepositions |
The Wind in the Willows |
|
Coordinating Conjunctions |
The Red and the Black |
|
The Word to in Infinitive Verbs |
How to Be a Better Learner |
|
Spanish Sources All the words of the title are in lowercase, with the exception of: |
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|---|---|
|
The Initial Word |
History of Puerto Rico |
|
Proper Names and Titles |
Poesía completa de San Juan de la Cruz |
|
Names of Places |
History of Puerto Rico |
|
Names of Publications |
Asomante |
Sources often have more than one author. The table below will help you to understand how to cite works with authors of a compilation and sources with one, two, and three or more authors. See sections 5.5-5.8 of the MLA Handbook for more information.
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Citing Sources with One or More Authors |
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|---|---|---|
|
One Author |
Surname(s), Name. |
Guillén, Fedro. |
|
Two or More Authors |
Surname(s), Name and Name Surname(s). |
Guillén, Fedro and Ernesto Mejía Sánchez. |
|
Authors of a Compilation |
Surname(s), Name and Name Surname(s), editors. |
Guillén, Fedro and Ernesto Mejía Sánchez, editors. |
|
Three or More Authors |
Surname(s), Name, et al. |
Guillén, Fedro, et al. |
This instructional video explains the use of containers when creating a citation. See section 5.100- 5.101 of the MLA Handbook, 9th Edition for more information regarding containers.
Each entry of a citation is composed of facts common to most sources.Containers are very important to the MLA style. Some sources are part of a larger element or are contained in a larger whole. For example, a short story might be contained in an anthology. The anthology is the container for that source. The image below explains the order and punctuation used for the containers.
The practice template on the MLA website will help you determine how to create and organize the works you have cited in their proper containers.
As you can see below,there are examples of the most common types of sources cited. Refer to the MLA Style Center and MLA Quick Guide for more examples. You can also use Appendix 2 (pp. 303-346) in the MLA Handbook, 9th Edition.
Book
Davis, Angela Y. Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holliday. Pantheon, 1998.
Scholarly Journal
Boggs, Colleen Glenney. “Public Reading and the Civil War Draft Lottery.” American Periodicals, vol. 26, no. 2, 2016, pp. 1-24.
Opinion or Editorial
Gergen, David. “Question of Values.” U.S. News and World Report, 11 Feb. 2002, p. 72. Op-ed.
Website
Bauch, Nicholas. Enchanting the Desert: A Pattern Language for the Production of Space. Stanford
UP, 2016, www.enchantingthedesert.com/home/.
Blog
Hayes, Terrence. “The Wicked Candor of Wanda Coleman.” The Paris Review, 12 June 2020,
www.theparisreview.org/blog/2020/06/12/the-wicked-candor-of-wanda-coleman/. The Daily.
Social Media
Chaucer Doth Tweet [@LeVostreGC]. “ A date without anachronism ys lyke Emily Dickinson without her lightsaber.”
Twitter, 7 Apr. 2018, https://twitter.com/LeVostreGC/status/982829987286827009.
MacLeod, Michael. Coved of Space Cat and the Kittens, by Runthven Todd. Pinterest, 2020,
www.pinterest.com/pin/565412928193207246/.
Thomas, Angie. Photo of The Hate U Give cover. Instagram, 4 Dec. 2018, www.instagram.com/p/Bq_PaXKgqPw/
Photograph
Sheldon, Natasha. Photograph of The Muleteer. “Human Remains in Pompeii: The Body Casts,” by Sheldon,
23 Mar. 2014. Decoded Past, https://decodedpast.com/human-remains-in-pompeii-the-body-casts/.
Podcast
Li, Yiyun. "On the Street Where You Live.” Narrated by Li. The Writer’s Voice: Fiction from the Magazine, hosted by
Deborah Treisman, 3 Jan. 2017. The New Yorker, thttps://www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-authors-voice/yiyun-
li-reads-on-the-street-where-you-live.
Live Presentations (Lectures, Talks, Conference Presentations, and Speeches)
Atwood, Margaret. “Silencing The Scream.”Boundaries of the Imagination Forum. MLA Annual Convention, 29 Dec. 1993,
Royal York Hotel, Toronto.
Video Recording of Live Presentation
Allende, Isabel. “Tales of Passion.” TED, Mar. 2007, https://www.ted.com/talks/isabel_allende_tales_of_passion.
PO Box 23302, Ave. Ponce de León San Juan PR, 00931
Comisión Estatal de Elecciones CEE-SA-2020-3538
Aprobado por la Comisión Estatal de Elecciones y el número de radicación correspondiente
