This page provides information on citing journals, books, websites and other sources using MLA.
MLA stands for the Modern Language Association. The MLA also publishes a manual that offers a standard for writers in English and the humanities to use when formatting papers and bibliographies.
The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers describes how to format your paper, how to cite the resources you use within the body of the paper, and how to create the Works Cited list - the list of sources you used - at the end of the paper.
Recommended resources to help you with MLA:
RTC Library videos on using Noodletools, the easy way to create a bibliography:
NoodleTools - available on the RTC Library Database page - This resource can help you format your MLA reference list. Sign up for a free account through the RTC Library Database page and save your citations for up to a year.
The Citation Machine - Another web resource to help you format MLA citation lists (comes with a 30 second commerical). This one won't save your citations.
OWL - The Online Writing Lab at Purdue University.
Works Cited
The Works Cited list is the bibliography - the list of sources you used for your paper - at the end of your paper. This is a sample of a Works Cited list:
Creating Citations for the Works Cited List
A Book Citation
These elements go in this order: The Author's last name, Author's First and Middle Names. Book Title. Publisher Name, Year of Publication. (The place of publication isn't needed unless the publisher has offices in more than one city. If it does, put the place of publication before the publisher name.)
Example:
Finer, Kim. Tuberculosis. Columbia UP, 1995.
A Journal article from an online database
These elements go in this order: Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Article: Subtitle. Name of Journal, volume number, issue number, date of publication, pages. Name of the database, DOI, Permalink or shortened URL for article in the database.
Example:
Griffith, Richard. "Role of the Law in Controlling the Spread of Tuberculosis."
Nurse Prescribing, vol. 7, no. 7, July 2009, pp. 320-24. CINAHL Plus
with Full Text, https://doi.org/10.12968/npre.2009.7.7.43308. Accessed 26
July 2023.
An Article from a Paper Journal
These elements go in this order: The Author's last name, author's first name and middle initials. Title of the article. Title of the journal, volume, issue, date, pages.
Example:
Henderson, Donald A. “Smallpox: Dispelling the myths.” Bulletin of the World Health Organization, vol. 86, no. 12 Dec. 2008, pp917-19.
A Website
These elements go in this order: The Author's last name, author's first name and middle initials. Title of the page. Sponsor of Website, date of publication, URL. Date of access.
Example:
Moore, Cathy. "3 ways to save jobs of time when designing training." Action @ Work, 8 Sep. 2014, https://www.blog.cathy-moore.com/2014/09/3-ways-to-save-gobs-of-time-when-designing-training. Accessed 6 Feb. 2023.
A YouTube Video
MLA doesn't give a specific example for YouTube videos, so you will see many variations in MLA format. This is one way: "Title of video." YouTube, uploaded by Screen Name, day month year, www.youtube.com/xxxxx.
Example:
"Cranes in the Sky." YouTube, uploaded by solangeknowlesmusic, 2 October 2016,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0qrinhNnOM.
Showing Your Sources Within Your Paper - In-Text Citations
While quoting or paraphrasing a book, journal article, website, or other source in your paper, you need to signal that these words or ideas are not yours. This is usually done by listing the author’s last name and year at the end of the sentence. This is called in-text citation, because you are citing the work in your text.
Example: It has been noted that “the best known lipids are fats” (Finer 25).
Short Quotes and Long Quotes
Short quotes - Put in double quotation marks, then in parenthesis list the author’s last name and page number.
Example: It has been noted that “the best known lipids are fats” (Finer 25).
Long quotes – For quotes that take up more than four lines – put in one blank line and then indent one inch from the margin. Do not put in quotation marks.
Example:
The text of the paper. This is your writing. Then comes the long quote. You include a blank line, indent an inch, and then:
Scientists believe that malaria originated in Africa around 30 million years ago. Human malaria perhaps evolved into its current state along with our anthropoid and early human ancestors, although no one really knows when. There is no record of its presence in Europe until the first century A.D., when it was first recorded in Rome. (Marcus 2004)
After a blank space, the text of paper – your writing - continues.
Paraphrases
Paraphrases are when you use your own words to tell the reader what someone said. We often do this for clarity or to shorten an explanation.
To show that you are paraphrasing, include the author and page at the end of the sentence, before the period.
Example: Others who have studied the coast believe that dams have limited erosion (Campbell 255).
