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MLA Style

Links to helpful websites, citation examples, and personal assistance using the style guide of the Modern Language Association (MLA).

Books

Book: General AuthorLastname, AuthorFirstname. Title. Edition. Publication Location, Publisher, Year.

Book:
Single Author

Gutman, Robert W. Mozart: A Cultural Biography. New York, Harcourt Brace, 1999.  

Book: Two or more works by Same Author

May use three hyphens in following entries of works cited list.  For example:

Gutman, Robert W. Mozart: A Cultural Biography. New York, Harcourt Brace, 1999. 

---. Richard Wagner: The Man, His Mind, and His Music, Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1968. 

Book:
Two Authors

Hock, Randolph, and Gary Price. The Extreme Searcher’s Internet Handbook: A Guide for the Serious Searcher,  Medford, CyberAge Books, 2004.

Book:
Three or more Authors

Davidson, William, et al. Retailing Management. 6th ed. New York, Wiley, 1988. 

Book:
No Author

Begin citation with title. For example:

NAICS Desk Reference: The North American Industry Classification System Desk Reference. Indianapolis, JIST Works, 2000. 

Alphabetize the entry by title, ignoring any initial articles (A, An or The).

Book: Multivolume

If using two or more volumes of a multivolume work, cite the total number of volumes after the title (or editor). If published over several years, give the range of years.

Wright, Sewell. Evolution and the Genetics of Populations. Chicago, U of Chicago P, 1968-78. 4 vols. 

When citing only one volume:

Wright, Sewell. Evolution and the Genetics of Populations. Vol. 2, Chicago, U of Chicago P, 1969.

If the one volume you are using has its own individual title, you may cite the book without reference to the other volumes.

Wright, Sewell. Theory of Gene Frequencies. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1969. 

Chapter in a Book

Willson, Jr., Robert F. "William Shakespeare's Theater." The Greenwood Companion to Shakespeare: A Comprehensive Guide for Students, edited by Joseph Rosenblum, Westport, CT, Greenwood Press, 2005. 47-64. 

Print Articles

Journal: General AuthorLastname, AuthorFirstname. "Article Title." Journal Title, Volume, Issue, Year, Pages.

Journal with Volume Numbers

Graham, Sarah. “Impossible to Hold: Women and Culture in the 1960s.” Journal of American Studies, vol. 40, no. 2, 2006, pp. 418-19.

Journal with only Issue Numbers

Simmons, Carolyn, and Karen Becker-Olsen. “Achieving Marketing Objectives through Social Sponsorships.” Journal of Marketing, vol. 70, 2006, pp. 154-69.

Magazine (published weekly or every two weeks)

Reed, Stanley. “Seeing Past the War.” Business Week, 21 Aug. 2006, pp. 35-36.

Newspaper

Seward, Zachary. “Colleges Expand Early Admissions.” Wall Street Journal, 14 Dec. 2006, Eastern ed., pp. D1-D2.

Online Articles

For scholarly journals that only exist in electronic form on the Web, cite the work like you would for a print article, only conclude the entry with the following items:

  1. permalink URL of page or DOI
  2. Date of access (day, month, and year)

If the publication does not include page numbers, simply omit page numbers.

Example:

Chan, Emily, and Lorrie Knight. "'Clicking' with Your Audience: Evaluating the Use of Personal Response Systems in Library Instruction." Communications in Information Literacy vol. 4, no. 2, 2010, pp. 192-201, http://www.comminfolit.org/index.php/cil/article/view/Vol4-2010AR8. Accessed 16 Jun. 2011.

Non-Periodical Works Cited Only Online

An entry for a non-periodical publication on the Web usually contains most of the following components, in sequence:

  1. Name of the author, compiler, director, editor, narrator, performer, or translator of the work
  2. Title of the work (italicized if the work is independent; in roman type and quotation marks if the work is part of a larger work
  3. Title of the overall Web site (italicized), if distinct from item 2
  4. Version or edition used
  5. Publisher or sponsor of the site; if not available, use N.p.If publisher is same as title of website, skip this step.
  6. URL
  7. Date of access (day, month, and year)

Each item is followed by a period except the publisher or sponsor, which is followed by a comma. Untitled works may be identified by a genre label (e.g., Home page, Introduction, Online posting), neither italicized nor enclosed in quotation marks, in the place where the title goes.

Example:

Chinchar, Allison et al. "Tropical storm warning issued for South Texas and the East Coast of Mexico." CNN, 19 Aug. 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/18/weather/southwest-monsoon-flood-megadrought/index.html. Accessed 22 Aug. 2022. 

Example with no author:

"News." National Public Radio, n.d., https://www.npr.org/sections/news/. Accessed 22 Aug 2022.

Entire Website:

Liu, Alan, ed. Voice of the Shuttle. Dept. of English, U of California, Santa Barbara, n.d, http://vos.ucsb.edu/. Accessed 21 Feb. 2008.

Page on a Website (with no author):

"The Tell-Tale Heart." The Poe Museum, 2 Jul. 2021, https://poemuseum.org/the-tell-tale-heart/. Accessed 22 Aug. 2022. 

Personal Interviews, Films, Television Programs

You may include other information (names of performers, directors, etc.) if they are pertinent. List the most important as the main entry.

Personal Interview

Bush, George W. Personal Interview. 10 Feb. 2007.

Film

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Directed by Steven Spielberg, Universal Pictures, 1982. 

Broadcast TV Program

“The Soup Nazi.” Seinfeld. NBC, WTHR, Indianapolis, 2 Nov. 1995.

Recorded TV Program "The Soup Nazi." Seinfeld: Season 7. NBC, 2006. 

Sound Recordings, Musical Compositions, Performances

You may include other information (names of performers, directors, etc.) if they are pertinent. List the most important as the main entry.

Entire Albums

The Beatles. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club’s Band, Capitol Records, 1967.

Individual Songs

Sinatra, Frank. “Strangers in the Night.” My Way: The Best of Frank Sinatra, Warner, 1996.

Spoken Word Recording

Darling, Sally, narrated by. To Kill a Mockingbird, By Harper Lee, 1960, Recorded Books, 1988. 

Musical Composition

Beethoven, Ludwig van. Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92, Boston, Oliver Ditson, 1932.

Performance

The Nutcracker. Directed by Richard Clark, Butler Ballet, Clowes Memorial Hall, Indianapolis, 2 Dec. 2008.

Copyright

These MLA examples were originally created by Scott Pfitzinger, Information Commons & Technology Librarian at Butler University, Indianapolis, IN, and adapted with permission by Jon Ritterbush, Electronic Resources Librarian at University of Nebraska Kearney. Other users of LibGuides are welcome to use this Guide as a template and to make changes as necessary to fit their custom needs.

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