Citation Styles: MLA

The basic in-text citation form for MLA style is the author's name and a page number within parentheses, like this: (Lessig 36) or (Asimov and Lazar 55).

  If the author's name is mentioned in your text, you can omit it from the citation: "Lessig has argued this point (36)."

The bibliography (list of used sources) should appear on a new page at the end of the paper, entitled "Works Cited."  Alphabetize the works cited list by author's last name, or by title if a work's author is unknown or not given.

The first line of a bibliographic entry should be aligned with the left margin. Second and subsequent lines should be indented by 0.5 inches to create a hanging indent.

Works Cited page must be double spaced.

Book citations consist of the basic form:

Author's last name, first name. Title of the book. Publisher, Publication Date. (Note: if the city of publication is needed for clarity, it may be added before the publisher.)

           Woomer, Amanda R. The Art of Grieving: The Beauty Behind Victorian Mouring Customs. Spook-Eats, 2023.

Print book with two authors:

           Frost, Randy O., and Gail Steketee. Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things. Mariner Books, 2011.

Print book with more than three authors:

           Reece, Jane B., et al. Campbell Biology: Concepts and Connections. 7th ed., Pearson, 2012.

If the work is an e-book, include the database (container) from which the book was retrieved in italics and the URL, followed by a period.  For example:

Zauditu-Selassie, K. African Spiritual Traditions in the Novels of Toni Morrison. UP of Florida, 2009. 

eBook Academic Collection, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=e000xna&AN=380225&site=ehost-live&scope=site&custid=gsu1. 

If only part of a book is used (chapters, essays, etc.), include the section title in quotation marks and page numbers. 

Careri, Elisabetta. "Home, Streets, Nature: Esperanza's Itineraries in Sandra

Cisneros' The House on Mango Street." Landscapes of Writing in Chicano Literature, edited by Imelda Martín-Junquera, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, pp. 13-22.

Article citations consist of the basic form:

Author's last name, first name. "Title of the article." Journal Name, volume, issue number, year, pages. Online source, URL. 

For example:

Monk, Craig. "The Political F. Scott Fitzgerald: Liberal Illusion and Disillusion in This Side of Paradise and The Beautiful and Damned." American Studies International, vol. 33, no. 2, 1995, pp. 60-70. MLA International Bibliography, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=mzh&AN=1997060111&site=ehost-live&scope=site&custid=gsu1.

Citations for media sources follow the same basic guidelines as citations for books and articles. 

To cite a web site:

Victorian Women Writers Project. Indiana University, https://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/

vwwp/welcome.do;jsessionid=EF6E5C7368B07CAAAF93A4509B363499. Accessed 23 October 2020.

To cite an episode of a television show watched on a streaming service:

        "I Don't Want to Be Free."  Killing Eve, season 1, episode 7, BBC America, 2018.  Hulu, www.hulu.com.

To cite social media posts:

Thomas, Angie. Photo of The Hate U Give cover.  Instagram, 4 Dec. 2018,

          www.instagram.com/p/Bq_PaXKgqPw.