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***Citation Styles: MLA

MLA citation basics

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 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.

MLA Style Guides

 

Citing Articles

Article citations consist of the basic form:

Author's last name, first name. "Title of the article." Publication information.

 

Publication information usually consists of the journal title in italics, the volume and issue number, the year of publication, the page numbers, and a period. If the article is retrieved online, the 9th edition of the MLA Style Manual dictates including the location (container) from which the article was retrieved, followed by a period. 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.

 

 

Citing Books

Book citations consist of the basic form:

 

Author's last name, first name.  Title of the book.  Publication information.

 

The publication information typically includes the publisher name, and the year of publication. If the work is an e-book, the 9th edition of the MLA Style Manual dictates including the database (container) from which the book was retrieved, 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

 

Cite book chapters and essays in books as follows:

 

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.

 

Citing Media Sources

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.

 

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.