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MLA Style

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Works Cited Page

This guide introduces students to MLA Style. It outlines basic formatting rules, provides some basic examples and links to more detailed examples.

Basic Rules

Basic rules for the Works Cited page:

  • Include the Running Head and page number on your references page.
  • Center the phrase "Works Cited" at the top of the page.
  • Arrange references in alphabetical order by the author's last name.
  • Double space between and within references.
  • The first line of an entry is flush with the left margin; subsequent lines are indented 1/2 inch. This is called a "hanging indent."
  • The title of the book or journal is italicized.
  • Titles of chapters and articles are in quotation marks (" ").

Books

A book with one author:

Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication.

Example:

Gregory, Philippa. The Lady of the Rivers. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011. Print.

A chapter in an edited book:

Lastname, Firstname. "Title of Essay." Title of Collection. Ed. Editor's Name(s). City of Publication: Publisher, Year. Page range of entry. Medium of Publication.

Example:

Irizarry, Ylce. "Making it Home: A New Ethics of Immigration in Junot Díaz's Drown." Hispanic Caribbean Literature of Migration : Narratives of Displacement. Ed. Vanessa Pérez Rosario. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. Print.

Journal Articles

A basic journal article:

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal volume.issue (year): pages. Medium of publication.

Example:

Beach, Christopher. "Poetic Positionings: Stephen Dobyns and Lyn Hejinian in Cultural Context." Contemporary Literature 38.1 (1997): 44-77. Print.

An electronic journal from a database

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal volume.issue (year): pages. Database Name. Web. Date Accessed.

Example:

Javadizadeh, Kamran. "Elizabeth Bishop's Closet Drama." Arizona Quarterly: A Journal of American Literature, Culture, and Theory 67.3 (2011): n. pag. Project Muse. Web. 19 Dec. 2012.

Websites

 

Note that MLA has retired the requirement for including the url of the website in a works cited entry. Only include the url if it is a course requirement or if it would be very hard to find the site in a search using the information you provide in the bibliographic entry.

Website with Authors Identified

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. "Title of Work." Title of Website, if Different Version/edition (if used). Publisher or Sponsor; if not available, N.p, Date of publication; if not available, n.d. Web. Date of access.

Example:

Antin, David. Interview by Charles Bernstein. Dalkey Archive Press. Dalkey Archive P, n.d. Web. 21 Aug. 2007.

Website with No Authors

When there is no author for a web page, the title moves to the first position of the reference entry.

Example of a website without an author:

"Stress-Resilience/Susceptibility Traced to Neurons in Reward Circuit." National Institute of Mental Health. NIMH, 12 Dec. 2012. Web. 21 Dec. 2012.

Newspaper Articles

Print newspaper article:

Author, A. "Title of Article." Newspaper Title Date of publication, edition: Pages. Print.

Example:

Jeromack, Paul. "This Once, a David of the Art World Does Goliath a Favor." New York Times 13 July 2002, New England ed.: A13+. Print.

Online newspaper article:

Author, A.A. "Title of article." Newspaper Title (Date of publication): n. pag. Web. Date accessed.

Example:

Cushman, John H. "N.R.A. Calls for Armed Guards in Schools to Deter Violence." New York Times (21 Dec. 2012): n. pag. Web. 21 Dec. 2012.

Sacred Works and Commentaries

Sacred Texts

Give the title of the edition of the sacred text (taken from the title page), italicized; the editor’s or translator’s name (if any); publication information; and the medium. Add the name of the version, if there is one:

The Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. Ed. Herbert G. May and Bruce M. Metzger. New York: Oxford UP, 1965. Print. Rev. Standard Vers.

The Qur’an: Translation. Trans. Abdullah Yusuf Ali. Elmhurst: Tahrike, 2000. Print.

(Examples above from hackerhandbooks.com.)

Commentary

  • For articles from reference works (e.g. Dictionary of the Bible), follow the example for An Article in a Reference Book:

Gamble, Harry Y. "Canon." The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol. 1. Ed. David Noel Freedman. New York: Doubleday, 1992. Print.

  • For book-length Commentaries (e.g. from the Anchor series), follow the example for A Book in a Series, using the series name and number.

If your citations are mostly to the translator's notes and commentary, begin the entry with the translator's name:

Neyrey, Jerome H., trans. 2 Peter, Jude: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. New York: Doubleday, 1993. Print. Anchor Bible Series, Vol. 37C.

If your citations are mostly to the biblical text, begin the entry with the title, and include the translator's name after the title:

2 Peter, Jude: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. Trans. Jerome H. Neyrey. New York: Doubleday, 1993. Print. Anchor Bible Series, Vol. 37C.

  • For articles in Journals, follow instructions for Journal Articles in the box above.