This guide provides examples of the Modern Language Association (MLA) citation style.  MLA is used primarily in the humanities and occasionally in the social sciences.  For additional examples, consult the most recent MLA Handbook, located at the Reference Desk (REF DESK LB 2369 G53).

 WORKS CITED LISTING

MLA style requires that an alphabetical listing of the sources used, called Works Cited, be placed at the end of term papers and reports.  Do not indent the first line of each citation, but do indent all subsequent lines five spaces.   Although reference entries given below are single spaced due to space restrictions, ALL MLA STYLE REFERENCES SHOULD NORMALLY BE DOUBLE SPACED.

 

BOOKS

 One Author

McMillan, Terry. Waiting to Exhale. New York: Pocket Books, 1995.

 

Two or Three Authors

Shain, Yossi, and Juan J. Linz. Between States: Interim Governments and Democratic Transitions. New York: Cambridge UP, 1995.

 

More Than Three Authors

Talmadge, John E., et al. The Rhetoric Reader. Chicago: Scott, 1962.

 

No Author Given

Song of Roland.  Trans. Leonard Bacon.  New Haven: Yale UP, 1914.

 

Editor or Compiler

Roe, Nicholas, ed. Keats and History. New York: Cambridge UP, 1995.

 

Society, Association, or Institution As Corporate Author

American Red Cross. American Red Cross First Aid Textbook. Garden City, NY: Doubleday,

1971.

 

Both Author & Editor, Translator or Illustrator Given

Wordsworth, William. Literary Criticism. Ed. Paul M. Zall. Lincoln:  U of Nebraska P, 1966.

 

Component Parts of Books

Tillich, Paul.  "Being and Love." in Moral Principles of Action, 661-72. Ed. Ruth N. Anshen.

New York:  Harper, 1952.

 

One Work in an Anthology/Title Within a Title

Dimock, George E. Jr. "The Name of Odysseus." Essays on The Odyssey.  Selected Modern

Criticism.Ed. Charles H. Taylor. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1963. 54-72.

 

PAMPHLETS

References to pamphlets are given in the same form as references to books.

 

ARTICLES

 

Scholarly Journals with Continuous Pagination

Mosca , Joseph B., and Steven Pressman. "Unions in the 21st Century." Public Personnel

Management   24 (1995): 159-166.

 

Scholarly Journals That Page Each Issue Separately

Ogburg, Charlton, Jr. "The Motor vs. America." American Heritage 21.4 (1970): 104-10.

 

Monthly Magazine

Keller, Kathryn. "Waiting to Exhale." Vogue July 1992: 82.

 

Weekly Magazine

Milliot, Jim. "Salary Survey: In Publishing, the Money's in Management." Publishers Weekly 

31 July 1995: 55-58.

 

Weekly Magazine, No Author Given

"Japan in Search of Japan." Newsweek 25 Nov. 1968: 52-54.

 

Newspaper

Hechinger, Fred U. "Schools vs. Riots." New York Times 30 July 1967, sec 4:7.

 

 ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLES

 Author Given

Chiappini, Luciano. "Este, House of."  The New Encyclopaedia Britannica: Micropaedia. 15th

ed. 1993.

 No Author Given

"Mandarin." Encyclopedia Americana. 1990 ed.

  

ELECTRONIC PUBLICATIONS

Citations should include information about the print and electronic publications and the access information (URL, date of access).

   

E-Journal Collections (Article in a scholarly journal)

Danner, Bruce.  "Speaking Daggers." Shakespeare Quarterly 51.4 (2003): 29-62. Project Muse. 3

Sept. 2003 <http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/shakespeare_quarterly/v054/54.1danner.html>.

 

Newspaper (Article in a newspaper or on a newswire)

Gootman, Elissa. "In Gamble, New York Schools Pay to Get Parents Involved." New York

Times on the Web 30 Aug. 2003. 3 Sept. 2003 <http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/30/

nyregion/30PARE.html>.

Magazine (Article in a magazine)

Scotti, Ciro.  "Memo to Fox: Hire Al Franken." BusinessWeek Online. 4 Sept. 2003. 7 Sept.         

2003 <http://businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/sep2003/nf2003094_4876_db009.htm>.

 

Online Databases (Library Subscription Service)

Miller, Nina.  "Making Love Modern: Dorothy Parker and Her Audience." American Literature.

64 (Dec. 1992): 763-784. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. University of Wisconsin-  

Parkside. 31 July 2002 <http://www.epnet.com>.

 

Websites (Entire Internet Sites)

CNN.com. 2003. Cable News Network. 4 Sept. 2003 <http://www.cnn.com>.

 

SOUND, FILM, OR VIDEO

Native Son . Dir. Pierr Chenal.  Perf. Richard Wright, Jean Wallace, Gloria Madison, Nicholas

Joy, Willa Pearl Curtiss, Charles Cane.   Videocassette.  Classic Pictures, 1951.

 

Thunderheart . Dir. Michael Apted. Perf. Val Kilmer, Sam Shepard, Graham Greene, and Fred

Ward.  TriStar Pictures, 1992.

 

  LEGAL CITATIONS

  Puerto Rico v. Branstand.  107 S.CT 2802 1987.

PARENTHETICAL CITATIONS

 

The MLA style requires that parenthetical citations be used in the text of the document, rather than footnotes or endnotes.  These references to page numbers within a work correspond to the Works Cited at the end of the document.  Within sentences, parenthetical references appear at the end of all punctuation except the last punctuation mark.

 

Below are additional examples of parenthetical citations.

 

Author's Name in Text

     Machiavelli believed that "the ends justify the means" (1240).

 

Author's Name in a Reference

      There are many ways to argue this point (Walker 175).

 

Authors'  Names in Text

     Many, like Lindsay and Crouse (90-100), disagree with him.

 

Authors' Names in Reference

     Many disagree with him (e.g.,  Lindsay and Crouse 90-100).

 

Citing Volume & Page Numbers of a Multi-Volume Work

     Jones does not see this connection (2:10).

 

Citing Part of an Article or Book

     Morrison's theory of the effect of prayer in school brings up a lot of questions (10, 17-23).

 

Citing a Work Listed by Title

     The article expressed how far reaching the Internet is in one's life ("Political Campaigns" 98).

 

Citing a Work by a Corporate Author

     The American Library Association has always fought for an individual's right to access information (16).

 For additional examples of parenthetical references, see the MLA Handbook  (REF DESK LB2369 .G53).