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Dana Health Sciences Library:
Howe Library:
Silver Special Collections Library:
Based on: MLA Handbook, 9th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2021.
Call no.: LB2369 .M52 2021.
There are two copies at the Reference Desk and two on the 3rd floor.
For detailed, online information, please visit the MLA Style Web site:
There are two steps to citing sources: creating in-text citations and creating a “Works Cited” list to appear at the end of your paper.
1. In-text Citations
In-text citations are parenthetical statements inserted in the body of your text. Whenever you quote directly from a source or paraphrase another writer’s work, you need to supply an in-text citation.
2. Works Cited:
This a list of the works you have actually cited in your paper or research project. The works should be listed in alphabetical order and begin with the author’s last name or, when there is no apparent author, the first prominent word of a title.
As stated above, in-text citations are parenthetical statements inserted in the body of your text. Whenever you quote directly from a source or paraphrase another writer’s work, you need to supply an in-text citation. In-text citations direct the reader to a source listed in the “Works Cited” section of your paper.
In-text citations should contain 1) the last name of an author (or authors) whose work appears in the “Works Cited” section; 2) a title keyword if multiple works by the same author are cited; and 3) a page number or other locating number.
Here are several examples of an in-text citation for the same work:
Basic Format
The official report on The Great Fire of 1871 exonerates the cow but still mentions the O’Leary farm (Brands 582).
Author mentioned in text
As H.W. Brands points out, the official report does not state how the fire started (582).
When multiple works by same author are consulted, indicated the specific work
According to Brands, the official report does not state how the fire started (American Colossus 582).
Each of the in-text citations above refers to the same work. This work is a book by a single author and world appear on the Works Sited List as follows:
Brands, H.W. American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900. Doubleday, 2010.
Brands, H.W. American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900. Doubleday, 2010.
Halperin, Mark, and John Heilemann. Double Down: Game Change 2012. Penguin Press, 2013.
No Author
“U. of Vermont Abolishes Carnival Scored as Racist.” The New
York Times (1923-Current file), 2 Nov. 1969, p. 59.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers, search.proquest.com/
docview/118632689? accountid=14679
Marshall, Grace. How to Be REALLY Productive. E-book ed., Pearson Education, 2015.
Halperin, Mark, and John Heilemann. Double Down: Game Change 2012. Penguin Press, 2013.
Note use of et al. (Latin for "and others") and UP ("University Press").
Johnston, Richard, et al. The 2000 Presidential Election and the Foundations of Party Politics. Cambridge UP, 2004.
Book (1 editor)
Bloom, Harold, editor. American Poetry 1946 to 1965. Chelsea House Publishers, 1987
Book (2+ editors)
Frye, Joshua J. and Michael S. Bruner, editors. The Rhetoric of Food: Discourse, Materiality, and Power. Routledge, 2012.
Book (2+ editors, "et al." option)
Breakey, Suellen, et al., editors. Global Health Nursing in the 21st Century. Springer, 2015.
Briggs, Anthony, translator. War and Peace. By Leo Tolstoy, Viking, 2006.
Book Chapter
Stecopoulos, Harilaos. "Henry James, Propagandist."
Henry James Today, Cambridge Scholars,
2014, pp. 71-86.
Essay in a Book
Note use and placement of "edited by," reserved for other contributors (MLA Handbook 37).
Popp, Ann Marie, et al. “Gender, Bullying Victimization, and
Education.” Perspectives on Bullying: Research on
Childhood, Workplace, and Cyberbullying, edited by
Roland D. Maiuro, Springer, 2015, pp. 1-14.
Since the publisher is Encyclopædia Universalis, it is omitted.
Agulhon, Maurice. “Provence.” Encyclopædia Universalis, vol. 19, 1992, pp. 146-147.
Includes date of access.
Luhr, William. “Film Noir.” Oxford Bibliographies: Cinema and Media Studies, Oxford UP, 13 May 2016, DOI: 10.1093/obo/ 9780199791286-0029
Canonici, N. N. “The Sour Milk of Contention: Analysis of a Zulu Folktale.” African Studies, vol. 48, no. 1, 1989, pp. 1-36.
Day-Vines, Norma L., and Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy. “Wellness
among African American Counselors.” Journal of
Humanistic Counseling, Education and Development,
vol. 46, no. 1, Spring 2007, pp. 82-97. ProQuest,
search.proquest.com/docview/212445861
If no other date is provided use date of access.
Kinzel, Bob. “Marijuana Legalization in Vermont: What Happened,
and What’s Next?” VPR [Vermont Public Radio]:
News, 9 May 2016, digital.vpr.net/
post/marijuana-legalization-vermont-what-happened-
and-whats-next. Accessed 9 May 2016.
Emphasis is on writer, but other participants could be mentioned.
“Bed Bugs and Beyond.” Orange is the New Black: Season Three,
written by Jim Danger Gray, episode 2,
Lionsgate, 2016, disc 1.