MLA (Modern Language Association) Citation Format *

Three Main Aspects of MLA:

1. Parenthetical References in the Text
2. List of Works Cited
3. Content Notes

1. Parenthetical References in the Text

References in MLA format are inserted in parentheses within the text, and refer the reader to a list of works cited at the end of the paper. The usual reference contains the authors last name and a page number.

This sentence illustrates a citation to the work of one author, and the page from which the information was taken (Author 363).

If you cite more than one work by the same author, shorten the title of each work to a few key words -- be consistent -- and include the shortened title in the parenthetical reference (Author, Second Book 847).

Mr. Author remarks that if you state the author's name in the sentence, do not include it in the citation, only reference the page (215).

If you cite a work by two authors, include both names and the page number (Author and Typist 77).

With three authors, include each authors name (Author, Typist, Editor 4-7).

If the work has more than three authors, list the first author followed by et.al. (Author et al. 36).

For further guidelines on MLA parenthetical reference formats, refer to Writing in the Disciplines, 3rd edition, pages 42-46. Coincidentally, this is where all this information of MLA formatting is coming from!

2. List of Works Cited

The Works Cited section begins on a new, numbered page, immediately following the text. Double-space between entries, beginning a new entry at the left margin and indenting any extra lines of that entry 5 spaces from the margin (or 1 tab-space). Arrange the entries alphabetically by the author's last name, or the first word of the title if the author is unknown.

Citations for books contain the following information:

• the author's last name, first name, followed by a period and one space
• an underlined (or italicized) title, followed by a period and one space
• the city of publication, followed by a colon
• the shortened name of the publisher, followed by a comma
• the year of publication, followed by a period

For example,

Kirszner & Mandell. The Holt Handbook, 4th edition. Philadelphia: Harcourt Brace College Pub., 1995.

Citations for articles contain the following information:

• the author's last name, first name, followed by a period and one space
• the title of the article in quotation marks, followed by a period and one space
• the underlined (or italicized) title of the magazine or journal
• the volume number
• the date of publication in parentheses, followed by a colon
• the inclusive pagination of the full article, followed by a period

For example,

Benson, Brett. "Rule of Law in Plato's Crito and Apology". Aporia 8 (1998): 1-19.

Again, for further information on the Works Cited page, including other oddities you may encounter in citations, refer to Writing in the Disciplines, 3rd edition, pages 47-58.

3. Content Notes

Content notes are a nice way to incorporate commentary that does not flow well in the main text or add additional references or suggestions for other reading. Content notes are indicated by a raised number in the text. The contents of these notes appear on the first page following the text, before the works cited page; the page is titled Notes.

I have only elucidated the MLA citation format, as this format is the most commonly used in the humanities. However, the Chicago format, detailed in The Chicago Manual of Style is also acceptable for papers in the humanities. For a clarification of this format, refer to either Writing in the Disciplines, 3rd edition, pages 59-64, or to The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th ed. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1993.

This summary of the MLA style was originally on "Evil Nick's Evil Guide to Undergraduate Publication," which I had linked to. However, it has since gone defunct, so I grabbed this information off of Google's cached version of the page and put it here.