MLA Examples

The following are examples from the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6th edition.
(If you want to print a PDF copy of these examples, select the "Print Version" button.

Print Version

Use these examples to help you complete the exercise on the left.

Books	Journal/Magazine	Online Journal/Newsaper
Web Site	Interview	Statistical Source
	Parenthetical Reference

Book

1. Book with 1 author:

Author's last name, First name and Initial. Title underlined. Publication location: Publishing company, year.

Example:

Townsend, Robert M. The Medieval Village Economy. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1993.

2. Book with 2 authors:

First Author's last name, First name and Initial, and Second Author's first and last name. Title underlined. Publication location: Publishing company, year.

Example:

Gonzalez, Alfonso, and Jim Norwine. The New Third World. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1998.

3. Book with 2 editors:

First Editor's last name, First name and Initial, and Second Editor's first and last name, eds. Title underlined. Publication location: Publishing company, year.

Example:

Tannen, Deborah, and James E. Alatis, eds. Languages and Linguistics: The Interdependence of Theory, Data, and Application. Washington: Georgetown UP, 1986

4. Article or chapter in a book with an editor:

Author’s (of article or chapter) last name, First and Second Initial. (Year). Title of article or chapter. In Editor’s First and Second initial and last name (Ed.) Title of book underlined. (page numbers). Publication location: Publishing company.

Example:

Ong. W. J. (9182). Oral Remembering and Narrative Structures.In D. Tannen (Ed.), Analyzing Discourse: Text and Talk. (pp. 12 - 24). Washington DC.: Georgetown University Press.

Journal/Magazine

Journal citations: MLA states that if the pagination of each issue is continuous throughout the volume, you don't need to use the issue number. However, if each issue begins with page 1, then the issue number is needed in the citation. The authors of this tutorial believe that this is a very difficult distinction to make and so we are always using the issue numbers with our examples.

5. Article from journal with 1 author:

Author's last name, First name and Initial. "Article title in quotations." Journal Title underlined Volume number. Issue number (year): Article page numbers.

Example:

Wann, Daniel L. "A Preliminary Investigation Of The Relationship Between Alcohol Use And Sport Fandom." Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal 26.3 (1998): 287-291.

6. Article from journal with 3 authors:

Author's last name, First name and Initial, Author's first and last name, and Author's first and last name. "Article title in quotations." Journal Title underlined Volume number. Issue number (year): Article page numbers.

Example:

White, Sabina, Andrew Winzelberg, and James Norlin. "Laughter and Stress." Humor 5.3 (1992): 343-55.

7. Article from a Magazine:

Author's last name, First name and Initial. "Article title in quotations." Magazine Title underlined. Date Month Year: Article page numbers.

Example:

Stein, Joel. "Just Say Om." Time. 4 August 2003: 48-57.

Online Journal/Newspaper

8. Online journal article from a database or index:

Author's last name, First name and Initial. "Title of the article." Journal Title underlined Volume number. Issue number (year): Article page numbers. Database name underlined. Date Month and Year researcher visited site. <URL> of database's main page (use the information before the first slash /).

Example:

Tolson, Nancy. "Making Books Available: The Role of Early Libraries, Librarians, and Booksellers in the Promotion of African American Children's Literature." African American Review. 32.1 (1998): 9-16. Academic Search Premier. 1 Oct. 2002 <http://web5.epnet.com>.

9. Online newspaper article from a database or index:

Author's last name, First name and Initial. "Title of the article." Newspaper title underlined. Date Month Year: page numbers. Database name underlined. Date month year researcher visited site. <URL> of database's main page (use the information before the first slash /).

Example:

Raspberry, William. "No Choice but Rescue." Washington Post. 8 Sep. 2003: A21. Lexis Nexis Academic. 9 Sep. 2003 < http://web.lexis-nexis.com>.

Web Site

10. An entire website with an author:

Author's Last Name, First Name and initial. Title of the web site underlined. Date Month Year site was published or updated if given. Name of sponsoring institution if given. Retrieval Date Month Year <URL>.

Example:

Mandell, Lewis. Romantic Chronology. 1999. University of California Santa Barbara. 22 June 2003 <http://english.ucsb.edu:591/rchrono/>.

11. An entire website without an editor or author:

Title of the web site underlined. Date Month Year site was published or updated if given. Name of sponsoring institution if given. Retrieval Date Month Year <URL>.

Example:

CNN.com. 1 Jan. 2001. Cable News Network. 14 March 2001 <http://www.cnn.com>.

12. A part of a larger web site (an article, document, short work, section, etc.) with an author

Author's Last Name, First Name and initial. "Title of article, document, or short work." Date Month Year article, document, or short work was published or updated if given. Name of website or sponsoring institution underlined . Retrieval Date Month Year <URL>.

Example:

Shiva, Vandana. "Bioethics: A Third World Issue." 11 July 2002. NativeWeb. 15 September 2003 <http://www.nativeweb.org/pages/legal/shiva.html>.

13. A part of a larger web site (an article, document, short work, section, etc.) without an author

"Title of article, document, or short work." Date Month Year article, document, or short work was published or updated if given. Name of website or sponsoring institution underlined. Retrieval Date Month Year <URL>.

Example:

"The Media Today: Truth or Lies?" Flashpoints USA. 14 Sep. 2003. PBS Online. 16 Sep. 2003 <http://www.pbs.org/flashpointsusa/20030916/infocus/>.

Interview

14. An Interview conducted by you, the researcher:

Interviewee's Last Name, First Name and initial. Type of interview (i.e. personal, email, telephone, etc.). Date Month Year of interview.

Example:

Likins, Peter. Personal interview. 8 August 2003.

Statistical Source

15. Chart from a statistical source - Statistical Abstracts

Author or Government agency's name. "Title of statistical table." Title of source underlined. Place of publication: Publisher, year.

Example:

U.S. Census Bureau. "No. 173. Population Shifts in the Northeast: 2001 - 2002." Statistical Abstract of the United States. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2002.

Parenthetical Reference

16. MLA Parenthetical Reference examples

As you are writing your paper, remember that you must provide a reference to your source within the context or text of your paper, (called a "parenthetical reference"). This reference must be provided for everything that you quote, paraphrase, or summarize and must lead back to an entry on your works cited page.

MLA guidelines require you to provide the name(s) of the author(s) and the page number(s) where your quoted, paraphrased, or summarized material is located. If you include the author(s)' name within the sentence with the quoted, paraphrased, or summarized material, then you only need to put the page number(s) at the end of the material.

Examples of Parenthetical References:

Author not mentioned in text:
"To have a coherent and successful interaction, communicators must cooperate and coordinate their responses. Thus, any one interactant has the potential to exert considerable influence over the other" (Street 202).

Author mentioned in text:
According to Street, "To have a coherent and successful interaction, communicators must cooperate and coordinate their responses. Thus, any one interactant has the potential to exert considerable influence over the other" (202).

Two or more Authors not mentioned in text:
"Blind Date frames the reality of each date both to invoke accepted notions of aesthetics, economics, social, and intellectual abilities and to punish participants deviations from these norms" (DeRose, Fursich, and Haskins 177).

Two or more Authors mentioned in text:
DeRose, Fursich, and Haskins claim that "Blind Date frames the reality of each date both to invoke accepted notions of aesthetics, economics, social, and intellectual abilities and to punish participants deviations from these norms" (177).

No Author:
"HTML is the lingua franca of the Net. It's a simple, universal mark-up language that allows Web publishers to create complex pages of text and images that can be viewed by anyone else on the Web, regardless of what kind of computer or browser is being used" ("Intro to HTML")

Works Cited For Examples:

DeRose, Justin, Elfriede Fursich, and Ekaterina V. Haskins. "Pop (Up) Goes the Blind Date: Supertextual Constraints on Reality Television." Journal of Communication Inquiry 27.2 (2003): 171-189.

"Intro to HTML" HTML Basics. Feb. 1999. Webmonkey. 10, Sept. 2003 <http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/96/53/index0a.html?tw=authoring>.

Street, Richard L. "Gender Differences in Health Care Provider-Patient Communication: are They Due to Style, Stereotypes, or Accommodation?." Patient Education and Counseling. 48.4 (2002): 201-206. Academic Search Premier. 10 Sept. 2003 <http://web5.epnet.com>.

For more extensive information on MLA style, consult the print MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers located in the Information Commons Reference, call# LB2369.G53 2003.

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