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Modern Languages Association (MLA) Style Guide


Examples below are based on the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th ed., located at LB2369 .G53 2009 Info. Commons Ref.
(Earlier editions may be available in the Main Stacks for checkout under the same call number.)

Summary of changes in the 2009 MLA Handbook , 7th ed. (Bedford/St. Martins)

Examples

Note the specific punctuation, indentation, and abbreviation. (All citations should be double spaced, unlike our examples.)
It is necessary to alphabetize a list of citations by author. 

Do not indent the first line. If the information wraps onto more than one line, indent the next line/s 5 spaces or 1/2 inch.

 

Book with one author MLA

Author's last name, First name and Initial. Title in italics. Publication location:

Publishing  company, year. Print.

example:

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

1993. Print.

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Book with an editor MLA

Editor's last name, First name and Initial, ed. Title in italics. Publication

location: Publishing company, year. Print.

example:

Mcrae, Murdo William, ed. The Literature of Science: Perspectives on Popular

Science Writing. Athens: U of Georgia Press, 1993. Print.

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Journal article - one author MLA

Author's last name, First name and Initial. "Title of the article." Journal title 

in italics Volume number. issue number (date): Article page numbers. Print.


example:

Yeh, Michelle.  "The 'Cult of Poetry' in Contemporary China."  Journal of Asian

Studies 55.1 (Feb. 1996): 51-80. Print.

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Journal article - 3 authors MLA

Author's last name, First name and Initial, Author's first and last name, and

Author's first and last name. "Title of the article." Journal title in italics Volume number. Issue number (date): Article page numbers. Print.

example:

White, Sabina, Andrew Winzelberg, and James Norlin. "Laughter and Stress."

Humor 5.3 (1992): 343-55. Print.

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Online newspaper article MLA

Author's last name, First name and Initial (if given). "Title of the article." 

Newspaper  title in italics [city, if not included in title]  day month year, edition if applicable, section, if numbered: Article page numbers (includes section letter). Database or web site name in italics. Web. day month year of access.


example:

McMillan, Jennifer.  "Paper Looks to the Past for Fresh Ideas."  Globe and 

Mail [Toronto] 29 July 2009: B3. LexisNexis Academic. Web. 3 Aug. 2009.
 

Note: Because there is no specific edition for the Globe and Mail that segment of the citation is omitted.  Also the section for this article is sec. B, so the B is incorporated into the page number. If it had been section 2, that part of the citation would appear as:

29 July 2009, sec. 2: 3. ......

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Online article (from Library database) MLA

Author's last name, First name and Initial. "Title of the article." Journal or 

          magazine title in italics. Volume number. issue number (date): page
          numbers. Database name in italics. Web. day month year of access.


example:

Lanken, Dane.  "Earth Tones."  Canadian Geographic. 127.1 (Jan. 2006): 

38-39. Academic Search Complete. Web. 15 Aug. 2008.
 

Note that it is always best to cite the original source of an article, unless the article was originally retrieved from an online database or other such electronic source.

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Lecture MLA

Speaker's last name, First name and Initial. "Title of the presentation (if 

known)." The meeting title (if given).  The sponsoring organization (if given).  Location.  Day Month Year. Lecture.


example:

Atwood, Margaret.  "Silencing the Scream."  Boundaries of the Imagination 

Forum. MLA Convention.  Royal York Hotel, Toronto.  29 Dec. 1993. Lecture.

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Interviews MLA

Published interview

Interviewee's last name, First name and Initial.  "Title of the interview

(if given)." Title of the independently published interview (if given). Interview (if untitled) with interviewer's name (if pertinent).  Title of
radio or TV program, journal title or book title.   Program 
producers (if pertinent).  Day, month, year, edition (if radio, TV,
or periodical).  Publication location: Publishing company, year
(if given).  Page numbers (if given). Format (Print, Web,
Television, etc.)

example:

Gordimer, Nadine.  Interview. New York Times.  10 Oct. 1991, late ed.:C25.
           Print.

example: 

Lansbury, Angela.  Interview.  Off-Camera: Conversations with the Makers of 

Television By Richard Levinson and William Link.  New York: Plume-NAL, 1986. 72-86. Print.


Personal interview

Interviewee's last name, First name and initial. Personal interview. day month
           year.

example

Shelton, Robert. Personal interview. 30 Sept. 2008.

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Web Site MLA

Entire web site

Last name, first name of author or editor (if given). Title of the web site

Name of sponsoring organization (if given).  day, month, year of publication or last update. Web. Day month year accessed.

example: 

Portuguese Language Resources .  Dept. of Romance Languages and

Literatures. Harvard U. 20 July 2009. Web. 15 Aug. 2009.

Halsall, Paul. ed. Internet Modern History Sourcebook. Fordham U. 22 Sept.

2001. Web. 15 Aug. 2009.


Part of or short work from larger web site

Last name, first name of author or editor (if given). " Title of short work." Title 

of the larger web site. Sponsoring organization (if given). day, month, year of publication or last update. Web. Day month year accessed.

Voller, Jack G.   "Mary Shelley." The Literary Gothic. 18 Jan. 2008. 
            Web. 7 Aug. 2009.

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E-mail MLA

Author's last name, First name and Initial (if given).  "Title or description of the

e-mail." Message to recipient's First and Last name.  Day Month Year. E-mail.


example: 

Danford, Tom.  "Monday Greetings."  Message to Terry Craig.  13 Sept. 2008.
            E-mail.

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Art Works MLA

Works of art reproduced in a printed source

Artist’s last name, first name. Title of art work in italics. Date of art work.
           Institution where art work is housed (if known), city where housed if
           not already named. Title of printed source in italics. By Author of printed
           source. Place of publication: publisher, date. Page or plate/figure/slide
           number. Print.

example: 

Cassatt, Mary. Mother and Child . Wichita Art Museum. c.1890. American

Painting: 1560-1913 . By John Pearce. New York: McGraw, 1964. 
Slide 22. Print.

 

Works of art reproduced in electronic source

Artist’s last name, first name. Title of art work in italics.  Date of art work.
            Institution where art work is housed (if known), city where housed if not
            already named. Database or web site name. Web. Day month year
            accessed.

 

example: 

Monet, Claude. Meadow with Haystacks at Giverny. 1885. Museum of Fine

Arts, Boston. ARTstor. Web. 22 October 2004.
 

Note that it is optional to give the date of the art work.

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More Information & Examples MLA


Research and Documentation online: Humanities - click on "Documenting Sources" on the left side to find examples for in-text citations and lists of works cited, along with guidelines for formatting a paper and a sample paper in MLA style. Includes examples for many other types of material besides those shown above.

Documenting Sources in MLA Style: 2009 Update (updates to the Hacker handbook, upon which the above web site is based)

MLA Formatting & Style Guide (OWL--Online Writing Lab--at Purdue) - excellent guidelines for formatting papers (including a sample paper), in-text citations and references lists, with lots of examples.

MLA Style Guide (Ohio State University) - Includes both bibliography and in-text examples for many types of materials.

MLA Style FAQ - from MLA's web site.

 

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Last modified: December 22, 2011