MLA STYLE: Citing Your Source

Parenthetical Citations: The purpose of in-text citations is to point your reader to the correct
documentation in the Works Cited list. Generally, it will be authors last name and page number,
unless the authors name was included in the sentence. Then just use the page number:
EXAMPLE: Although he acknowledges there are contradictions, Walforth states most scientists
believe in global warming (83). (NOTE THE PERIOD GOES AT THE VERY END!)

Book With One Author

Last name, First name. Title of Source. Publisher, date of publication.
EX: Fleming, Thomas. Liberty! The American Revolution. Viking, 1997.
Parenthetical Citation: (Fleming 38)
If author mentioned in sentence: According to Fleming, the first President did not
seek nomination (38).

Book By Multiple Authors

Last name, First name,and First Name, Last name. Title of Source.
Publisher, date of publication. (If there are 3 authors or more, just list the
first one, followed by et al.)
EX: Thorn, Roger, and June Cartwright. The Hummingbird House. MacMurray, 1999.
Parenthetical Citation: (Thorn and Cartwright 89)

Multiple Works By One Author

List the works alphabetically, by title. (Ignore words like the and an)
Provide the authors name for the first title only.
EX: Hartford, William J. Austen and New Historicism. St. Martin's, 1997.
---. The Movies of the Sixties: A Social History. Southern Illinois UP, 1993.
Parenthetical Citation: Use shortened form of title. Articles in quotation marks, titles
of books in italics. (Hartford, New Historicism 38)

Article From an Online Database

(location for this may be DOI or URL)

Author. Title of Source. Title of Container, Volume, number, date of

publication, location. Title of Container 2 etc.
EX :Langhamer, Claire. Love and Courtship in Mid-Twentieth-Century England.
Historical Journal, vol 50, no 1, Aug 2004, pp. 173-96. ProQuest. www.dx.doi.org/

10.1038/nbt1020.

Magazine Article (Print)

Author. Title of Source. Title of Container. Date of publication, location.
EX: Cannon, Angie. "Just Saying No to Tests." U.S. News & World Report, Oct 1999,
p. 12.
Parenthetical Citation: (Cannon 12)

Online Image (including photograph, painting, sculpture, and musical score)

Artist. Title of Source. Container 1.
EX: Goya,

Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. Museo Nacional del Prado, May 22, 2006.
https://www.museodelprado.es/en
Parenthetical Citation: (Goya)

Page From a Website:

If the author is named, cite it. Otherwise, just use the title of the source.
Author. Title of Source. Container 1 info. Container 2 info.
EX: "How to Make Vegetarian Chili." eHow, Jun 2005. http://www.ehow.com/
vegetarianchili
Parenthetical Citation: (Vegetarian Chili)

Interview:
Subject. Personal Interview. Date.
EX. Whitehurst, Daniel. Personal interview. 5 Mar 2003.
Parenthetical Citation: If not named in sentence (Whitehurst)

Email (including email interview)

Author. Subject line. Message to your name. Date.
EX: Depp, Johnny "Re: Your Artistic Vision." Message to Erica Jonsdottr. 1 Dec. 2000.

Indirect Source (Quotation found in a book by a different author)

She argues that high schools are pressured to act as social service centers, and they dont
do that well (Ravitch, qtd. in Cannon 34).
Works Cited: Cannon, Angie. "Just Saying No to Tests." U.S. News & World Report. Oct.1999.

Online Video
Last name, First of the creator. Video Title. Title of Container. Role of relevant contributors,
first and last names. Publisher, Publication date, Location.
EXAMPLES:
Run4u. "See Spot Run." YouTube. 1 Feb. 2005. < url >.
"Gene Map of Brain Offers Hope for Alzheimer's, Autism. The News Hour with Jim Lehrer.
Producer, Muhammad Ahmed. PBS. 2 Feb, 2010. http://www.pbs.org/autism_38429.

Quoted Material from a Teacher Handout

Author of quoted source. Title of article or speech Title of Publication. (if available). "Title of
Handout." Handout. Title of course. (Name of instructor.) Name of school. Date of handout.
EXAMPLE:
Aldiss, Brian. "Stalins Speech of August 1943. Handout. European History.
(Kari Robertson.) WAB. Feb. 2013. Print.

Note: If any of the above information is not given, leave the information out.

Need more? Ask Ms. Hurd, or go to: OWL

MLA Practice Template

1 Author.
2 Title of source.

CONTAINER 1

3 Title of container,
4 Other contributors,
5 Version,
6 Number,
7 Publisher,
8 Publication date,
9 Location.

CONTAINER 2

3 Title of container,
4 Other contributors,
5 Version,
6 Number,
7 Publisher,
8 Publication date,
9 Location.

From MLA Handbook (8th ed.), published by the Modern Language Association (style.mla.org).