A Beginner's Guide to MLA Citation

This page will only show some general tips for citing sources and offer a brief sample of some frequently used citations.  Please consult your writing/grammar handbook or instructor for more specific questions and guidance.

• In-text citations contain the author's last name and page number in parentheses and come directly after quoted or paraphrased material.  Unless the end punctuation (i.e. question mark or exclamation point) belongs with the quote, always put the period after the parenthetical citation.

  Example:  "In the 1920s the fashion style changed dramatically, causing a gender revolution" (Smith 34).

• Your Works Cited page should be placed at the end of the paper. Center the title, Works Cited, but do not underline it.  All sources should be listed in alphabetical order.
• All citations start 1" from the margin, but when you drop to the next line(s), indent 1/2".  This hanging indention will make it easier for the reader to skim the sources by the alphabetized list of authors' last names.
• Parenthetical (in-text) citations should match the first item of each source listed on the works cited page.  Thus, if no author is given, you move to the next piece of information (usually the title) and cite a shortened form of that piece of information in your parenthetical citation.

If an article found on the Internet listed no author and no page number but was titled "Freedom Fighters", cite it as follows: "Douglass became an invaluable figure in the abolitionist movement" ("Freedom").  

• Just as your entire paper should be double spaced, so should your works cited page and all your entries.
• All dates are written in "military style" with no commas separating the day, month, and year. Example: 31 March 2001

A Book

Author's last name, first name. Title of book. Publication city: Publisher, year published.

Smith, John. The Anatomy of the Child. New York: Harper Collins, 1999.

A Work in an Anthology  

Author's last name, first name. "Title of work." Title of anthology. Editor's name. Publication city: Publisher, year published. page numbers.

Crane, Stephen. "The Open Boat." The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Ed. R.V. Cassill. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1986. 335-354.

An Article in a Magazine

Author's last name, first name. "Title of article." Title of Magazine. Publication date: page numbers.

Brooks, Susan. "Cyberspace is Warping our Kids." Newsweek. 7 May 1997: 22-25. 

An Article in a Newspaper

Author's last name, first name. "Title of article." Title of Newspaper. Publication date: page numbers  (Use + to indicate continuation of a story onto another page.)

Rodriguez, Javier. "Voucher system fails." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 12 April 2000: A1+.

An Article in a Journal

Author's last name, first name. "Title of article." Title of Journal series, volume, and issue number as relevant (year published): page numbers

Danforth, Eugene. "The AIDS epidemic." JAMA 2nd ser. 49.1 (1997): 120-126.

A Film

Title of film. Director. Distributor, year of release.  (If pertinent, other information, like actors, writers, producers, can be listed between the director and year of release.)

It's a Wonderful Life. Dir. Frank Capra. Perf. James Stewart. RKO, 1946. 

Professional Website 

Author's last name, first name (or corporate author). Title of the site. Date of publication or last update. Affiliation with parent company, institute, or organization. Date you consulted source. <URL>.   (If any of this information is not listed on the website, move to the next piece of information.)

UW-Colleges Online Writing Lab. University of Wisconsin Colleges. 30 November 2001. <http://waukesha.uwc.edu/academics/owl>. (notice that no author or date of publication were given.)

Work from a Subscription Service (for example: EBSCOhost, Lexis-Nexis, ProQuest)

Author's last name, first name. "Title of article." Title of periodical. publication date: page numbers. Name of the database. Name of the service. Name and location of subscribing library. Date of access <electronic address of service's homepage>.

Williams, Jacob.  "The ADD Epidemic." Psychology Update 23 June 1998: 50-54. ProQuest Health and Medical Complete. ProQuest Direct. UW-Waukesha Coll. Lib., Waukesha, WI. 4 December 2001 <http://proquest.umi.com/>.