Skip to Main Content

University Library

Citing Sources

A guide to introduce how to cite your sources, avoid plagiarism, and use the right style guides to format your citations.

Citing Sources Using MLA Style

MLA Overview

MLA (Modern Language Association) is the style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources in arts and humanities disciplines.

Citation guides and websites

In-text Citations

In order to avoid plagiarism, all information which you gather from someone else’s research or knowledge needs to be both cited in a Works Cited page as well as through in-text citations (also called parenthetical citation). In-text citations are inserted directly into an essay using parentheses. In-text citations must be used to give credit to the original author for paraphrases, summaries, as well as direct quotes. Generally, they are placed at the end of a sentence. 

In-text citations:  

  • allows your reader to know which source each idea/fact came from
  • gives you credibility as a writer
  • protects you from plagiarism
  • points your reader to the proper entry in your Works Cited.

Examples of In-text Citations

The format for creating an in-text citation in MLA Style is to include the last name of the author of the work, followed by the page number of the content used.

Direct Quote:

"In the Caribbean the successful planting of new varieties of crops owed much to the Amerindian, who carefully nurtured each newly introduced food source." (Mackie 42)

Lead-in Reference with quote:

Christine Mackie notes that "in the Caribbean the successful planting of new varieties of crops owed much to the Amerindian, who carefully nurtured each newly introduced food source." (42)

Paraphrase:

The success of new varieties of crops planted in the Caribbean was due in part to the careful tending by the Amerindians. (Mackie 42)

Works Cited

MLA style requires a Works Cited page at the end of your research paper. All entries in the Works Cited page must correspond to the works cited in your main text, in other words -- your in-text citations.

Basic Rules

  • Begin your Works Cited page on a separate page at the end of your research paper. It should have the same one-inch margins and last name, page number header as the rest of your paper.
  • Label the page Works Cited (do not italicize the words Works Cited or put them in quotation marks) and center the words Works Cited at the top of the page.
  • Double space all citations, but do not skip spaces between entries.
  • Indent the second and subsequent lines of citations by 0.5 inches to create a hanging indent.

MLA Works Cited Example

In the Works Cited:

The Works Cited for the source above will look like:

Mackie, Christine. Life and Food in the Caribbean. New Amsterdam Books, 1992.

Sample Citations

Each entry in a MLA works cited contains facts common to most works these include:

  • Author: who is responsible for the work?
  • Title: what is the work called?
  • Container: where can I retrieve the work?

The concept of containers is crucial to MLA style. When the source being documented forms part of a larger whole (e.g. an article in a journal), the larger whole can be thought of the container that holds the source (the journal).

See the figure below to see the reference elements a MLA works cited citation.

Modern Language Association. A Work in One Container. https://style.mla.org/works-cited/works-cited-a-quick-guide/article

Below are sample references for textual works. Additional reference examples for other formats is available on PurdueOWL.edu

General template for a textual source
Author Last Name, First Name Middle Name or Initial. Title of Longer Work or "Title of Shorter Work." Publisher, Year. URL or DOI.

Examples

Article
Durham, Aisha. “‘Check on It’: Beyoncé, Southern Booty, and Black Femininities in Music Video.” Feminist Media Studies, vol. 12, no. 1, 2012, pp. 35–49, https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2011.558346.

Book
Gleick, James. Chaos: Making a New Science. Penguin, 1987.

Book Chapter

Green, David. "Supporting the Academic Success of Hispanic Students." College Libraries and Student Culture: What We Now Know, edited by Andrew D. Asher and Lynda M. Duke, ALA Editions, 2011.

Conference Presentation

Stein, Bob. “Reading and Writing in the Digital Era.” Discovering Digital Dimensions, Computers and Writing Conference, 23 May 2003, Union Club Hotel, West Lafayette, IN. Keynote Address.

Dissertation

Njus, Jesse. Performing the Passion: A Study on the Nature of Medieval Acting. 2010. Northwestern U, PhD dissertation. ProQuest, search.proquest.com/docview/305212264?accountid=7432.

Below are sample references for textual works. Additional reference examples for other formats is available on Style.MLA.org

General template for archival materials

Author Last Name, First Name Middle Name or Initial. Title or description of material. Day month year. Collection Name. Collection identifier, Box number, Folder number. Name of repository, Location of repository. URL if applicable.
Examples

Collection database (no specific item) 
Lime Kiln Digital Collection. 11 April 2006. North Bay Digital Collections, Sonoma State University Library Archives & Special Collections, Rohnert Park, CA. https://northbaydigital.sonoma.edu/digital/collection/limekiln.

Digitized correspondence or document 
Correspondence, 21 May 1994, from George Greeott. 11 April 2006. Gaye LeBaron Digital Collection, North Bay Digital Collections, Sonoma State University Library Archives & Special Collections, Rohnert Park, CA. https://northbaydigital.sonoma.edu/digital/collection/Lebaron/id/212/rec/1

Digitized photograph 
Gravestone, Rupert B. Churchill. 11 April 2006. Earthquake of 1906 Digital Collection, North Bay Digital Collections, Sonoma State University Library Archives & Special Collections, Rohnert Park, CA. https://northbaydigital.sonoma.edu/digital/collection/quake/id/172/rec/1

Below are sample references for common art works. Additional reference examples for other formats is available on OWL.Purdue.edu

General template for an art source
Author Last Name, First Name. "Title of Shorter Work." Title of Longer Work. Publisher, Day, Month Year. Website or DOI.

Artwork

Example: Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800, Museo del Prado, Madrid.

Film

Example: Lucas, George, director. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Twentieth Century Fox, 1977.

Episode of a TV Show

Example: “94 Meetings.” Parks and Recreation, season 2, episode 21, NBC, 29 Apr. 2010. 

Podcast Episode

Example: “Best of Not My Job Musicians.” Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! from NPR, 4 June 2016, www.npr.org/podcasts/344098539/wait-wait-don-t-tell-me.

Online Image

Example: Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800. Museo del Prado, museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-family-of-carlos-iv/f47898fc-aa1c-48f6-a779-71759e417e74.

Below are sample references for online works. Additional reference examples for other formats is available on OWL.Purdue.edu

General template for an art source
Author Last Name, First Name. "Title of Shorter Work." Title of Longer Work. Publisher, Day, Month Year. Website or DOI.

Social Media Post

@tombrokaw. “SC demonstrated why all the debates are the engines of this campaign.” Twitter, 22 Jan. 2012, 3:06 a.m., twitter.com/tombrokaw/status/160996868971704320.

Webpage on a Website

Example: “Athlete's Foot - Topic Overview.” WebMD, 25 Sept. 2014, www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/tc/athletes-foot-topic-overview.