MLA 8 Citation Guide

This is a complete guide to MLA 8 (Modern Language Association, 8th edition) in-text
and reference list citations. This easy-to-use, comprehensive guide makes citing any
source easy. Check out our other citation guides on APA and Harvard referencing.

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1. Core Components

Notes:

 If adding something that isn’t in the original source, add it within square
brackets
 If the date is approximate, add ‘circa.’ before it
 If you are unsure about the components in the source, follow it with a ‘?’

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2. MLA Referencing Basics: Works-Cited List

In MLA8 format, the reference list is usually titled the ‘Works-Cited List’. This is a list
of all the sources referenced within the document and contains the author's name,
source title, date of publication and more information which varies depending on the
source type. A MLA Works-Cited List must:

 Begin in a new page at the end of the document

 Be ordered alphabetically by name of first author (or title if the author is
unknown, in terms of alphabetising this ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’ should be ignored)
o If there are multiple works by the same author these are ordered by
date, if the works are in the same year they are ordered alphabetically
by the title
 Entries must be double spaced
 Second and subsequent lines of a source must be indented 0.5inches from
the margin
 If multiple works by the same author are listed, the first reference must contain
the full name but subsequent references should have author name replaced
with ‘- - -’
 Contain full references for all in-text references used

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3. MLA Referencing Basics: In-Text Citation

In-text references must be included following the use of a quote or paraphrase taken
from another piece of work.

In-text citations are citations within the main body of the text and refer to a direct
quote or paraphrase. In-text citations:

 Correspond to a reference in the main reference list.

 They contain the first word of the reference, which is usually the author’s
surname, and the page, or page-range in which the reference is found.
 They come directly after the quote or parenthetical or in a natural pause.

Using the example author James A. Mitchell they take the form:

Mitchell states “...” (189) Or (Mitchell 189)

More than One Author:

For 2-3 authors, all the names can be listed along with the page number in the
following format:

(Mitchell, Thomson, and Smith 189)

For 3+ authors, only the surname of the first author should be listed followed by ‘et
al’:

(Mitchell et al. 189)

No Authors:

In this case, the whole title italicised, a shortened title within quotation marks or an
article or webpage in quotation marks should be used in place of the author. Using
the example of a book ‘A guide to citation’ and an article ‘APA Citation guide’, this
takes the form:

Book Title: A Guide to Citation states “..” (189) Or (A Guide to Citation 189)

Article Title: “APA Citation Guide” states “...” (189) Or (“APA Citation Guide” 189)

Authors With Multiple Cited Works:

Include a shortened version of the title within the citation: (Mitchell, A Guide to
Citation 189)

Authors With the Same Surname:

In this case, include an initial: (J. Mitchell 76) and (M. Mitchell 100-120)

No Page Number

If the source includes another numbered pattern (eg chapters, paragraphs) then
these numbers can be used instead: (Mitchell, ch. 7) ch referring to chapter.

If there are no numbered sections then the name is quoted alone.

Citing a Quote or Parenthetical:

In these cases, use ‘qtd.’ before the name: (qtd. In Mitchell 189)

Citing Audio-Visual Sources:

In these cases a time stamp must be used in place of the page number in the form
hh:mm:ss: (Mitchell 00:18:23)

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4. How to Cite Different Source Types

 In-text citation only varies with the source type if the author is unknown or if
the source is audiovisual (detailed above)
 Reference list citations are highly variable depending on the source.

How to Cite Books in MLA Format

Book referencing is the most basic type of reference. The basic format is as follows:

Book Referencing Example:

Mitchell, James A.  A Guide to Citation. 2nd ed, My London Publisher, 2017.

Note: Author name. Title. Version, Publisher, Year of Publication.

How to Cite Edited and Translated Books  in MLA Format

The format of these is the same as a book reference except that the editor or
translator must be specified. This is done in one of two ways:

1. Editor or translator is added after the names in the author list. This is done if
the editing or translation is the focus of you work. Eg Mendeley, James, editor.
 2. The names are added to the contributors list preceded by ‘translated by’ or
‘edited by’. This is done if the author or work itself is the focus of your work, no
the editing or translation. Eg Edited by James Mendeley,

The two possible formats are as followed:

Last name, first name, editor. Title. Title of container, Contributors, Version, Number,
Publisher, Year of publication. Or

Last name, first name. Title. Title of container, edited by Contributors, Version,
Number, Publisher, Year of publication.

Edited and Translated Book Examples:

Troy, Ben N., editor, and Mary Smith. A Guide to Citation Rules. Oxford Publishers,
2015.

Coyne, Kate and Nick A. Smith. MLA Citation Rules. Translated by Chris Andrews,
New York Publishings, 2004.

How to Cite E-Books in MLA Format

An e-book is considered to be a different version of a book, so the e-book identity is

entered into the version section of the regular book reference template. Specific
providers of e-book can be referenced for instance kindle which is referenced as
‘kindle ed.’.

The basic format of an e-book citation is:

Last name, first name. Title. Title of container, Contributors, edition, e-book, Number,
Publisher, Year of publication.

E-Book Example:

Troy, Ben N., et al. A Guide to Citation. 2nd ed, e-book, New York Publishers, 2010.

How to Cite a Chapter (or Essay) in a Book in MLA Format

This reference takes a slightly different form to the book reference

Chapter Example:

Mitchell, James A. “MLA Citation”. A Guide to Citation, My London Publisher, 2017,

pp. 107-134

How to Cite Articles in MLA Format

The basic format for citing journal, newspaper and magazine articles is the same:

There are variations between journal, magazine and newspaper article references
within the date and title of container sections.

Journal Example:

Mitchell, James A. “Citation: Why is it Important”. Mendeley Journal, vol. 4, no. 6,

Summer

1999, pp .607-674.

Newspaper/Magazine Example:

Mitchell, James A. “How Citation Changed the Research World”. The Mendeley,

weekend edition, vol. 62, no. 9, 6 September 2017, pp. 70-81.

Online Example:

The only change when referencing an online article is the addition of the database
title and a URL or DOI corresponding to the article.

Mitchell, James A. “Citation: Why is it Important”. Mendeley Journal, vol. 4, no. 6,

Summer

1999, pp .607-674. Journal Database, https://www.mendeley.com/reference-

management/reference-manager

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5. How to Cite Non Print Material

Image in MLA Format

The basic format to cite an image is as follows:

Creator’s surname, other names. “Title of Image”. Website Title, contributors,

reproduction, number, date, URL.

Image Example:

Millais, Sir John Everett. “Ophelia.” Tate, N01506, 1851-

2, www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/millais-ophelia-n01506

Film in MLA Format

The basic structure of a film reference is:

Director name, director. “Title of film”.  Contributors, Distributor, year of release.

Medium

However, the title and director name can be swapped if the focus of your work is not
on the director:

“Title of film”.Directed by director name, contributors,  Distributor, year of release.

Medium

The medium is not needed for MLA8 citation but it is useful for the reader. If the film
is from online, the medium should be swapped for a URL.

Film Example:

Hitchcock, Alfred, director. “Rear Window”. Performances by Grace Kelly and James
Stewart, Paramount Pictures, 1954. DVD

TV Series in MLA Format

The format is similar to that of a movie reference but includes the episode and
season number:

“Episode Title”. Program Title, created by Creator Name, contributors, season #,

episode #. Network, Year of Publication.

TV Series Example

“Fly.” Breaking Bad, written by Sam Catlin and Moira Walley-Beckett, directed by

Rian Johnson, season 3, episode 10, AMC, 2010.

Music in MLA Format

The basic structure for referencing music is:

Author name(s). “Title of the Track”. Title of the Album, other contributers, version,

Record Label, Year of Publication

Music Example:
Beyonce. “Hold Up”. Lemonade, Parkwood Entertainment, 2016.

How to Cite a Webpage in MLA Format

The basic format for this is:

Last name of author, first name. “Title of page/document”. Title of overall

webpage, date, URL.

Website Example:

Mitchell, James A., and Martha Thomson. How and When to Reference. 25 Jan.
2017: https://www.howandwhentoreference.com/.

To learn more about citing a webpage and entire websites in MLA, APA or Harvard
check out How to Cite a Website post.

For a summary of all the references for each source type along with examples take a
look at our Ultimate Citation Cheat Sheet. It also contains examples
for APA and Harvard formats.

Fin
Creating a Works Cited list using the eighth
edition
MLA is a style of documentation that may be applied to many different types of
writing. Since texts have become increasingly digital, and the same document may
often be found in several different sources, following a set of rigid rules no longer
suffices.
Thus, the current system is based on a few guiding principles, rather than an
extensive list of specific rules. While the handbook still describes how to cite sources,
it is organized according to the process of documentation, rather than by the sources
themselves. This gives writers a flexible method that is near-universally applicable.
Once you are familiar with the method, you can use it to document any type of
source, for any type of paper, in any field.
Here is an overview of the process:
When deciding how to cite your source, start by consulting the list of core elements.
These are the general pieces of information that MLA suggests including in each
Works Cited entry. In your citation, the elements should be listed in the following
order:

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

Each element should be followed by the corresponding punctuation mark shown

above. Earlier editions of the handbook included the place of publication and required
different punctuation (such as journal editions in parentheses and colons after issue
 numbers) depending on the type of source. In the current version, punctuation is
simpler (only commas and periods separate the elements), and information about the
source is kept to the basics.

Author
Begin the entry with the author’s last name, followed by a comma and the rest of the
name, as presented in the work. End this element with a period.
Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture. Routledge, 1994.

Title of source
The title of the source should follow the author’s name. Depending upon the type of
source, it should be listed in italics or quotation marks.
A book should be in italics:
Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House. MacMurray, 1999.
An individual webpage should be in quotation marks. The name of the parent
website, which MLA treats as a "container," should follow in italics:
Lundman, Susan. "How to Make Vegetarian
Chili." eHow, www.ehow.com/how_10727_make-vegetarian-chili.html.*
A periodical (journal, magazine, newspaper) article should be in quotation marks:
Bagchi, Alaknanda. "Conflicting Nationalisms: The Voice of the Subaltern in Mahasweta
Devi's Bashai Tudu." Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, vol. 15, no. 1, 1996, pp. 41-
50.
A song or piece of music on an album should be in quotation marks. The name of the
album should then follow in italics:
Beyoncé. "Pray You Catch Me." Lemonade, Parkwood Entertainment, 2016,
www.beyonce.com/album/lemonade-visual-album/.
*The MLA eighth edition handbook recommends including URLs when citing online
sources. For more information, see the “Optional Elements” section below.

Title of container
Unlike earlier versions, the eighth edition refers to "containers," which are the larger
wholes in which the source is located. For example, if you want to cite a poem that is
listed in a collection of poems, the individual poem is the source, while the larger
collection is the container. The title of the container is usually italicized and followed
by a comma, since the information that follows next describes the container.
Kincaid, Jamaica. "Girl." The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short
Stories, edited by Tobias Wolff, Vintage, 1994, pp. 306-07.
The container may also be a television series, which is made up of episodes.
“94 Meetings.” Parks and Recreation, created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur,
performance by Amy Poehler, season 2, episode 21, Deedle-Dee Productions and
Universal Media Studios, 2010.
The container may also be a website, which contains articles, postings, and other
works.
Wise, DeWanda. “Why TV Shows Make Me Feel Less Alone.” NAMI, 31 May
2019, www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/May-2019/How-TV-Shows-Make-
Me-Feel-Less-Alone. Accessed 3 June 2019.
In some cases, a container might be within a larger container. You might have read a
book of short stories on Google Books, or watched a television series on Netflix. You
might have found the electronic version of a journal on JSTOR. It is important to cite
these containers within containers so that your readers can find the exact source that
you used.
“94 Meetings.” Parks and Recreation, season 2, episode 21, NBC, 29 Apr.
2010. Netflix, www.netflix.com/watch/70152031?
trackId=200256157&tctx=0%2C20%2C0974d361-27cd-44de-9c2a-2d9d868b9f64-
12120962.
Langhamer, Claire. “Love and Courtship in Mid-Twentieth-Century England.” Historical
Journal, vol. 50, no. 1, 2007, pp. 173-
96. ProQuest, doi:10.1017/S0018246X06005966. Accessed 27 May 2009.

Other contributors
In addition to the author, there may be other contributors to the source who should be
credited, such as editors, illustrators, translators, etc. If their contributions are
relevant to your research, or necessary to identify the source, include their names in
your documentation.
Note: In the eighth edition, terms like editor, illustrator, translator, etc., are no longer
abbreviated.
Foucault, Michel. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of
Reason. Translated by Richard Howard, Vintage-Random House, 1988.
Woolf, Virginia. Jacob’s Room. Annotated and with an introduction by Vara
Neverow, Harcourt, Inc., 2008.

Version
If a source is listed as an edition or version of a work, include it in your citation.
The Bible. Authorized King James Version, Oxford UP, 1998.
Crowley, Sharon, and Debra Hawhee. Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. 3rd
ed., Pearson, 2004.

Number
If a source is part of a numbered sequence, such as a multi-volume book or journal
with both volume and issue numbers, those numbers must be listed in your citation.
Dolby, Nadine. “Research in Youth Culture and Policy: Current Conditions and Future
Directions.” Social Work and Society: The International Online-Only Journal, vol. 6,
no. 2, 2008, www.socwork.net/sws/article/view/60/362. Accessed 20 May 2009.
“94 Meetings.” Parks and Recreation, created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur,
performance by Amy Poehler, season 2, episode 21, Deedle-Dee Productions and
Universal Media Studios, 2010.
Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria. Translated by H. E. Butler, vol. 2, Loeb-Harvard UP,
1980.

Publisher
The publisher produces or distributes the source to the public. If there is more than
one publisher, and they are all are relevant to your research, list them in your citation,
separated by a forward slash (/).
Klee, Paul. Twittering Machine. 1922. Museum of Modern Art, New York. The
Artchive, www.artchive.com/artchive/K/klee/twittering_machine.jpg.html. Accessed
May 2006.
Women's Health: Problems of the Digestive System. American College of Obstetricians
and Gynecologists, 2006.
Daniels, Greg and Michael Schur, creators. Parks and Recreation. Deedle-Dee
Productions and Universal Media Studios, 2015.
Note: The publisher’s name need not be included in the following sources:
periodicals, works published by their author or editor, websites whose titles are the
 same name as their publisher, websites that make works available but do not actually
publish them (such as YouTube, WordPress, or JSTOR).

Publication date
The same source may have been published on more than one date, such as an
online version of an original source. For example, a television series might have aired
on a broadcast network on one date, but released on Netflix on a different date.
When the source has more than one date, it is sufficient to use the date that is most
relevant to your writing. If you’re unsure about which date to use, go with the date of
the source’s original publication.
In the following example, Mutant Enemy is the primary production company, and
“Hush” was released in 1999. Below is a general citation for this television episode:
“Hush.” Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon, performance by Sarah
Michelle Gellar, season 4, Mutant Enemy, 1999.
However, if you are discussing, for example, the historical context in which the
episode originally aired, you should cite the full date. Because you are specifying the
date of airing, you would then use WB Television Network (rather than Mutant
Enemy), because it was the network (rather than the production company) that aired
the episode on the date you’re citing.
“Hush.” Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon, performance by Sarah
Michelle Gellar, season 4, episode 10, WB Television Network, 14 Dec. 1999.

Location
You should be as specific as possible in identifying a work’s location.
An essay in a book or an article in a journal should include page numbers.
Adiche, Chimamanda Ngozi. “On Monday of Last Week.” The Thing around Your
Neck, Alfred A. Knopf, 2009, pp. 74-94.
The location of an online work should include a URL. Remove any "http://" or
"https://" tag from the beginning of the URL.
Wheelis, Mark. "Investigating Disease Outbreaks Under a Protocol to the Biological and
Toxin Weapons Convention." Emerging Infectious Diseases, vol. 6, no. 6, 2000, pp.
595-600, wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/6/6/00-0607_article. Accessed 8 Feb. 2009.
When citing a physical object that you experienced firsthand, identify the place of
location.
Matisse, Henri. The Swimming Pool. 1952, Museum of Modern Art, New York.
 Optional elements
The eighth edition is designed to be as streamlined as possible. The author should
include any information that helps readers easily identify the source, without including
unnecessary information that may be distracting. The following is a list of optional
elements that can be included in a documented source at the writer’s discretion.
Date of original publication:
If a source has been published on more than one date, the writer may want to include
both dates if it will provide the reader with necessary or helpful information.
Erdrich, Louise. Love Medicine. 1984. Perennial-Harper, 1993.
City of publication:
The seventh edition handbook required the city in which a publisher is located, but
the eighth edition states that this is only necessary in particular instances, such as in
a work published before 1900. Since pre-1900 works were usually associated with
the city in which they were published, your documentation may substitute the city
name for the publisher’s name.
Thoreau, Henry David. Excursions. Boston, 1863.
Date of access:
When you cite an online source, the MLA Handbook recommends including a date of
access on which you accessed the material, since an online work may change or
move at any time.
Bernstein, Mark. "10 Tips on Writing the Living Web." A List Apart: For People Who
Make Websites, 16 Aug. 2002, alistapart.com/article/writeliving. Accessed 4 May
2009.
URLs:
As mentioned above, while the eighth edition recommends including URLs when you
cite online sources, you should always check with your instructor or editor and
include URLs at their discretion.
DOIs:
A DOI, or digital object identifier, is a series of digits and letters that leads to the
location of an online source. Articles in journals are often assigned DOIs to ensure
that the source is locatable, even if the URL changes. If your source is listed with a
DOI, use that instead of a URL.
Alonso, Alvaro, and Julio A. Camargo. "Toxicity of Nitrite to Three Species of Freshwater
Invertebrates." Environmental Toxicology, vol. 21, no. 1, 3 Feb. 2006, pp. 90-
94. Wiley Online Library, doi: 10.1002/tox.20155.

Creating in-text citations using the eighth edition

The in-text citation is a brief reference within your text that indicates the source you
consulted. It should properly attribute any ideas, paraphrases, or direct quotations to
your source, and should direct readers to the entry in the Works Cited list. For the
most part, an in-text citation is the author’s name and the page number (or just
the page number, if the author is named in the sentence) in parentheses:
Imperialism is “the practice, the theory, and the attitudes of a dominating metropolitan
center ruling a distant territory” (Said 9).

or
According to Edward W. Said, imperialism is defined by “the practice, the theory, and the
attitudes of a dominating metropolitan center ruling a distant territory” (9).

Work Cited

Said, Edward W. Culture and Imperialism. Knopf, 1994.

When creating in-text citations for media that has a runtime, such as a movie or
podcast, include the range of hours, minutes and seconds you plan to reference. For
example: (00:02:15-00:02:35).
Again, your goal is to attribute your source and provide a reference without
interrupting your text. Your readers should be able to follow the flow of your argument
without becoming distracted by extra information.

Final thoughts about the eighth edition

The current MLA guidelines teach a widely applicable skill for citing research. Once
you become familiar with the core elements that should be included in each entry in
the Works Cited page, you will be able to create documentation for almost any type
of source. While the handbook still includes helpful examples that you may use as
guidelines, it is not necessary to consult it every time you need to cite a source
you’ve never used before. If you include the core elements, in the proper order, using
consistent punctuation, you will be fully equipped to create a Works Cited page.

How to Cite the Purdue OWL in MLA

 Entire Website
The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 2019.
Individual Resources
Contributors' names. "Title of Resource." The Purdue OWL, Purdue U Writing Lab, Last
edited date.
The new OWL no longer lists most pages' authors or publication dates. Thus, in most
cases, citations will begin with the title of the resource, rather than the developer's
name.
"MLA Formatting and Style Guide." The Purdue OWL, Purdue U Writing Lab. Accessed
18 Jun. 2018.