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MLA style was created by the Modern Language Association for use by writers and students preparing papers for English Studies, Foreign Language studies, other literary studies, as well as cultural studies.
Why use MLA Style? So that those in the discipline listed above have consistency in their exploration of information in their fields of study being able to scan quickly for key points and sources. Understand MLA Style will also help students further explore information and resources in their research.
Papers written in MLA style should be double spaced. Any notes to be included at the end of the paper should be in a section labeled "Notes" on its own page after the text of the paper but before the works cited page. The page with the citations should start a new page and be labeled "Works Cited", any citations longer than one line should be double spaced, for any citations longer than one line, use hanging indents on the second and all subsequent lines of the citation.
The citations in this guide are general citations from the 8th edition of the MLA handbook shown below. For more information and more details on the formatting, writing, and citing of papers see the links below. And remember you can always ask a librarian!
Basic book citation example:
Jacobs, Alan. The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction. Oxford UP, 2011.
This example shows first the author, last name first, then title of the book in italics, followed by the publisher and the year published. (Citation found on page 26 of MLA Handbook eight edition.)
In-text citations:
Parenthetical citation: (Jacobs 56)
Narrative citation: According to Alan Jacobs,.....(56).
For further examples and examples of different types of books follow the links below.
Basic article citation example:
Goldman, Anne. "Questions of Transport: Reading Primo Levi Reading Dante." The Georgia Review, vol.64, no. 1, 2010, pp. 69-88.
This example shows first the author's name, last name first, then the title of the article in quotations, the title of the journal in italics, followed by the volume, number, and year of the journal, and then finally the page numbers of the article in the journal.
(Citation found on page 28 of MLA Handbook eight edition.)
In-text citations:
Parenthetical citation: (Goldman 70)
Narrative citation: According to Anne Goldman,.....(70).
For more examples and other types of article citations see the links and resources below.
A basic example of a website citation:
Hollmichel, Stephanie. So Many Books. 2003-13, somanybooksblog.com. Accessed 29 July 2020.
In this example we see the author's name, last name first, followed by the title of the webpage in italics, then the years of the website publication, next is the web address, or location, of the webpage, ending with the date accessed.
(Citation found on page 28 of MLA Handbook eight edition.)
In-text citations:
Parenthetical citation: (Hollmichel)
Narrative citation: According to Stephanie Hollmichel,.....
For more examples and other types of web and electronic sources citations see the links and resources below.
For all other types of sources Including interviews, paintings, panel discussions, music, movies, and more; as well as in-test citations, other resources, and samples see the resources below.
