author–page
MLA 9th edition: how to cite anything
MLA identifies a source by author and page, because a humanities reader usually wants to find the exact sentence you are discussing rather than judge how recent it is. The 9th edition, published in 2021, keeps the container model the 8th introduced: instead of memorizing a separate recipe for each kind of source, you work through nine elements in a fixed order and skip the ones that do not apply. One template covers a medieval manuscript and a podcast episode equally well. Where the handbook allows a choice, the entries below take the more conservative option and say so.
- Citation system
- author–page
- Reference list is called
- Works Cited
- Common in
- Literature and literary studies, Languages and linguistics, Composition and rhetoric, Cultural and media studies, Philosophy, Religious studies
- Authority
- MLA Handbook (9th ed.)
- Formatted automatically by Copyeditor
- Yes — cite once and the bibliography builds itself.
THE RULES THAT CARRY
What MLA expects of every entry
- Nine core elements, always in the same order
- Author. Title of source. Title of container, other contributors, version, number, publisher, publication date, location. Each element carries fixed punctuation — a period after the author and after the title of the source, commas between everything inside a container, a period at the end of the container.
- Parts in quotation marks, containers in italics
- The thing you read is the source; the larger whole that carried it is the container. An article, chapter, episode or web page goes in quotation marks; the journal, book, series or site that holds it goes in italics. A standalone work — a book, a film, a dataset — is italicized on its own.
- Title case for every title
- Capitalize the first and last words and all principal words. Articles, coordinating conjunctions, prepositions of any length, and the “to” of an infinitive stay lowercase unless they open or close the title or follow a colon.
- In-text is (Author page) with no comma
- The parenthetical gives a surname and a bare page number: (Halloran 87). No comma, no “p.”, no year. When the author’s name is already in your sentence, the parenthesis holds the page alone.
- Only the first author is inverted
- Invert the first name so the list alphabetizes: Okonkwo, Adaeze R., and Marisol Villalobos. A second author stays in normal order. With three or more authors, give the first followed by “et al.” in both the entry and the citation.
- Optional elements earn their place
- An access date, an original publication date, a translator, a series name — include one when it helps the reader locate or judge the source, and leave it out when it does not. MLA calls these optional on purpose.
- Works Cited, alphabetical, hanging indent
- The list is headed Works Cited, alphabetized by the first element of each entry, double spaced, with every line after the first indented half an inch. Entries starting with a title alphabetize by the first word other than A, An or The.
BY SOURCE TYPE
Every MLA format, one page each
Each page carries the pattern, a worked entry, both in-text forms, and the exceptions that apply to that source.
Journal article
Author Last, First. “Title of the Article.” Journal Name, vol. #, no. #, Year, pp. xx–xx, https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx.
Book
Author Last, First. Title of the Book: Subtitle. Edition, Publisher, Year.
Chapter in an edited book
Author Last, First. “Title of the Chapter.” Title of the Book, edited by First Last, Publisher, Year, pp. xx–xx.
Website
Author Last, First. “Title of the Page.” Website Name, Day Month Year, url.example.org/page.
Thesis or dissertation
Author Last, First. Title of the Thesis. Year, Institution Name, PhD dissertation.
Conference paper
Author Last, First. “Title of the Paper.” Conference Name, Day Month Year, Venue, City. Conference presentation.
Report
Author Last, First. Title of the Report. Publishing Organization, Year, url.example.org/report.
Newspaper article
Author Last, First. “Headline of the Article.” Newspaper Name, Day Month Year, url.example.com/article.
YouTube video
“Title of the Video.” YouTube, uploaded by Channel Name, Day Month Year, www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxxxxxxxxxx.
Podcast episode
“Title of the Episode.” Title of the Podcast, hosted by First Last, episode #, Production Company, Day Month Year, url.example.fm/episode.
Interview
Interviewee Last, First. “Title of the Interview.” Interview by First Last. Publication Name, Day Month Year, url.example.org/interview.
Dataset
Creator Last, First, and First Last. Title of the Dataset. Version x.x, Repository Name, Year, https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx.
Where MLA entries usually go wrong
- Putting a comma between the author and the page: (Halloran, 87). MLA uses a space and nothing else.
- Adding “p.” or “pp.” to an in-text citation. Those abbreviations belong in the Works Cited entry only.
- Italicizing an article or chapter title. The part goes in quotation marks; only the container is italicized.
- Inverting every author’s name. Only the first is inverted, and only so the list can be alphabetized.
- Writing “et al.” for a work with two authors. Two authors are both named in full; et al. starts at three.
- Heading the list References or Bibliography. In MLA it is Works Cited, because you cite works rather than list a field.
- Using sentence case for titles. That is APA — MLA capitalizes principal words in every title.
- Adding an access date to every entry as though it were required. It is optional, and most useful for undated or unstable pages.
Questions about MLA
What goes in the parenthetical when the source has no page numbers?
Give the author’s surname alone: (Renaud). Do not invent a page number, and do not cite a PDF viewer’s screen count. For time-based media use a timestamp — (00:04:12) — and for a numbered work with no pages you may cite a paragraph, section or line number, labeled so the reader knows what it is.
How do I cite a source with no named author?
Start the entry with the title, and alphabetize by its first word other than A, An or The. In the text, use a shortened form of the title, keeping its original formatting — quotation marks for an article, italics for a book or report. Keep the shortened form long enough to be unambiguous in your list.
Do I have to include a URL?
Include one for anything you consulted online, so a reader can follow the same path you did. MLA 9 has you drop the http:// or https:// from a plain URL, but a DOI is written in full as https://doi.org/ and is preferred whenever the source has one. If your instructor asks for complete URLs, follow that instruction and stay consistent.
When should I add an access date?
When the source carries no publication date, or when it could change or disappear — a wiki page, a live database, a social media post. Put it at the very end of the entry: Accessed 4 Mar. 2024. For a stable PDF or a published article it adds nothing and can be left out.
What is a second container, and when do I need one?
A second container is a larger service that carried the first one — a journal reached through JSTOR, an episode watched on Netflix, a dissertation read in ProQuest. Finish the first container, then give the second in italics with its own date and location. Use one only when the reader would otherwise be unable to find your copy.
Other citation styles
Departments change their minds. Here is the rest of the set.
APA citation guide
Author–date. Used in Psychology, Education, Nursing and the health sciences.
Chicago citation guide
Notes–bibliography. Used in History, Art history and visual culture, Literature and literary studies.
Harvard citation guide
Author–date. Used in Business and management, Economics, Nursing and allied health.
IEEE citation guide
Numeric. Used in Electrical and electronic engineering, Computer science and software engineering, Robotics, control, and systems engineering.
Vancouver citation guide
Numeric. Used in Medicine and clinical research, Nursing and allied health, Public health and epidemiology.
Stop reformatting
your reference list by hand
Cite as you write and let the bibliography build itself in APA, MLA, Chicago or IEEE. Copyeditor is in beta — apply and we’ll reach out as spots open.
