LibGuides: MLA 9th Edition: MLA 9th Ed.

About MLA 9th Edition

This guide is intended as an introduction to the Modern Language Association 9th edition style for references and citations. Be sure to consult the MLA Handbook or the MLA Style Center website for detailed standards and procedures.

MLA Handbook by The Modern Language Association of America
The ninth edition of the MLA Handbook is a textbook and reference guide that offers student writers and writing instructors guidance on creating works-cited-list entries in MLA style using the template of core elements.

As a general rule, use MLA style in literature, arts, and humanities. For a quick introduction to MLA Style, view the following video:

"Introduction to Citation Styles: MLA 9th ed." by CSUDH Library on YouTube is licensed under CC-BY-4.0

Quick Guides to MLA

MLA Citations Quick Guide (printable PDF)

Download SJCC Library's quick printable guide to MLA style for citations.

Works Cited: A Quick Guide from MLA Style

MLA's tool to familiarize users with the MLA format template.

The MLA Style Center
Writing and citing resources from the Modern Language Association.

Sample MLA Paper

Sample MLA Paper

In-Text Citations

In-text citations are concise references in the body of your paper that point readers to the Works Cited entries for the sources you used to write your paper. When applicable, it points to the location (e.g. page number, paragraph number) in the source being cited.

Basic Parenthetical Citation Format

(Last Name Page #)

For more guidelines and examples, check out the MLA Style Center In-Text Citations Overview.

In-text citations can appear in prose or in parentheses.

Parenthetical Citations

Citations in Prose

(Modern Language Association ch. 6)

When does my in-text citation need a page number?

If you are quoting or paraphrasing a specific part of a source and the source includes a page number, line number, time stamp, or other indicator of the location in the source where the information can be found, then that location marker must be included.

Do not precede page numbers with p. or pp. in the in-text citation
Use the same style as the numerals in the source you are citing (whether roman or alphanumeric)

(Drabble xi-xii)

(Richards A11)

If you cite a number other than a page number in a parenthetical citation, it must be preceded with a label.

In Prose	In Parenthetical Citation
chapter 2	(ch. 2)
line 110	(line 110)
scene 4	(sc. 4)

(Modern Language Association ch. 6)

Quotes/Quotations

A quotation is when you replicate another author's work or your own previously published work word-for-word.

Short Direct Quotes

Short Quotations

If a prose quotation extends no more than four lines in your paper and needs no distinction, consider it as a short quotation. Integrate it into your text and enclose within double quotation marks. Any sentence punctuation goes after the closing parenthesis of the citation.

Quotations might be words or phrases instead of complete sentences.
Quotations can be located at the beginning, middle, or end of your sentence.
A quotation may be broken up by your own words to emphasize or clarify meaning.

According to Naomi Baron, reading is “just half of literacy. The other half is writing” (194).

Tyson began to investigate how feminine and masculine bodies (and work) were policed as presenters of history and how criticisms were often rooted in “notions of historical authenticity” (54).

“Happiness involves a form of orientation,” writes the feminist critic Sara Ahmed, continuing that “the very hope for happiness means we get directed in specific ways, as happiness is assumed to follow from some life choices and not others” (54).

Block Quotations

Block Quotations

If a prose quotation extends more than four lines in your paper, use a blockquote. Set the quote off from the text as a block indented 1/2" from the left margin as a visual cue that you are citing.

Block quotes don't need quotation marks,
Do not indent the first line of the block quote.
Your introductory text should end with a colon (see below) unless the quotation has been integrated into the sentence structure of your text (see MLA Handbook 6.35)
The parenthetical citation goes after the punctuation of the quote.

Considering the analysis of the American master narrative of the Vietnam War that exists in both literature and film, Ha suggests:

Because much of the information about the Vietnam War is filtered through the ideological and discriminatory lenses of the U.S. media and the society’s idées reçues, reading of the traumatic experiences of the Vietnamese people becomes an ethical responsibility for anyone interested in the Vietnam War. (486)

Summarizing or Paraphrasing

(Modern Language Association ch. 6)

Works with multiple authors

1 Author or No Author

2 Authors

3 or More Authors

Sample Paper

Sample MLA 9 Paper

Works Cited

The MLA Handbook does not provide strict instructions on how to format citations for specific types of sources. Instead, a universal set of general guidelines for citation and documentation that can be applied to any source type are outlined. These guidelines, have been followed in developing this guide, including the following examples.

General Guidelines for Styling Titles in MLA

Write titles in title-style capitalization
- Capitalize the first word, last word, and all principal words including those that follow hyphens in compound terms
Introduce subtitles after title with a colon followed by a space
Italicize the title of long-form works, works that are self-contained and independent of other sources, as well as works that contain other works.
- (e.g.) books, plays, films, periodicals, databases, and websites
Place titles in quotation marks for short-form works and works contained within a larger work.
- (e.g.) articles, essays, chapters, poems, webpages, songs, and speeches are placed in quotation marks.

General Guidelines for Styling Works Cited

Give titles as they appear in the source's title page, standardizing capitalization and following above guidelines for styling titles in MLA
Use day-month-year style to minimize commas. Provide most specific date available.
Use periods after:
- Author Element, Title of source Element, at the end of each container string, and at the end of each entry.
Use commas:
- between elements within a container and between the surname and first name of the author.

Basic Format:

Author Last Name, First Name Middle Name or Initial. Title of Longer Work or "Title of Shorter Work." Publisher, Year. DOI or Permalink or URL.

I'm citing a...

Journal Article

Author(s). Note: Use the format Last Name, First Name Middle Name or Initial. If there are multiple authors, use and before the last author's name.
"Title of the Article." Note: Include the title of a shorter work like an article in a journal in quotation marks and use headline-style capitalization.
Title of the Journal, Note: Use italics for the title of a longer work like a journal and use headline-style capitalization.
vol. #,
no. #, Note: If there is no additional number after the volume, only include the volume number.
Publication date,
pp. xxx-xxx.

If accessed online or in a library database...

Database, Note: Use italics for names of databases.
DOI or permalink or URL.

Diaz, Natalie. “Post-Colonial Love Poem.” New Republic, vol. 247, no. 3, Mar. 2016, p. 69. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=112575922&site=ehost-live.

News/Magazine Article

Author(s). Note: Use the format Last Name, First Name Middle Name or Initial. If there are multiple authors, use and before the last author's name.
"Title of the Article." Note: Include the title of a shorter work in quotation marks and use headline-style capitalization.
Title of the Newspaper or Publisher, Note: Use italics for the title of a longer work like a newspaper or online publication and use headline-style capitalization.
Publication date, Note: Use the formate Date Abbreviated Month Year.
URL.

Cochrane, Emily, and Noah Weiland. "Hillary Clinton, the N.F.L., Roy Moore and Other Asides from the President." The New York Times, 16 Nov. 2018, https://nyti.ms/2zf1TPB.

Print Book or eBook

Print Book

Author(s). Note: Use the format Last Name, First Name Middle Name or Initial. If there are multiple authors, use and before the last author's name.
Title of the Book. Note: Use italics for the title of a longer work like a book and use headline-style capitalization.
Edition Note: If there are multiple editions, use the format 1st/2nd/3rd ed.,
Publisher,
Publication date.

Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. 1st ed., J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1960.

eBook

Author(s). Note: Use the format Last Name, First Name Middle Name or Initial. If there are multiple authors, use and before the last author's name.
Title of the Book, Note: Use italics for the title of a longer work like a book and use headline-style capitalization.
Editors Note: If there is one editor, use the format edited by Last Name, First Name. If there are multiple editors, use and before the last author's name.
Publisher,
Publication date.
Database, Note: Use italics for names of databases.
URL or permalink.

Hughes, Langston. Letters from Langston: From the Harlem Renaissance to the Red Scare and Beyond, edited by Evelyn Louise Crawford and Mary Louise Patterson. University of California Press, 2016. EBSCOhost Academic eBook Collection, https://ezproxy.midlandstech.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=1105577&site=ehost-live&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_Cover.

Book Chapter

Author(s) of the Chapter. Note: Use the format Last Name, First Name Middle Name or Initial. If there are multiple authors, use and before the last author's name.
"Title of the Chapter." Note: Include the title of a shorter work like a chapter in quotation marks and use headline-style capitalization.
Title of the Book, Note: Use italics for the title of a longer work like a book and use headline-style capitalization.
Editors Note: If there is one editor, use the format edited by Last Name, First Name. If there are multiple editors, use and before the last author's name.
Publisher,
Publication date,
pp. xxx-xxx.
Database, Note: Use italics for names of databases.
URL or permalink.

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. EBSCOhost Academic eBook Collection, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/midlandstech/reader.action?docID=772268&ppg=77.

Webpage

Author. Note: If there is no individual author, begin the citation with "Title of the Page."
"Title of Page, Section, or Document."
Publisher,
URL.

“Citing Your Sources.” Midlands Technical College Library, 2020, https://libguides.midlandstech.edu/citingsources.

Musical Performances

Artist/Creator.
"Song Title"
Album Name,
Record Label.
Release year.
Source. Note: identify physical media type, digital media format, URL, or app. See examples below.

Entire Album

Jackson, Michael. Thriller, Epic, 2014. CD.

Song from an Album

Snail Mail. “Thinning.” Habit, Sister Polygon Records, 2016. Vinyl EP.

Song on a website

Beyoncé. "Pretty Hurts." Beyoncé, Parkwood Entertainment, 2013, www.beyonce.com/album/beyonce/?media_view=songs.

Song from an app

Lopez, Jennifer. "Vivir mi vida." Sony Music Latin, 2017. Spotify app.

(Modern Language Association 330)

For more information on DOIs and MLA Style guidelines, see this page from Scribbr.

Check out more examples of citing online sources and using DOIs from the MLA Style Center.

For information about citing images visit Finding and Using Image Resources.

Formatting Your MLA Paper

MLA Style Formatting Paper Guidelines
Guidelines from the MLA Style Center on how to format your paper, including the title page, text formatting, tables and illustrations, and more.

What does the general format of an MLA paper look like?

The MLA Handbook, 9th Edition specifies conventions for formatting papers. Below is a sample paper formatted in MLA 9 style. See more sample papers at MLA Style Center.