Modern Language Association (MLA)

Format for a Works Cited Page of a Research Paper

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/

Follow punctuation, capitalization, and underlining provided in examples.

Indent five spaces on all but the first line of each entry.
Double-space within and between all entries.
Alphabetize entries by author; if no author is given, begin with title.
When listing an online source originally printed in a book, journal, or other printed
format, use the general guidelines you would use to cite the printed form, followed by the
Internet citation.
Web Sites [MLA 4.9.2] should have author (if given), title underlined, date of publication
or update (if available) originator (if available), date of access, and URL (address).
Databases [MLA 4.9.7] are cited just like the print version with the addition of the name
of the database underlined, the name of the service, the library, the date of access, and
URL if known.

WEB SITES
NO AUTHOR

MLA 4.9.2

Learn to Be Assertive - in a Positive Way. Counseling and Mental Health Center, U of Texas
Austin. 27 Oct. 1999 <http://www.utexas.edu/student/cmhc/assertips.html>.
AUTHOR

MLA 4.9.2

Dawe, James. The Jane Austen Page. 27 Oct. 1999 <http://jamesdawe.com/austen.html>.

PAPER REFERENCES
ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLE

MLA 4.6.8

Gates, David M. "Astronomy." Encyclopedia Americana. 1996 ed.

ARTICLE FROM A MAGAZINE

MLA 4.7.6

Simons, John. "Improbable Dreams." U. S. News and World Report 22 Mar. 1997: 4-7.
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

MLA 4.7.5

Feder, Barnaby J. "For Job Seekers, a Toll-Free Gift of Expert Advice." New York Times
22 Mar. 1994, late ed.: A1+.
BOOK, ONE AUTHOR

MLA 4.6.1

Kaku, Michio. Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey through Parallel Universes, Time Warps and
the Enth Dimension. New York: Oxford UP, 1994.
PRIMARY SOURCES: Interview or Personal Letter
Smith, Jones. [Personal interview or Letter to the author. 22 July 2000
VISUAL MEDIA
FILM, VIDEO, etc.
It's a Wonderful Life. Dir. Frank Capra. With James Stewart, Donna Reed. RKO, 1946
A WORK OF ART:
Bernini, Gianorenzo. Ecstasy of St. Teresa. Santa Maria della Vittoria. Rome.

Footnotes/Endnotes
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/

In addition to a Works Cited page, you may need to provide footnotes or endnotes
for the material you cite in a paper. The MLA format for footnotes/endnotes
includes essentially the same information as that provided on the Works Cited page, but
is as follows:
1

First Name Last Name, Title (City: Publisher, Date) page.

For example:
1

Rudolfo Anaya, Bless Me, Ultima, (New York: Warner Books, 1972) 47.

Using the more detailed information listed on the MLA Guide to Works Cited, on this
Web Site, format notes as above, noting the variation in form.
Microsoft Word and similar word processing programs have a function the helps format
footnotes or endnotes.
Use of Ibid. and Op. Cit.
Ibid. (Latin) is used instead of repeating the previous reference.
1
2
3

Rudolfo Anaya, Bless Me, Ultima, (New York: Warner Books, 1972) 47.
Ibid. 155.
Ibid. 170.

Op.Cit. (Latin) is used after an authors name to mean the same work as last cited for
this author.
Carl Bennett Researching into teaching methods in colleges &
universities, (London: Kogan, 1986) 83.
2
James Manger The essential internet information guide, (New York: McGraw
Hill) 1995.
3
Bennett op.cit. 175.
1

Et.al (Latin) commonly used as an abbreviation for and others (two or more authors)
Bennett, H et al. (1990) Managing Education. London, Falmer Press.

How to Quote a Source

One of your jobs as a writer is to guide your
reader through your text. Don't simply drop
quotations into your paper and leave it to
the reader to make connections.
Integrating a quotation into your text
usually involves two elements:
o

A signal that a quotation is coming-generally the author's name and/or a

reference to the work
An assertion that indicates the
relationship of the quotation to your
text

Often both the signal and the assertion

appear in a single introductory statement,
as in the example below. Notice how a
transitional phrase also serves to connect
the quotation smoothly to the introductory
statement.
Ross (1993), in her study of poor and
working-class mothers in London
from 1870-1918 [signal], makes it
clear that economic status to a large
extent determined the meaning of
motherhood [assertion]. Among this
population [connection], "To mother
was to work for and organize
household subsistence" (p. 9).
The signal can also come after the assertion,
again with a connecting word or phrase:
Illness was rarely a routine matter in
the nineteenth century [assertion].
As [connection] Ross observes
[signal], "Maternal thinking about
children's health revolved around the
possibility of a child's maiming or
death" (p. 166).
Formatting Quotations
Short direct prose
Incorporate short direct prose quotations
into the text of your paper and enclose them
in double quotation marks:
According to Jonathan Clarke,
"Professional diplomats often say that

trying to think diplomatically about

foreign policy is a waste of time." 1
Longer prose quotations
Begin longer quotations (for instance, in the
APA system, 40 words or more) on a new
line and indent the entire quotation (i.e., put
in block form), with no quotation marks at
beginning or end, as in the quoted passage
from our Successful vs. Unsucessful
Paraphrases page.
Rules about the minimum length of block
quotations, how many spaces to indent, and
whether to single- or double-space extended
quotations vary with different
documentation systems; check the
guidelines for the system you're using.
Quotation of Up to 3 Lines of Poetry
Quotations of up to 3 lines of poetry should
be integrated into your sentence. For
example:
In Julius Caesar, Antony begins his
famous speech with "Friends,
Romans, Countrymen, lend me your
ears; / I come to bury Caesar, not to
praise him" (III.ii.75-76).
Notice that a slash (/) with a space on either
side is used to separate lines.
Quotation of More than 3 Lines of
Poetry
More than 3 lines of poetry should be
indented. As with any extended (indented)
quotation, do not use quotation marks
unless you need to indicate a quotation
within your quotation.

Punctuating with Quotation Marks

Parenthetical citations.
With short quotations, place citations
outside of closing quotation marks, followed
by sentence punctuation (period, question
mark, comma, semi-colon, colon):
Menand (2002) characterizes
language as "a social weapon" (p.
115).

With block quotations, check the guidelines

for the documentation system you are
using.
Commas and periods.
Place inside closing quotation marks when
no parenthetical citation follows:
Hertzberg (2002) notes that "treating
the Constitution as imperfect is not
new," but because of Dahl's
credentials, his "apostasy merits
attention" (p. 85).
Semicolons and colons.
Place outside of closing quotation marks (or
after a parenthetical citation).
Question marks and exclamation points
Place inside closing quotation marks if the
quotation is a question/exclamation:
Menand (2001) acknowledges that H.
W. Fowler's Modern English Usage is
"a classic of the language," but he
asks, "Is it a dead classic?" (p. 114).
[Note that a period still follows the closing
parenthesis.]
Place outside of closing quotation marks if
the entire sentence containing the quotation
is a question or exclamation:
How many students actually read the
guide to find out what is meant by
"academic misconduct"?
Quotation within a quotation
Use single quotation marks for the
embedded quotation:
According to Hertzberg (2002), Dahl
gives the U. S. Constitution "bad
marks in 'democratic fairness' and
'encouraging consensus'" (p. 90).
[The phrases "democratic fairness" and
"encouraging consensus" are already in
quotation marks in Dahl's sentence.]
Indicating Changes in Quotations
Quoting Only a Portion of the Whole

Use ellipsis points (. . .) to indicate

an omission within a quotation--but
not at the beginning or end unless
it's not obvious that you're quoting
only a portion of the whole.

Adding Clarification, Comment, or

Correction Within quotations, use
square brackets [ ] (not parentheses)
to add your own clarification,
comment, or correction.

Use [sic] (meaning "so" or "thus") to

indicate that a mistake is in the
source you?re quoting and is not
your own.