Many more samples of citations presented in the MLA style can be found in the current edition of The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers on Reserve in the library. Please consult this book or a librarian for help with unusual resources.
Book with One Author:
Note: italicize the title of the book. (Note indents, order of authors' names and use of periods.)
Gleick, James. Chaos: Making a New Science. Penguin, 1987.
Book with Two Authors:
Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the
Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. Yale UP, 1979.
Chapter or Essay in a Book/ Anthology:
Bordo, Susan. "The Moral Content of Nabokov's Lolita." Aesthetic Subjects, edited by Pamela R. Matthews and David McWhirter,
U of Minnesota P, 2003, pp. 125-52.
A Translated Book:
After the title, add: "Translated by," and follow with the name(s) of the translator(s).
Foucault, Michel. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason. Translated by Richard Howard, Vintage-
Random House, 1988.
Print Scholarly Article or Article with Page Numbers:
Put the title of the article (the title of the source) in quotes and italicize the title of the journal. This sample includes the volume (136) and issue (2) numbers after the title. (In a bibliography, include indents, page numbers, and use of periods and commas.)
Blackburn, Robin. "Economic Democracy: Meaningful, Desirable, Feasile?" Daedalus, vol. 136, no. 2, 2007, pp. 36-45.
Scholarly Article Online Only/No Page Numbers:
Albada, Kelly F. "The Public and Private Dialogue about the American Family on Television." Journal of
Communication, vol. 50, no. 4, Dec. 2000, pp. 79-110. Wiley-Blackwell Journals, doi: 10.1111/j.1460-2466.2000.tb02864.x.
Popular Article (with two authors):
Put the title of the article in quotes and italicize the title of the journal. (In a bibliography. Note the order of author's names, indents, page numbers, and use of periods and colons.)
Print:
Weintraub, Arlene, and Laura Cohen. "A Thousand-Year Plan for Nuclear Waste." Business Week, 6
May 2002, pp. 94-96.
Online:
Weintraub, Arlene, and Laura Cohen. "A Thousand-Year Plan for Nuclear Waste." Business Week, 6
May 2002, pp. 94-96. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2002-05-05/a-thousand-year-plan-for-nuclear-waste.
If accessed through a database:
Weintraub, Arlene, and Laura Cohen. "A Thousand-Year Plan for Nuclear Waste." Business Week, 6 May 2002, pp. 94-96. Business
Source Complete, https://dickinson.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=bth&AN=6566717&site=eds-live&scope=site.
Newspaper Article:
If there is more than one edition available for that date:
Brubaker, Bill. "New Health Center Targets County's Uninsured Patients." Washington Post, 24 May 2007, p. LZ01.
Krugman, Andrew. "Fear of Eating." New York Times, late ed., 21 May 2007, A1.
If the newspaper is less well-known or local publication, names of cities not part of titles of foreign newspapers are added in brackets after the title and are not italicized in a bibliography.
Behre, Robert. "Presidential Hopefuls Get Final Crack at Core of S.C. Democrats." Post and Courier [Charleston], 29 Apr. 2007,
p. A11.
Trembacki, Paul. "Brees Hopes to Win Heisman for Team." Purdue Exponent [West Lafayette], 5 Dec. 2000, p. 20.
Newspaper Article accessed in a database:
If the newspaper is less well-known or local publication, names of cities not part of titles of foreign newspapers are added in brackets after the title and are not italicized in a bibliography.
Kenedy, T. "Low Unemployment Levels and a Buoyant Economy are Boon to Alberta Credit Unions." Globe and Mail [Toronto],
11 Oct. 1977, p. B3. AGRIS, https://dickinson.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=edsagr&AN=edsagr.US201302483303&site=eds-live&scope=site.
Encyclopedia article:
If the entries are arranged alphabetically, it is not necessary to include page numbers.
If citing an online reference source,
Dickens, Peter. "Darwin, Charles (1809-1882)." Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology, Cambridge UP, 2006.
Credo Reference, http://envoy.dickinson.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/cupsoc/darwin_charles_1809_1882/0.
If citing the print version,
Dickens, Peter. "Darwin, Charles (1809-1882)." Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology, Cambridge UP, 2006, pp. 210-133.
Website:
If any elements of the citation are unavailable, then skip those elements.
“College Receives Grant from Pa. DEP for Watershed Protection.” Dickinson College News Releases, Dickinson
College, 8 Apr. 2010, <http://www.dickinson.edu/story.aspx?id=10737429666>.
Peralta, Eyder. “Crowd Gathers In New York, Ahead Of Wall Street Protest.” National Public Radio, 17 Nov. 2011, <http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/11/17/142439078/
crowd-gathers-in-new-york-ahead-of-wall-street-protest>.
“Warhol: Headlines.” National Gallery of Art, 2011, <http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/warholinfo.shtm>.
In the above examples National Public Radio and National Gallery of Art are duplicated twice because they are the title of the website (the container) and the publisher.
Published Letters:
Woolf, Virginia. "1138: To T.S. Eliot." 28 July 1920. The Letters of Virginia Woolf, edited by Nigel Nicolson and Joanne
Trautmann, vol. 2, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976, pp. 437-38.
Unpublished Letters in Archives:
Benton, Thomas Hart. Letter to Charles Fremont. 22 June 1847. John Charles Fremont Papers, Southwest Museum Library, Los
Angeles. Manuscript.
Unpublished Correspondence:
Letter:
Hatch, James C. Letter to the author. Received by Daniel J. Cahill. 5 Apr. 2008.
Email:
Boyle, Anthony T. "Re: Utopia." Received by Daniel J. Cahill. 21 June 1997.
Memo:
Cahill, Daniel J. Memo to English dept. fac., 1 June 2000. Brooklyn Technical High School, New York.
Advertisement:
Air Canada. Advertisement. CNN, 15 May 1998.
The Fitness Fragrance by Ralph Lauren. Advertisement. GQ, Apr. 1997, 111-12.
Head and Shoulders. Advertisement. Newsweek, 17 March 2008, p. 2.
Lecture, Speech, and Address, or Reading:
Alter, Robert, and Marilynne Robinson. "The Psalms: A Reading and Conversation." 92Y: Cultural Institution and Community Center,
New York, 17 Dec. 2007. Reading.
Matuzzi, Robert. "Archive Trauma." Archive Trouble, MLA Annual Convention, Hyatt Regency, Chicago, 29 Dec. 2007.
A Manuscript or Typescript:
Including descriptor like "Manuscript" or "Typescript" is optional and only necessary if unclear what the source is.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. Late fourteenth century, British Lib., London, MS Harley 7334.
Dickinson Emily. "Distance is Not the Realm of Fox." 1870, Literary and Historical Manuscripts, Pierpont Morgan Lib., New York.
Henderson, George Wylie. Baby Lou and the Angel Bud. Mid twentieth century. Collection of Roslyn Kirkland Allen, New York.
Typescript.
Jones, Celia. "Shakespeare's Dark Lady Illuminated." 1988. Typescript.
Blog Entries:
Blog entries should follow the same citation style as web pages. List author and date published if possible. URL is recommended but not required- check if your professor requires it!
Nizza, Mike. “Go Ahead, Annoy Away, an Australian Court Says.” The Lede, New York Times, 15 July 2008.
<http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/>.
Doctorow, Cory. “How the Tax Code Works for Billionaires.” Boing Boing, 28 Nov. 2011.
<http://boingboing.net/2011/11/28/how-the-tax-code-works-for-bil.html>.
Films or Movies:
The Usual Suspects. Directed by Bryan Singer, performances by Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri, Stephen Baldwin, and Benecio del Toro, Polygram, 1995.
To emphasize specific performers or directors, begin the citation with the name of the desired performer or director, followed by the appropriate title for that person:
Lucas, George, director. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Twentieth Century Fox, 1977.
Images:
For image reproductions, treat the book or website as a container, so the creator of the image would be the author and the title of the image would be the title. Remember that for a second container, the title is listed first, before the contributors. For specific works of art, see the section. Cite following the guidelines for the type of resource, but make a note of where the visual is included in the resource, ie page or figure number. Cite the creator of the image as the author and the title of the image instead of an article title.
For a more detailed guide on citing images, go to Citing Images in MLA Style.
Work of Visual Art including Photographs in a Museum Collection:
MLA does not require you to include the dimensions, but it is safer to include it when citing for art and art history.
Artist. Title of Work. Date of Composition, Medium, Dimensions, Institution housing artwork, City where located (if not mentioned in the collection).
Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800, oil on canvas, Museo del Prado, Madrid.
Image in an Article:
Shi Lu. Girl in a Forest.1955, Private collection, Estate of Shi Lu. in "Confucius and Tolstoy in India: Shi Lu’s Paintings of 1970 and
the Socialist Culture of Maoist-Period China." Art History, Early View, June 2016, pp.1-32. Wiley-Blackwell
Journals, doi: 10.1111/1467-8365.12217.
Online Image:
If citing an image found using Google images, cite the original source – not Google. Access date is optional - check if your professor requires it!
Estrin, James. A Worshiper at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. In "New Translation of Catholic Mass Makes Its
Debut," New York Times, New York Times, 27 Nov. 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/28/nyregion/for-catholics-
the-word-was-a-bit-different-amen.html?ref=us>.
Image or Photograph from a Book:
Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800, Museo del Prado, Madrid. Gardener's Art Through the Ages, 10th ed., by Richard
G.Tansey and Fred S. Kleiner, Harcourt Brace, p. 939.