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MLA Style - 9th Edition : Works Cited

Reference Citations

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

Works Cited: A Quick Guide

List of core elements

Core Elements

Each entry in the list of works cited is composed of facts common to most works—the MLA core elements. They are assembled in a specific order.

Containers

The concept of containers is crucial to MLA style. When the source being documented forms part of a larger whole, the larger whole can be thought of as a container that holds the source. For example, a short story may be contained in an anthology. The short story is the source, and the anthology is the container.

Practice Template

Learn how to use the MLA practice template to create entries in the list of works cited.

Placement

  • The list of works cited appears at the end of the paper, after any endnotes.
  • Center the heading, Works Cited, an inch from the top of the page (fig. 4).
  • If the list contains only one entry, make the heading Work Cited.
  • Doublespace between the heading and the first entry.
  • Begin each entry flush with the left margin; if an entry runs more than one line, indent the subsequent line or lines half an inch from the left margin. This is called a hanging indent, and you can set your word processing program to create it automatically for a group of paragraphs. Hanging indent makes alphabet lists easier to use.
  • Double-space the entire list.

I am citing a ...

  1. 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.
  2. "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.
  3. Title of the Journal, Note: Use italics for the title of a longer work like a journal and use headline-style capitalization.
  4. vol. #,
  5. no. #, Note: If there is no additional number after the volume, only include the volume number.
  6. Publication date,
  7. pp. xxx-xxx.

If accessed online or in a library database...

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

 

Gosine, Kevin, and Emmanuel Tabi. "Disrupting Neoliberalism and Bridging the Multiple Worlds of Marginalized Youth via Hip-Hop Pedagogy: Contemplating Possibilities." Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, vol. 38, no. 5, 2016, pp. 445-467. Research Gate, doi: 10.1080/10714413.2016.1221712.
  1. 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.
  2. "Title of the Article." Note: Include the title of a shorter work in quotation marks and use headline-style capitalization.
  3. 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.
  4. Publication date, Note: Use the formate Date Abbreviated Month Year.
  5. 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

  1. 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.
  2. Title of the Book. Note: Use italics for the title of a longer work like a book and use headline-style capitalization.
  3. Edition Note: If there are multiple editions, use the format 1st/2nd/3rd ed.,
  4. Publisher,
  5. Publication date.

 

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

eBook

  1. 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.
  2. Title of the Book, Note: Use italics for the title of a longer work like a book and use headline-style capitalization.
  3. 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.
  4. Publisher,
  5. Publication date.
  6. Database, Note: Use italics for names of databases.
  7. 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, http://libproxy.csudh.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=1105577&site=ehost-live&scope=site&ebv=EB&.
  1. 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.
  2. "Title of the Chapter." Note: Include the title of a shorter work like a chapter in quotation marks and use headline-style capitalization.
  3. Title of the Book, Note: Use italics for the title of a longer work like a book and use headline-style capitalization.
  4. 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.
  5. Publisher,
  6. Publication date,
  7. pp. xxx-xxx.
  8. Database, Note: Use italics for names of databases.
  9. 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, http://libproxy.csudh.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=390319.
  1. Author. Note: If there is no individual author, begin the citation with "Title of the Page."
  2. "Title of Page, Section, or Document."
  3. Publisher,
  4. URL.

 

"MLA Style - 9th Edition." Felician University Library, https://felician.libguides.com/mla9.

Songs, Recordings, and Performances

Song from an Album

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

Song on a website

Snail Mail. “Thinning.” Bandcamp, snailmailbaltimore.bandcamp.com.

Concert Attended in Person

Beyoncé. The “Formation” World Tour. 14 May 2016, Rose Bowl, Los Angeles.

 

Movies, Videos, and Television Shows

A Movie Viewed in Person

Opening Night. Directed by John Cassavetes, Faces Distribution, 1977. 

A Movie Viewed Online

Richardson, Tony, director. Sanctuary. Screenplay by James Poe, Twentieth Century Fox, 1961. YouTube, uploaded by LostCinemaChannel, 17 July 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMnzFM_Sq8s.

A Television Show Viewed on Physical Media

“Hush.” 1999. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Fourth Season, created by Joss Whedon, episode 10, Mutant Enemy / Twentieth Century Fox, 2003, disc 3. DVD.

 

Images

A Photograph Viewed in Person

Cameron, Julia Margaret. Alfred, Lord Tennyson. 1866, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

A Painting Viewed Online

Bearden, Romare. The Train. 1975. MOMA, www.moma.org/collection/works/65232?locale=en.

An Untitled Image from a Print Magazine

Karasik, Paul. Cartoon. The New Yorker, 14 Apr. 2008, p. 49.

 

Check out more examples of citing online sources from the MLA Style Cetner. 

 

Ordering the List of Works Cited

  • Arrange the works-cited list in alphabetical order by author's last name. 
  • The alphabetization is ased on the work's title when the entry lacks an author, there is more than one entry with the same author. If two works have the same title, list them chronologically.
  • To document two or more works by the same author, give the author's name in the first entry only. Therafter, in place of the name, type three em dashes (three hyphens).

 

Boroff, Marie. Language and the Poet: Verbal Artistry in Frost, Stevens, and Moore. U of Chicago P, 1979.

—. "Sound Symbolism as Drama in the Poetry of Robert Frost." PMLA, vol. 107, no. 1, Jan. 1992, pp.131-44. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/462806

Annotated Bibliography

Style a source in an annotated bibliography just as you would one in a list of works cited, and then append an annotation to the end of the entry, indented an inch from the start of the entry. See template below. 

Basic Writing and Format Tips:

  • Start with the same format as a regular References list.

  • After each citation, the annotation is indented two spaces from the left margin as a block.

  • Each annotation should be one paragraph, between three to six sentences long (about 150-200 words).

  • All lines should be double-spaced. Do not add an extra line between the citations.

  • If your list of citations is especially long, you can organize it by topic.

  • Try to be objective, and give explanations if you state any opinions.

  • Use the third person (e.g., he, she, the author) instead of the first person (e.g., I, my, me).

Annotations

An annotation is a summary and/or evaluation. Therefore, an annotated bibliography includes a summary and/or critical evaluation of each of the sources. The annotated bibliography looks like a References page but includes an annotation after each full citation.

Annotated bibliographies can be part of a larger research project, or can be a stand-alone report in itself.

Depending on your project or the assignment, your annotations may do one or more of the following: 

  • Summarize

    • Some annotations merely summarize the source. What are the main arguments? What topics are covered? The length of your annotations will determine how detailed your summary is. Who wrote the document? When and where was the document written?

  • Assess

    • After summarizing a source, it may be helpful to evaluate it. Is it a useful source? How does it compare with other soruces in your biliography? What is the goal of this source?

  • Reflect

    • Once you've summarized and assessed a source, ask yourself how it fits into your research. How does it help shape your argument? How can you use this source in your research project?

Your annotated bibliography may include some of these, all of these, or even others. If you're doing this for a class, you should get specific guidelines from your instructor.