MLA 9th edition citation examples and formatting guide
View examples for how to format citations at MLA's website or use the Houff Library's MLA 9th edition citation handout. This handout provides examples for formatting Works Cited information and in-text citations.
- Citing our sources is a way to acknowledge the people who have helped us shape our ideas, or argue our points.
- Shows your reader where you got your ideas and facts from.
- Failing to cite our sources properly (intentionally or accidentally) is passing off others' ideas as our own -- this is plagiarism.
MLA entries are organized by core elements. Core elements describe the container – a fancy name for the work you’re looking at. If you can find an element, include it. If a particular element doesn’t apply to the container, skip it.
The MLA website has a practice template you can follow: https://style.mla.org/interactive-practice-template/
You are only responsible for including information that is readily available to you through the resource itself—for example, if a book does not supply an edition, you do not need to include that information in your citation. The following are abbreviated: month of publication, edition statement, and longer publisher names. For more information on abbreviations see the MLA manual.
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Print Source |
Citation for Works Cited page |
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Book with 1 author |
Last Name, First Name. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition [excluding first ed.], Publisher Name, Year of Publication.
Davis, Angela Y. Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday. 2nd ed., Pantheon, 1998. |
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Book with 2 authors |
1st Author Last Name, First Name, and 2nd Author Name in normal order. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition [excluding first ed.], Publisher Name, Year of Publication.
Dorris, Michael, and Louise Erdrich. The Crown of Columbus. 2nd ed., HarperCollins Publishers, 1999. |
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Book with 3+ authors |
1st Author Last Name, First Name, et al. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition [excluding first ed.], Publisher Name, Year of Publication.
Charon, Rita, et al. The Principles and Practice of Narrative Medicine. Oxford UP, 2017. |
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Book with editor(s) only |
Last Name, First Name, editor(s). Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition [excluding first ed.], Publisher Name, Year of Publication.
Sánchez, Ignacio M., editor. Mexican Literature in Theory. Bloomsbury Academic, 2018.
Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar, editors. The Female Imagination and the Modernist Aesthetic. 2nd ed., Gordon and Breach Science Publishers, 1986. |
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Book with an author and editor |
Author’s Last Name, First Name. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edited by First Name Last Name, edition [excluding first ed.], Publisher Name, Year of Publication.
Milton, John. The Riverside Milton. Edited by Roy Flannagan, 3rd ed., Houghton Mifflin, 1998. |
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Chapter of an edited book |
Author of Chapter Last Name, First Name. "Title of Chapter.” Title of Book: Subtitle if Any, edited/compiled by First Name Last Name, Publisher, Year of Publication, pp. page #s.
Dewar, James A. and Peng Hwa Ang. “The Cultural Consequences of Printing and the Internet.” Agent of Change: Print Culture Studies after Elisabeth L. Einstein, edited by Sabrina Alcorn Baron et al., Library of Congress, Center for the Book, 2007, pp. 365-77. |
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Short stories, essays, poems, or articles from a book or anthology |
Last Name, First Name. "Title of Short Story, Poem or Essay." Title of Book: Subtitle if Any, edited/compiled by First Name Last Name, Edition [excluding first ed.], vol. #, Publisher, Year of Publication, pp. page #s.
Conrad, Joseph. “Heart of Darkness.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature, edited by Peter Simon, Shorter 2nd ed., vol. 2, W.W. Norton, 2009, pp. 777-838. |
You are only responsible for including information that is readily available to you through the resource itself—for example, if a book does not supply an edition, you do not need to include that information in your citation. The following are abbreviated: month of publication, edition statement, and longer publisher names. For more information on abbreviations see the MLA manual.
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Electronic Source |
Citation for Works Cited page |
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Article from an online database |
Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article." Title of Journal, vol. #, issue #, Publication Date. Database Name, DOI or permalink if given.
Chan, Evans. “Postmodernism and Hong Kong Cinema.” Postmodern Culture, vol. 10, no. 3, May 2000. Project Muse, https://doi.org.10.1353/pmc.2000.0021. |
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Article from an online news source |
Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article." Title of Newspaper, Date of Publication, URL or permalink.
Parker-Pope, Tara. “How to Age Well.” The New York Times, 2 Nov. 2017, www.nytimes.com/guides/well-how-to-age-well. |
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Chapter for an ebook contained in a database |
Last Name, First Name. “Title of Chapter.” Title of Book: Subtitle if Any, Author/Editor of Book, Publisher Name, Year of Publication. Name of Library Database, DOI or permalink.
Toorn, Penny van, and Daniel Justice. “Aboriginal Writing.” The Cambridge Companion to Canadian Literature, edited by Eva-Marie Kröller, Cambridge UP, 2017, pp. 26-58. Cambridge Core, https://doi.org.10.1017/97813166. |
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Website with editor and no publisher |
Last Name, First Name, editor. Title of Website. Date of Publication/Update, URL.
Eaves, Morris, editor. The William Blake Archive. 1996-2014, www.blakearchive.org. |
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Website with editor and publisher |
Title of Website. Edited by First Name Last Name, Publisher, Date of Publication/Update, URL.
Piers Plowman Electronic Archive. Edited by Robert Adams et al., Society for Early English and Norse Electronic Texts, 7 June 2018, www.piers.chass.ncsu.edu/. |
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Website with author and publisher |
Last Name, First Name. Title of Website. Publisher or Sponsoring Organization if different from author, Date of Publication or Last Modified Date if given, URL.
Bauch, Nicholas. Enchanting the Desert: A Pattern Language for the Production of Space. Stanford UP, 2016, www.enchantingdesert.com-home. |
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Website written and published by an organization, or with no individual author |
“Title of the Article or Individual Page.” Title of the website. Name of the Publishers/Name of Organization [omit publisher if it is the same as the title], Date of Publication, URL.
Folgerpedia. Folger Shakespeare Library, 17 July 2018, folgerpedia.folger.edu/Main_Page.
“What Is Diabetes?” Heart.Org. American Heart Association, 3 Dec. 2021, https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/diabetes/about-diabetes. |
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Webpage/Article on a Website |
Beaton, Kate. “The Secret Garden.” Hark! A Vagrant, www.harkavagrant.com/index.php. Accessed 17 Jan. 2017.
Last Name, First Name. “Title of Page.” Title of Website, Publisher or Sponsoring Organization if different from author, Date of Publication or Last Modified Date if given, URL. Accessed Day Month Year viewed. |
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Online video from a sharing site like YouTube
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Last Name, First Name. “Title of Video.” Name of Streaming Site, uploaded by First Name Last Name/Name of Organization, Date of Publication, URL. If the author’s name is the same as the uploader, only cite the author once.
“2016 MLA-Prize-Winning Publications.” YouTube, uploaded by Modern Language Association of America, 18 Jan. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKROuhFF9dI. |
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Statista |
Last Name, First Name/Name of Organization. "Title of Document." Statista, Date of Publication, URL.
Frankwatching. "Leading Social Media Platforms Used by Marketers Worldwide as of January 2023." Statista, 20 Jun 2023, https://www-statista-com.ezbrcc.vccs.edu-statistics/259379-social-media-platforms-used-by-marketers-worldwide/.
"Number of Social Media Users Worldwide from 2017 to 2027 (in Billions)." Statista, 15 Jun 2022, https://www-statista-com/ezbrcc.vccs.edu/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-network-users/. |