The following are tips for formatting/styling citation elements (e.g., authors' names) in your works cited list or in text.
Note: In order to help illustrate the citation rules, some of the examples on this page refer to hypothetical sources.
| Works Cited List | In-text | |
|---|---|---|
| One author |
List the author's last name, a comma, and first name(s)
|
Include the author's last name and if available, the location of the cited information (e.g., page number, time stamp).
|
| Two authors |
List the authors in the order that they appear on the source. The format is first author's last name, first name, the word and, followed by the second author's first and last names.
|
Include the authors' last names separated by the word and. If available, list the location of the cited information (e.g., page number, time stamp).
|
| Three or more authors |
Include the first author's last name and first name(s), a comma, and "et al."
|
Include the first author's last name and "et al." If available, list the location of the cited information (e.g., page number, time stamp).
|
| Author's name includes a suffix |
Some authors may include a suffix (e.g., Jr., III). If this is the case, add a comma and the suffix at the end of the author element in the citation.
|
Generally, you don't need to include the suffix. Include the last name(s) and if available, the location of the cited information (e.g., page number, time stamp).
|
| Author's name in lowercase/uppercase |
Sometimes, the source may style all or part of the author's name in uppercase or lowercase. According to MLA, the first and last names of authors should begin with a capital letter and all other letters should be lowercase. Note that some authors prefer to style their names in uppercase or lowercase (e.g., bell hooks). If this is case, follow the author's preferred styling. Example: hooks, bell (instead of Hooks, Bell) |
Include the last name as listed in the works cited list. If available, list the location of the cited information (e.g., page number, time stamp). (hooks 52) |
| Names of nobility & premodern names |
According to MLA, use the first name if citing nobility/rulers (e.g., Queen Elizabeth II), and premodern people whose name includes the name of a place instead of a last name (e.g., Catherine of Aragon).
|
Use the first name listed in your works cited list and if available, the location of the cited information (e.g., page number, time stamp).
When discussing the individual in your text, you can mention the full name the first time (e.g., Queen Elizabeth II) and use the first name the remainder of your text (e.g., Elizabeth). |
| Names with Titles | In general, do not include titles (e.g., Dr., Saint, Professor) in the citation. Example: A work by Sir Frederick Grant Banting would be listed as: Banting, Frederick Grant |
In general, include the last name and if available, the location of the cited information (e.g., page number, time stamp).
|
| Group names |
Capitalize the major words in a group/organization's name.
|
Include the group/organization's name, capitalizing the major words in the name. If available, list the location of the cited information (e.g., page number, time stamp).
|
| Works Cited List | Within Text | |
|---|---|---|
| General format: Capitalization |
Use standard capitalization and copy the title without applying the styling (e.g., all uppercase) used on the source. Capitalize the first word of the title and subtitle, and any major words. Separate the title and subtitle with a colon.
Examples: |
Follow the same rules as the Works Cited list. |
| General format: Italicization |
See the citation examples for information on when to italicize titles or surround them in quotation marks. Generally, titles of stand-alone sources (such as books, journals, videos, etc.) are italicized. Titles of sources that are part of a greater whole (such as articles, chapters, encyclopedia entries, etc.) are usually surrounded in quotation marks. |
When mentioning titles of stand-alone sources (such as books, journals, videos, etc.) within your text, you should italicize, use title-style capitalization, and not use quotation marks:
When mentioning titles of sources that are part of a greater whole (such as articles, chapters, encyclopedia entries, etc.) in the body of your essay, you should use quotation marks, use title-style capitalization, and not italicize: In the article "The Effects of Stress on New Mothers"... |
| Sources with more than one subtitle |
If the source has two or more subtitles, add a semicolon before each subtitle.
|
Follow the same rules as the Works Cited list. |
| Titles & subtitles that end in a punctuation |
Omit the period that is normally added after the title. Similarly, omit the semicolon that appears before the subtitle.
Bolles, Richard N. What Color is Your Parachute? Your Guide to a Lifetime of Meaningful Work and Career Success. Ten Speed Press, 2022. Pratchett, Terry. Guards! Guards! e-book ed., Corgi, 2012. |
When mentioning the title in your text, omit the period if the title appears at the end of a sentence.
If mentioning within a sentence, you may include a comma to make it easier to read.
|
| Titles that end in an ellipsis or a dash |
According to MLA, if the title ends with an ellipsis or dash, add a period at the end of the title.
Reiner, Rob, director. When Harry Met Sally . . . . MGM, 1989. Dickinson, Emily. “I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—.” The Poems of Emily Dickinson, edited by R. W. Franklin, Harvard UP, 1999. |
When discussing a title that ends with an ellipsis or dash, add a period or comma after the title.
One of the most popular comic films of the 1980s was Rob Reiner’s When Harry Met Sally . . . . One of the most popular comic films of the 1980s was When Harry Met Sally . . . , directed by Rob Reiner. |
| Long titles | According to MLA, you may shorten long titles by including the first words of the title up to at least the first noun. Try to shorten in a way that makes the title sound vague. See the MLA Style website for examples. | Follow the same rules as the Works Cited list. |
In MLA style, the publisher refers to the organization or company responsible for making a work available. When citing publishers, include only the name of the publisher and omit business-related terms (e.g., Co., Inc., Corporation).
If the publisher is the press of an academic institution and the name contains the words "University Press", use the abbreviation UP. For example, Oxford UP (instead of Oxford University Press), and U of Toronto P (instead of University of Toronto Press).
However, spell out the word "Press" if the publisher's name includes this word. For example, MIT Press (not MIT P), and Broadview Press (not Broadview P).
The sponsoring organization typically applies to websites. This information can usually be found at the top or footer of the website. If the sponsoring organization is essentially the same as the author, you may omit it from your citation.
The general format for Works Cited citations is Day Month Year. See the citation examples for more information on what parts of the date are usually included for each type of source.
Note that months that are longer than four letters are abbreviated in the works cited list. Format months as follows: Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., May, June, July, Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.
According to MLA, you may use one of the following formats when mentioning text in your sentences. Remember to keep the format consistent throughout the work. Do not abbreviate months when mentioning them in your text.
MLA encourages listing URLs as they are listed on the browser. As long as the URL is accurate, it would be acceptable to add manual line breaks or have automatic line breaks (e.g., from a word processing app) to the URL. MLA recommends splitting a URL before a period and before or after any other punctuation or symbol (e.g., /, //, _). MLA does not recommend splitting URLs after a hyphen.
When a URL exceeds more than three full lines, you may shorten it to the host/base URL. MLA does not recommend using shortened URLs (e.g., bit.ly).
Generally, citations are arranged in alphabetical order by the authors' last names or name of the group author. If your citations include citations that begin with the title or description of the source, alphabetize them by the first letter of the first word, ignoring the articles a, an, and the. If the author's name or title starts with a symbol, such as @ or #, MLA recommends ignoring the symbol and alphabetizing according to the first letter of the name or title (e.g., @StatCan_eng will be alphabetized as StatCan_eng). If there are numbers in the title, MLA recommends treating the numbers like they were spelled out.
Example:
Ethical Guidelines for Social Media Research. American Psychological Association, 2024, https://URL.
Johnson, Daniel Brian. "The Role of Social Media in Political Discourse." Journal of Social Media and Politics, vol. 12, no. 3, 2022, pp. 123-145. Academic Search Premier, https://doiURL.
Nguyen, Janet. A. The Psychology of Social Media Addiction. HarperCollins, 2022.
Nguyen, Janet. A. Social Media and Relationships. Routledge, 2022.
@SocialMediaFacts. Infographic of the impact of social media on mental health. Instagram, 19 Sept. 2024, https://URL.
21st Century Learning. Social Media and Education. Penguin, 2023.
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