Rules for writers, Tenth edition - Diana Hacker, Nancy Sommers 2021

MLA list of works cited
Documenting sources in MLA style
Writing Papers in MLA Style

✵ List of MLA works cited models

✵ General guidelines for the works cited list

✵ How to answer the basic question “Who is the author?”

✵ How to cite a source reposted from another source

Your list of works cited, which you will place at the end of your paper, guides readers to the sources you have quoted, summarized, and paraphrased. Ask yourself: What would readers need to know to find this source for themselves? Usually, you will provide basic information common to most sources, such as author, title, publisher, publication date, and location (page numbers or URL, for example).

Throughout this section of the book, you’ll find models organized by type (article, book, website, multimedia source, and so on). But even if you aren’t sure exactly what type of source you have (Is this a blog post or an article?), you can follow two general principles:

✵

o Gather key publication information about the source — the citation elements.

o Organize the basic information about the source using what MLA calls “containers.”

The author’s name and the title of the work are needed for many (though not all) sources and are the first two pieces of information to gather. For the remaining pieces of information, you might find it helpful to think about whether the work is contained within one or more larger works. Some sources are self-contained. Others are nested in larger containers. The chart on the next page illustrates different kinds of sources and their containers.

Keep in mind that most sources won’t include all of the following pieces of information, so gather only those that are relevant to and available for your source.

Once you’ve gathered the relevant and available information about a source, you will organize the elements using the list above as your guideline. Note the punctuation after each element in that list. In this section you will find many examples of how elements and containers are combined to create works cited entries.

In the list of works cited, include only sources that you have quoted, summarized, or paraphrased in your paper. MLA’s guidelines apply to a wide variety of sources. You can adapt the guidelines and models in this section to source types you encounter in your research.

Gathering information and organizing entries

The elements needed for a works cited entry are the following:

✵ The author (if a work has one)

✵ The title

✵ The title of the larger work in which the source is located, if it is contained in a larger work (MLA calls the larger work a “container” — a collection, a journal, a magazine, a website, and so on)

✵ As much of the following information as is available about the source and the container:

✵ Editor, translator, director, performer

✵ Version or edition

✵ Number

✵ Publisher

✵ Date of publication

✵ Location of the source: page numbers, URL, DOI, and so on

Not all sources will require every element. See specific models in this section for more details.

Authors

✵ Arrange the list alphabetically by authors’ last names or by titles for works with no authors.

✵ For the first author in a works cited entry, list the last name first, followed by a comma and the first name. Put a second author’s name in typical order (first name followed by last name). For three or more authors, use “et al.” after the first author’s name.

✵ For organization authors, list the name in the normal order. If the name begins with an article (A, An, or The), omit it.

✵ Spell out “editor,” “translator,” “edited by,” and so on.

Titles

✵ In titles of works, capitalize all words except articles (a, an, the), prepositions, coordinating conjunctions, and the to in infinitives — unless the word is first or last in the title or subtitle.

✵ Use quotation marks for titles of articles and other short works. Place single quotation marks around a quoted term or a title of a short work that appears within an article title; italicize a term or title that is normally italicized.

✵ Italicize titles of books and other long works, including websites. If a book title contains another title that is normally italicized, neither italicize the internal title nor place it in quotation marks. If the title within the title is normally put in quotation marks, retain the quotation marks and italicize the entire book title.

Publication information

✵ Use the complete version of publishers’ names, except for terms such as Inc. and Co.; retain terms such as Books and Press. For university publishers, use U and P for University and Press.

✵ For a book, take the name of the publisher from the title page (or from the copyright page if it is not on the title page). For a website, the publisher might be at the bottom of a page or on the “About” page. If a work has two or more publishers, separate the names with slashes.

✵ If the title of a website and the publisher are the same or similar, give the title of the site but omit the publisher.

Dates

✵ For a book, give the most recent year found on the title page or the copyright page.

✵ For an article from a periodical like a journal or a magazine, use the most specific date given, whether it is a month and year, a full date, or a season (spring 2021).

✵ For a web source, use the posting date, the copyright date, or the most recent update date. Use the complete date as listed in the source. If a web source has no date, give your date of access at the end: Accessed 24 Feb. 2020.

✵ Abbreviate all months except May, June, and July, and give the date in inverted form: 13 Mar. 2020.

Page numbers

✵ For most articles and other short works, give page numbers when they are available, preceded by “pp.” (or “p.” for only one page).

✵ Do not use the page numbers from a printout of a web source.

✵ If a short work does not appear on consecutive pages, give the number of the first page followed by a plus sign: 35+.

URLs and DOIs

✵ Give a DOI (digital object identifier) if a source has one. Include the protocol and host (https://doi.org/).

✵ If a source does not have a DOI, include a permalink if possible. Copy the permalink provided by the website.

✵ If a source does not have a permalink or a DOI, include the full URL for the source. Copy the URL directly from your browser. It is optional to remove the protocol (http:// or https://) when you do not need to provide live links for your readers. Do not insert any line breaks or hyphens into the URL.

✵ If a URL is longer than three lines on the works cited page, you may shorten it, leaving at least the website host (for example, cnn.com or www.usda.gov) in the entry.

General guidelines for listing authors

The formatting of authors’ names in items 1—11 applies to all sources — books, articles, websites — in print, on the web, or in other media. For more models of specific source types, see items 12—62.

1. Single author

✵ Bowker, Gordon. James Joyce: A New Biography. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012.

2. Two authors

Put the first author’s last name first; present the second author’s name in the normal order.

✵ Gourevitch, Philip, and Errol Morris. Standard Operating Procedure. Penguin Books, 2008.

3. Three or more authors

Name the first author followed by “et al.” (Latin for “and others”). For in-text citations, see item 7 in 57a.

✵ Cunningham, Stewart, et al. Media Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.

4. Organization or company as author

Begin with the organization name, omitting any initial articles (A, An, or The). Your in-text citation also should treat the organization as the author (see item 8 in 57a).

✵ Human Rights Watch. World Report of 2015: Events of 2014. Seven Stories Press, 2015.

5. No author listed

Begin the entry with the work’s title. Alphabetize by the first word in the title (not including the articles The, A, or An).

✵ “CEO Activism in America Is Risky Business.” The Economist, 17 Apr. 2021, www.economist.com/business/2021/04/14/ceo-activism-in-america-is-risky-business.

NOTE: In web sources, often the author’s name is available but is not easy to find. It may appear at the end of a web page, in tiny print, or on another page of the site, such as the home page. Also, an organization or a government may be the author (see items 4 and 54).

6. Two or more works by the same author or group of authors

Alphabetize the works by title (ignoring the article A, An, or The at the beginning of a title). Use the author’s name or authors’ names for the first entry; for subsequent entries, use three hyphens and a period. The three hyphens must stand for exactly the same name or names, in the same order, that appear in the first entry.

✵ Coates, Ta-Nehisi. Between the World and Me. Spiegel and Grau, 2015.

✵ ---. We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy. One World, 2018.

✵ Eaton-Robb, Pat, and Susan Haigh. “Pandemic May Lead to Long-Term Changes in School Calendar.” AP News, 15 Apr. 2021, apnews.com/article/pandemics-connecticut-ned-lamont-975d41076ae6b985030c133614685f33.

✵ ---. “Rock Star Van Zandt Helping Connecticut Students Re-engage.” AP News, 20 Apr. 2021, apnews.com/article/health-music-education-arts-and-entertainment-entertainment-5b038c218b30863d76031134db46fa5d.

7. Editor or translator

Begin with the editor’s or translator’s name. After the name, add “editor” or “translator.” Use “editors” or “translators” for two or more (see also items 2 and 3 for how to handle multiple contributors).

✵ Horner, Avril, and Anne Rowe, editors. Living on Paper: Letters from Iris Murdoch, 1934—1995. Princeton UP, 2016.

8. Author with editor or translator

Begin with the name of the author. Place the editor’s or translator’s name after the title.

✵ Ullmann, Regina. The Country Road: Stories. Translated by Kurt Beals, New Directions Publishing, 2015.

9. Graphic narrative or other illustrated work

If a work has both an author and an illustrator, the order in your citation will depend on which contributor’s work you emphasize in your paper. If there are multiple contributors but you are not discussing a specific contributor’s work in your essay, you may begin with the title. If the author and illustrator are the same person, cite as you would a book with one author (see items 1 and 23).

✵ Gaiman, Neil. The Sandman: Overture. Illustrated by J. H. William III, DC Comics, 2015.

✵ Martínez, Hugo, illustrator. Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts. By Rebecca Hall, Simon and Schuster, 2021.

10. Author using a pseudonym (pen name)

Use the author’s name as it appears in the source, followed by the author’s real name in brackets, if you know it. Alternatively, if the author’s real name is more well-known, you may start with the real name followed by published as, italicized, and the pen name in brackets.

✵ North, Claire [Catherine Webb]. The Pursuit of William Abbey. Orbit, 2019.

✵ Franklin, Benjamin [published as Richard Saunders]. “Poor Richard, 1773.” 1773. Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-01-02-0093.

11. Screen name or social media account

Start with the account display name, followed by the screen name or handle (if available) in brackets. If the account name is a first and last name, invert it. If the account name and handle are very similar (for example, ACLU SoCal and @ACLU_SoCal), you may omit the handle.

✵ Gay, Roxane [@rgay]. “The shortness of cultural memory is always astonishing.” Twitter, 25 Apr. 2021, twitter.com/rgay/status/1386507940601995274?.

✵ Partlycloudy. Comment on “Is This the End?” by James Atlas. The New York Times, 25 Nov. 2012, nyti.ms/3nPkY5j#permid=7726753.

HOW TO

Answer the basic question “Who is the author?”

PROBLEM: Sometimes when you need to cite a source, it’s not clear who the author is. This is especially true for sources on the web and other nonprint sources, which may have been created by one person and uploaded by a different person or an organization. Whom do you cite as the author in such a case? How do you determine who is the author?

EXAMPLE: The video “Surfing the Web on the Job” (see below) was uploaded to YouTube by CBSNewsOnline. Is the person or organization that uploads the video the author of the video? Not necessarily.

STRATEGY: After you view or listen to the source a few times, ask yourself whether you can tell who is chiefly responsible for creating the content in the source. It could be an organization. It could be an identifiable individual. This video consists entirely of reporting by Daniel Sieberg, so the author is Sieberg.

CITATION: To cite the source, you would use the basic MLA guidelines for a video found on the web (item 41).

Articles and other short works

✵ Citation at a glance: Article in an online journal

✵ Citation at a glance: Article from a database

12. Basic format for an article or other short work

After the author’s name, provide the title of the article, followed by the title of the publication and other publication information.

a. Print

✵ Tilman, David. “Food and Health of a Full Earth.” Daedalus, vol. 144, no. 4, fall 2015, pp. 5—7.

b. Web

Include the article’s online location (such as the DOI, permalink, or URL).

✵ Florez, Nina. “Chicago Rally Held in Support of Colombian Protesters.” NBC 5 Chicago, 9 May 2021, www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/chicago-rallies-held-in-support-of-colombian-protesters/2505612.

VIDEO

For more details, watch "How to cite an online article in MLA style."

c. Database

Include the database title at the end of your citation. If the database provides a DOI or a permalink, use that after the title. Otherwise, provide the URL to the article in the database.

✵ Harris, Ashleigh May, and Nicklas Hållén. “African Street Literature: A Method for an Emergent Form beyond World Literature.” Research in African Literatures, vol. 51, no. 2, summer 2020, pp. 1—26. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2979/reseafrilite.51.2.01.

VIDEO

For more details about citing articles from a database, watch "How to cite an article in a database in MLA style."

13. Article in a journal

Provide the volume and issue numbers.

a. Print

✵ Matchie, Thomas. “Law versus Love in The Round House.” The Midwest Quarterly, vol. 56, no. 4, summer 2015, pp. 353—64.

b. Online journal

✵ McGuire, Meg. “Women, Healing, and Social Community: Cyberfeminist Activities on Reddit.” Kairos, vol. 25, no. 2, spring 2021, kairos.technorhetoric.net/25.2/topoi/mcguire/index.html.

c. Database

✵ Maier, Jessica. “A ’True Likeness’: The Renaissance City Portrait.” Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 65, no. 3, fall 2012, pp. 711—52. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.1086/668300.

Article in an online journal

To cite an article in an online journal in MLA style, include the following elements:

1. Author(s) of article

2. Title and subtitle of article

3. Title of journal

4. Volume and issue numbers

5. Date of publication (including month or season, if any)

6. Page number(s) of article, if given

7. Location of source (DOI, permalink, or URL)

For more on citing online articles in MLA style, see item 12.

CITATION AT A GLANCE

Article from a database

To cite an article from a database in MLA style, include the following elements:

1. Author(s) of article

2. Title and subtitle of article

3. Title of journal, magazine, or newspaper

4. Volume and issue numbers (for journal)

5. Date of publication (including month or season, if any)

6. Page number(s) of article, if any

7. Name of database

8. DOI or permalink, if available; otherwise, URL to article

For more on citing articles from a database in MLA style, see items 12 and 13.

14. Article in a magazine

Include the full publication date given in the magazine.

✵ Owusu, Nadia. “Head Wraps.” The New York Times Magazine, 7 Mar. 2021, p. 20.

✵ Stuart, Tessa. “New Study Suggests Burning Fossil Fuels Contributed to 1 in 5 Deaths in 2018.” Rolling Stone, 17 Feb. 2021, www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/fossil-fuels-air-pollution-premature-deaths-statistics-1127586/.

15. Article in a newspaper

Include the full publication date and the section and page number, if available.

✵ Corasaniti, Nick, and Jim Rutenberg. “Record Turnout Hints at Future of Vote in U.S.” The New York Times, 6 Dec. 2020, pp. A1+.

✵ Jones, Ayana. “Chamber of Commerce Program to Boost Black-Owned Businesses.” The Philadelphia Tribune, 21 Apr. 2021, www.phillytrib.com /news/business/chamber-of-commerce-program-to-boost-black-owned-businesses/article_6b14ae2f-5db2-5a59-8a67-8bbf974da451.html.

16. Editorial or opinion

List the author as it appears in the source. You may add the word “Editorial” or “Op-ed” to the end of the entry if it is not clear from the author or title of the source.

✵ Kansas City Star Editorial Board. “Kansas Considers Lowering Concealed Carry Age to 18. Why It’s Wrong for Many Reasons.” The Kansas City Star, 9 Mar. 2021, www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article249793143.html.

17. Letter to the editor

Use the label “Letter” as the title if the letter has no title or headline.

✵ Carasso, Roger. Letter. The New York Times, 4 Apr. 2021, Sunday Book Review sec., p. 5.

18. Comment on an online article

List the author’s name as it appears on the comment (see item 11). After the name, include “Comment on” followed by the article’s publication information. Include the URL directly to the comment, if possible; otherwise, use the URL for the article.

✵ satch. Comment on “No Compassion,” by Roy Edroso. Alicublog, 20 Mar. 2021, 9:50 a.m., disq.us/p/2fu0ulk.

19. Review

If the review is untitled, use the label “Review of” and the title and author or director of the work reviewed. Then add information for the publication in which the review appears.

✵ Jopanda, Wayne Silao. Review of America Is Not the Heart, by Elaine Castillo. Alon: Journal for Filipinx American and Diasporic Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, Mar. 2021, pp. 106—08. eScholarship, escholarship.org/uc/item/0d44t8wx.

✵ Bramesco, Charles. “Honeyland Couches an Apocalyptic Warning in a Beekeeping Documentary.” The A.V. Club, G/O Media, 23 July 2019, film.avclub.com/honeyland-couches-an-apocalyptic-warning-in-a-beekeepin-1836624795.

20. Interview

Begin with the person interviewed. Include the name of the interviewer after the title (or after the interviewee if the interview is untitled). For an interview that you conducted, use “the author” as the interviewer.

✵ Harjo, Joy. “The First Native American U.S. Poet Laureate on How Poetry Can Counter Hate.” Interview by Olivia B. Waxman. Time, 22 Aug. 2019, time.com/5658443/joy-harjo-poet-interview/.

✵ Kendi, Ibram X. Interview by Eric Deggans. Life Kit, NPR, 24 Oct. 2020.

✵ Akufo, Rosa. Interview with the author. 10 Nov. 2020.

21. Article in a dictionary or an encyclopedia (including a wiki)

List the author of the entry (if there is one), the title of the entry, and publication information for the reference work. For an online source that is continually updated, such as a wiki entry, use the most recent update date.

✵ Robinson, Lisa Clayton. “Harlem Writers Guild.” Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, edited by Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates Jr., 2nd ed., Oxford UP, 2005, p. 163.

✵ “House Music.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 Apr. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_music.

22. Letter in a collection

List the title as it appears in the collection (or, if untitled, “Letter to” and the recipient), followed by the date of the letter. End with the title and publication information for the collection.

✵ Murdoch, Iris. Letter to Raymond Queneau. 7 Aug. 1946. Living on Paper: Letters from Iris Murdoch, 1934—1995, edited by Avril Horner and Anne Rowe, Princeton UP, 2016, pp. 76—78.

✵ Oblinger, Maggie. “Letter from Maggie Oblinger to Charlie Thomas, March 31, 1895.” 31 Mar. 1895. Prairie Settlement: Nebraska Photographs and Family Letters, 1862—1912, Library of Congress / American Memory, memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/ps:@field(DOCID+l306)#l3060001.

Books and other long works

✵ Citation at a glance: Book

✵ Citation at a glance: Selection from an anthology or a collection

23. Basic format for a book

a. Print book or e-book

If you have used an e-book, indicate “e-book ed.” before the publisher’s name.

✵ Porter, Max. Lanny. Graywolf Press, 2019.

✵ Cabral, Amber. Allies and Advocates: Creating an Inclusive and Equitable Culture. E-book ed., Wiley, 2021.

b. Web

Give whatever print publication information is available for the work, followed by the title of the website and the URL. If the book’s original publication date is not available, include the date of online publication.

✵ Piketty, Thomas. Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Translated by Arthur Goldhammer, Harvard UP, 2014. Google Books, books.google.com /books?isbn=0674369556.

c. Audiobook

After the title, include the phrase “Narrated by” followed by the narrator’s full name. If the author and narrator are the same, include only the last name. Then include “audiobook ed.,” the publisher, and the date of release.

✵ de Hart, Jane Sherron. Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life. Narrated by Suzanne Toren, audiobook ed., Random House Audio, 2018.

VIDEO

Watch "How to cite a book in MLA style" for more details on finding the information you need to cite a book.

Book

To cite a print book in MLA style, include the following elements:

1. Author(s)

2. Title and subtitle

3. Publisher

4. Year of publication (latest year)

For more on citing books in MLA style, see items 23—30.

24. Parts of a book (foreword, introduction, preface, or afterword)

✵ Coates, Ta-Nehisi. Foreword. The Origin of Others, by Toni Morrison, Harvard UP, 2017, pp. vii—xvii.

✵ Sullivan, John Jeremiah. “The Ill-Defined Plot.” Introduction. The Best American Essays 2014, edited by Sullivan, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014, pp. xvii—xxvi.

25. Book in a language other than English

Capitalize the title according to the conventions of the book’s language. If your readers are not familiar with the language of the book, include a translation of the title in brackets.

✵ Vargas Llosa, Mario. El sueño del celta [The Dream of the Celt]. Alfaguara Ediciones, 2010.

26. Entire anthology or collection

An anthology is a collection of works on a common theme, often with different authors for the selections and usually with an editor for the entire volume.

✵ Marcus, Ben, editor. New American Stories. Vintage Books, 2015.

27. One selection from an anthology or a collection

✵ Sayrafiezadeh, Saïd. “Paranoia.” New American Stories, edited by Ben Marcus, Vintage Books, 2015, pp. 3—29.

Selection from an anthology or a collection

To cite a selection from an anthology in MLA style, include the following elements:

1. Author(s) of selection

2. Title and subtitle of selection

3. Title and subtitle of anthology

4. Editor(s) of anthology

5. Publisher

6. Year of publication

7. Page number(s) of selection

For more on citing selections from anthologies in MLA style, see items 26—28.

VIDEO

For more details about where to find information in an anthology, watch "How to cite a selection from an anthology in MLA style."

28. Two or more selections from an anthology or a collection

Provide an entry for the entire anthology (see item 26) and a shortened entry for each selection. Alphabetize the entries by authors’ or editors’ last names. Here, the Eisenberg and Sayrafiezadeh selections appear in Marcus’s anthology, New American Stories.

✵ Eisenberg, Deborah. “Some Other, Better Otto.” Marcus, pp. 94—136.

✵ Marcus, Ben, editor. New American Stories. Vintage Books, 2015.

✵ Sayrafiezadeh, Saïd. ”Paranoia.” Marcus, pp. 3—29.

29. Edition other than the first

If the book has a translator or an editor in addition to the author, give the name of the translator or editor before the edition number (see item 8 for a book with an editor or a translator).

✵ Eagleton, Terry. Literary Theory: An Introduction. 3rd ed., U of Minnesota P, 2008.

30. Multivolume work

Include the total number of volumes at the end of the entry, using the abbreviation “vols.” If the volumes were published over several years, give the inclusive dates of publication.

✵ Cather, Willa. Willa Cather: The Complete Fiction and Other Writings. Edited by Sharon O’Brien, Library of America, 1987—92. 3 vols.

If you cite only one volume in your paper, include the volume’s title (if the volumes are individually titled) and number and give the date of publication for that volume.

✵ Cather, Willa. Willa Cather: Later Novels. Edited by Sharon O’Brien, Library of America, 1990. Vol. 2 of Willa Cather: The Complete Fiction and Other Writings.

31. Sacred text

Give the title of the edition (taken from the title page), italicized; the editor’s or translator’s name (if any); and publication information. Add the name of the version, if there is one, before the publisher.

✵ The Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. Edited by Herbert G. May and Bruce M. Metzger, Revised Standard Version, Oxford UP, 1965.

✵ Quran: The Final Testament. Translated by Rashad Khalifa, Authorized English Version with Arabic Text, Universal Unity, 2000.

32. Dissertation

✵ Kabugi, Magana J. The Souls of Black Colleges: Cultural Production, Ideology, and Identity at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. 2020. Vanderbilt U, PhD dissertation. Vanderbilt University Institutional Repository, hdl.handle.net/1803/16103.

Web sources

✵ Citation at a glance: Work from a website

33. An entire website

Include the website’s sponsor or publisher and the update date. If the website name is the same or similar to the publisher, do not include it; if no date is provided, include the date you accessed the source, as in the example at the top of the next page.

✵ Lift Every Voice. Library of America / Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 2020, africanamericanpoetry.org/.

✵ The Newton Project. 2021, www.newtonproject.ox.ac.uk/.

34. Work from a website

a. Short work (article, individual web page)

Place the title in quotation marks. If there is no posting date or update date, include the date you accessed the source.

✵ Enzinna, Wes. “Syria’s Unknown Revolution.” Pulitzer Center, 24 Nov. 2015, pulitzercenter.org/projects/middle-east-syria-enzinna-war-rojava.

✵ Bali, Karan. “Shashikala.” Upperstall, upperstall.com/profile/shashikala/. Accessed 22 Apr. 2021.

b. Long work (book, report)

Italicize the title. If a book’s original publication date is not available, include the date of online publication.

✵ Euripides. The Trojan Women. Translated by Gilbert Murray, Oxford UP, 1915. Internet Sacred Text Archive, www.sacred-texts.com/cla/eurip/trojan.htm.

VIDEO

For more details, watch "How to cite a work from a website in MLA style."

Work from a website

To cite a work from a website in MLA style, include the following elements:

1. Author(s) of work, if any

2. Title and subtitle

3. Title of website

4. Publisher of website (unless it is the same as the title of site)

5. Update date

6. URL of page

7. Date of access (if no update date on site)

For more on citing sources from websites in MLA style, see item 34.

35. Blog post

Cite a blog post as you would a work from a website (see item 34), with the title of the post in quotation marks. (To cite a comment on a blog, follow the guidelines in item 18.)

✵ Horgan, John. “My Quantum Experiment.” Cross-Check, Scientific American, 5 June 2020, blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/my-quantum-experiment/.

✵ Edroso, Roy. “No Compassion.” Alicublog, 18 Mar. 2021, alicublog.blogspot.com/2021/03/no-compassion.html.

36. Social media post

Cite as a work from a website (see item 34). Begin with the author (see item 11 for citing screen names). Use the caption or full text of the post as the title, if it is brief; if the post is long, use the first few words followed by an ellipsis. If the post has no text, or if you focus on a visual element in your paper, provide a description of the post, as in the last example.

✵ Abdurraqib, Hanif [@NifMuhammad]. “Tracy Chapman really one of the greatest Ohio writers.” Twitter, 30 Mar. 2021, twitter.com/NifMuhammad/status/1377086355667320836.

✵ ACLU. ”Public officials have . . .” Facebook, 10 May 2021, www.facebook.com/aclu/photos/a.74134381812/10157852911711813.

✵ Rosa, Camila [camixvx]. Illustration of nurses in masks with fists raised. Instagram, 28 Apr. 2020, www.instagram.com/p/B_h62W9pJaQ/.

Audio, visual, and multimedia sources

37. Podcast series or episode

Include the distributor or production company and the site or service where you accessed the podcast.

✵ “Childish Gambino: Because the Internet.” Dissect, hosted by Cole Cuchna, season 7, episode 1, Spotify, Sep. 2020. Spotify app.

✵ Dolly Parton’s America. Hosted by Jad Abumrad, produced and reported by Shima Oliaee, WNYC Studios, 2019, www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dolly-partons-america.

38. Stand-alone audio segment

✵ “The Past Returns to Gdańsk.” Written and narrated by Michael Segalov, BBC, 26 Apr. 2021, www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000vh4f.

39. Film

Generally, begin the entry with the title, followed by the director, as in the first example. If your paper emphasizes one or more people involved with the film, you may begin with those names, as in the second example. If you viewed the film on a streaming service, include the app or website name and URL.

✵ Judas and the Black Messiah. Directed by Shaka King, Warner Bros. Pictures, 2021.

✵ Kubrick, Stanley, director. A Clockwork Orange. Hawk Films / Warner Bros. Pictures, 1971. Netflix, www.netflix.com.

40. Supplementary material accompanying a film

Begin with the title of the supplementary material, in quotation marks, and the names of any important contributors. End with information about the film, as in item 39, and about the location of the supplementary material.

✵ “Sweeney’s London.” Produced by Eric Young. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, directed by Tim Burton, DreamWorks, 2007, disc 2. DVD.

41. Video from the web

If the video is viewed on a video sharing site such as YouTube or Vimeo, put the name of the uploader after the name of the website. If the video emphasizes a single speaker or presenter, list that person as the author.

42. Video game

List the developer or author of the game (if any); the title, italicized; the version, if there is one; and the distributor and date of publication. If the game can be played on the web, add information as for a work from a website (see item 34).

✵ Gearbox Software. Borderlands 3: Deluxe Edition. 2K Games, 2019.

43. Computer software or app

Cite as a video game (see item 42), giving whatever information is available about the version, distributor, and date.

✵ NYT Cooking. Version 4.36, The New York Times, 2021.

44. TV or radio episode or program

After the episode and/or series title, provide relevant information about the program, such as contributors; the episode number (if any); the network, distributor, or production company; and the date of broadcast or upload. If you viewed the program on a website or in an app, include that information.

✵ “Umbrellas Down.” This American Life, hosted by Ira Glass, WBEZ, 10 July 2020.

✵ “Shock and Delight.” Bridgerton, season 1, episode 2, Shondaland / Netflix, 2020. Netflix, www.netflix.com.

✵ Hillary. Directed by Nanette Burstein, Propagate Content / Hulu, 2020. Hulu app.

45. Transcript

Cite the source (interview, radio or television program, video, and so on), and add the label “Transcript” at the end of the entry.

✵ Kundu, Anindya. “The ’Opportunity Gap’ in US Public Education — and How to Close It.” TED, May 2019, https://www.ted.com/talks/anindya_kundu_the_opportunity_gap_in_us_public_education_and_how_to_close_it/transcript. Transcript.

46. Live performance

Begin with either the title of the work performed or the author, composer, or main performer if relevant. Include relevant contributors; the theater, ballet, or opera company, if any; the date of the performance; and the location.

✵ Beethoven, Ludwig van. Piano Concerto No. 3. Conducted by Andris Nelsons, performed by Paul Lewis and Boston Symphony Orchestra, 9 Oct. 2015, Symphony Hall, Boston.

✵ Schreck, Heidi. What the Constitution Means to Me. Directed by Oliver Butler, 16 June 2019, Helen Hayes Theater, New York City.

47. Lecture or public address

Begin with the speaker’s name, the title of the lecture, the sponsoring organization, the date, and the location. If you viewed the lecture on the web, cite as you would an online video (see item 41). If the lecture or address has no title, use the label “Lecture” or “Address” after the speaker’s name.

✵ Gay, Roxane. “Difficult Women, Bad Feminists and Unruly Bodies.” Beatty Lecture Series, 18 Oct. 2018, McGill University.

48. Musical score

Begin with the composer’s name; the title of the work, italicized; and the date of composition. For a print source, give the publisher and date. For an online source, give the title of the website, the publisher, the date, and the URL.

✵ Beethoven, Ludwig van. Symphony no. 5 in C Minor, Opus 67. 1807. Center for Computer Assisted Research in the Humanities, 2008, scores.ccarh.org/beethoven/sym/beethoven-sym5-1.pdf.

49. Music recording

Begin with the name of the person you want to emphasize: the composer, conductor, or performer. After the song and/or album title, give the names of relevant performers, the record company, and the date. If you accessed the recording on a website or app, include that information.

✵ Bach, Johann Sebastian. Bach: Violin Concertos. Performances by Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, and English Chamber Orchestra, EMI, 2002.

✵ Bad Bunny. “Vete.” YHLQMDLG, Rimas, 2020. Apple Music app.

50. Artwork, photograph, or other visual art

Begin with the artist and the title of the work, italicized. If you viewed the original work, give the date of composition followed by a comma and the location. If you viewed the work online, give the date of composition followed by a period and the website title, publisher (if any), and URL. If you viewed the work reproduced in a book, cite as a work in an anthology or a collection (item 27), giving the date of composition after the title.

✵ Bradford, Mark. Let’s Walk to the Middle of the Ocean. 2015, Museum of Modern Art, New York.

✵ Lange, Dorothea. Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California. Mar. 1936. MOMA, www.moma.org/collection/works/50989.

✵ Kertész, André. Meudon. 1928. Street Photography: From Atget to Cartier-Bresson, by Clive Scott, Tauris, 2011, p. 61.

51. Visual such as a table, a chart, or another graphic

Cite a visual as you would a short work within a longer work. Add a descriptive label at the end if the type of visual is not clear from the title or if it is important for your work.

✵ “New COVID-19 Cases Worldwide.” Coronavirus Resource Center, Johns Hopkins U and Medicine, 3 May 2021, coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/new-cases. Chart.

✵ “Number of Measles Cases Reported by Year 2010—2019.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 22 Feb. 2019, www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html. Table.

52. Cartoon or comic strip

Give the cartoonist’s name; the title of the cartoon, if it has one, in quotation marks, or the label “Cartoon” or “Comic Strip” without quotation marks in place of a title; and publication information. Cite an online cartoon as a work from a website (item 34).

✵ Shiell, Mike. Cartoon. The Saturday Evening Post, Jan.—Feb. 2021, p. 8.

✵ Munroe, Randall. “Heartbleed Explanation.” xkcd, xkcd.com/1354/. Accessed 10 Oct. 2020.

53. Advertisement

If the advertisement has no title, begin with the label “Advertisement for” and what is being advertised, followed by the publication information for the source in which the advertisement appears. For some special advertisement formats, you may want to end with a label describing it, such as “Billboard.”

54. Map

Cite a map as you would a short work within a longer work. If the map is published on its own, cite it as a book or another long work. Use the label “Map” at the end if it is not clear from the title.

✵ “Map of Sudan.” Global Citizen, Citizens for Global Solutions, 2011, globalsolutions.org/blog/bashir#.VthzNMfi_FI.

✵ “Vote on Secession, 1861.” Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection, U of Texas at Austin, 1976, www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/atlas_texas/texas_vote_secession_1861.jpg. Map.

HOW TO

Cite a source reposted from another source

PROBLEM: Some sources that you find on the web, particularly on blogs or on video-sharing sites, did not originate with the person who uploaded or published the source online. In such a case, how do you give proper credit to the source?

EXAMPLE: Say you need to cite President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address. You have found a video on YouTube that provides footage of the address (see image). The video was uploaded by PaddyIrishMan2 on October 29, 2006. But clearly, PaddyIrishMan2 is not the author of the video or of the address.

STRATEGY: Start with what you know. The source is a video that you viewed on the web. For this particular video, John F. Kennedy is the speaker and the author of the inaugural address. PaddyIrishMan2 is identified as the person who uploaded the source to YouTube.

CITATION: To cite the source, you can follow the basic MLA guidelines for a video found on the web (see item 41).

NOTE: If your work calls for a primary source, you should try to find the original source of the video; a reference librarian can help.

Government and legal documents

55. Government document

Treat the government agency as the author. In most situations, give the name of the publishing agency as presented by the source, as in the first example. If you are using several government sources, you may want to standardize your list of works cited by listing the name of the government, spelled out, followed by the name of any agencies and subagencies, as in the second example.

✵ U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Consumer Expenditures Report 2019.” BLS Reports, Dec. 2020, www.bls.gov/opub/reports/consumer-expenditures/2019/home.htm.

✵ United States, Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration. Environmental Justice Analysis in Transportation Planning and Programming: State of the Practice. Feb. 2019, www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/environmental_justice/publications/tpp/fhwahep19022.pdf.

56. Historical document

The titles of most historical documents, such as bills and treaties, are neither italicized nor put in quotation marks. When citing a constitution, use the title as it appears in the version you cited, in italics.

✵ The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription. 2020. America’s Founding Documents, US National Archives and Records Administration, www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitutiontranscript.

✵ Magna Carta. 1215. Britannia History, www.britannia.com/history/docs/magna2.html.

57. Legislative act (law)

Begin with the name of the legislative body and the act’s Public Law number. Then give the publication information for the source in which you found the act.

✵ United States, Congress. Public Law 116—136. United States Statutes at Large, vol. 134, 2019, pp. 281—615. U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-116publ136/uslm/PLAW-116publ136.xml.

58. Court case

List the name of the court. Then provide the title of the case, the date of the decision, and publication information.

✵ United States, Supreme Court. Utah v. Evans. 20 June 2002. Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/536/452.

Personal communication and course materials

59. Personal letter

Include the letter’s format.

✵ Nadir, Abdul. Letter to the author. 6 May 2021. Typescript.

60. E-mail message

✵ Lewis-Truth, Antoine. E-mail to the Office of Student Financial Assistance. 30 Aug. 2020.

61. Text message

✵ Primak, Shoshana. Text message to the author. 6 May 2021.

62. Course materials

For materials posted to an online learning management system, include as much information as is available about the source (author, title or description, and any publication information); then give the course, instructor, platform, institution name, date of posting, and URL. For materials delivered in a print or PDF course pack, include author and title of the work; the words “Course pack for” with the course number and name; “compiled by” with the instructor’s name; the term; and the institution name.

✵ Rose, Mike. “Blue Collar Brilliance.” Introduction to College Writing, taught by Melanie Li. Blackboard, Merrimack College, 9 Sept. 2020, blackboard.merrimack.edu/ultra/courses/_25745_1/cl/readings.