MLA Citation

NOTE: THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION REFLECTS THE NINTH EDITION OF MLA STYLE, RELEASED IN SPRING 2021.

Modern Language Association (MLA) style is used by the humanities and is intended for research and analysis based on an objective point of view. Researchers in MLA disciplines focus on the precise language of evidence. MLA uses in-text citation of evidence and focuses on authors and text sources. Disciplines that use MLA include literature, film, theatre, communications, and language studies... including this website.

Like all citation style guides, MLA citations provide readers with the three things they need to find the original source: Who made the source? What is the source called? Where can I Find it? Or, in the words of the MLA Handbook:

AUTHOR. TITLE. CONTAINER. CONTAINER.

AUTHORS: WHO MADE THE SOURCE

In MLA style, the first part of a source citation is the name of the primary creator of the work, whether they be a writer, playwright, musician, artist, government office, or corporation. However, this spot is only for primary creators—secondary contributors like editors, translators, directors, performers, illustrators, and the like are listed in the container section. Here are the rules around how authors are listed in MLA citations:

The single author is listed with their surname followed by a comma followed by their given name (and middle name if used) followed by a period. Authors with initialized first or last names (like George R. R. Martin) should have a period and space after each initial. Any honorifics like Ms., Dr., or Rev. are dropped.

Barry, Max. Jennifer Government. Doubleday, 2003.

An exception to this is if the author is from a country where family names are written before given names (such as China, Japan, Thailand, and both Koreas). In this case, the author's name is not inverted, nor is a comma added.

Liu Cixin. The Three-Body Problem. Translated by Ken Liu, Tor, 2016. Remembrance of Earth's Past series no. 1.

If the source has two authors, the first is listed just like a single author: their surname followed by a comma followed by their given name followed by a comma. Then add the word and (never the symbol &) followed by the second name written as given name then surname followed by a period. The order of the two authors in the citation should match the order provided in the original text.

Shusterman, Neal, and Jarrod Shusterman. Dry. Simon & Schuster, 2018.

If there are three or more authors, the first is listed just like a single author: their surname followed by a comma followed by their given name followed by a comma. Then add the phrase et al. (Latin for et alia, meaning "and others"). The author in the citation should be the first author name provided in the original text.

Bruder, Melissa, et al. A Practical Handbook for the Actor. Vintage, 1986.

Some authors may use a non-traditional name where they have no given name or surname: examples include 2Chainz, Madonna, Queen Latifa, King Charles III, and St. Francis of Assisi. For such names, list their selected name followed by a period without any inversion and make sure the first letter of their name is capitalized.

P!nk. "Glitter in the Air." Funhouse, LaFace/Jive, 2008.

Some authors publish under two different names, one well-known or primary name and a secondary name.¹ If an author's secondary name is used on a source but the textual use of the source refers to the author by their primary name, the researcher should list the author's primary name followed by the words "published as" and the author's secondary name in brackets before the period.

Roberts, Nora [published as J. D. Robb]. Naked in Death. Berkeley, 1995.

Similarly, if a social media post or other internet media is posted by an author who is better known by their screen name, then their screen name should be treated as a secondary name: enclosed in brackets after the author's name but before the period.

Johnson, Kylie [@HauntedHippieHorror]. "On the outside looking in... 2 more days until the release of Somnum." Instagram, 4 July 2022, 7:53 p.m. MST, instagram.com/p/CfnOOgsFVs9.

Some authors are not individuals but a group—these are called corporate authors. Corporate authors include musical acts like The Beatles and organizations like The Modern Language Association. When citing these authors, treat them like a non-traditional name but leave off any articles (a, an, the) that start their name.

Black Keys. "Lonely Boy." El Camino, Nonesuch Records, 2011.

EXCEPTION: To avoid redundancy, if a corporate author has the same name as the publisher, leave the author spot blank. In this example, The Modern Language Association authored the book, but since they also published it, nothing is in the author spot.

"Chapter Five: The List of Works Cited." MLA Handbook, 9th ed., Modern Language Association, 2021, pp. 105-226.

If the government is the author, list the government agency that produced the document as the corporate author (e.g., Center for Disease Control, US Dept. of Labor). If there isn't one specific agency responsible, like in the case of a Congressional bill or Supreme Court decision, list the body politic involved (followed by a comma) then the branch of government (followed by a period.)

Colorado, General Assembly. Senate Bill 20-100: Repeal the Death Penalty. Colorado General Assembly, passed 23 March 2020, leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb20-100.

Finally, some texts that are highly collaborative (like films or institutional web pages) or are published anonymously have no specific author. For these texts, just skip the author spot completely in the citation--do not list the author as "anonymous" even if that is who is listed as the author on the text itself.

Diary of an Oxygen Theif. 2006. Gallery Books, 2014.

Can Generative AI be an author?

No—authors can only be people.

Generative AI does not create writing so much as it assembles fragments of the writing of others contained in its learning model library. Thus, Generative AI programs are considered containers akin to apps or software rather than authors. To cite an entry by Generative AI, the author spot is skipped, the title is the prompt given to the AI, and the container must contain the AI's name, its version, the date the text was generated, and the site location of the AI.

"Please describe what zebra symbolizes in The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein." Google Gemini, Pro 1.0, 18 March 2024, gemini.google.com.

TITLE: WHAT THE SOURCE IS

In MLA style, the second part of a source citation is a listing of what the source is, which is almost always a title given to the source by the author. Titles in MLA always use Up Style:

titles in all caps are first converted to lowercase
the first word in a title is always capitalized, and then every other word is also capitalized unless it is an article (a, an, the), a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so), an infinitive marker (to), or a preposition.
titles should also maintain their original punctuation, which includes preserving digits as digits

For more information on Up Style, read this article.

The title of a complete work (e.g., book, film, play, artwork) is listed in italics followed by a period.

Barry, Max. Jennifer Government. Doubleday, 2003.

There are three exceptions to this: scripture, government documents, and orchestral compositions (not recordings) identified by form, number, and key. These titles get no formatting at all.

Colorado, General Assembly. Senate Bill 20-100: Repeal the Death Penalty. Colorado General Assembly, passed 23 March 2020, leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb20-100.

If the title is longer than ten words, it can be truncated with an ellipsis mark followed by a period (i.e., four dots with spaces between them).

Houghton, Lily. Of the Woman Came the Beginning of Sin and Through . . . . Directed by Kylie M. Brown, Normal Ave, 4 October 2019, Medicine Show Theatre, New York, NY.

If the source has both a title and a subtitle, the subtitle should come directly after the title but separated from it by a colon. The subtitle should follow the same Up Style conventions and formatting of the main title, which includes always capitalizing the first word of the subtitle.²

Miller, Brian Craig. Empty Sleeves: Amputation in the Civil War South. U of Georgia P, 2015.

The title of a source that's considered a smaller part of a larger whole (e.g., article, short story, poem, song, episode, web page) is written in Up Style and enclosed in quotation marks followed by a period. The title of the larger whole is not part of the title section but is moved to the container section as the container name.

Miller, Brian Craig. "The Women: Reconstructing Confederate Manhood." Empty Sleeves: Amputation in the Civil War South, U of Georgia P, 2015, pp. 91-155.

Similarly, some anthologies contain several whole texts like government documents, plays, or novellas. For these works, both the title of the text and its container are italicized.

Aristophanes. Lysistrata. 411 BCE. The Works of Aristophanes, edited by Lawrence T. Whitmore. U Publishing, 1988, pp. 194-247.

While some sources have smaller parts of the work that can be individually cited (e.g., songs on an album or a poem in an anthology), they can also have sections that are not part of the larger work but supplement it. These include introductions, forewords, afterwords, prefaces, acknowledgements, appendices, and indexes. Unlike parts of the source text, supplements are not quoted, though the rest of the citation looks the same.

Miller, Brian Craig. Appendix A: Amputation Statistics. Empty Sleeves: Amputation in the Civil War South, U of Georgia P, 2015, pp. 177-179.

Occasionally, the supplemental text has a different author than the text. In this case, the author of the supplement is placed into the author space, and the title space contains the name of the supplement, the title of the primary text, and the author of the primary text.

Gaiman, Neil. Introduction to Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. 1953. Rev. 60th anniversary ed., Simon & Schuster, 2013, pp. xi-xvi.

If the title is written in a foreign language but the researcher wants to include an English translation for the purpose of clarity, they may include the English translation of the title in brackets before the period.

Diaz, Junot. "Aguantando" ["Holding On"]. Drown, Riverhead Books, 1996.

If the source is publicly available writing with no title (e.g., older poems, meditations, and folk songs), use the first line/sentence of the text as the title with the title in quotation marks followed by a period. Do not put this makeshift title in Up Style—keeping it in Down Style (i.e., sentence case) indicates that it is not a title given to the work by its author.

Donne, John. "No man is an island." Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, 1624. Sophomore English A, taught by Brandon Coon, fall 2025, Frederick High School, Frederick, CO. Handout.

If the source is a personal interview or private communication, describe the type of source and the other person/group involved. Do not quote the first line as is done with untitled public work, as these texts may contain privileged information.

Addams, Wednesday. Personal communication to the author. 5 November 2021.

If the source is a social media post, a public comment on a post, or a work assembled by generative AI, use the entire text of the post, comment, or generative prompt as the title. Like with writing that is missing a title, it should be quoted and in Down Style.

Johnson, Kylie [@HauntedHippieHorror]. "On the outside looking in... 2 more days until the release of Somnum." Instagram, 4 July 2022, 7:53 p.m. MST, instagram.com/p/CfnOOgsFVs9.

If the source is a physical artifact and not art or writing associated with an artifact (i.e, wall text), describe what the source is in ten or fewer words.

Mackie, Bob. Dresses worn by The Supremes for a television performance. 1969, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland, OH.

CONTAINER: WHERE THE SOURCE CAN BE FOUND

In MLA style, the final and most complex part of a source citation is a description of its container, or the physical media, online site, broadcast channel, or geographic location where the source can be found. Unlike the author and title, which are pretty much always required, the requirements vary from container to container.

Think of source containers like putting a pair of shoes in a drawstring bag, putting that bag in a box, and putting that box in a large suitcase: there are three different containers made by different folks (bag, box, suitcase), and if someone had to find the shoes in a room full of suitcases, each container would need to be described to them so they could find the shoes.

There are seven different attributes to a container that may need to be cited. These elements always appear in this order separated by commas:

CONTAINER NAME: an additional title that specifies the container
SECONDARY CONTRIBUTERS: Collaborators who did not author the text but helped build its container
VERSION: the specific build of container (e.g., the simple suitcase vs. the deluxe model)
NUMBER: the container's place within a set
PUBLISHER: the entity behind the manufacture of the container (usually a company)
DATE: when the container was creator or made available to the public
LOCATION: the fixed position of the container or the source inside the container

NAME, CONTRIBUTERS, VERSION, NUMBER, PUBLISHER, DATE, LOCATION.

Another way of thinking about containers is to think of them as different types of media.

Books

Let's start with self-contained texts, meaning there is only a single container. Self-contained physical first edition books and plays are the easiest containers to cite. There are only two requirements with a simple book: the citation must list the PUBLISHER and DATE (specifically, just year of publication). Make sure the name of the publisher is exactly how it appears in the source, and note that they tend to not use Oxford commas (e.g., Little, Brown and Company).

Barry, Max. Jennifer Government. Doubleday, 2003.

BOOKS WITH CONTRIBUTORS (TRANSLATOR, EDITOR, ILLUSTRATOR)

BOOKS IN A SPECIALTY FORMAT (EBOOK, AUDIOBOOK, LARGE PRINT VERSION)

REPRINTED BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS

BOOKS THAT ARE PART OF A SET (ONE TEXT, MULTIPLE VOLUMES)

BOOKS THAT ARE PART OF A SERIES (MULTIPLE texts, one collection)

BOOKS THAT ARE PUBLISHED BY A UNIVERSITY

books that are self-published

a selection from a book

EXCEPTION: In the publisher name, always replace University with "U" and Press with "P" for academic sources. For example, Harvard Press (a collegiate publisher) should become "Harvard P," but Scholastic Press (a commercial publisher) would not become "Scholastic P."

Miller, Brian Craig. Empty Sleeves: Amputation in the Civil War South. U of Georgia P, 2015.

EXCEPTION: To avoid redundancy, self-published physical books and plays put nothing in the publisher spot, as this would be the same as the author's name. Since these entries already look like they are missing something, do not truncate overly long titles.

Houghton, Lily. Of the Woman Came the Beginning of Sin and Through Her We All Die. 2019.

Self-contained books and plays can have notable CONTRIBUTORS to the text who are not authors—this can include editors, translators, and illustrators. Contributors are listed by their contribution before the publisher. Never abbreviate the type of contribution (e.g., trans. for translated). Like with authors, more than three of the same type of contributor are truncated using et al.

Backman, Fredrik. Beartown. Translated by Neil Smith, Atria, 2018.

If a secondary contributor solely makes more than one type of contribution, list both contributions together to avoid redundancies.

Neruda, Pablo. The Poetry of Pablo Neruda. Edited and translated by Ilan Stavans, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005.

NB: the illustrators of children's picture books, comics, and graphic novels are always considered authors, not contributors.

Moon, Fabio, and Gabriel Ba. Daytripper. Vertigo, 2010.

A self-contained text can also be available simultaneously in different media formats like ebook, audiobook, large print version, and deluxe edition. This information goes into the VERSION spot of the container with the abbreviation ed. for "edition." For ebooks and audiobooks, this usually includes the name of the company that provides access to the text. Standard versions don't have anything in this spot. NB: the publisher of an ebook or audiobook is usually different from the publisher of the print version.

Barry, Max. Jennifer Government. Kindle ed., Vintage, 2004.

A single self-contained text can also be divided up into a set of volumes—one text spread over several books. In the NUMBER spot, add the volume number to clarify which book in the set is being used. Always use the abbreviation vol. for the word "volume," bk. for "book," and no. for "number."

Morrison, Grant, et al. Batman by Grant Morrison Omnibus. Vol. 2, DC Comics, 2019.

Many books and plays, especially those that are older, are not first editions but new editions of an older text and thus have two different publishing dates: an original publishing year and the year of the reprint's publication. This isn't a different edition but a case of needing two containers: one for the original text and one for the reprint.

Cite what can be found about the original container (typically, this will only be the original publication year) followed by a period; after that, cite the publisher and year of the reprint container.

Steinbeck, John. Cannery Row. 1945. Deckle Edge, 2002.

If the new edition has a specific name and new contributors, include those details as well.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. 1953. Rev. 60th anniversary ed., Simon & Schuster, 2013.

When listing contributors for reprinted texts, take care to place the contributor in the right container, i.e., did they contribute to the original version of the text and have their work reprinted, or did they just contribute to the newest version?

García Márquez, Gabriel. One Hundred Years of Solitude. Translated by Gregory Rabasa, 1970. Harper Perennial, 2006.

If a book is part of a series or a play is part of a cycle, that is also a second container. List the name of the series (without quotes or italics) plus which number in the series it is. Typically, the first entry in a series does not get this addition, as most series are named after the title of the first book.

Martin, George R. R. A Storm of Swords. HarperCollins, 2000. A Song of Ice and Fire no. 3.

Up to this point, we've been looking at using the complete text as a source. However, a researcher can also just use a named selection of the book (like a single chapter, essay, poem, or short story).

When only using part of a book, the title of the selection goes into the TITLE section, and the title of the full text is moved to the CONTAINER section under CONTAINER NAME. The researcher also needs to provide the range of pages on which the selection appears. These page numbers are placed in the LOCATION section, with "page" abbreviated as p. and "pages" as pp.³

Miller, Brian Craig. "The Women: Reconstructing Confederate Manhood." Empty Sleeves: Amputation in the Civil War South, U of Georgia P, 2015, pp. 91-155.

When the source is a poem or story from an anthology, keep in mind that the works in anthologies are often previously published. Like with the reprinted single text, the original publication information of the selection becomes the first container, and the anthology becomes the second container. NB: If the work was originally published in an anthology, do not add the name of the original anthology to the container, as this would imply that the entire original collection would be in the anthology.⁴

Irving, Washington. "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." 1820. The Norton Anthology of American Literature, edited by Robert Levine et al., 9th ed., vol. B: 1820-1865, W. W. Norton, 2017, pp. 41-60.

Like anthologies, print periodicals are rarely cited as a whole but as selections. When citing a selection from a periodical (e.g., newspaper, magazine, academic journal, etc.), the periodical editor is not included, but the VOLUME, NUMBER, and page numbers are in addition to an expanded DATE—dates are either day month year (10 November 1987), month year (November 1987), or season year (Fall 1987).

Dobson, David. "Geophysics: Earth's Core Problem." Nature, vol. 534, no. 7605, 2 June 2016, pp. 95 & 99.

PAUSE AND PLAY CONTAINERS: Audiovisual Media

FILM AND VIDEO

Films are incredibly collaborative, so nothing goes into the author spot. The film's title is italicized. At the start of the container, always list "Directed by" + name of the director (given name first). Follow this by the primary production studio or distributor and the year of release.

Jaws. Directed by Stephen Spielberg, Universal, 1975.

While the director has to be listed, researchers can also list other collaborators such as performers, writers, and narrators when relevant to the project (e.g., an essay on the films of actor Roy Scheider would want to list his name in the Jaws citation). A common variation of the collaborators in a film citation is adding "Written and directed by" when the director is also the sole writer on the film.⁵

Jaws. Directed by Stephen Spielberg, featuring Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss, Universal, 1975.

Jaws. Directed by Stephen Spielberg, Universal, 1975.

Jaws. Directed by Stephen Spielberg, featuring Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss, Universal, 1975.

Some films have multiple prominent studios that worked to create the film. In this case, list up to three studios divided by slashes surrounded by spaces only if all had an equivalent contribution to getting the film made and distributed. Like with books, don't list both large companies and their smaller imprints. NB: Only list studios that worked on the original wide release, not studios that purchased the film rights in the years afterward.

Clerks. Written and directed by Kevin Smith, View Askew / Miramax, 1994.

Like books, films can have different versions and editions, such as a remaster, director's cut, rough cut, assembly cut, or anniversary edition. Since these editions aren't the widely distributed version, include the specific medium of access (e.g., DVD, Blu-ray, streamer) and its release date as a second container.

Jaws. Directed by Steven Spielberg, 1975. 50th Anniversary Limited Ed. Ultra HD Remaster, Universal, 2025, Blu-ray.

Speaking of physical media releases, they tend to have a lot of special features. To cite a special feature on a film's physical media release, slot the title of the feature (in quotes) into the TITLE spot and move the film's title to the container name. As this is part of the specific edition and not the original film, drop the film's contributors and original year.

"The Shark is Still Working: The Impact and Legacy of Jaws." Jaws, 50th Anniversary Limited Ed. Ultra HD Remaster, Universal, 2025, Blu-ray.

Just as a researcher doesn't need to add where they read a widely published text in their book citation, they don't need to list how they watched a widely released film. However, a film that is exclusive to a single streamer or location (like a museum's archive copy) needs this information listed as an additional container.

K-Pop Demon Hunters. Written and directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, Sony Animation, 2025. Netflix app.

Similarly, a film without wide distribution being shown exclusively at film festivals requires the addition of the name, date, and location of the screening. As these screenings often contain Q&A sessions by the creators and contain scenes that are changed before wide distribution, this is considered another "edition" of the film.

Terrifier. Written and directed by Damien Leone, Dark Age Cinema / Dread Central, 2016. Screened at Telluride Horror Show Film Festival, 15 October 2016, Telluride, CO.

GO AND SEE CONTAINERS: Experiential Exhibition

Dobson, David. "Geophysics: Earth's Core Problem." Nature, vol. 534, no. 7605, 2 June 2016, pp. 95 & 99.

CLICK AND DOWNLOAD CONTAINERS: Native Digital Media

Dobson, David. "Geophysics: Earth's Core Problem." Nature, vol. 534, no. 7605, 2 June 2016, pp. 95 & 99.

1. Container Name

If the text is part of a whole, that whole is the container. These containers include anthologies of collected writings, websites, apps, periodicals, albums, and series names. Italicize and capitalize the title of the container using the same guidelines in the title section but place a comma (not a period) after the last word:
Aristophanes. Lysistrata. 411 BCE. The Works of Aristophanes, edited by Lawrence T. Whitmore, U Publishing, 1988, pp. 194--247.
Dickenson, Emily. "There's a certain Slant of light." 1861. Poetry Foundation, accessed 20 February 2024, poetryfoundation.org/poems/45723.
Dickman, Kyle. "On Fire." Popular Science, November 2015, pp. 42--47.
Grateful Dead. "Ripple." American Beauty, Warner, 1969.
Johnson, Kylie Roseanne [@HauntedHippieHorror]. "On the outside looking in... 2 more days until the release of Somnum." Instagram, 4 July 2022, 7:53 p.m. MDT, instagram.com/p/CfnOOgsFVs9.
Masters, Edgar Lee. "Fiddler Jones." Spoon River Anthology. 1915. Simon and Schuster, 2004, p. 61.

2. Contributors

Contributors are people besides the author who had a notable contribution to the work. Contributors include editors, translators, illustrators, adapters, directors, narrators, featured performers, and series creators. Contributions are credited with the name of the type of contribution fully spelled out followed by the word by, the contributors name (not inverted), and a comma:
Alighieri, Dante. Inferno. 1322. Translated by Michael Palma, Norton, 2002.
Aristophanes. Lysistrata. 411 BCE. The Works of Aristophanes, edited by Lawrence T. Whitmore, U Publishing, 1988, pp. 194--247.
"The Great Gatsby." Thug Notes, narrated by Greg Edwards [Sparky Sweets]. YouTube, uploaded by Wisecrack, 11 June 2013, youtu.be/2VEQRPm_HyA.
"Itchy and Scratchy: The Movie." The Simpsons, created by Matt Groening, season 4, episode 6, Twentieth Century Fox, 1992.
Santana. "Smooth." Supernatural, featuring Rob Thomas, Arista, 1999.
Some Like It Hot. Directed by Billy Wilder, featuring Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe, MGM, 1959.
Weinersmith, Zach. Augie and the Green Knight. Illustrated by Boulet, Bredpig, 2015.

When citing comics and graphic novels, keep in mind that the pencilers (main artists) are considered authors and not contributors:
Moon, Fabio and Gabriel Ba. Daytripper. 2010. Vertigo, 2014.

Treat multiple people contributing to a work in the same way as multiple authors except do not invert any names:
Shakespeare, William. As You Like It. 1623. Edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstein, Folger Shakespeare Library, 2014.
Irving, Washington. "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." The Norton Anthology of American Literature, edited by Robert Levine et al., 9th ed., vol. B: 1820-1865, W.W. Norton, 2017, pp. 41--60.

If a contributor has two different contributions, list both in the same entry with the word and:
Neruda, Pablo. The Poetry of Pablo Neruda. Edited and translated by Ilan Stavans, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005.

If the author has an additional contribution, only list their surname in the contributor spot:
Giffen, Keith and Jeff Lemire. "Invasion!" Inferior Five, illustrated by Giffen and Michelle Delecki, vol. 2, no. 5, DC Comics, March 2021.

3. Version

If there is more than on edition of a text, it will be indicated in the title or copyright page. Versions can include a newer edition of a text, a special edition of the text (like a deluxe edition album or large print text), an audio or digital edition, a revised edition of a text, or a season or volume of an ongoing series. When listing versions, always use digits (10th) instead of spellings (tenth) and use the following lowercase abbreviations with periods: ed. for edition and rev. for revised. A comma goes after the version. First editions do not need to be indicated:
Albee, Edward. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 1962. Rev. ed., Berkley, 2006.
Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. 1953. 60th anniversary ed., Simon and Schuster, 2013.
Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood. 1965. Kindle ed., Vintage, 2012.
Haber, Jonathan. Critical Thinking. Illustrated ed., MIT Press, 2020.
Insel, Paul, et al. Discovering Nutrition. 3rd ed., Jones and Bartlett, 2010.
Swift, Taylor. 1989: Taylor's Version. Deluxe ed., Universal Music Group, 2023.

4. Number

Some larger works are broken up into a series of small text identified by an volume, series, issue, season, episode, or episode number. When listing numbers, always use Arabic digits (8) instead of spellings (eight) or Roman numerals (XIII) and use the following lowercase abbreviations with periods: vol. for volume and no. for number. Do not include the word issue when listing issue numbers, and do not list track numbers for albums. A comma goes after the number. If not part of a series, number does not need to be indicated:
Applegate, K.A. Enter the Enchanted. Everworld no. 3, Scholastic, 1999.
Dobson, David. "Geophysics: Earth's Core Problem." Nature, vol. 534, no. 45, June 2016, https://doi.org/10.1038/534045a.
Irving, Washington. "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." The Norton Anthology of American Literature, edited by Robert Levine et al., 9th ed., vol. B: 1820-1865, W.W. Norton, 2017, pp. 41--60.
"Itchy and Scratchy: The Movie." The Simpsons, created by Matt Groening, season 4, episode 6, Twentieth Century Fox, 1992.

5. Publisher

The publisher is the entity that produced and distributed the work. Publishers can include companies, institutions, studios, and networks. The name of the publisher is capitalized as a proper noun but never written in all caps, quoted, or italicized. Writers should drop articles from publisher names (a, an, the) as well as any business abbreviations (co., corp., inc., lmd., LLC). Any ampersands (&) in the name should be spelled as and, but numbers should retain their original style (digit or spelled). Any grammatical marks should be retained even if they result in a usage error. A comma goes after the publisher:
Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. 1953. 60th anniversary ed., Simon and Schuster, 2013.
Barry, Max. Jennifer Government. Doubleday, 2003.
"The Great Gatsby." Thug Notes, narrated by Greg Edwards [Sparky Sweets]. YouTube, uploaded by Wisecrack, 11 June 2013, youtu.be/2VEQRPm_HyA.
Neruda, Pablo. The Poetry of Pablo Neruda. Edited and translated by Ilan Stavans, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005.
van Gogh, Vincent. Starry Night. 1889, Museum of Modern Art, New York City.

If the publisher contains the word university, abbreviate university with a capital U without a period. If the publisher also uses the word press, the word should be abbreviated as a capital P without a period--but ONLY if the word university is present (otherwise, Press is spelled out). UP should stand in for University Press:
Aristophanes. Lysistrata. 411 BCE. The Works of Aristophanes. Edited by Lawrence T. Whitmore. U Publishing, 1988, pp. 194--247.
Haber, Jonathan. Critical Thinking. Illustrated ed., MIT Press, 2020.
Miller, Brian Craig. Empty Sleeves: Amputation in the Civil War South. U of Georgia P, 2015.
Samuels, Maurice. Alfred Dreyfus: The Man at the Center of the Affair. Yale UP, 2024.

Sometimes a source lists a publisher that is a division or imprint of a larger publisher: for example, No Country for Old Men was published in 2006 by "Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House." In these cases, only list the smaller division or imprint.

However, some sources (often music albums and films) have two or more different publishers the worked together to create the work. In this case, both publishers are listed and are separated by a space-backslash-space:
Braddock, Bobby. Bobby Braddock: A Life on Nashville's Music Row. Vanderbilt UP / Country Music Foundation P, 2015.
Phair, Liz. "Supernova." Whip-Smart, Matador / Atlantic Records, 1994.
"Radio Killed the Video Star." Hazbin Hotel, created by Vivienne Medrano, season 1, episode 2, A24 / Amazon Studios, 2024.
Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse. Starring Shameik Moore and Hailee Steinfeld, Sony Pictures / Marvel Entertainment, 2018.
Twister. Screenplay by Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin, Warner Bros. / Universal, 1996.

If there is no publisher listed or if the source is self-published by the author themselves, don't but anything in the publisher spot. This is common when citing artwork and artifacts, live performances, and private sources:
Coon, Brandon. Email to the author. 15 May 2018.
Fleming, Betty June. "Snickerdoodles." Family recipe of author. 1935?
Leger, Marie-France. A Hue of Blu. 2023.
Mackie, Bob. Dresses worn by The Supremes for a television performance, 1969. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland.
Miller, C.K. The Phoenix Host. Roanfire no. 1, 2018.
Santos, Jennifer. Interview. Conducted by the author, 4 April 2023.
Simon, Neil. Rumors. Directed by Erin Allen, Skyline High Theatre, 5 November 2005, Skyline High School, Longmont, Colorado.
van Gogh, Vincent. Starry Night. 1889, Museum of Modern Art, New York City.

Similarly, if the name of the publisher is the same name as the container, nothing is written in the publisher spot to avoid repetition. This is common when citing periodicals and websites:
Barry, Dan. "Just One Last Swirl Around the Bowl." The New York Times, 5 April 2009, p. ST6.
Dickman, Kyle. "On Fire." Popular Science, November 2015, pp. 42--47.
Rugnetta, Mike. "Is Miku Hatsune A More Authentic Pop Star Than Lana Del Rey?" YouTube, uploaded by PBS Idea Channel, 28 March 2012, youtu.be/r3c8STXjQ20.
Wong, David. "Six Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person." Cracked, 17 December 2012, cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-truths-that-will-make-you-better-person.

6. Date

Books, plays, albums, films, artifacts, and similar works need to include the year they were published followed by a comma:
Barry, Max. Jennifer Government. Doubleday, 2003.
Black Keys. "Lonely Boy." El Camino, Nonesuch Records, 2011.
Jaws. Directed by Stephen Spielberg, Universal, 1975.
van Gogh, Vincent. Starry Night. 1889, The Museum of Modern Art, New York City.

The date of publication isn't always the date a work was created, especially when it comes to books that get reprinted with new editions. If the year of creation is older than the year of publication and the original date is important to the research topic, the original year of publication is added between the title spot and the container spot followed by a period:
Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. 1953. 60th anniversary ed., Simon and Schuster, 2013.
Diary of an Oxygen Thief. 2006. Gallery Books, 2014.
Homer. The Odyssey. Circa eighth century BCE. Translated by Robert Fagles, Penguin, 1999.

If the exact year of the physical media is unknown, the writer can include a fully spelled out statement of the approximate time frame (circa) of the source or can add a year followed by a question mark and no comma:
Black lace dress with crimson accents and floral embroidery. Early twentieth century, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence.
Fleming, Betty June. "Snickerdoodles." Family recipe of author. 1935?
The Folsom point. Circa 10,000 BCE, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Denver, Colorado.

Periodicals and online media need more than just a year--include either season year (spring 2024), month year (May 2024), or day month year in the European style (13 May 2024). Follow this date with a comma. If time of publication is listed, include this after the date and its comma, include a.m. or p.m. and time zone specifications, and place a comma after the time:
Barry, Dan. "Just One Last Swirl Around the Bowl." The New York Times, 5 April 2009, p. ST6.
Brunden, Jenny. "Safe2Tell Numbers Hit Record High with Hundreds of Reports of Suicide, Bullying, and School Complaints." CPR News, Colorado Public Radio, 12 March 2024, 2:23 p.m. MST, cpr.org/2024/03/12/safe2tell-numbers-hit-record-high-february-2024.
Dobson, David. "Geophysics: Earth's Core Problem." Nature, vol. 534, no. 45, June 2016, https://doi.org/10.1038/534045a.

If an online source has no date, writers substitute the date they accessed the work and add the word accessed before the date:
"The Beatnik Generation." Voices of East Anglica, accessed 5 January 2024, voicesofeastanglia.com/2011/10/the-beatnik-generation.

7. Location

Listing the location can be skipped when citing the entirety of a widely distributed source like a book, periodical, film, or album. If location is skipped, make sure that a period and not a comma is placed after the date:
Barry, Max. Jennifer Government. Doubleday, 2003.
Jaws. Directed by Stephen Spielberg, Universal, 1975.

For some of these texts, you may need to list the means of which you accessed the work in the location spot if the kind of medium makes a difference to what was gained from the source. For example, an album streamed on the Spotify app my have biographic information on the artist that is different from the CD booklet that came with the CD release of the album that is different still from the liner notes of the original vinyl release. If medium matters, place it after the date with a period after both the date and the medium in the location spot. Note that changing the medium does not change any of the preceding information:
Grateful Dead. "Ripple." American Beauty, Warner, 1969. Audio CD.
Grateful Dead. "Ripple." American Beauty, Warner, 1969. Spotify app.
Grateful Dead. "Ripple." American Beauty, Warner, 1969. Vinyl.

When citing a selection or section of a book or periodical, the location within the text--the page numbers--must be cited. Use whatever numerals are used by the text, and separate page ranges with an em dash (two hyphens). Shorten the word page to p. and pages to pp. and follow the last page number with a period:
Aristophanes. Lysistrata. 411 BCE. The Works of Aristophanes. Edited by Lawrence T. Whitmore. U Publishing, 1988, pp. 194--247.
Barry, Dan. "Just One Last Swirl Around the Bowl." The New York Times, 5 April 2009, p. ST6.
Masters, Edgar Lee. "Fiddler Jones." Spoon River Anthology. 1915. Simon and Schuster, 2004, p. 61.
Obejas, Achy. Introduction. Days of Awe, Ballantine Books, 2021, pp. ix--xi.

When citing an online source, the digital location of the source--the URL--must be listed. URLs have four parts: the protocol before the double slash, the host that contains the domain, the path that directs to the specific site page, and the variant that may be attached to the end of the URL to specify display language, show query results, add SEO identifiers, and fragments that anchor to a specific section or timestamp of a page. As an example here is the URL for this article segment:

https://www.coonwriting.com/mla.html#container#location

PROTOCAL DOMAIN PATH VARIANTS

When citing a URL, leave off the protocol and variants if possible to keep the URL short. Make sure that the truncated link directs readers to the right place, and if not, leave in the variants and domains. For example, the URL above can be truncated to coonwriting.com/mla. A period should follow the URL:
Brunden, Jenny. "Safe2Tell Numbers Hit Record High with Hundreds of Reports of Suicide, Bullying, and School Complaints." CPR News, Colorado Public Radio, 12 March 2024, 2:23 p.m. MST, cpr.org/2024/03/12/safe2tell-numbers-hit-record-high-february-2024.

Some academic journals do not use URLs but digital object identifiers (DOIs). If present, cite the DOI instead of the URL and indicate it with https://doi.org/ and end the DOI address with a period:
Dobson, David. "Geophysics: Earth's Core Problem." Nature, vol. 534, no. 45, June 2016, https://doi.org/10.1038/534045a.

If a URL is longer than three lines, it may be truncated to just the host and basic path:
Suad. "My Favorite Graphic Novel of All Time." Review of Essex County by Jeff Lemire, Kindle ed., Amazon, 9 November 2015, amazon.com/
Essex-County-Jeff-Lemire-ebook/dp/B009DMJ9VC?ref_=ast_author_dp&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.WcYqIDVLCEvwzBEPpcOxdxsvNDWXGGKW5
hsvIc2HIl3ahHHBDcNnXxYhasHQpVIEWusfmO16gTOEJaqVNr9K42XNchiIXsAwV7CptXsinsda6p-i83F6lAEnUto885TgHV9m-KA01P2ag-q-5Z7Pdt3WK22pplVrjONJg6XHdvl3A3FGKpY6Mk0Rnh9IyTwg-jfWSCA8JpDmZxE7JIwTssDX3zcR-yE_3YT6YTG-fJY.J7ShiR9PZy4_ygT5a49
WX5INrFcyNdwKPBi-s7IKQHY&dib_tag=AUTHOR#review/R13MHCESE59VLF/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B009DMJ9VC.

Suad. "My Favorite Graphic Novel of All Time." Review of Essex County by Jeff Lemire, Kindle ed., Amazon, 9 November 2015, amazon.com/
Essex-County-Jeff-Lemire-ebook/dp/B009DMJ9VC.

In addition to the location of a URL, online documents that are separated into slides can also have those locations cited after the URL with a period:
Coon, Brandon. "Intimacy Work for High School Actors." Google Slides, accessed 14 February 2024, docs.google.com/presentation/d/
1GIez2EnV4j2q3J8RW66hIwzOKfbtf39BvcdBOA8cwbc. Slide 18.

Singular physical objects like artifacts, artwork, and private collections use a geographic location consisting of a building followed by a comma then the city the building is in followed by a comma then the state or country of that city followed by a period. The building name should not be shortened with abbreviations but should not start with the. If the state or country is in the name of the building, it can be left off, but city should always be listed regardless of whether or not it is in the building name:
Black lace dress with crimson accents and floral embroidery. Early twentieth century, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence.
The Folsom point. Circa 10,000 BCE, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Denver, Colorado.
van Gogh, Vincent. Starry Night. 1889, Museum of Modern Art, New York City.

Citations for live performances witnessed by the writer also need a geographic location, formatted in the same way as above (if not witnessed live, the performances are cited as online texts):
A Night of Leonard Cohen with the Colorado Symphony. Featuring Nathaniel Rateliff, 5 April 2024, Boettcher Concert Hall, Denver, Colorado.
Biden, Joseph R. "State of the Union Address 2024." 7 March 2024, US Capitol Building, Washington, D.C.
Simon, Neil. Rumors. Directed by Erin Allen, Skyline High Theatre, 5 November 2005, Skyline High School, Longmont, Colorado.
Swift, Taylor. The Eras Tour. 14 July 2023, Empower Field at Mile High, Denver, Colorado.

Page last updated 29 March 2024.

FOOTNOTES:
1. Sometimes, the second name is a psedonym: for example, Stephen King published his stories outside the horror genre as Richard Backman. Other authors have works published under both their maiden name and married name, and some trans authors have published work under both their dead name and chosen name.

2. This is similar but not the same as a text with an alternate title—for these texts, write the first title followed by a semicolon, add the word "or" followed by a comma, then add the alternative title.

3. If the page numbers use Roman numerals (as often happens in an introduction), do not convert them to Arabic numerals.

4. An example: "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" originally appeared in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., but despite knowing this information, it isn't added to the citation because then it would imply that the entirety of The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon is contained in the Norton Anthology when just the single story is.

5. One collaborator that is NEVER added to a film citation is the original author of the book or play the film is based on (unless they also contributed directly to the film). Films are considered works of art in their own right, and a reference to the source material implies that it is a derivative container of the original story. So "based on the novel by Peter Benchley" would never be added to the Jaws citation.

"Chapter 5: The List of Works Cited." MLA Handbook. 9th ed., The Modern Language Association of America, 2021, pp. 105--226.
Appendix 2: Works-Cited-List-Entries by Format. MLA Handbook. 9th ed., The Modern Language Association of America, 2021, pp. 303-46.