MLA Style (7th Edition)

When writing a research paper, we “enter into a community of writers and scholars” (Gibaldi xiii) who agree to follow
“rules” in writing and using sources. These rules are written down in handbooks like the MLA Handbook for Writers of
Research Papers (MLA), which offer guidelines for everything from how the research is presented (the style), to how it
looks (the format), and how to incorporate sources (citation).

MLA is most commonly used by scholars and writers in the humanities and liberal arts. This style requires writers to
acknowledge each source use in two ways:
1. In the body of the paper—known as in-text citations or parenthetical citations
2. On a works cited list at the end of the paper—known as the works cited page

WHY USE MLA? GENERAL MLA GUIDELINES

Generally, MLA is known for its simplicity, flexibility  Cite all the sources you have consulted and the ideas you derived
and ease of use, but, more specifically, using MLA whether they are direct quotations, paraphrases, or summaries.
allows you to:  Begin the works cited list on a separate page.
 establish your credibility or ethos;  Double-space all the paper including the works cited page.
 be responsible in how you use sources;  Use Times New Roman and 12 font.
 help your readers find the sources you used;  Set the paper at 1 inch on all the margins.
 help your readers distinguish your ideas from  Indent the first line of each paragraph.
those of others;  In right upper corner of the header, type your surname and
number all the pages.
 and, finally, “protect [yourself] from accusations
of plagiarism, which is the purposeful or Note: You can find a full sample MLA paper in the MLA Handbook
accidental uncredited use of source material by or by following the link below:
other writers” (The Purdue Owl). https://owl.english.purdue.edu/media/pdf/20090701095636_747.pdf

1. IN-TEXT OR PARENTHETICAL CITATIONS IN MLA

Whether you are quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing, you need to cite the ideas you borrow from each source
and indicate where in the source you found the ideas—we call these in-text citations. Usually, MLA requires
writers to include the author’s name and page number(s) in parentheses, but the rules vary. The following are
some basic rules and examples:
a) The information you provide about any source in the parenthetical citation must match with
. following
the information you provide about the source in the works cited page. See the  For a more detailed list of in-
example: text citation rules and
examples, follow the link
Medieval Europe was a place both of "raids, pillages, slavery, and extortion" and of below:
"traveling merchants, monetary exchange, towns if not cities, and active markets in grain" https://owl.english.purdue.ed
(Townsend 10). u/owl/resource/747/02/
Parenthetical Citation
 For more examples of signal
Townsend, Robert M. The Medieval Village Economy. Princeton: Princeton phases to introduce sources,
consult They Say/I Say.
UP, 1993. Print. In the works cited page
 The citation examples and
rules on this handout are
b) You could use a signal phrase to introduce a source or include all the source information in adapted from The MLA
the parenthetical citation. See the following examples: Handbook for Writers of
Research Papers: 7th. Ed
Chan claims that "Eagleton has belittled the gains of postmodernism" (par. 41). and The Purdue OWL Web
site
Signal Phrase Page Reference
Author

Between 1968 and 1988, television coverage of presidential elections changed dramatically
(Hallin 5).
Author and page no. in parentheses
 BOOKS (Drawn from The MLA Handbook)
2. A WORKS CITED PAGE
A Book by a Single Author
PERIODICALS ( Drawn from The MLA Handbook)
Last name, First name. Title of Book. City of Publication:
An Article in a Scholarly Journal
Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of
Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal Volume. Issue
Publication.
(Year): pages. Medium of publication.
Johnson, Roberta. Gender and Nation in the Spanish
Piper, Andrew. "Rethinking the Print Object: Goethe and the
Modernist Novel. Nashville: Vanderbilt UP, 2003.
Book of Everything." PMLA 121.1 (2006): 124-38.
Print.
Print.
A Book by Two or More Authors
An Article in a Magazine
The first name appears in last name, first name format;
Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Periodical Day Month
subsequent author names appear in first name last name
Year: pages. Medium of publication.
format.
Weintraub, Arlene, and Laura Cohen. "A Thousand-Year
Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M.
Plan for Nuclear Waste." Business Week 6 May 2002:
Williams. The Craft of Research. 2nd ed. Chicago:
94-96. Print.
U of Chicago P, 2003. Print.
Note: For rules to cite an article in a newspaper, a review, an editorial,
and similar sources, consult the MLA handbook OR follow the link A Work in an Anthology, Reference, or Collection
below:
Last name, First name. "Title of Essay." Title of Collection.
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/07/
Ed. Editor's Name(s). City of Publication:
ELECTRONIC SOURCES (The Purdue Owl) Publisher, Year. Page range of entry. Medium of
An Entire Web Site Publication.
Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site. Bordo, Susan. "The Moral Content of Nabokov's Lolita."
Version number. Name of institution/organization Aesthetic Subjects. Ed. Pamela R. Matthews and
affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of David McWhirter. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P,
resource creation (if available). Medium of 2003. 125-52. Print.
publication. Date of access.
Note: For rules to cite an edition of a book, a book by a corporate
The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The Writing Lab and OWL author or organization, an anthology or collection, an introduction, and
similar sources, consult the MLA Handbook or follow the link below:
at Purdue and Purdue U, 2008. Web. 23 Apr. 2008. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/06/

A Tweet
What should my Works Cited page look like?
User’s Last Name, First Name (Twitter username). “The entire
Al-Khateeb 15
tweet.” Date of posting, time of posting (Reader’s
Works Cited
time zone). Tweet.
Chan, Evans. "Postmodernism and Hong Kong Cinema."
Brokaw, Tom (tombrokaw). "SC demonstrated why all the
Postmodern Culture 10.3 (2000): n. pag. Project
debates are the engines of this campaign." 22 Jan.
Muse. Web. 20 May 2002.
2012, 3:06 a.m. Tweet. Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research
Notes: For rules to cite a page on Web site, an image from the Web, an
Papers: 7th. Ed. New York: Modern Language
article in a Web magazine, an article in an online scholarly journal, an
article from an online database, e-mail, YouTube videos, blogposts, and Association of America, 2009. Print.
similar sources, consult the MLA Handbook or follow the link below:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/ The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 2010. Web.

Also, for rules to cite an interview, speeches, lectures, or other oral Date of access. 2006. Web. 24 May 2009.
presentations, published conference proceedings, films or movies,
broadcast television or radio program, and similar sources, consult the
MLA Handbook or follow the link below:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/09/