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Macdonald DeWitt Library at SUNY Ulster

MLA Style 9th Edition

A brief introduction to MLA Style adapted from the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Eighth Edition.

Works Cited Format

The Works Cited list appears at the end of the research paper. Begin the list on a new page, continuing the pagination from the text of the paper.

Key Features:

Use the heading Works Cited, centered at the top of the page when listing more than one source. Use the heading Work Cited when listing only one source.

Alphabetize the entries by the first element of each citation

All citations in the text must appear in the Works Cited list

Flush left the first line of each entry with a half inch hanging indent (Use CTRL+T in Word).** If it is not possible to create a hanging indent, leave a space between each citation.

**Instructions for creating a hanging indent in Microsoft Word (applies to any word processor with a ruler).

Abbreviations:

Omit business words, e.g., Company, Limited, Incorporated

University is U

Press is P 

Omit titles such as Dr, St, PhD, Sir, etc.

Omit The from corporate author names

When one element contains more than one piece of information, separate them with a /

Common Source Type Examples

The order of elements is as follows:

Author(s). Title. Title of Container, Other Contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location.

Note: Not all elements are required and some repeat. For example, there can be more than one container listed (articles appearing in a journal housed in a library database have 2 containers: the journal and database). 

Some elements (usually titles and containers) should be in quotes or italicized depending on the source information. Generally, long titles (titles of books, databases) are italicized and short titles (article and chapter titles) are put in quotation marks.

Book Typical Format:
Lastname, Firstname. Title. Publisher, Publication Date.
Example:
Smith, Elena, James M. Whitaker, and Jonathan I. Harper. History of Crime and Justice in the United States. Texas UP, 2010. 

eBook Typical Format:
Lastname, Firstname. Title. Publisher, Publication Date, Title of Container, URL or DOI.
Example:
Keith, Heather and Kenneth D. Keith. Intellectual Disability: Ethics, Dehumanization and a New Moral Community. Wiley-Blackwell, 2013, ProQuest Ebook Central, ezproxy.sunyulster.edu:2048/login?url=http://site.Ebook Central.com/lib/sunyulster/Doc?id=10674805.

Course Reading Provided by Instructor:
Lastname, Firstname. "Title of Reading." Name of Coursesite, uploaded by Instructor Firstname Lastname, upload date [if known], URL.
Example:
Carver, Raymond. "Cathedral." Brightspace, uploaded by Jane Smith, 8 Oct. 2022, mylearning.suny.edu.

Chapter of a Book/Work in a Collection/Anthology/Specialized Reference Work:
Lastname, Firstname. "Title of Chapter/Essay/Novel." Title of Book/Collection/Anthology, Edited by Firstname Lastname, Publisher, Publication date, Location.
Examples:
Dobak, William A. "Fort Riley's Black Soldiers and the Army's Changing Role in the West, 1967-85." Buffalo Soldiers in the West: A Black Soldiers Anthology, edited by Bruce A. Glasrud and Michael N. Searles, Texas A&M UP, 2007, pp. 35-50. ProQuest Ebook Central, ezproxy.sunyulster.edu:2048/login?url=http://site.Ebook Central.com/lib/sunyulster/reader.action?ppg=44&docID=10436033&tm=1466623284856.

Al-Fasi, Ahmad. "She and the Light." Translated by Bassam al-Hilu with Alan Brownjohn, Beyond the Dunes : An Anthology of Modern Saudi Literature, edited by Ezzat Khattab and Salma Khadra Jayyusi, 2nd ed., vol. 2, I.B. Tauris, 2006, p. 58. ProQuest ebook Central, ezproxy.sunyulster.edu:2048/login?url=http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/sunyulster-ebooks/reader.action?docID=676407&ppg=63.

Literary Criticism in a Multi-Volume Reference Work (eg, Short Story Criticism):
Lastname, Firstname. "Title of Chapter/Essay/Novel [usually listed at the end of the entry]." Title of Collection, edited by Firstname Lastname, vol. #, Publisher, date, pp. #-##. Originally published in Title of Original Publication, edited by/by Firstname Lastname, Publisher/Journal Name, vol. #, issue # [if a journal article], date, pp. #-##.
Examples:
Ginsberg, Lesley. "'I Am Your Slave for Love': Race Sentimentality, and Harriet Beecher Stowe's Fiction for Children." Short Story Criticism, edited by Jelena Krstovic, vol. 159, Gale, 2012, pp.321-30. Originally published in Enterprising Youth: Social Values and Acculturation in Nineteenth-Century American Children's Literature, edited by Monika Elbert, Routledge, 2008, pp. 97-113.

Aizenber, Edna. "Mi Buenos Aires Herido: Borges and Landscapes of Fear." Short Story Criticism, edited by Jelena Krstovic, vol. 159, Gale, 2012, pp.157-61. Originally published in Variaciones Borges, vol. 25, 2008, pp. 69-78.

Journal Article Typical Format:
Lastname, Firstname. “Title of Article.” Title of Container (Journal), vol #, issue #, publication date, Location, Title of Container (Database), URL or DOI.
Example:
Douglass, Sara, et al. “‘They Were Just Making Jokes’: Ethnic/Racial Teasing and Discrimination Among Adolescents.” Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Pscyhology, vol. 22, issue 1, Jan. 2016, pp. 69-82. PsycArticles, dx.doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000041.

Website Typical Format:
Lastname, Firstname. "Title of Webpage." Title of Website. Publisher [Omit publisher if it is the same as the title], Publication date, URL. Date of access [optional but recommended when website does not provide a date].
Example:
"Outbreak of Lung Injury Associated with the Use of E-Cigarette, or Vaping, Products." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 19 Nov. 2019, www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/e-cigarettes/severe-lung-disease.html. Accessed 21 Nov. 2019.

Optional Elements

When listing an optional element, place it at the end of the citation or after the element to which it relates.

Examples of optional elements:

  • Original publication date
  • City of publication
  • Number of volumes in a set
  • Series name (no quotations or italics)
  • Date of access 
  • Format

Sample Works Cited

Works Cited

Allen, Anita L. “Privacy in Health Care.” Encyclopedia of Bioethics, edited by Stephen G. Post, 3rd ed., vol. 4, Macmillan-Thomson, 2004. 

Capra, Frank, dir. It's a Wonderful Life. James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, and Thomas Mitchell, performers, RKO, 1946. 

Dali, Salvador. The Little Theater. Accession no. 57.1981, Museum of Modern Art, New York. ARTstor.

Denby, David. "Ordinary People." The New Yorker, vol. 89, no. 47, 3 Feb. 2014. Literature Resource Center.

Jameston, Andrew. "Fibonacci Numbers." Mathematics Journal, vol. 4, no. 2, 2003, pp. 8-10. 

Kolata, Gina. "Good or Useless, Medical Scans Cost the Same, and Are Booming." New York Times, late ed., 2 Mar. 2009, p. A1+. 

Mallon, Thomas. "The Great War." Modernism Reconsidered, edited by Robert Kiely, Harvard UP, 1983, pp. 202-8. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism, edited by Jeff Hunter, vol. 35, Gale, 2000, pp. 81-99. 

"Materials for Teachers." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets. Accessed 23 May 2016. 

Nguyen, Viet Thanh. "Just Memory: War And The Ethics Of Remembrance." American Literary History, vol. 25, no. 1, 2013, pp. 144-163. Humanities Source, doi:10.1093/alh/ajs069. 

Smith, Elena, James M. Whitaker, and Jonathan I. Harper. History of Crime and Justice in the United States. Texas UP, 2010. 

SUNYUlster_lib. "At the #ReferenceDesk this Spring semester, librarians spent over 163 hours answering YOUR questions! #LibAnalytics." 20 Jul. 2015, 2:05p.m.. Twitter. 

Taylor, Chris. "The History and the Hype." Time, 18 Jan. 2004, pp. 72-73.