MLA’s Greatest Hits – Some Frequently-Used Citation Formats
 All citations should be double-spaced and use a “hanging indent.” 
Book
Author. Title of Book. City of Publication:
Bodnarchuk, Kari. Rwanda: A Country Torn Apart.
Publisher, Date. Medium (print). Series.
Minneapolis: Lerner, 2000. Print. World in Conflict.
Article in a Reference Book
Author. “Title of Article.” Title of Reference
Murphy, Joseph M. “Santería.” Encyclopedia of Latin
Book. Editor. Edition. Volume. City of
American History and Culture. Ed. Jay Kinsbruner.
Publication: Publisher, Publication date.
2nd ed. Vol. 5. Detroit: Scribner’s-Gale, 2008. Print.
Medium (print).
Website
[No author? Just skip the author. No publisher? Use “n.p.” No date? Use “n.d.”]
Author (Last, First). "Title of page." Title of
Godwin, Peter. "Bushmen." National Geographic
site. Publisher/Sponsoring org.
Online. National Geographic Society. Jan. 2000.
Publication date. Medium (web). Date
Web. 17 Feb. 2011. <http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/
of access. <Internet address>. (optional but
ngm/0102/feature6/fulltext.html>.
recommended)
An Item in an Anthology
(Literary Criticism Essays, Primary Source Historical Documents, Short Stories, Etc.)
Will be two citations in one if the item was published before. Give the full citation for the original source material, followed by
“Rpt. in” (“reprinted in”) and the full citation for the collection. (For excerpts of long works, the order is reversed.)
A piece reprinted in its entirety:
An excerpt (also illustrates handling of titles within titles):
Pauly, Thomas H. “Gatsby as Gangster.”
Whissen, Thomas Reed. “The Catcher in the Rye Is a Cult
Studies in American Fiction 21.2
Novel.” Readings on The Catcher in the Rye. Ed. Steven
(1993): 225-236. Rpt. in Jay Gatsby.
Engel. San Diego: Greenhaven, 1998. 51-56. Print.
Ed. Harold Bloom. Philadelphia:
Greenhaven Press Lit. Companion to Amer. Lit. Excerpt
from Classic Cult Fiction: A Companion to Popular Cult
Chelsea, 2004. 113-124. Print.
Literature. Westport: Greenwood, 1992. 47-54.
Bloom’s Major Lit. Characters.
A collection of new stories (not reprinted):
A historical document:
Crompton, Anne E. “Excalibur.” Camelot.
Paul, Alice. “Editorial in the Suffragist.” Jan.-Feb. 1921.
Ed. Jane Yolen. New York: Philomel,
Rpt. in Women’s Voices: A Documentary History of
1995. 79-90. Print.
Women in America. Ed. Lorie Jenkins McElroy.
Detroit: UXL-Gale, 1997. 240-242. Print.
Based on MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers 7th edition.
Revised: 3/3/2016
Periodical Article in an Online Database
Note: if no pages are listed, write “n. pag.”
Magazine or Newspaper Article in a Database
Author. "Article Title." Title of Magazine or
Garfinkel, Perry. “Buddha Rising.” National Geographic
Newspaper date: pages. Database
Dec. 2005: 88-109. OmniFile Full Text Select. Web.
Name. Medium (web). Date of access.
17 Feb. 2011.
"U.S. Tax Dollars Still Spent in Sweatshops."
Thornycroft, Peta and Sebastien Berger. “Mugabe's Blood
US Newswire 15 April 2009: n. pag.
Diamonds Should Be Banned.” The Daily Telegraph
Gale Student Resources in Context.
[London] 31 July, 2009: n. pag. NewsBank: Access
Web. 17 Feb. 2011.
World News. Web. 17 Feb. 2011.
Scholarly Journal Article in a Database
Author. "Article Title." Title of Scholarly
Hearn, Adrian H. "Guardians of Culture: The Controversial
Journal volume.issue (year): pages.
Heritage of Senegalese Griots." Australian Journal
Database Name. Medium (web). Date
of Anthropology 15.2 (2004): 129-142. OmniFile
of access.
Full Text Select. Web. 17 Feb. 2011.
Reference Book Article in an Online Database
Author. "Article Title." Title of Reference
Turner, Thomas. "Angola: Civil War and Diamonds."
Book. Editor. Edition (if any). Volume
History Behind the Headlines: The Origins of
(if known). City of Publication:
Conflicts Worldwide. Ed. Meghan Appel O'Meara.
Publisher, Publication date. Database
Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2001. Gale Virtual Reference
Name. Medium (web). Date of access.
Library. Web. 17 Feb. 2011.
Combined Formats
You can (and should) blend the elements from several formats when needed.
Example: Scholarly journal article, reprinted in an anthology, accessed through an online database:
Cartwright, Kent. "Nick Carraway as an Unreliable Narrator." Papers on Language and Literature 20.2
(1984): 218-232. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Linda Pavlovski. Vol. 157.
Detroit: Gale, 2005. 218-232. Literature Resource Center. Web. 1 Oct. 2009.
Based on MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers 7th edition.
Revised: 3/3/2016