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Contact us:
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The MLA Works Cited List
Items in the Works Cited list are in alphabetical order by the first word of the item (usually the
author's surname). The seventh edition of the MLA Handbook now has a preference for italics
over underlining for titles of major works; previous editions allowed italics but preferred
underlining. MLA no longer considers print to be the "normal" format; now the format of every
work must be included as part of the citation. Here is the basic system (note the punctuation):
1. Author's Name (last, first). Frye, Northrop.
2. Title of Work (in italics). Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays.
3. Place of Publication: (must include
province or state unless the city is Princeton, NJ:
internationally known)
4. Name of Publisher, (shortened form) Princeton UP,
5. Date of publication. 2000.
6. Format. Print.
The Works Cited entry should look like this (note the punctuation):
Frye, Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays. Princeton, NJ: Princeton
UP, 2000. Print.
That is perhaps the most straightforward instance of a reference citation, but there are
numerous variations covered by the MLA Handbook. Some of the more common ones are
outlined below; these require adding elements, either to the end of the reference or between
the title of the work and the place of publication. These first two, however, require adding an
element between the author's name and the title of the work.
A poem, an essay, a chapter, or part of a larger work:
Layton, Irving. "The Cold Green Element." Elements of Literature. 3rd Can.
ed. Ed. Robert Scholes et al. Don Mills, ON: Oxford UP, 2004. 616-17.
Print.
WSS Quicknotes
MLA Works Cited
Page 1
Note: Besides the insertion of the title of the smaller work "in quotation marks" between the
author's name and the book title, see also the addition of other elements (explained below)
between the book title and the place of publication. The "616-17" indicates the page numbers
where Layton's poem may be found. Use official postal abbreviations for provinces and
states. Here is instance of adding elements between the author name and the title:
An introduction, preface, foreword, or afterword written by someone other than the
book's principal editor or author:
Feal, Rosemary G. Foreword. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research
Papers. 7th ed. New York: MLA, 2009. xiii-xv. Print.
Note: "Foreword" is not part of her name; it refers to the part of the book that she authored.
This would be clearer if the foreword had a title, in which case it would be inserted between
the author's name and the word "Foreword."
A book with two or more authors:
Malcolmson, Patrick, and Richard Myers. The Canadian Regime: An
Introduction to Parliamentary Government in Canada. 3rd ed.
Peterborough, ON: Broadview, 2005. Print.
Scholes, Robert, et al. Elements of Literature. 3rd Can. ed. Don Mills, ON:
Oxford UP, 2004. Print.
Note: The abbreviation "et al." may be used when the work has more than three authors (or
all may be listed). The order of the authors’ names within the reference corresponds to the
order as listed in the publication rather than alphabetical order.
No author listed:
The Taming of a Shrew. London, 1594. EEBO. Web. 7 May 2009.
Note: The supposedly anonymous author of this work is not listed as "anonymous;" instead,
the work is listed by its title--initial words such as the or a are ignored for alphabetization
purposes. Notice also that after the date (you may omit the publisher name if the date is
before 1900) are the citation elements for Internet publications, which will be explained below.
Two or more books by the same author:
Alexis, André. Childhood. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1998. Print.
---. Despair. Toronto: Coach House, 1994. Print.
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MLA Works Cited
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A book that is part of a series:
Richardson, John. The Canadian Brothers, or, The Prophecy Fulfilled: A Tale
of the Late American War. Ed. Donald Stephens. Centre for Editing
Early Canadian Texts Series 9. Gen. ed. Mary Jane Edwards. Ottawa,
ON: Carleton UP, 1992. Print.
Note: This book is the ninth in the CEECT series of Canadian writing. This example also how
to list an editor and the general editor of a series.
The work of the editors, not the authors, of an anthology:
Scott, F. R., and A. J. M. Smith., eds. The Blasted Pine: An Anthology of
Satire, Invective, and Disrespectful Verse, Chiefly by Canadian Writers.
Toronto: MacMillan, 1957. Print.
A specific work within an anthology?
Coady, Lynn. "Batter My Heart." Atlantica: Stories from the Maritimes and
Newfoundland. Ed. Lesley Choyce. Fredericton, NB: Goose Lane, 2001.
103-104. Print.
Livesay, Dorothy. "The Documentary Poem: A Canadian Genre." Contexts
of Canadian Criticism. Ed. Eli Mandel. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1971.
267-281. Print.
A work in a multivolume work (e.g., an encyclopedia or dictionary):
Fetherling, Doug. "Nowlan, Alden." The Canadian Encyclopedia. Ed. James
H. Marsh. Vol. 2. Edmonton, AB: Hurtig, 1985. 1297. Print.
WSS Quicknotes
MLA Works Cited
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A common work that has had many editions:
Montgomery, L. M. Anne of Green Gables. Ed. Cecily Devereux. Broadview
Editions. Series ed. L. W. Conolly. Peterborough, ON: Broadview,
2004. Print.
Note: When citing such books, add the chapter number to the parenthetical citation for
readers who may be reading from other editions (see 6.4.8. of the MLA Handbook).
A translation:
Aubert de Gaspé, Philippe-Joseph. Canadians of Old. Trans. Jane Brierley.
Montreal, QC: Véhicule, 1996. Print.
A book with the title of another major work in its title:
Bevington, David, ed. Twentieth Century Interpretations of Hamlet.
Twentieth Century Interpretations. Ed. Maynard Mack. New Jersey:
Prentice, 1968. Print.
Note: The above is MLA's preferred way; however, it also allows another method: Twentieth
Century Interpretations of "Hamlet."
A dissertation:
Spacek, Richard. "A Taxonomy of Tudor and Stuart Stage Action." Diss. U
of New Brunswick, 1991. Print.
Toner, Patrick. "The Passionate Profane: Puritanism and Paganism in the
Poetry of Alden Nowlan." MA Thesis. Carleton U, 1993. Print.
Note: The former is for a PhD dissertation, and the latter is for a master's thesis.
A pamphlet:
Canadian Cancer Society. Don't Play the Fool. Toronto: Can. Cancer Soc.,
1995. Print.
WSS Quicknotes
MLA Works Cited
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A manuscript or typescript:
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. 1400-1410, MS Harley 7334.
British Lib., London.
Henderson, George Wylie. Baby Lou and the Angel Bud. N.d. TS. Collection
of Roslyn Kirkland Allen, New York.
Note: MS is used for manuscript (work written by hand) and TS is used for typescript (work
prepared by machine—computer or typewriter). Also, give the name and location of the
library, research institution or personal collection. If there is no title for the MS or TS, give a
description (e.g., Notebook).
An article in a periodical:
Friesen, Peter. "Jane Eyre's Conservative Canadian Cousin: The Nymph and
the Lamp." Studies in Canadian Literature 15.2 (1990): 160-173. Print.
Note: The "15.2" above stands for "volume 15, number 2." The volume number changes for
every year, so everything Studies in Canadian Literature publishes in 1990 is in volume 15.
Libraries gather all of the periodicals that a journal publishes in a year and bind them together
with "15" printed on the spine. The number 2 says which number this particular article is found
in. Individual numbers of journals are mailed to subscribers over the year and are bound in a
simple cardboard cover. The pages of some journals are numbered consecutively throughout
all numbers of a volume, so number 4 might have pages running from, say, 343 to 515.
Regardless of how the journal numbers its pages, the seventh edition of the MLA Handbook
recommends that issue numbers (if provided) be included as part of every journal reference.
This differs from previous editions of the MLA Handbook.
A work of art:
Dali, Salvador. Santiago el grande. 1957. Oil on canvas. Beaverbrook Art
Gallery, Fredericton, NB.
Sterbak, Jana. Chair Appollinaire. 1998. Flank steak and black button thread
on polyester resin structure. Barbara Gross Galerie, Munich.
Note: The year comes after the title and is followed by the format (or, in this case, the
medium). Common media are "oil and canvas" for paintings and "bronze" for sculptures, but
the second example alerts us to be careful not to assume too much!
WSS Quicknotes
MLA Works Cited
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A sound recording such as a CD:
Max Webster. "Paradise Skies." A Million Vacations. Perf. Kim Mitchell.
Universal, 1979. LP.
Rush. Exit . . . Stage Left. Perf. Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart.
Rec. 10-11 June 1981; 27 Mar. 1981. Anthem, 1981. CD.
Note: The former reference is for a single cut from a studio album; the latter is for an entire
album that is a recording of a live performance.
In this and in the following examples of references to collaborative work (films, radio shows,
etc.), the writer has some flexibility to designate the author. In an essay about Max Webster, it
would be appropriate to cite "Paradise Skies" as above, but in, say, an essay about Kim
Mitchell, the writer could cite "Mitchell, Kim." and then add "Perf." 'performer' afterwards.
A radio or television broadcast:
"The Capture of Mary March." Narr. Paul Kennedy. Ideas. CBC, Toronto, 29
Jan. 2009. Radio.
"You've Been Great, Goodnight." By Brent Butt and Kevin White. Corner
Gas. Dir. David Storey. CTV, Toronto, 13 Apr. 2009. Television.
A film:
Gross, Paul. dir. Passchendaele. By Paul Gross. Perf. Paul Gross and
Caroline Dhavernas. Alliance, 2008. Film.
Men with Brooms. Dir. Paul Gross. Perf. Paul Gross and Leslie Nielsen.
Serendipity Point, 2002. Film.
Note: The former reference is for an essay about Paul Gross; the latter for an essay about
Canadian cinema.
WSS Quicknotes
MLA Works Cited
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An interview:
Thornton, Billy Bob. Interview by Jian Ghomeshi. Q. CBC, Toronto, 8 Apr.
2009. Radio.
Note: The entry is for a published interview in print, broadcast media, or on the Internet. The
interviewer's name is included when known; otherwise, the word "Interview" is sufficient.
A patent:
The MLA Handbook does not explicitly cover patents, but the Chicago Manual of Style (19 th
ed.) provides the basis for a suitable format. The patent is cited by the name of the creator
and includes the title (item 54 in the patent form), date of filing (item 22), and the date of issue
(item 45). The Handbook notes that URLs should be included “only when the reader probably
cannot locate the source without it” (182), which is not the case with a patent. Although an
access date is provided below, this is not essential for a patent.
Elston, Dennis. E. Shovel. U.S. Patent D716,119 S. Filed March 17, 2014,
and issued October 28, 2014. Web. 27 May 2015.
Reference Citations from the Internet:
The widespread use of the Web in the academic world is reflected MLA's position that print is
no longer considered to be the default format. The Web is ubiquitous, but it is also ephemeral,
which is why citing the date that you access the material is important. Some material found on
the Internet has page numbers, other material has a different manner of locating the specific
cited passage, but other Web sites have no system at all.
As an example, let us assume that you heard the Billy Bob Thornton interview by finding it on
the Internet instead of listening to it “live.” The reference will look almost the same as it does
above, except that in place of the word radio, write the publisher of the item in italics (in this
case, it is cbc.ca); then write down the format ("Web.") and finally the date of access:
Thornton, Billy Bob. Interview by Jian Ghomeshi. Q. CBC, Toronto, 8 Apr. 2009.
cbc.ca. Web. 10 Apr. 2009. <http://www.cbc.ca/q/pastepisodes.html.>
Notice that the URL is written here after the date of access. The MLA Handbook
recommends, "[y]ou should include a URL as supplementary information only when the
reader probably cannot locate the source without it or when your instructor requires it" (182).
On-line journal articles probably comprise most references in student essays. This article can
be found in a journal on the shelves of many libraries; however, these days students will most
likely encounter it in electronic format, in which case the reference should look like this:
WSS Quicknotes
MLA Works Cited
Page 7
Poulter, Gillian. "Montreal and Its Environs: Imagining a National Landscape, c.18671885." Journal of Canadian Studies 38.3 (2004): 69-100. EBSCO Host. Web. 11
May 2009.
Pages 184 and 185 of the MLA Handbook outline the method of providing references for
nonperiodical material, the kind of Web material that has no regular publication schedule.
1. Name of author (or compiler, director, Blackwell, John D., and Laurie C. C. Stanleyeditor). Blackwell.
2. Title of work. "The Evolution of Canadian Studies."
3. Title of overall Web site (in italics). Canadian Studies: A Guide to the Sources.
4. Version or edition used (if any).
5. Publisher or sponsor of the site (if not
International Council for Canadian Studies.
available, use N.p.).
6. Date (if not available, use N.d.). 20 Nov. 2006.
7. Format. Web.
8. Date of access. 11 May 2009.
The corresponding Works Cited entry should look like this (note the punctuation):
Blackwell, John D., and Laurie C. C. Stanley-Blackwell. "The Evolution of Canadian
Studies." Canadian Studies: A Guide to the Sources. International Council for
Canadian Studies. 20 Nov. 2006. Web. 11 May 2009.
WSS Quicknotes
MLA Works Cited
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