MLA Style
A Guide to Citing Sources
First things first: What is a citation?
MLA citation style
Why you need to cite your sources
How to cite your sources
Works Cited list
Parenthetical citations
First things first: What is a citation?
A citation is a reference to a source used in a
research project.
Hughes, Langston. The Big Sea, An
Autobiography. New York: Hill and
Wang, 1963.
Whenever you use another
person’s ideas or words in a
research paper, you must cite, or
give credit, to that person.
That’s called citing your source.
MLA citation style
Citations must be accurate and standard so that
anyone who reads your research can easily find the
information you used.
MLA style is a standard way of
citing sources. This means each
source you use should be
formatted in a specific way.
MLA style was developed by the
Modern Language Association.
Why you need to cite your sources
There are three important reasons to cite your sources.
1. to find information
1. to show that you
understand your topic
1. to avoid plagiarism
Why you need to cite your sources
Citations help you remember
where you got your
information.
You can return to a source for
more information or to clarify
facts.
Citations help your readers locate
information when they want to
do more research.
Why you need to cite your sources
Citations show that your research was careful
and thorough.
They also show that other people support what you’ve
written about your topic.
Why you need to cite your sources
Citations give credit to people whose ideas
you use.
Plagiarism is using
someone else’s ideas
or knowledge
without giving that
person credit. Avoid
plagiarism by giving
people credit for
their ideas and their
words.
How to cite your sources
Use two ways to cite your sources.
1. At the end of your paper,
add a Works Cited list.
1. Within the paper, use
parenthetical
citations.
How to cite your sources
A Works Cited list is a list of all the sources you used in
your research paper. Here are some entries for part of
a Works Cited list.
Hughes, Langston. The Big Sea, An Autobiography.
New York: Hill and Wang, 1963.
Philipson, Robert. “The Harlem Renaissance As
Postcolonial Phenomenon.” African American
Review 1 Sept. 2006: 145-160.
Works Cited list
Books
Here is the basic format for a book entry in a Works
Cited list.
Author’s last name, Author’s
first name. Book Title. City of
publication: Publisher’s name,
year of publication.
Hughes, Langston. The Big Sea, An Autobiography.
New York: Hill and Wang, 1963.
Works Cited list
Periodicals
Periodicals are publications that are published
regularly, or periodically, such as newspapers,
magazines, and journals.
Works Cited list
Periodicals
Here’s the basic format for a magazine article entry
for the Works Cited list.
Author’s last name, Author’s first name. “Article Title.”
Magazine Name day Month year: page number(s).
Philipson, Robert. “The Harlem Renaissance As
Postcolonial Phenomenon.” African American Review
1 Sept. 2006: 145-160.
If the article isn’t printed on consecutive pages,
give the first page and a plus sign.
Dinerstein, Joel. “Music, Memory, and Cultural
Identity in the Jazz Age.” American Quarterly May
2003: 303+.
Works Cited list
Citing nonprint sources
There are many other kinds of sources besides books
and magazines. You might use TV programs, DVDs,
CDs, or Web sites.
Web sites can be very useful as source material, but
you must cite them properly.
Works Cited list
Citing nonprint sources: Web site
Here’s the basic format for a Web site entry for the
Works Cited list.
Author’s last name, Author’s first name (if known).
“Document Title.” Title of Web Site. day Month year of
publication (or last update). Name of Sponsoring
Institution. day Month year of access <URL>.
“Faces of the Renaissance.” Drop Me Off in
Harlem. 20 March 2007. The John F. Kennedy Center
for the Performing Arts. 20 Nov. 2008
<http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/exploring/
harlem/facesmain_text.html>.
Works Cited list
Sources are put in
the Works Cited
list in
alphabetical
order, doublespaced, and
indented onehalf inch.
Works Cited
Hughes, Langston. The Big Sea, An
Autobiography. New York: Hill and
Wang, 1963.
Philipson, Robert. “The Harlem
Renaissance As Postcolonial
Here is an excerpt
Phenomenon.” African American Review
from a final
Works Cited list.
1 Sept. 2006: 145-160.
Parenthetical citations
Listing all your sources in the Works Cited list is an
important part of your research paper.
In the body of your paper,
you also need to tell
exactly where you found
any information that
came from other
sources.
You do that using a
parenthetical citation.
Parenthetical citations
A parenthetical citation appears in the
body of your paper wherever you
use another person’s ideas, facts, or
words.
A parenthetical citation
always refers to a source
in your Works Cited list.
Parenthetical citations
To create a parenthetical citation, give the author’s last
name and the page number(s) from the source. Put
this information in parentheses at the end of the
sentence, before the final punctuation.
He sat listening to long, beautiful stories about
freedom from his proud grandmother; and in her
stories, there were no tears (Hughes 32).
Readers can now find complete information about the
source in your Works Cited list.
Hughes, Langston. The Big Sea, An Autobiography.
New York: Hill and Wang, 1963.
Parenthetical citations
If the author’s name appears in the sentence, you
need to cite only the page number(s) in parentheses.
According to Hughes, he often listened to long,
beautiful stories from his proud grandmother; in
her stories, there were no tears (32).
For sources without page numbers, like most Web
sites, you should include the author’s name or the
title of the source within the text instead of using
parentheses.
According to the Web page “Faces of the
Renaissance” the years of the Harlem Renaissance
were the years 1917 to 1935.
Your Turn
All the examples in this presentation can be found in
the MLA Works Cited List Example, which is part
of the Student Handouts for the MLA/APA Styles
feature.
The handouts Your Turn: Create MLA Source
Citations and Your Turn: Create MLA
Parenthetical Citations also provide opportunities
to practice creating sources and parenthetical
citations.
The End