MLA Style Guide - 9th edition

When there are two authors you will include BOTH names. 

• Whoever is listed first in your source will be the first person on your citation. 
• First author is written out starting with the last name.
• Separate the two authors with comma and  (, and).
• Second author is written out as we normally see it, first then last name.
• If it is an edited book, add a comma after the last author's name adn then add the label editor or editors (no italics in the citation).
• Don't forget to end the Author "sentence" with a period (.)!

Examples:

For more details see page 111 in the MLA Handbook.

When there are three or more authors, things can get very confusing and your citation becomes really long. To avoid confusion and unnecessary length, your author element will look similar to that with two authors.

• Whoever is listed first in your source will be the first person on your citation. 
• First author is written out starting with the last name.
• Add a comma after the first name (,)
• Use the Latin word et al. for "and others" (et al.); don't italicize it in the citation. 
• Don't forget to end the Author "sentence" with a period (.)!

Examples:

An organization may be an institution, an association, a committee, a government agency or any other organization whose individual members are not identified. The organization may be an author and/or a publisher of a work.

• When the source's author and publisher are separate organizations, give both names.

Example:

United Nations. Consequence of Rapid Population Growth in Developing Countries. Taylor and Francis, 1991.

• If the author is also the publisher, put the organization author in the publisher position and skip the organization author.

Example:

• If the author is a government agency:
  • Start with the name of the government, the country (United States),
  • Add a comma (,)
  • Followed by the name of the agency.
  • Between them, name any organizational units of which the agency is part; names are arranged from largest to smallest entity.

Example:

United States, Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Musicians and Singers." Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2016-17 ed., 17 Dec. 2015, www.bls.gov/ooh/entertainment-and-sports/musicians-and-singers.htm. 

For more details see pages 119-120 in the MLA Handbook.

Film and TV

When using media works as a source, the individual that was the main focus of your research should be the leading name in the citation. 

• Is the actor's performance the important to you using it in your paper? --> use the actor's name in the author position
• Are the ideas and themes created by the screenwriter important? --> use the screenwriter's name in the author position
• Is the cinematography the highlighted feature? --> use the director's name in the author position

Include the person's name, add a comma after the name and a label of that person's role in the production.

Examples:

Dinklage, Peter, performer. Game of Thrones. HBO, 2011-2016.

No specific focus? No worries! Begin the citation with the Title, include the names of the director and other participants in the other contributor element.

Example:

Game of Thrones. Created by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, performance by Emilia Clarke, HBO, 2011-2016.

For more details see pages 146 and 148 in the MLA Handbook.

Pen Names

Sometimes authors write under another name. Use the pen name like you would write a regular author's name. 

Example:

Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. Everyman's Library, 1992.

If the author is not well known or better known under a different name, and you do know both the pen name and the real name, list both. Include the author's real name in brackets, using normal name format.

Example:

Bachman, Richard [Stephen King]. Thinner. Signet, 2009.

​If the author is writing under a pseudonym, but his or her proper name is found on the page, use the pseudonym and add the real name in brackets [ ].

Example:

The Rock [Dwayne Johnson]. The Scorpion King. Directed by Chuck Russell, Universal Pictures, 2002.
 

Social Media

A modern take on pseudonyms are online usernames. We use these to identify ourselves in various social media platforms. This can be a way to offer people anonymity or simply as a function of participating in this form of communication. Blog and Twitter accounts use such names frequently.

• If the author uses a pseudonym, use it. Include the real name in brackets [ ], if available.

Examples: 

 @careersherpa. "43 Best Job Search Websites 2016 http://careersherpa.net/43-best-job-search-websites-2016/." Twitter, 19 Jan. 2016, 12:51 p.m., https://twitter.com/careersherpa/status/689520486322057216.
 

For more details see pages 115-118 in the MLA Handbook.

After you have scoured your source and still can't find an author, what do you do?

1. Start the citation with the title; skip the author element and move on.
2. Be sure to add as much detail into your citation as possible.

For example:

Asthma Sourcebook. 4th ed., Omnigraphics, 2016. Health Reference Series.

• Do I include the author's title, like Lady, Father, Dr. or PhD?
  No, omit any titles. The only time would be if the title were essential to the person's name, add a comma between the given name and the title. For example:
   
  Tyson, Neil deGrasse. "The Cosmic Perspective." Natural History, vol. 116, no. 3, 2007, pp. 22-27. Academic Search Complete.
  • Notice there is no Dr. or PhD for the above

• Notice the Dr. is essential to the pseudonym

• The author only has initials for the first name and middle name, can I use that?
  Yes, abbreviations are normal. When the name is abbreviated make sure that you have a period and a space between each initial, unless the name is entirely initials.
  
  Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Arthur A. Levine Books, 2009.
   

• What if I have several sources with the same author? How do I include each source in my Works Cited?
  Make sure that you have alphabetized your list by author. When the same author is grouped together, you will want to alphabetize the author's works by title. Keep the author's name in the first citation. Replace the (same) author's name in all subsequent ones with three hyphens (---).
  
  Tolkien, J. R.. The Hobbit. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012.
  ---. The Fellowship of the Ring. Del Rey, 2012.
  ---. The Return of the King. Del Rey, 2012.
  ---. The Two Towers. Del Rey, 2012.

For more details see pages 49,120 in the MLA Handbook.

According to the MLA Handbook, it is expected that you "capitalize the first word, the last word, and all principal words" (54). 

 Do NOT capitalize the following words, unless it is the first word of the title or subtitle:

• Articles (the, an, a)
• Prepositions (between, of, in, as, to, ...)
• Coordinating conjunctions (and, for, or, so, but, yet, nor)

​

For more details see pages 54-56 in the MLA Handbook.

Subtitles

Use a colon and space to separate the title from the subtitle.

Other punctuation

Use the given punctuation where appropriate. For example:

Bohannon, John. "Who's Afraid of Peer Review? ...

For more details see pages 59-62  in the MLA Handbook.

Poems are traditionally the most common instance when the work may not have title. These days, depending on what your instructor allows you to use as a source, you may encounter instances where you are using a form of  social media communication, like twitter. In both cases, you will write out the first line, or the full tweet (it's only 140 characters after all). 

Be sure to format the title as follows:

• The punctuation will reflect the original text.
• Use quotation marks around the title.
• Make sure to include a period, or given punctuation before the end quotation mark.

Examples:

Dickinson, Emily. "My Life Closed Twice Before Its Close." Selected Poems and Commentaries, ...

The specific rules for the container's title are:

1. The title container will always be italicized.
2. End the title with a comma (,).

See the Title box (above) for general details about how to format a title.

Examples:

Article published by a magazine or newspaper, and found in a library database.

For more details see pages 134-145  in the MLA Handbook

Sometimes, a source of information has other people contribute to the creation of the larger content. Include the people that are important to your research, preceded by a descriptor of their role. These descriptors may include:

• edited by
• translated by
• performance by
• narrated by
• illustrated by

Examples:

Márquez, Gabriel García. Love in the Time of Cholera. Translated by Edith Grossman, ...

For more details see pages 145-154 in the MLA Handbook.

If there are multiple versions or editions where the information is published, you will want to indicate which edition you used. This is important because newer editions typically include updated information.

More often, you're going to encounter an edition of a book. Make sure to do the following:

1. Use the numbers with the ordinal indicator (st, nd, rd, th)
2. Abbreviate the words edition (ed.) and revised (rev.) 
3. Make sure the abbreviations has a period after it (.)
4. End the element with a comma (,)

For example:

Beers, Mark H., et al., editors. The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy. 18th ed., Merck Research Laboratories, 2006.

For more details see pages 154-158 MLA Handbook

Information may be packaged within a container that is part of a series. This is important to list to make it easy for you and your reader to find that specific volume of a book; issue of a magazine, newspaper, or journal; or episode of a show. Possible numbers and the proper abbreviations are:

• Volume >> vol.
• Issue >> no.
• General number >> no.
• Media series >> season, episode

Sometimes you have to include a combination of numbers, like volume and issue for a magazine or journal article.

1. Start with the larger entity, like the volume (vol.) --> With all abbreviations, add the appropriate punctuation: a period.
2. Add the volume number.
3. Separate the two numbers with a comma (,).
4. Repeat the above steps for the issue:
   1. Start with the label of the entity (no.)
   2. Add the issue number.
   3. Finish the clause with a comma (,).

Examples:

Post, Stephen, editor. "Informed Consent." Encyclopedia of Bioethics, 3rd ed., vol. 3, Thomson Gale, 1271-313.

For more details see pages 158-164 MLA Handbook

The organization responsible for distributing the information publicly is the publisher. Include the publisher information for books, TV, movies, and websites.

• Academic presses can be abbreviated if it has the words University and/or Press. Replace with the abbreviations: U and P or UP. 
• Common business words can be omitted from the Publisher's name, like Company (Co.), Corporation (Corp.), Limited (Ltd.), and Incorporated (Inc.). 
• Omit the article (The) if it is in the publisher's name.
• Generally speaking, the city of publication in no longer required. 
• For websites, the publisher's name (organization) may appear at the bottom of the home page or on an About page.

Examples:

Harold, Franklin M. In Search of Cell History: The Evolution of Life's Building Blocks. U of Chicago P, 2014.

Casablanca. Directed by Michael Curtiz, Warner Brothers, 1941.

"Energy Initiatives." Lorain County Community College, 2015, www.lorainccc.edu/about+us/energy/energy+initiatives.htm

For more details see pages 166-173 in the  MLA Handbook

The publication date is the date that this information was made available. These can include:

• a year
• a day and month
• a season
• a time stamp
• a range of dates or years

To keep it as simple as possible here are some points to think about:

• Books have copyright () dates; use the most recent year.
• Articles have publication dates, use all the given information (day month year). 
• In the works cited list, use the day-month-year style (12 Jan. 2014).
  • Abbreviate months to the first three or four letters. Like: January = Jan. or September = Sept.
• Web pages, social media, and other sources may have a time, include it after the date.
• Movies, TV, and music, use their release date in the context that you are using it.
  • Did you see it in theaters, in the classroom, or at home?
  • Was it live show or a recording?

For example:

Depending on the medium in which the information is created, location could mean:

Printed Information

• Page number, use p.
• Page range (if there are multiple pages), use pp.
• Non-consecutive pages, use pp. the first page and + (pp. 12+).

​Online Information (like articles and websites) follow this priority:

1. ​DOI (digital object identifier, think of it like a scholarly article's ISBN number),
2. Permalink or stable URL (typically found in the share tools),
3. Other URL from the top of the browser.
   • If the DOI is not preceded by http:// or https://, add it to the number or change it to this: (https://doi.org/xxx).
   • Note that URLs should be hyperlinked for the reader to easily click and access the source.
   • Avoid using tiny URLs as the companies that create them may disappear or they may change their services.
     Note: Online articles do not require page numbers in the Works Cited. Make sure that you hyperlink the DOI or URL for easy access to your source. 

Examples: 

Kindsvatter, Aaron, and Anne Geroski. "The Impact of Early Life Stress on the Neurodevelopment of the Stress Response System." Journal of Counseling and Development, vol. 92, no. 4, Oct. 2014. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6676.2014.00173.x.

Davies, Alex. "Tesla's Autopilot has had its First Deadly Crash." Wired, 30 June 2016, 6:04 p.m., www.wired.com/2016/06/teslas-autopilot-first-deadly-crash/.

For more details see pages 187-197 in the MLA Handbook.

Think of a database like a big, virtual library. This is a larger container in which the information is housed and accessed. Typically, the elements to be listed in this type of container will include:

• Title of Container = the database and
• location = either the article's DOI or the permanent link found in the database's toolbox.

When a source has been reprinted or republished in other locations, you should include the provided information for the original publication. Place all the elements in the same order as the first container.

Article reprinted in a book.

Center for Responsible Lending. "Payday Lending Traps Borrowers in a Cycle of Dept." Alternative Lending, edited by Amanda Hiber, Greenhaven P., 2010, pp. 54-58. Reprinted in CRL Issue Brief, Feb. 2009.

Shellis, R. Peter, et al. "Understanding the Chemistry of Dental Erosion." Monographs in Oral Science, vol. 5, 2014, https//doi.org/10.1159/000359943. Originally published in Erosive Tooth Wear: From Diagnosis to Therapy, edited by Adrian Lussi and Carolina Ganss, 2nd ed., vol. 20, Karger, 2014, pp. 163-79.

For more details see page 53 in the MLA Handbook.