By: Lauren Beth Kelly
MLA (Modern Language Association) formatting is a set of guidelines, usually for academic papers. This article focuses specifically on that of the “works-cited” and “in-text citations” areas of the MLA style of formatting.
In-text citations are simply brief acknowledgements of sources. Such sources are listed within the body of the document and are typically enclosed in a parenthesis. Usually, they’re placed at the end of a sentence or when there’s a pause within the sentence. Whenever a source is mentioned, or whenever a quote is used, there should be a corresponding citation.
The formula for an in-text citation is most commonly formatted as the author’s last name and the page number. Specifically, the formula appears like this: (Author Last Page Number[s]). However, if the author is already mentioned within the body of the paper, then only the page number is required. Online sources are also cited using this format. To cite a website in-text, include the author’s last name or an abbreviated website tile.
All in-text citations make up a works cited list, which is usually located at the end of the document. For every citation contained within the body of your paper, there should also be a corresponding citation included in the works-cited list.
In an MLA works cited list, all citations should have a hanging indent (all lines of a paragraph except the first are indented) and be listed in alphabetical order by the author’s last name. The works cited list should appear as the next consecutive page number after the last page within the body of the document. It should include one-inch margins and be double-spaced.
The formula for the works cited citation of a standard print book is as follows:
Author’s Last name, First name. Title of the work, translated by or edited by First Name Last name, vol. number, Publisher, Year the book was published, page number(s).
To cite a website, use the following format:
Author’s Last name, First name. “Title of the article of Individual Page.” Title of the Website, Name of the publisher, Date of publication, URL.
There are also many other citation variations for the works-cited list. For example, when citing a periodical such as a journal, newspaper, or magazine, the standard format includes the date enclosed in parentheses with the volume and issue number separated by a decimal point. There are also slight variations for periodicals with multiple authors, or that are online sources, etc.
In order to make things easier on yourself regarding both in-text and works-cited citations, the following website can generate the citation for you. Simply go to “citationproducer.com/mla-citation/”, input your data, and you will have your MLA standard citation!
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I love this piece! I like how straightforward you are with this, because so many articles are so convoluted and seemed to make you more confused than before. Thank you for this clear, helpful article!
Hi Lauren,
This is a succinct piece that leaves the reader with precisely what they need to endure using MLA. Having made it through high school and into college, I was relieved to be using Chicago and AP style, though I had one graduate professor who insisted we use MLA just for her creative writing workshop class. Drove me NUTS. I wish I’d had your guide to remind me of all this fuss.
My only note is that the formatting fell apart in the middle with a funky line break after “Name of the” — easily fixable.
Thanks!