Introduction
This guide is designed to show you the general elements of MLA Works Cited entries. It includes a general overview of the elements (like author, title, dates, and locations). It also gives examples of sources with all elements or with some missing. If you have done research before, you know not every webpage, article, book, or film has all the basic elements. That is okay. This guide will show you when to omit or leave out elements that are not relevant or not available. The blue boxes below show how the information appears on your source, and the final gold box shows how MLA formats these.
To see a sample MLA Paper, click here
Elements Defined
- Author. - The creator of the source; a person or entity's name
- Title of Source. - The title of the source in quotation marks, with major words' first letters capitalized
- Container, - The host of the title above; a website, a journal title, anthology, etc. Italicize this element.
- Contributor, - Any additional "helper" in the creation of the source; editors, translators, directors, etc.
- Version / Number, - This is most often seen in journal articles and will appear like the following: vol. 99, no. 2. This could also be the season and episode of a TV series
- Publisher, - The person or entity responsible for producing the source. This could be a person, a publishing house, a broadcasting company, etc.
- Publication Date, - The year, season, or full date a source was produced. Include as many parts of a date as you can. It might be fall 2011 or 28 May 2021. Be sure to format dates the "MLA away:" day, month, year. Months with five or more letters are abbreviated (i.e. January becomes Jan.)
- Location. - This is where your reader can find the source you used. It could be an actual place (city, state, country), a web address (www. http://), or pages in a book or journal
Full Citation:
Author last name, First name. "Title," Container, version or vol. number, Publisher, Publication Date, Location.
Citing a Journal Article from a Database in MLA - A source with all elements
- Author. - John Smith.
- Title of Source. - "Wonders of Whales."
- Container, - Marine Biologist Monthly,
- Contributor, - edited by Sharon E. Jones,
- Version / Number, - vol. 11, no.3,
- Publisher, - Coral Reef Press,
- Publication Date, - 20 Mar. 2019,
- Location. - pp. 61-73. EBSCOhost. http://doi.org/11.235652.
Full Citation:
Smith, John. "Wonders of Whales," Marine Biologist Monthly, edited by Sharon E. Jones
vol. 11, no. 3, Coral Reef Press, 20 Mar. 2019, pp. 61-73. EBSCOhost.
http://doi.org/11.235652
*This journal was printed, then published in EBCSOhost, so it technically has two containers, the second one is the database itself, and servers as an addition to the location.
Citing a Webpage in MLA - A source with missing elements
- Author. - *Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- Title of Source, - Influenza Facts.
- Container, - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Contributor, - N/A
- Version / Number, - N/A
- Publisher, - N/A
- Publication Date, -
- Location. - *Page last reviewed March 4, 2021
Full Citation -
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"Influenza Facts." 4 Mar. 2021,
cdc.gov/influenza-facts.
*Since the author and container are the same, leave the author blank. This avoids redundancy
**Webpage publishing dates can vary in format and placement, but the full citation example has the same format as any other source. For web sources with no publication date, include "Accessed" and the date at the end of your citation.
Citation Element Guide - MLA
Conclusion
This guide has displayed basic Works Cited entry creation in MLA format. There are many nuances to different sources, but the same elements will apply. For more examples, visit http://style.mla.org
To watch a video to help you format your paper or make your Works Cited page, click here.
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