Skip to Main Content
Montana State University - Home Montana State University Library - Home Ask the Library

LS 101: Ways of Knowing

Liberal Studies 101 - Ways of Knowing

Top Citations Format Examples

Article:

Author last name, first middle. "Article Title in Quotations." Name of Journal in Italics, vol. __, no. __, YYYY, pp.__ - __. Publisher in Italics, www.url.com.

Book:

Author last name, first middle. Title of book/website in italics. Publisher, YYYY

Website:

Author last name, first middle. "Title of Website." Name of Website, www.url.com

Didn't see the example you needed? More examples are located at the bottom of the page.

Modern Language Association (MLA) Style

The following are examples of the Modern Language Association (MLA) formatting of resources for a list of works cited. For complete explanations and more examples, see the MLA Handbook. All  page numbers below refer to the 9th edition (2021) of the handbook.

In-Text Citations

The MLA documentation style uses parenthetical citations in the text (Author pg. no) that refer to the alphabetical list of works cited at the end of the paper. The parenthetical citation appears within the text at the end of the section of cited text and includes the author's last name, followed by a page number, where available: (Anderson 7).

There are many variations on this format depending on the circumstances and type of source being cited. For more examples, see the MLA Handbook, 8th edition, pages 54-58.

MLA Core Components

Components:

Author.

  • Begin with the author's last name, followed by a comma and the rest of the name.
  • See examples of works with multiple authors.
  • End this entry with a period.

Title of Source.

  • Titles of books and websites should be in italics.
  • Titles of periodicals, television episodes, and songs should be in quotation marks.
  • End this entry with a period.

Title of Container,

  • Title of journal (if using an article), book (if using a book chapter), or show title (if using an episode).
  • End this entry with a comma.

Other contributors,

  • These could include translators, creators of shows, annotation/forward/introduction authors, and people other then the author(s).
  • End this entry with a comma.

Version,

  • If the source is listed as an edition or version of a work, include it in the citation.
  • End this entry with a comma.

Number,

  • If the source is part of a numbered sequence (multi-volume book or journal with both volume and issue numbers), list those numbers.
  • End this entry with a comma.

Publisher,

  • The publisher produces or distributes the source to the public.
  • End this entry with a comma.

Publication Date,

  • The same source may be published on more than one date (online version vs. print). Use the one most relevant to your use.
  • End this entry with a comma.

Location.

  • Be as specific as possible in identifying a work's location.
  • End this entry with a period.

MLA 9th Edition Examples

Academic Journal with Stable URL (p. 320)

Goldman, Anne. "Questions of Transport: Reading Primo Levi Reading Dante." The Georgia Review, vol. 64, no. 1, 2010, pp. 69-88. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41403188.

Academic Journal with DOI with no page numbers (p. 325)

Chan, Evans. "Postmodernism and Hong Kong Cinema." Postmodern Culture, vol. 10, no. 3, May 2000. Project Muse, doi:10.1353/pmc.2000.0021.

Book (p. 313, *Note: the City of Publication should only be used if the book was published before 1900, if the publisher has offices in more than one country, or if the publisher is unknown in North America.)

Jacobs, Alan. The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction. Oxford UP, 2011.

Dorris, Michael, and Louise Erdrich. The Crown of Columbus. HarperCollins Publishers, 1999.

Digital Image found on a Website (from https://libguides.scf.edu/c.php?g=850327&p=6165318)

Warner, Mike. "Monet's Garden." 6 Oct. 2017, Flickr, flic.kr/p/ZsF6q1.

Newspaper Article (p. 322)

Magra, Illiana, and Andrea Zaratemay. "Hikers' Love of a Rarity in the Andes Takes a Toll." The New York Times, 3 May 2018, p. A7.

Web Sites, Blog Entries, and Comments (pp. 324, 326)

Hayes, Terrence. "The Wicked Candor of Wanda Coleman." The Paris Review, 12 June 2020, www.theparisreview.org/blog/2020/06/12/the-wicked-candor-of-wanda-coleman/.The Daily

Max the Pen. Comment on "Why They're Wrong" The Economist, 29 Sept. 2016, 6:06 p.m., www.economist.com/node/21707926/comments.

Folgerpedia. Folger Shakespeare Library, 17 July 2018,folgerpedia.folger.edu/Main_Page 

Government Report (p. 344)

United States, Congress, House. Improving Broadband Access for Veterans Act o f2016. Congress.gov, www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/6394/text. 114th Congress, 2nd session, House Resolution 6394, passed 6 Dec. 2016. 

Three or More Authors? Use et al. (pp. 232, 313)

Charon, Rita, et al. The Principles and Practice of Narrative Medicine. Oxford UP, 2017.

For an in-text citation, use (Charon et al. 42).

Pseudonym for Author on Twitter Post (p. 326)

Chaucer Doth Tweet [@LeVostreGC]. "A daye wythout anachronism ys lyke Emily Dickinson wythout her lightsaber." Twitter, 7 Apr. 2018, twitter.com/LeVostreGC/status/982829987286827009.