Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House. MacMurray, 1999.
Noble, Safiya U. Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism. New York University Press, 2018.
MLA Style
The MLA or Modern Language Association style of citation is broadly used in the language arts and humanities. The style is currently in its 9th edition.
Purdue OWL MLA Style and Format Guide
Image courtesy of The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University.
This resource, updated to reflect the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page. Make an appointment with an Oxford librarian for further assistance!
MLA Handbook by
The ninth edition of the MLA Handbook is a textbook and reference guide that offers student writers and writing instructors guidance on creating works-cited-list entries in MLA style using the template of core elements.
ISBN: 9781603293532Publication Date: 2021-04-01
Icons are from the Noun Project and under Creative Commons licence (CCBY): books by sandra, article by Arfan Khan Kamol, website by Julynn B, link by Nathan Diesel, Video by Aybige, Audio by Manasa, Image by Mohammad Iqbal, hashtag by Gregor Cresnar.
Books
MLA Style is designed to be flexible and adaptable to many kinds of sources - the citation format centers on the idea of "objects" and the "containers" they live in. Since books are self-contained, they don't usually have a "container" element - this makes them one of the easiest things to cite in MLA
Basic Book Citation:Author Last Name, Author First Name. Title of Book. Name of Publisher, Publication Date.
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Some example citations are below, from the Purdue OWL MLA Guide. Follow the link for more examples!
How To Cite...
Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring. Allyn and Bacon, 2000.
Pratchett, Terry, and Neil Gaiman. Good Omens. Workman, 1990.
List only the first author followed by the phrase et al. (Latin for "and others") in place of the subsequent authors' names.
Wysocki, Anne Frances, et al. Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of Composition. Utah State UP, 2004.
Harris, Muriel. "Talk to Me: Engaging Reluctant Writers." A Tutor's Guide: Helping Writers One to One, edited by Ben Rafoth, Heinemann, 2000, pp. 24-34.
Smale, Maura A. "Always a Novice: Feminist Learning and Leadership Practice." Feminists Among Us: Resistance and Advocacy in Library Leadership, edited by Shirley Lew and Baharak Yousefi, Library Juice Press, 2017, pp. 7-27.
Articles
MLA Style is designed to be flexible and adaptable to many kinds of sources - the citation format centers on the idea of "objects" and the "containers" they live in. The container of an article is usually the journal, magazine, etc it was published in.
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Basic Newspaper Article Citation Author Last Name, Author First Name. "Title of Work in Quotation Marks." Newspaper Title, Publication Day Month Year, page number. Basic Scholarly Journal Article Citation Author Last Name, Author First Name. "Title of Work in Quotation Marks." Journal Title, vol. Volume #, no. issue #, Publication date, pp. Page numbers. Database Name. DOI or Permalink. |
Note that date of access is optional in MLA 9th. It is only necessary if the work lacks a publication date or you think the work has been altered or removed. Your professor may want you to provide a date of access, if so see the examples below for how this should be formatted.
Some example citations are below, from the Purdue OWL MLA Guide. Follow the link for more examples!
How To Cite...
McAninch, David. "Seeing France’s Wild Mountains Through a Clouded, Classic Windshield." New York Times, 15 July 2019. nyti.ms/2GgMdkK. Accessed 16 Jul 2019.
Brubaker, Bill. "New Health Center Targets County's Uninsured Patients." Washington Post, 24 May 2007, p. LZ01.
In Print
Duvall, John N. "The (Super)Marketplace of Images: Television as Unmediated Mediation in DeLillo's White Noise." Arizona Quarterly, vol. 50, no. 3, 1994, pp. 127-53.
From an Online Database
Budd, John M. “Public Libraries, Political Speech, and the Possibility of a Commons.” Public Library Quarterly, vol. 38, no. 2, Apr. 2019, pp. 147–159. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/01616846.2018.1556232.
Krasikov, Sana. "What Children Remember From the War." Review of Last Witnesses: An Oral History of the Children of World War II, by Svetlana Alexievich. New York Times, 13 July 2019, nyti.ms/2JyKt8y. Accessed 15 July 2019.
Weiller, K. H. Review of Sport, Rhetoric, and Gender: Historical Perspectives and Media Representations, edited by Linda K. Fuller. Choice, Apr. 2007, p. 1377.
Website
MLA Style is designed to be flexible and adaptable to many kinds of sources - the citation format centers on the idea of "objects" and the "containers" they live in. A website itself is a container, so think of pages on a website like chapters of a book.
Citing a web-based resource? MLA style recommends that you include your date of access if there is not a publication date or when the content may change over time.
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Basic Website Citation Author Last Name, Author First Name. "Title of Page in Quotation Marks." Website Name. Date of resource creation (if available), URL/DOI/permalink. Accessed date of access (if applicable). |
Some example citations are below, from the Purdue OWL MLA Guide. Follow the link for more examples!
How To Cite...
The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U, 2008, owl.english.purdue.edu/owl. Accessed 23 Apr. 2008.
Manila, Ashley. “Coconut Cream Pie Smoothie Recipe.” eHow, ehow.com/how_12343061_coconut-cream-pie-smoothie.html. Accessed 15 July 2019.
"Libraries = Strong Communities: Celebrating National Library Week." Oxford Library Blog, Oxford College Library, 9 Apr. 2019, scholarblogs.emory.edu/oxford/events/libraries-strong-communities-celebrating-national-library-week/. Accessed 15 July 2019.
Images and Video
*Figures cited in-text must be both captioned and cited in the bibliography.
In-text citation:
(see fig. X)
(see fig. 3)
Caption:
*Include the bibliographic information, while replacing periods with commas. For ENG 185 assignments only: Add licensing, public domain or fair use information in parentheses at the end of the caption (e.g. CC BY 2.0, "Public Domain," "Fair Use").
Fig. X. Artist; Title; Creation Year; Institution, URL. (Licensing information/public domain information/fair use notation)
Fig. 3. Cézanne, Paul; Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses; 1890; The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435882. (Public Domain)
Fig. 5. Holley, Lauren; Atlanta Streetcar; 2014; Flickr, flickr.com/photos/atlantadowntown/16106577510/.
(CC BY 2.0)
Bibliography:
Last name, First name. Title of the work. Year. Website publisher, URL.
Cézanne, Paul. Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses. 1890. The Metropolitan Museum of
Art, metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435882.
Image has no known title?
If the work has no title provide a concise but informative description of the work.
Mackintosh, Charles Rennie. Chair of stained oak. 1897-1900, Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Image has no known author?
Omit the author's name, and start with the title:
Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses. 1890. The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435882.
No creation date?
Include an access date instead:
Cézanne, Paul. Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses. The Metropolitan Museum of
Art, metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435882. Accessed 5 Nov. 2019.
Are you citing an image reproduced in a website article?
Read this post from the MLA Style Center for formatting guidelines.
Have you modified the image?
Fig. 3. Adapted from Artist; Title; Creation Year; Institution, URL.
Fig. 3. Adapted from Paul Cézanne; Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses; 1890; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435882.
Read this post from the MLA Style Center for more information.
Are you using a video screenshot?
Fig. X. Still from Creator, Title of Video (minute:seconds).
Fig. 4. Still from Toledo Museum of Art, What is Visual Literacy? (4:31).
Read this post from the MLA Style Center for more information.
MLA Video Citation Examples
YouTube & Streaming Video:
Title. Platform, uploaded by Screen name, Day Month (abbreviated). Year, URL.
"What is Information Literacy?."YouTube, uploaded by Modern Librarian Memoirs, 2 Nov. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbe6xBibOL4.
Digital Resources
Citing personal photos, digital files, or other electronic resources can be confusing. The important thing to remember is that everything you use for academic or professional work, even if you made it yourself, does need to be cited - every time!
Some URL Notes from Purdue OWL:
- Many scholarly journal articles found in databases include a DOI (digital object identifier). If a DOI is available, cite the DOI number instead of the URL.
- Online newspapers and magazines sometimes include a permalink, which is a shortened, stable version of a URL. Look for a “share” or “cite this” button to see if a source includes a permalink. If you can find a permalink, use that instead of a URL.
If you have a question or need to cite something not listed here, schedule a consultation with a librarian!
Digital Resources in MLA Style: How Do I Cite...
In MLA style, any links you include should not have the http:// portion of the URL. Visit the Purdue OWL Pages on citing Electronic Sources and Other Common Sources in MLA for more examples! For more social media post guidance, visit the MLA Style Center Advice from the Editors post on citing social media.
If the author’s name is the same as the uploader, only cite the author once. If the author is different from the uploader, cite the author’s name before the title.
Garofalo, Vanessa. "How to Avoid Plagiarism in 5 Easy Steps." YouTube, uploaded by Modern Librarian Memoirs, 5 April 2018, www.youtu.be/WV2-cmi19sg.
“8 Hot Dog Gadgets put to the Test.” YouTube, uploaded by Crazy Russian Hacker, 6 June 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBlpjSEtELs.
Make sure to list as much information as possible to help your user find the file - if information such as record label or producer are unavailable from your source, do not list them.
Song
Zuckerman, Jeremy. "To Heal." 22 July 2015. SoundCloud, www.soundcloud.com/jeremy-zuckerman/to-heal.
Personal Interview
A personal interview is one that you have conducted yourself - the "author" is the interviewee. For other interviews, see the Purdue OWL Guide.
Crowl, Paige. Personal interview. 12 July 2019.
Podcast
"3 - Station Management." Welcome to Night Vale from NightValeRadio, 15 July 2012, www.radiopublic.com/welcome-to-night-vale-3GZp96/ep/s1!0c606.
Personal Photo
Remember to get the permission of all the people in the photo (or their guardians, if minors) before you use it in your work!
Crowl, Paige. "Happy Spinach." 28 Feb. 2017. Personal collection.
Garofalo, Christopher. "CSCE Contributor Gift Table." SmugMug, 12 April 2019, www.christophervisuals.com/OxfordCollege/CSCE/i-wP8vMbB/A.
Online Photo or Image
If the image is on the web only, then provide the name of the artist, the title of the work, and then follow the citation format for a website. If the work is posted via a username, use that username for the author. If the image has no title, put a description instead, and don't use quotation marks or italics.
Williams, Maynard O. “An Ouled Nail woman in Algeria wears a tattoo that is customary for dancers, 1949.” Found, National Geographic Creative, 10 March 2016, www.natgeofound.tumblr.com/post/140802561912/an-ouled-nail-woman-in-algeria-wears-a-tattoo-that.
Cash, Ivan. "Infographic of Infographics." Imgur, 5 April 2011, www.imgur.com/DNxvj.
If the post does not have a title or any other text, as might be the case for a post containing only an image, provide a description.
Facebook
World Wildlife Fund. “Happy Earth Day from all of us at WWF!” Facebook, 22 Apr. 2019, www.facebook.com/worldwildlifefund/photos/a.58993914793/10156574728914794.
Ng, Celeste [@pronounced_ing]. Photo of letter from Shirley Jackson. Twitter, 22 Jan. 2018, twitter.com/pronounced_ing/status/955528799357231104.
Smith, Clint. “Today is Frederick Douglass’ 200th birthday. . . .” Twitter, 14 Feb. 2018, twitter.com/ClintSmithIII/status/963810866964639745.
Hamilton Videos [@hamilton.vods]. Video of King George in Hamilton. Instagram, 5 July 2020, www.instagram.com/p/CCPEUJLDz0l/.
AI Generated Content
Generative AI is still a new technology as such the rules around citing it are still evolving. This guide lays out recommendations made by MLA for how to cite content created by generative AI.
When citing generative AI remember that you must cite any materials you are paraphrasing or direct quoting that came from the AI just as you would from any other source. Further, you should in a note or in text acknowledge any ways you used AI in the creation of your work, such as translation or editing.
Always before using AI in a project check with your professor. According to the the Undergraduate Academic Honor Code of Oxford College:
Using an artificial intelligence program to generate any content for any assignment (including, but not limited to examinations, papers, homework, and creative work) constitutes plagiarism and is a violation of the Honor Code unless students acknowledge in the assignment the extent to which an artificial intelligence program contributed to their work and outside resources are permitted for the assignment.
AI Generated Text
As MLA Style is designed to be flexible and adaptable to many kinds of sources - the citation format centers on the idea of "objects" and the "containers" they live in. AI content generated is the object and the AI tool is the container. MLA Style does not recognize AI as an author, so citing AI content is similar to citing works with an unknown author.
Basic Citation:"AI prompt description" prompt. AI Tool Name, AI Tool Version, Tool Parent Company, Date Generated, Link to AI tool.
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Note on URL: Some AI tools allow you to create a sharable link to your conversation or the item generated. If that is the case use the sharable permanent URL in your citation. If it is not available then link to the tool.
Example:
Work cited:
"In 200 words describe the symbolism of Momento Mori in European renaissance art." prompt. Gemini, 25 July, 2024 version, Google DeepMind, 30 July, 2024, https://gemini.google.com/app.
In-text:
Renaissance artist often used motifs such as skulls, wilted flowers, and hourglasses to remind viewers of death and the value of time ("In 200 words describe").
You have the AI tool create a creative piece of text like a poem or a short story, you still need to cite it same as above. If you have assigned the piece a title then you can use the title in the citation with a description of the prompt.
Example:
"Perpetual Curtain" heroic couplet about never ending rain. Gemini, 25 July, 2024 version, Google DeepMind, 30 July, 2024, https://gemini.google.com/app.
Find more examples on the MLA Style blog!
AI Generated Images
AI generated images must have a caption like all other art work. See example below:
Fig. 1. "Create a watercolor painting of a college library in outer space" prompt, Gemini, 25 July, 2024 version, Google DeepMind, 30 July, 2024, https://gemini.google.com/app.
Works Cited:
"Create a watercolor painting of a college library in outer space" prompt. Gemini, 25 July, 2024 version, Google DeepMind, 30 July, 2024, https://gemini.google.com/app.
In-Text Citations
If you are using MLA for your project, use parenthetical citations. Only include the author's last name and the page number in parentheses. If there is no author, use the title of the work in place of the author's name. Typically, you put this at the end of the sentence just before the period.
Format:(author's last name page number) Example:According to one scholar, Superman, while having many impressive superpowers, is bad at the investigative parts of crime fighting (Wayne 5). |
To cite more than one source put a semicolon between the two sources' citations.
Format:(author's last name page number; author's last name page number)Example:While these two scholars disagree about many things, both think the Justice League of America is the most effective crime fighting organization in existence (Wayne 5; Kent 8). |
For more information on MLA, see the Purdue OWL page about in-text citation.