MLA 9th edition, published by the Modern Language Association in 2021, is the standard citation style for literature, languages and much of the humanities. It pairs brief author-page citations in the text with a works cited list.
This guide explains the container model at the heart of MLA, the nine core elements in order, in-text citation rules, works cited formatting and examples for common source types.
The MLA 9th Pattern in Brief
In the text, give the author's surname and page number with no comma: (Achebe 45). In the works cited list, build each entry from the core elements in a fixed order, including only the ones that apply.
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Penguin Classics, 2006.
In text: (Achebe 45)
The Container Model
MLA treats every source as something that may sit inside a larger "container". An article sits inside a journal; a chapter sits inside an edited book; an episode sits inside a series.
Some sources have two containers. A journal article accessed through a database sits inside the journal (container one) and the database (container two). This one model lets you cite almost anything, even types the handbook never lists.
The Nine Core Elements
| Order | Element | Punctuation after it | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Author | Full stop | Okoro, Maria. |
| 2 | Title of source | Full stop | "Hospital Visiting Rules in Victorian London." |
| 3 | Title of container | Comma | Social History of Medicine, |
| 4 | Other contributors | Comma | edited by Laura Price, |
| 5 | Version | Comma | 2nd ed., |
| 6 | Number | Comma | vol. 33, no. 2, |
| 7 | Publisher | Comma | Oxford UP, |
| 8 | Publication date | Comma | 2020, |
| 9 | Location | Full stop | pp. 401-22. |
Omit elements that do not apply. The publisher is usually left out for journals, newspapers and websites whose title is essentially the publisher's name.
In-Text Citations
| Situation | Example |
|---|---|
| One author | (Okoro 415) |
| Two authors | (Reid and Hale 90) |
| Three or more authors | (Ito et al. 63) |
| Author named in the sentence | Okoro argues that visiting rules reflected class anxieties (415). |
| No author | Shortened title: ("Florence Nightingale's Statistics") |
| Two works by one author | (Okoro, "Hospital Visiting" 415) |
| No page numbers | Author only, or another locator such as (Okoro, par. 6) if the source numbers paragraphs |
Prose quotations longer than four lines, and verse quotations over three lines, become block quotations indented half an inch, without quotation marks, with the citation after the final punctuation.
Works Cited Formatting
- Start a new page titled "Works Cited", centered and not bold.
- Double-space throughout and use a half-inch hanging indent.
- Alphabetize by the first word of each entry, usually the author's surname.
- Reverse only the first author's name; list a second author first name first.
- For three or more authors, give the first author followed by "et al."
- Use title case; italicize standalone works and containers, and put titles of parts in quotation marks.
- Abbreviate "university press" as "UP" in publisher names.
Works Cited Examples
Book
Satia, Priya. Time's Monster: How History Makes History. Belknap Press, 2020.
Book with Two Authors
Reid, Anna, and Tom Hale. The Long Ward. Oxford UP, 2018.
Journal Article in a Database
Okoro, Maria. "Hospital Visiting Rules in Victorian London." Social History of Medicine, vol. 33, no. 2, 2020, pp. 401-22. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx.
Chapter in an Edited Book
Ito, James. "Nurses at War." Care and Conflict, edited by Laura Price, Manchester UP, 2017, pp. 55-78.
Webpage
"Florence Nightingale's Statistics." Science Museum, 8 Mar. 2021, www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/xxxxx.
Film
Testament of Youth. Directed by James Kent, BBC Films, 2014.
Names, titles and URLs in these examples are illustrative. MLA prefers a DOI over a URL when one is available, and allows omitting "https://" from ordinary URLs.
Dates and Access Dates
MLA writes dates day, month, year, abbreviating months longer than four letters: 8 Mar. 2021. Access dates are optional but recommended when a source has no publication date or is likely to change: Accessed 3 May 2024.
Indirect Sources and Repeated Citations
When you quote a source you found inside another work, cite the work you actually read and signal the original with "qtd. in": (qtd. in Okoro 417). Only Okoro appears in the works cited list. Where possible, find and cite the original instead.
When you cite the same source several times in a row and it is clear which one you mean, you can give just the page number in later citations: (418). Reintroduce the author whenever another source has intervened.
Common MLA 9th Errors
- Putting a comma between author and page in the text.
- Using "p." before page numbers in in-text citations.
- Listing all three authors instead of "et al."
- Including the publisher's city, which MLA no longer requires.
- Forgetting the second container for database articles where your instructor expects it.
- Bolding the "Works Cited" heading.
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Frequently Asked Questions
A way of describing sources as parts of larger containers, such as an article in a journal or a journal in a database, so any source can be cited with the same elements.
Give the first author's name followed by "et al." in both the in-text citation and the works cited entry.
Yes, when the source has them. Write the number alone, with no "p." or comma, as in (Okoro 415).
No. MLA 9th omits the publisher's city in most cases.
They are optional but recommended for undated web sources or content likely to change.
Yes, with a half-inch hanging indent and entries in alphabetical order.