Basic Format

According to MLA style, you must have a Works Cited page at the end of your research paper. All entries in the Works Cited page must correspond to the works cited in your main text.

• Begin your Works Cited page on a separate page at the end of your research paper. It should have the same one-inch margins and last name, page number header as the rest of your paper.
• Label the page Works Cited (do not italicize the words Works Cited or put them in quotation marks) and center the words Works Cited at the top of the page.
• Double space all citations, but do not skip spaces between entries. (Sample entries here single spaced to condense document.)
• Indent the second and subsequent lines of citations five spaces so that you create a hanging indent.
• List page numbers of sources efficiently, when needed. If you refer to a journal article that appeared on pages 225 through 250, list the page numbers on your Works Cited page as 225-50.
• New to MLA 7th ed. : For every entry, you must determine the Medium of Publication.
• Capitalize each word in the titles of articles, books, etc, but do not capitalize articles, short prepositions, or conjunctions unless one is the first word of the title or subtitle: Gone with the Wind, The Art of War, There Is Nothing Left to Lose.
• New to MLA 7th ed. : Use italics (instead of underlining) for titles of larger works (books, magazines) and quotation marks for titles of shorter works (poems, articles

Book wth One Author

Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication.

Gleick, James. Chaos: Making a New Science. New York: Penguin Books, 1987. Print.

Book with More Than One Author

Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring. Boston: Allyn, 2000. Print.

 If there are more than three authors, you may list only the first author followed by the phrase    et al. (the abbreviation for the Latin phrase "and others"; no period after "et") in place of the other authors' names

Wysocki, Anne Frances, et al. Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of Composition. Logan, UT: Utah State UP, 2004. Print.

Two or More Books by the Same Author

After the first listing of the author's name, use three hyphens and a period instead of the author's name. List books alphabetically by title.

Palmer, William J. Dickens and New Historicism. New York: St. Martin's, 1997. Print.

---. The Films of the Eighties: A Social History. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1993. Print.

Book by a Corporate Author

American Allergy Association. Allergies in Children. New York: Random, 1998. Print.

Book with No Author

List and alphabetize by the title of the book.

Encyclopedia of Indiana. New York: Somerset, 1993. Print.

For parenthetical citations of sources with no author named, use a shortened version of the title instead of an author's name. Use quotation marks and italics as appropriate. For example, parenthetical citations of the source above would appear as follows: (Encyclopedia 235).

A Work Prepared by an Editor

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Margaret Smith. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1998. Print.

A Work in an Anthology, Reference, or Collection

Lastname, Firstname. "Title of Essay." Title of Collection. Ed. Editor's Name(s). Place of Publication: Publisher, Year. Pages. Medium of Publication.

Harris, Muriel. "Talk to Me: Engaging Reluctant Writers." A Tutor's Guide: Helping Writers One to One. Ed. Ben Rafoth. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2000. 24-34. Print.

Kincaid, Jamaica. "Girl." The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories. Ed. Tobias Wolff. New York: Vintage, 1994. 306-307. Print.

A Translated Book

Foucault, Michel. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason. Trans. Richard Howard. New York: Vintage-Random House, 1988. Print.

Republished Book

Books may be republished due to popularity without becoming a new edition, which is usually a revision of the original. For these books, insert the original publication date before the publication information.

Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble. 1990. New York: Routledge, 1999. Print.

An Edition of a Book

Crowley, Sharon and Debra Hawhee. Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. 3rd ed. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2004. Print.

A Multivolume Work

When citing only one volume of a multivolume work, include the volume number after the work's title, or after the work's editor or translator.

Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria. Trans. H. E. Butler. Vol. 2. Cambridge: Loeb-Harvard UP, 1980. Print.

When citing more than one volume of a multivolume work, cite the total number of volumes in the work.

Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria. Trans. H. E. Butler. 4 vols. Cambridge: Loeb-Harvard UP, 1980. Print.

An Introduction, a Preface, a Foreword, or an Afterword

When citing an introduction, a preface, a forward, or an afterword, write the name of the authors and then give the name of the part being cited, which should not be italicized, underlined or enclosed in quotation marks.

Farrell, Thomas B. Introduction. Norms of Rhetorical Culture. By Farrell. New Haven: Yale UP, 1993. 1-13. Print.

If the writer of the piece is different from the author of the complete work, then write the full name of the complete work's author after the word "By." For example:

Duncan, Hugh Dalziel. Introduction. Permanence and Change: An Anatomy of Purpose. By Kenneth Burke. 1935. 3rd ed. Berkeley: U of California P, 1984. xiii-xliv. Print.

Article in a Magazine

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Periodical Day Month Year: Pages. Medium of Publication.

Poniewozik, James. "TV Makes a Too-Close Call." Time 20 Nov. 2000: 70-71. Print.

Article in a Newspaper

Brubaker, Bill. "New Health Center Targets County's Uninsured Patients." Washington Post 24 May 2007: LZ01. Print.

Krugman, Andrew. "Fear of Eating." New York Times 21 May 2007 late ed.: A1. Print.

A Review

Review Author. "Title of Review (if there is one)." Rev. of Performance Title, by Author/Director/Artist. Title of Periodical Day Month Year: Page. Medium of Publication.

Updike, John. “No Brakes.” Rev. of Sinclair Lewis: Rebel from Main Street, by Richard Lingeman. New Yorker 4 Feb. 2002: 77-80. Print.

Bordewich, Fergus M. Rev. of Once They Moved Like the Wind: Cochise, Geronimo, and the Apache Wars, by David Roberts, and Brave Are My People: Indian Heroes Not Forgotten, by Frank Waters.  Smithsonian Mar. 1994: 125-31. Print.

An Editorial & Letter to the Editor

“Death of a Writer.” Editorial. New York Times 20 Apr. 1994, late ed.: A18. Print.

Hamer, John. Letter. American Journalism Review Dec. 2006/Jan. 2007: 7. Print.

An Article in a Scholarly Journal

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal Volume.Issue (Year): Pages. Medium of Publication.

Bagchi, Alaknanda. "Conflicting Nationalisms: The Voice of the Subaltern in Mahasweta Devi's Bashai Tudu." Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature 15.1 (1996): 41-50. Print.

A Government Publication

Cite the author of the publication if the author is identified. Otherwise start with the name of the government, followed by the agency and any subdivision that served as the corporate author. For congressional documents, be sure to include the number of the congress and the session when the hearing was held or resolution passed. (GPO is the abbr. for the Government Printing Office.)

United States. Cong. Senate. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Hearing on the Geopolitics of Oil. 110th Cong., 1st sess. Washington: GPO, 2007. Print.

United States. Government Accountability Office. Climate Change: EPA and DOE Should Do More to Encourage Progress Under Two Voluntary Programs. Washington: GPO, 2006. Print.

A Pamphlet

Cite the title and publication information for the pamphlet just as you would a book without an author.

Women's Health: Problems of the Digestive System. Washington: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2006. Print.

Your Rights Under California Welfare Programs. Sacramento, CA: California Dept. of Social Services, 2007. Print.