MLA Citation Style Examples
BOOKS
Author, Author A. Book Title: Subtitle. Location: Publisher,
Year.
One author
Nathan, Andrew J. China's Crisis: Dilemma of Reform and Prospects
for Democracy. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990.
C. The Great Wall and the Empty Fortress: China's Search for
Security. New York: W.W. Norton, 1997.
Two authors
Snodin, Michael, and Maurice Howard. Ornament: A Social History
Since 1450. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996.
Three authors
Marquart, James W., Sheldon Ekland Olson, and Jonathan R. Sorensen.
The Rope, the Chair, and the Needle: Capital Punishment in Texas, 1923-1990.
Austin: U of Texas P, 1994.
More than three authors
Gilman, Sander, et al. Hysteria Beyond Freud. Berkeley:
U of California P, 1993.
No author
The New York Public Library Student's Desk Reference. New
York: Prentice, 1993.
Corporate author
National Research Council. China and Global Change: Opportunities
for Collaboration. Washington: Natl. Acad., 1992.
Editor
Friedman, Emily, ed. Choices and Conflict: Explorations in Health
Care Ethics. Chicago: American Hospital Publication, 1992.
Translation
Esquivel, Laura. Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly
Installments, with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies. Trans. Carol Christensen
and Thomas Christensen. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
Edition
Newcomb, Horace, ed. Television: The Critical View. 5th
ed. New York: Oxford UP, 1994.
Books in several volumes
Lauter, Paul, et al., eds. The Heath Anthology of American Literature.
2nd ed. 2 vols. Lexington: Health, 1994.
Essay or article in a collection
Franklin, Benjamin. AEmigration to
America.@ 1782. The Faber Book of America. Ed. Christopher Ricks and
William L. Vance. Boston: Faber, 1992, 24-26.
Bulletin or govt. publication
United States. Attorney General's Commission on Pornography. Attorney
General's Commission of Pornography: Final Report. Washington, DC: GPO,
1988.
E-book
Burner, Eric. And Gently He Shall Lead Them. New York: NYU
P, 1994. Kingwood Coll. Lib., Kingwood. 27 Oct. 2003 <http://www.netlibrary.com>.
ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLES
Author, Author A. ATitle of article.@ Title of Encyclopedia.
Edition. Year.
CD-ROM
AChina: Rise of the empress Wu-hou.@
Britannica CD. Version 97, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. 1997.
Signed or initialed
Truzzi, Marcello. AGraphology.@ The
World Book Encyclopedia. 1993 ed.
Unsigned
AMandarin.@ The Encyclopedia Americana.
1993 ed.
JOURNAL, MAGAZINE AND NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
Journal articles: Author, Author A. ATitle
of Article.@ Title of Journal Vol#.Issue# (Year): pagination.
Magazine articles: Author, Author A. ATitle
of Article.@ Title of Magazine Day Mo. Year: pagination.
Newspaper articles: Author, Author A. ATitle
of Article.@ Title of Newspaper Day MO. Year, name of ed.: pagination.
Weekly or Biweekly magazine - signed
Bazell, Robert. AScience and Society:
Growth Industry.@ New Republic 15 Mar. 1993: 13-14.
Weekly or biweekly magazine - unsigned
AThe Decade of the Spy.@ Newsweek
7 Mar. 1994: 26-27.
Monthly or bimonthly magazine - signed
Frank, Michael. AThe Wild, Wild West.@
Architectural Digest June 1993: 180 .
Journal article (consecutive pagination)
Halllin, Daniel C. ASound Bite News:
Television Coverage of Elections, 1968-1988.@ Journal of Communication
42.2 (1992): 5-24.
Online journal article
Sohmer, Steve. A12 June 1599: Opening
Day at Shakespeare's Globe.@ Early Modern Literary Studies 3.1 (1997):
46 pars. 26 June 2002 <http://www.shuy.ac.uk/emis/03-1/sohmjuli.html>
Newspaper - signed
Trachtenberg, Jeffrey A. AWhat's in
a Movie Soundtrack? Catchy Tunes and Big Business.@ Wall Street Journal
1 Apr. 1994, eastern ed.: B1.
Newspaper or editorial - unsigned
ADeath of a Writer.@ Editorial. New
York Times 20 Apr. 1994, late ed.: A18.
Newspaper on CD-ROM
Coates, Steve. AEt Tu, Cybernetica
Machina User?@ New York Times 28 Oct, 1996, late ed.: D4. New York
Times Ondisc. CD-ROM. UMI-ProQuest. Dec. 1996.
Review
Crutchfield, Will. APure Italian.@
Rev. Of Verdi: A Biography. By Mary Jane Phillips-Matz. New Yorker
31 Jan. 1994: 76-82.
ONLINE DATABASES
Author, Author A. ATitle of the article.@
Title of Periodical Day Mo. Year: pagination. Name of database. Service.
Library. Day Mo. Year (date of article was accessed) .
InfoTrac
Fichter, Darlene. ASeven Habits for
Effective Project Managers.@ Online July-Aug. 1999: 74. General Reference
Center Gold. InfoTrac Web. Kansas City KS Comm College Lib., Kansas City,
KS, 24 June 1999 <http://web4.infotrac.galegroup.com>
ProQuest
Fichter, Darlene. ASeven Habits for
Effective Project Managers.@ Online July-Aug. 1999: 74. ABI/Inform
Global. ProQuest Direct. Baker Coll. Lib., Flint, 24 June 1999 <http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb/>
NewsBank
Davis, Kristin. ASlash College Bills
Three Ways.@ Kiplinger's Personal Finance Nov. 1997: 82-92. Curriculum
Resource. NewsBank. Vincennes University Shake Library. Vincennes, IN.
22 March 1998 <http://infoweb.newsbank.com>
WWW RESOURCES
Author, Author A. . Document title or description.
Day No., Year (published). Organization (if available) Day Mo. Year (accessed)
.
WWW site
Romance Languages and Literatures Home Page. 1 Jan. 1997.
Dept. Of Romance Langs. And Lits., U of Chicago. 8 July 1998 <http://humanities.uchicago.edu/romance/>.
Dawe, James. Jane Austen Page. 15 Sept. 1998 <http://nyquist.ee.ualberta.ca/~dawe/austen.html>.
MISCELLANEOUS AND UNPUBLISHED
Pamphlet
Renoir Lithographs. New York: Dover, 1994.
Paper read, presented or speech delivered but not published
Torline, Donald R. AHandling Difficult
People.@ Baker College Travel Club. Flint, NI. 11 Apr. 1991.
Interview
Arnold, Margaret. Personal interview. 17 Apr. 1991.
Soros, George. Telephone interview. 3 Aug. 2003.
John, Elton. Interview with Barbara Walters. ARock
Star Remembers Princess Diana.@ 20/20 ABC, New York. 5 Sep. 1997.
Doctoral dissertation (published and unpublished)
Valentine, Mary-Blair Truesdell. An Investigation of Gender-Based
Leadership Style of Male and Female Officers in the United States Army.
Diss. Geroge Mason U, 1993. Ann Arbor: UMI, 1993. 9316566.
Non-print medium
AYes...but Is It Art?@ Narr. Morley
Safer. Sixty Minutes. CBS. WCBS, New York. 19 Sept. 1993.
Reports
United States. Dept. Of State. The Global 2000 Report to the
President: Entering the Twenty-First Century. 3 vols. Washington: GPO, 1981.
IN-TEXT CITATION EXAMPLES
Author's name in text/parenthetic reference
Nathan has drawn critical conclusions regarding China's security (205-10).
Critical conclusions were drawn regarding China's security (Nathan 205-10).
Scholars, like Snodin and Maurice (156-68), present new evidence on Renaissance society.
New evidence on Renaissance society proves otherwise (Snodin and Maurice 156-68).
Citing an indirect (secondary) source
Samuel Johnson admitted that Edmund Burke was an Aextraordinary man@ (qtd. In Boswell 2: 450).
Citing a newspaper article
The relationship between soundtracks and big business has been the focus of recent studies (Trachtenberg B1).
Citing multi-volume works
The anthology by Lauter and his coeditors contains both Stowe's ASojourner Truth, the Lybian Sibyl@ (1:2425-33) and Gilman's AThe Yellow Wall-Paper@ (2:800-12).
Citing entire works or parts of works
Paul Lauter and his coeditors have provided a useful anthology of American literature. Another engaging passage the opening of Allende's story AToad's Mouth) (83).
Citing a work listing by title (no author)
The nine grades of mandarins were Adistinguished by the color of the button on the hats of office@ (AMandarin@).
Citing multiple works in a single parenthetic reference
Recent works on China's place in the global community pose important questions (Nathan 30-45; National Research Council 200-21).
Citing non-print works
Beethoven has been called the Afirst politically motivated composer,@ for he was Acaught up in a whole ferment of ideas that came out of the French Revolution@ (Gardiner, screens 2-3)