Skip to Main Content

MLA 9th Edition Citations Guide - Maple Woods

Welcome! Nervous about MLA citations? This is the place for you! Information about in-text citations, bibliography format, and general rules of practice for citations in academia!

Works Cited Format

The 9th edition of the MLA Handbook has a general set of guidelines to follow as you document your sources within the Works Cited page, and throughout the text.

The MLA core elements recommend that Works Cited citations include these specific pieces of information:

1. Author.
2. Title of Source.
3. Title of Container,
4. Other Contributors,
5. Version,
6. Number,
7. Publisher,
8. Publication date,
9. Location.

*It is possible elements 3-9 may be repeated if your source appeared in a database or in other platform.

 

Putting it all together: 

Last Name, First Name. Title of Book in italics, Publisher, year of publication.

Rees, Celia. Miss Graham's Cold War Cookbook. HarperCollins, 2020.

 

*For more specific examples of a variety of sources, click the tabs along the left.

General MLA Guidelines

  • Omit https:// from website links, but keep for doi links
  • Double-space the paper. Use a 12 point font and one inch margins throughout.
  • Leave a single space after periods and other types of punctuation.
  • Indent the first line of each paragraph one half inch. (Press tab once.)
  • Create a header that numbers each page consecutively. (Unless your instructor requests no number on page one.)
  • Use italics to indicate the title of lengthy sources.  (Not sure what to do? Check the MLA handbook.)
  • Month names longer than 4 letters should be abbreviated as follows: Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.
  • Double space your Works Cited page entries.  Use a hanging indent for those entries that have a second or third line of information.