Basic Rules for MLA Citation

• Authors' names are inverted (last name first); if a work has more than one author, invert only the first author's name, follow it with a comma, and then continue listing the rest of the authors.

• If you have cited more than one work by a particular author, order them alphabetically by title, and use three hyphens in place of the author's name for every entry after the first.

• When an author appears both as the sole author of a text and as the first author of a group, list solo-author entries first.

• If no author is given for a particular work, alphabetize by the title of the piece and use a shortened version of the title for parenthetical citations.

• Capitalize each word in the titles of articles, books, etc. This rule does not apply to articles, short prepositions, or conjunctions unless one is the first word of the title or subtitle.

• Underline or italicize titles of books, journals, magazines, newspapers, and films.

• Use quotation marks around the titles of articles in journals, magazines, and newspapers. Also use quotation marks for the titles of short stories, book chapters, poems, and songs.

• If you're citing an article or a publication that was originally issued in print form but that you retrieved from an online database, you should provide enough information so that the reader can locate the article either in its original print form or retrieve it from the online database (if they have access).

Examples of MLA Citation:

Format for Books

BOOK WITH ONE AUTHOR
Last name, First name. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Copyright Date.

Example:
King, Martin Luther. The Trumpet of Conscience. New York: Harper, 1968.

BOOK WITH TWO AUTHORS
Last name, First name, and First name Last Name. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher,
    Copyright Date.

Example:
Faber, Doris, and Harold Faber. The Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Watts, 1978.

EDITED BOOK
Last name, First name of editor, ed. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Copyright Date.

Example:
Sterling, Dorothy, ed. Speak out in Thunder Tones. Garden City: Doubleday, 1973.

ARTICLE OR ESSAY IN AN EDITED BOOK
Last name, First name. "Title of Article or Essay." Title of Book. Ed. Editor’s First name
    Last Name. City of Publication: Publisher, Copyright Date. Page Numbers.

Example:
Lewis, David. "Martin Luther King, Jr." Black Leaders of the 20th Century. Ed. John Franklin.
    Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1982. 277-303.

ONE VOLUME REFERENCE WORK
Last name, First name. "Title of Entry." Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher,
    Copyright Date. Page Numbers.

Example:
Koster, Ade. "King, Martin Luther, Jr." American Reformers. New York: H.W.Wilson, 1985. 500-03.

MULTIVOLUME REFERENCE WORK
Last name, First name. "Title of Entry." Title of Book. Vol. number. City of Publication:
    Publisher, Copyright Date. Page Numbers.

Example:

Ryan, Bryan. "Martin Luther King, Jr." Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 1. Detroit:
    Gale Research, 1992. 130-06.

Format for Periodicals or Magazines

MAGAZINE ARTICLE WITH AUTHOR (actual print magazine; not from computer)
Last name, First name. "Title of Article." Title of Magazine Day (if given) Month Year: Page Numbers.

Example:
 Johnson, Robert E. "How Dr. M.L. King Learned to Live With Segregation Without Accepting It." Jet
    14 Jan. 1991: 6-10.

MAGAZINE ARTICLE WITHOUT AUTHOR (actual print magazine; not from computer)
"Title of Article." Title of Magazine Day (if given) Month Year: Page Numbers.

Example:
 "What Martin Luther King Would Do Now About: Drugs, Poverty, and Black-Jewish Relations." Ebony
      Jan. 1991: 27-28.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE WITH AUTHOR (actual print newspaper; not from computer)
Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article." Title of Newspaper Day Month Year, Section (either name or number): Page Numbers.

Example:
Spielman, Fran. "It’s Too Much for the Average Person." Chicago Tribune 11 Oct. 2007, Metro: 9.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE WITHOUT AUTHOR (actual print newspaper; not from computer)
"Title of Article." Title of Newspaper Day Month Year, Section (either name or number): Page Numbers.

Example:
"Army Expanding Woman’s Role." Chicago Tribune 1 Sept. 1994, News: 1.

Format for Electronic Sources

ARTICLE IN AN ONLINE REFERENCE DATABASE
"Title of Article." Title of Reference Book. Name of Service. Name of library that provides the service, City, State.   Date of Access. <electronic address>.

Example:
"Martin Luther King, Jr." Contemporary Authors. Biography Resource Center. RHS Library, Norridge, IL .
            9 Sept. 2001.  <http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC>.

MAGAZINE OR NEWSPAPER ARTICLE WITH AUTHOR FROM AN ONLINE DATABASE
Last name, First name. "Title of Article." Title of Magazine Day (if given) Month Year: Page Numbers.
            Name of Service. (Student Res, FirstSearch, etc.) Name of library that provides the service,
             City, State.  Date of Access.

Example:

Jones, Malcolm. "Who Was More Important: Lincoln or Darwin."  Newsweek. 14 July 2008: 30.
    Student Resource Center. RHS Library, Norridge - IL. 28 July 2008 <http://find.galegroup.com/srcx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IACDocuments&type=retrieve                &tabID=T003&prodId=SRC3&docId=A180756980&source=gale&userGroupName=norr60634&version=1.0>.

WEB SITE
Author (if available).  Title of Page. Date of posting/revision (if given).
            Associated institution or organization (if available.) Date of Access.  <electronic address>. 

Example:
Carson, Clayborne. Biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. Stanford University. 26 Aug. 2004.
            <http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/about_king/ >.

AN ARTICLE ON A WEB SITE
Author (if available).  “Article Title.”  Name of web site.  Date of posting/revision (if given).
            Associated institution or organization (if available.) Date of Access.  <electronic address>.

Example:
  “John Adams.”  America’s Story from America’s Library.  Library of Congress.  11 Oct. 2007.
            < http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/aa/presidents/adams>.

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