1. MLA Citations
For an online guide to MLA format and citations, please visit for the most current version of the MLA handbook.

2. What Is a Citation?
A “citation” is where you give credit to the work done by other people that you include in your paper.

3. What Requires a Citation?
Any information that is not your own must have a citation.
Some Examples:
Direct quotes
Paraphrased information
Statistics
Lectures

4. Two Types of Citations
A citation comes in two different forms: it is an entry on your works cited page, and it is in parentheses at the end of a quoted or paraphrased sentence within your paper.

5. Works Cited Page: In-text Citations :
Last name pg #
Works Cited
Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. City of
Publication, Publisher, Publication Date.
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching
God. New York, Perennial Classics, 1998.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston
paints an interesting picture of women and their
resiliency by stating that, “ [. . .] women forget all
those things they don’t want to remember, and
remember everything they don’t want to forget” (1).
These are examples of the two types of citations that you will put in your paper if you use another author’s ideas or words. The left example is an example of a works cited citation. The right is an example of an in-text citation, a citation that comes directly after a line that quotes or paraphrases a work that is not your own.

6. How Do I Create a Works Cited Citation?

7. A Works Cited Citation for a Book
When you are gathering book sources, be sure to make note of the following bibliographic items: author name, book title, publisher location, publisher, and publication date.
Example:
Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. City of Publication, Publisher, Publication Date.
Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York, Berkley Publishing Group, 1954.
*Note that an entry is formatted like a backwards paragraph in that the first line of the citation is left aligned and each subsequent line is indented either five spaces or one tab. Remember to double space.
The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 2018,
owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_page_books.html. 26 September 2018.

8. A Works Cited Citation for an Anthology
A work in an anthology may include an essay in an edited collection or a chapter of a book.
Example:
Last name, First name. "Title of Essay." Title of Collection, edited by Editor's Name(s), Publisher, Year, Page range of
entry.
Malory, Sir Thomas. “The Crowning of Arthur.” Literature: Common Core, Ed.
Janet Allen, Arthur N. Applebee, Jim Burke, Houghton Mifflin, 2012,
Harcourt Publishing,
The Purdue OWL. The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 2018,
owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_ age_books.html. 26 September 2018.

9. A Works Cited Citation for a Picture
Give the artist's name, the title (in italics), the date of creation, and the medium. End with the name of the place where the work is found along with the place’s location.
Provide the artist's name, the title of the artwork in italics, the date of composition, and the medium of the piece. Finally, provide the name of the institution that houses the artwork followed by the location of the institution (if the location is not listed in the name of the institution, e.g. The Art Institute of Chicago)
Examples:
Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800, oil on canvas, Museo del Prado, Madrid.
The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 2018,
owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_
ther_common_sources.html. 26 September 2018.

10. A Works Cited Citation for an Internet Article
Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of site (italicized). Version number, Name of institution / organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available), URL, DOI or permalink. Date of access (if applicable.
Examples:
The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U, 2008,
owl.english.purdue.edu/owl. Accessed 23 Apr
The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 2018,
owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_ lectronic_sources.html. 26 September 2018.

11. How Do I Create an In-text Citation?

12. Gather Information
In-text citations (also called parenthetical citations or parenthetical documentation because the information is put in parentheses) must include the following information:
The author’s last name (unless the author is mentioned in your sentence that contains the quote)
For prose, include the page number(s) where the quote can be found
For verse (poetry), include the line number (s) where the quote can be found
All information goes in the parentheses at the end of the quote...the parentheses goes after the closed quotation mark
All punctuation goes AFTER the parentheses, as the in-text citation is part of your sentence
EXCEPTION: if the quote ends with a question mark or an exclamation mark, those go inside the quotation marks
Note: do NOT put “page” “p” “#” or “line” in the parentheses. The only information needed is the author’s last name (if not mentioned in the sentence) and the line or page number.

13. Citing a Quote from Another Source within Your Paper
Examples:
“He tucked the shell under his arm, and crouched back on a rock” (Golding 45).
“Sir Ector was summoned and gladly agreed to the king’s request, who then rewarded him handsomely” ( 92-93).
Later on we see that “Janie was astonished to see the money Jody had spent for the land come back to him so fast” (Hurston 41).
An iconic image from Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is when Janie “was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees” (11).
And Janie would think, “Oh to be a pear tree--any tree in bloom!” (Hurston 11).

14. T The End...Happy Writing