In MLA style, all the sources you cite in the text of your paper are listed on the Works Cited page, which comes after the main text of your paper.
Sample MLA Works Cited Page
Here is a brief overview of the basic formatting guidelines for the Works Cited page, followed by some examples.
- Page numbers: Just as the rest of your paper, the top of the page should retain the right-justified header with your last name and the page number.
- Title: On the first line, the title of the page—“Works Cited”—should appear centered, and not italicized or bolded.
- Spacing: Like the rest of your paper, this page should be double-spaced and have 1-inch margins (don’t skip an extra line between citations).
- Alphabetical order: Starting on the next line after the page title, your references should be listed in alphabetical order by author. Multiple sources by the same author should be listed chronologically by year within the same group.
- Hanging indents: Each reference should be formatted with what is called a hanging indent. This means the first line of each reference should be flush with the left margin (i.e., not indented), but the rest of that reference should be indented 0.5 inches further. Any word-processing program will let you format this automatically so you don’t have to do it by hand. (In Microsoft Word, for example, you simply highlight your citations, click on the small arrow right next to the word “Paragraph” on the home tab, and in the popup box choose “hanging indent” under the “Special” section. Click OK, and you’re done.)
Here are some examples of some common types of sources you will see in a Works Cited page, followed by some advice on making the formatting process less painful.
Journal Article
The general guideline for formatting journal articles is as follows:
Author. "Title of Article." Title of Journal, Volume, Issue, Year, pages.
Example
Cawthorn, Rhonda. “Applying Pressures to the Heart: An Interview With Tim O’Brien. The Crab Orchard Review, vol. 1, no. 2, 2004. pp. 1-14.
A Book
Herman, Alice and Bill Williams. A Guide to Louis Carol’s Alice in Wonderland.
Univ. of Cincinnati Press, 2002.
Newspaper Article
When citing from newspapers, list the publication information in the following order: author of the editorial, title of the article, title of the newspaper, date published, page number.
Example
Knutsen, John. "Fear of Flying." Chicago Tribune, 19 June 2004, p. A4.
Magazine Article
Magazine articles are formatted as follows: author of the article, "title of article", title of magazine, date published, and pages the article appears.
Example
Adams, Jessica. “How to Shine this New Year’s in Glowy Makeup.” Vogue, 6 May
2017. 21-25.
Webpage or Blog Post
A citation for a web article contains the following information in the same order: author's name (if available), the name of the blog or website (referred to as the container), the date of publication, and the site URL.
Example
"Candidiasis." WebMD, 14 Jan. 2017, www.webmd.com/candidiasis/tc/athletes-
-foot-topic-overview.
In the example above, the author is not known, so the citation simply begins with the name of the web article or blog post.
Work In a Collection of Essays or Anthology
A citation from a collection of essays or anthology includes the following information: the author, "the title of the essay", the title of the larger collection, editor’s name, publisher, year, and the specific page range the essay runs from and to.
Example
Paulson, Sarah. “The isolated speaker in The Waste Land.” Collected Essays on T.S.
Eliot’s The Waste Land. Edited by Stephen Fuller. Louisiana Univ. Press, 2012, pp. 115-132.
This page is only meant to serve as a overview, illustrated with brief examples. For deeper guidance, consult the MLA Handbook Eighth Edition. You can make the formatting process easier by using a trusted citation builder, though a most academic databases will format and export the citation for you.
License and Attribution
