Citing Resources: MLA

NOTES: There are two types of editions in book publishing: a book that has been published more than once in different editions and a book that is prepared by someone other than the author (typically an editor).

A Subsequent Edition

Cite the book as you normally would, but add the number of the edition after the title.

Crowley, Sharon, and Debra Hawhee. Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary
          Students. 3rd ed., Pearson, 2004.

A Work Prepared by an Editor

Cite the book as you normally would, but add the editor after the title with the label, "Edited by"

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Edited by Margaret Smith, Oxford UP, 1998.

Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring.
          Allyn and Bacon, 2000.

If there are three or more authors, list only the first author followed by the phrase et al. (Latin for "and others") in place of the subsequent authors' names. (Note that there is a period after “al” in “et al.” Also note that there is never a period after the “et” in “et al.”).

Wysocki, Anne Frances, et al. Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for
          Expanding the Teaching of Composition. Utah State UP, 2004.

NOTES: A corporate author may include a commission, a committee, a government agency, or a group that does not identify individual members on the title page.

List the names of corporate authors in the place where an author’s name typically appears at the beginning of the entry.

American Allergy Association. Allergies in Children. Random House, 1998.

NOTE: When the author and publisher are the same, skip the author, and list the title first. Then, list the corporate author only as the publisher.

Fair Housing—Fair Lending. Aspen Law & Business, 1985.

NOTES: List works alphabetically by title. (Remember to ignore articles like A, An, and The.) Provide the author’s name in last name, first name format for the first entry only. For each subsequent entry by the same author, use three hyphens and a period.

Palmer, William J. Dickens and New Historicism. St. Martin's, 1997.

---. The Films of the Eighties: A Social History. Southern Illinois UP, 1993.

NOTES: Cite the author and title of article as you normally would. Then, put the title of the journal in italics. Include the volume number (“vol.”) and issue number (“no.”) when possible, separated by commas. Finally, add the year and page numbers.

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal, Volume, Issue, Year, pages.

Bagchi, Alaknanda. "Conflicting Nationalisms: The Voice of the Subaltern in Mahasweta
          Devi's Bashai Tudu." Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, vol. 15, no. 1, 1996, pp.
          41-50.

Duvall, John N. "The (Super)Marketplace of Images: Television as Unmediated
         Mediation in DeLillo's White Noise." Arizona Quarterly, vol. 50, no. 3, 1994, pp.
         127-53.

NOTES: Cite a newspaper article as you would a magazine article, but note the different pagination in most newspapers. If there is more than one edition available for that date (as in an early and late edition of a newspaper), identify the edition after the newspaper title.

Brubaker, Bill. "New Health Center Targets County's Uninsured Patients." Washington
          Post, 24 May 2007, p. LZ01.

Krugman, Andrew. "Fear of Eating." New York Times, late ed., 21 May 2007, p. A1.

NOTES: Cite the article title first, and finish the citation as you would any other for that kind of periodical.

"Business: Global Warming's Boom Town; Tourism in Greenland." The Economist,
          26 May 2007, p. 82.

"Aging; Women Expect to Care for Aging Parents but Seldom Prepare." Women's Health
          Weekly, 10 May 2007, p. 18.

NOTES: For an individual page on a Web site, list the author or alias if known, followed by an indication of the specific page or article being referenced. Usually, the title of the page or article appears in a header at the top of the page. Follow this with the information covered above for entire Web sites. If the publisher is the same as the website name, only list it once.

“Athlete's Foot - Topic Overview.” WebMD, 25 Sept. 2014, www.webmd.com/skin
          problems-and-treatments/tc/athletes-foot-topic-overview.

Lundman, Susan. “How to Make Vegetarian Chili.” eHow, www.ehow.
          com/how_10727_make-vegetarian-chili.html. Accessed 6 July 2015.

NOTES: Provide the author name, article name in quotation marks, title of the web magazine in italics, publisher name, publication date, URL, and the date of access.

Bernstein, Mark. “10 Tips on Writing the Living Web.” A List Apart: For People Who Make
          Websites, 16 Aug. 2002, alistapart.com/article/writeliving. Accessed 4 May 2009.

Recorded Television Episodes

NOTES: Begin with the episode name in quotation marks. Follow with the series name in italics. When the title of the collection of recordings is different than the original series (e.g., the show Friends is in DVD release under the title Friends: The Complete Sixth Season), list the title that would help researchers to locate the recording. Give the distributor name followed by the date of distribution.

"The One Where Chandler Can't Cry." Friends: The Complete Sixth Season, written by
          Andrew Reich and Ted Cohen, directed by Kevin Bright, Warner Brothers, 2004.

Broadcast TV or Radio Program

Begin with the title of the episode in quotation marks. Provide the name of the series or program in italics. Also include the network name, call letters of the station followed by the date of broadcast and city.

"The Blessing Way." The X-Files. Fox, WXIA, Atlanta, 19 Jul. 1998.

Netflix, Hulu, Google Play

Generally, when citing a specific episode, follow the format below.

“94 Meetings.” Parks and Recreation, season 2, episode 21, NBC, 29 Apr. 2010. Netflix,
          www.netflix.com/watch/70152031.

An Entire TV Series

When citing the entire series of a TV show, use the following format.

Daniels, Greg and Michael Schur, creators. Parks and Recreation. Deedle-Dee
          Productions and Universal Media Studios, 2015.

NOTES: List films by their title. Include the name of the director, the film studio or distributor, and the release year. If relevant, list performer names after the director's name.

The Usual Suspects. Directed by Bryan Singer, performances by Kevin Spacey, Gabriel
          Byrne, Chazz Palminteri, Stephen Baldwin, and Benicio del Toro, Polygram, 1995.

To emphasize specific performers or directors, begin the citation with the name of the desired performer or director, followed by the appropriate title for that person.

Lucas, George, director. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Twentieth Century Fox, 1977.

NOTES: Determine the type of work to cite (e.g., article, image, sound recording) and cite appropriately. End the entry with the name of the digital format (e.g., PDF, JPEG file, Microsoft Word file, MP3). If the work does not follow traditional parameters for citation, give the author’s name, the name of the work, the date of creation, and the location.

Beethoven, Ludwig van. Moonlight Sonata. Crownstar, 2006.

Smith, George. “Pax Americana: Strife in a Time of Peace.” 2005. Microsoft Word file.

Council of Writing Program Administrators, National Council of Teachers of English, and
          National Writing Project. Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing. CWPA,
          NCTE, and NWP, 2011, wpacouncil.org/files/framework-for-success-
          postsecondary-writing.pdf.

Bentley, Phyllis. “Yorkshire and the Novelist.” The Kenyon Review, vol. 30, no. 4, 1968, pp.
          509-22. JSTOR, www.jstor.org.iii/stable/4334841.

NOTES: Cite published conference proceedings like a book. If the date and location of the conference are not part of the published title, add this information after the published proceedings title.

Last Name, First Name, editor. Conference Title that Includes Conference Date and
          Location, Publisher, Date of Publication.

Last Name, First Name, editor. Conference Title that Does Not Include Conference
         Date and Location, Conference Date, Conference Location, Publisher, Date of
         Publication.

To cite a presentation from a published conference proceedings, begin with the presenter’s name. Place the name of the presentation in quotation marks. Follow with publication information for the conference proceedings.

Last Name, First Name. “Conference Paper Title.” Conference Title that Includes
          Conference Date and Location, edited by Conference Editor(s), Publisher,
          Date of Publication.