The Modern Language Association (MLA) citation style is primarily used in the language arts, cultural studies, and other humanities disciplines.
Currently in its 9th edition, MLA offers guidelines to format and structure your paper, including citations. This guide focuses only on in-text citations and Works Cited.
As always, we strongly recommend you review your course syllabus or ask your instructor to ensure what citation style is required for any academic paper.
In-text citations are short acknowledgements that indicate the source of information in academic writing. They are inserted into the text of a research paper to direct the reader to the full source of the information located in the Works Cited section of the paper. Using in-text citations helps the author give credit to the originator of the quote, fact, or idea (et al.) and helps avoid plagiarism.
The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) offers this basic information for in-text citations, "MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the page number(s) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear in the text, and a complete reference should appear on your Works Cited page. The author's name may appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation or paraphrase, but the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your sentence. For example: Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263)."
Further information about APA in-text citations can be found here: Purdue OWL MLA In-Text Citations
The Works Cited section of an academic (research) paper is a comprehensive list of all sources that are cited (used) in a piece of writing, and is intended to help readers locate those sources. Along with in-text citations, the secondary purpose of the Works Cited is to credit the authors whose ideas or material were consulted, and to ensure all sources cited in the text are included in the list.
Works Cited should appear at the end of your paper. It provides the information necessary for a reader to locate and retrieve any source you cite in the body of the paper. Each source you cite in the paper must appear in your Works Cited; likewise, each entry in the Works Cited must be cited in your text. Your Works Cited should begin on a new page separate from the text of the essay; label this page "Works Cited" in bold, centered at the top of the page (do NOT underline or use quotation marks for the title). All text should be double-spaced just like the rest of your essay.
Further information about MLA Works Cited can be found here: Purdue OWL MLA Works Cited
The Cochise College Writing Lab (CCWL) has provided several videos to help with MLA: