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Modern Language Association Bibliographic Form (MLA)*
SAMPLE ENTRIES IN MLA FORMAT: BOOKS
Books:
Brown, Lester R. Building a Sustainable Society. New York: Norton, 1981.
Two books by the same author:
Toffler, Alvin. Future Shock. Toronto: Bantam, 1970.
----. The Third Wave. Toronto: Bantam, 1980.
Book by two or three authors:
Brooks, Cleanth Jr., and Robert Penn Warren. Understanding Fiction. New York: Appleton, 1943.
McCrum, Robert, William Cran, and Robert MacNeil. The Story of English. New York: Viking, 1986.
Book by four or more authors:
Lauer, Janice, et al. Four Worlds of Writing. 2nd ed. New York: Harper, 1985.
Note: Give the name of the first author listed on the title page and add "et al," which stands for "et alia" ("and others").
Book with an editor:
Burack, Sylvia, ed. The Writer's Handbook. Boston: The Writer Inc., 1976.
Book with an author and an editor:
Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary. Ed. Paul de Man. New York: Norton, 1965.
Collection or anthology:
Baker, Houston, Jr. Black Literature in America. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1971.
Work in an anthology:
Fiedler, Leslie. "The Rebirth of God and the Death of Man." The Salmagundi Reader. Eds. Robert Boyers and Peggy Boyers. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1983. 216-37.
Book in translation:
Turgenev, Ivan. Fathers and Sons. 1861. Trans. Rosemary Edmonds. New York: Penguin, 1965.
Book with no specified/anonymous author:
Peterson's Competitive Colleges, 1995-96. Princeton: Peterson's Guides, 1995.
Second or later edition of a book:
Lauer, Janice, et. al. Four Worlds of Writing. 2nd ed. New York: Harper, 1985.
Note: Other abbreviations are commonly used for second or later editions: "rev." for "revised," "enl." for "enlarged," and "abr." for "abridged."
Book in two or more volumes:
Wilcotte, Denise L. The Gifted Adolescent. 2 vols. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1979.
Book in a numbered series:
Wolf, Maryanne, Mark K. McQuillan, and Eugene Radwin. Thought and Language/Language and Reading. Reprint Ser. 14. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1968.
Reprint of a book:
Huey, Edmund Burke. The Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading. 1908. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1968.
Book published before 1900:
Dewey, John. The Study of Ethics: A Syllabus. Ann Arbor, 1894.
Note: For books published before 1900, you may omit the publisher's name.
SAMPLE MLA FORMAT ENTRIES. ARTICLES
Article in a common reference book:
Kilcullim, Mark David. "Zoology." Encyclopedia Britannica. 1911 ed.
"Hart, Gary." Who's Who in American Politics. 10th ed. 1985-86: 78-80.
Note: Do not give full publication information in citing a common reference work.
Article from a weekly or biweekly periodical:
Bennett, William J. "Why Johnny Can’t Abstain." National Review 3 July 1987: 36-56.
Article from a monthly or bimonthly periodical:
Kennedy, Paul. "What Gorbachev is Up Against." Atlantic Monthly June 1987: 29-43.
Article from a daily newspaper (signed author):
Roberts, Sam. "Like Weather, Ethics is Proving Hard to Control." New York Times 4 June 1987: B1.
Article from a daily newspaper (unsigned author):
"Microsoft Puzzled by Stock Action." Boston Globe 30 April 1987: 45.
Journal article:
Annas, Pamela J. "Style as Politics: A Feminist Approach to the Teaching of Writing." College English 47 (April 1985): 360-71.
Motulsky, Arno G. "Impact of Genetic Manipulation on Society and Medicine." Science 14 (Jan. 1983): 135-40.
Editorial:
Secord, Richard V "America Must Learn to Keep Secrets." Wall Street Journal 28 May 1987, Eastern ed.: 30.
SAMPLE MLA FORMAT FOR CITING OTHER SOURCES
Work of Art
Rodin, Auguste. The Gate of Hell. Rodin Museum, Paris.
Musical composition:
Berlioz, Hector. Symphonie fantastique, op. 14.
Recording:
Bartoli, Cecilia. "Voi che sapete." Record. By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart Arias. Cond. Alain Lombard. Strasbourg Philharmonic Orch. RCA SRI-4-3423, 1979.
Simon, Paul. "Under African Skies." Graceland. Audiotape. Warner, 4-25447, 1986.
Interview:
Daly, Francine. Personal Interview. 11 August 1998.
Film:
Apollo 13. Dir. Ron Howard. Universal, 1995.
Spielberg, Steven, dir. Schindler's List. Universal, 1993.
Note: You may alphabetize and cite films by either the title or the director.
Radio and television program:
"Highland County and the Information Superhighway." Donald Macage. All Things Considered. NPR. WAMC, Albany, NY. 29 August 1995.
"Eye on America: Ruby Bridges and the Integration of the Frantz School" Narr. Wyatt Andrews. CBS Evening News. WRGB, Schenectady, NY. 31 August 1995.
Lectures and speeches:
Rubio, Patricia. "Society and the Control of Knowledge" LS1 Lecture Series. Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, 3 Dec. 1986.
Cuomo, Mario. The Keynote Address. Democratic Convention. San Francisco, CA. 16 July 1984.
Review:
Canby, Vincent. "The Heart of Texas." Rev. of Places in the Heart. Dir. Robert Benton. New York Times 21 Sept. 1984, late ed: C8.
Note: If a review is unsigned and has no title, begin the citation with "Rev. of" and alphabetize the citation under the title of the work reviewed.
Cartoons and advertisements:
Statuary, Mark Allen. "Washington." Cartoon. Time 3 October 1994: 25.
Banana Republic. "American Beauty." Advertisement. New York Times Magazine 12 September 1993: 35.
Congressional record:
Cong. Rec. 15 Mar. 1981; 3763.
Court Case:
Simpkins v Amalgamated Widgets. 87 S. Ct. 311. U.S. Supreme Ct. 1966.
Note: 87 S. Ct. 311 refers to the volume, name, and page of the journal reporting the decision.
Annual report:
American Telephone and Telegraph. Annual Report 1985. New York: American Telephone and Telegraph, 1986.
ELECTRONIC SOURCES
Standard citation format for electronic sources is still developing. Entries should include the standard MLA format for author and title. Publication information should include the title of the periodical, journal, newsletter, (include volume and issue), conference, and database. Include publication dates and page numbers (where possible). Cite Web addresses and the computer service you used to find the source as well as the date you accessed it. Put angle brackets < > around URLs/ Web addresses. An excellent source for a thorough listing of citations for electronic sources is Dawn Rodrigues and Myron C. Tuman, Writing Essentials, 2nd edition, New York: Norton, 1999. You can also check the MLA’s recommendations for electronic citation on the Web at http://www.mla.org
Publication on a diskette:
Kiplinger, Knight, et al. Kiplinger TaxCut 1995. 2nd ed. Diskette.
Kansas City: Block, 1996.
CD-ROM:
The Amazing Writing Machine. CD-ROM, videodisc. Novato, Ca.: Broderbund, 1995.
Online databases:
Devidio, Leslie. "California's Year-Round Classrooms." Wired Magazine 24 June 1996. Online. America Online. 17 July 1996.
World Wide Web:
Jonathan Schell. "The Uncertain Leviathan." Reprinted from Atlantic Monthly August 1996. 12 1996. <http://wwwlsg.sfu.ca>.
"The Changing Face of Tenure Cases." Academe This Week. 4 March 1996. <http://chronicle.merit.edu.bestbooks.html>.
Personal E-mail correspondence:
Kemp, Fred. ACW-L (Alliance for Computers and Writing List). 18 August 1998. Availability: listproc@ttuvm.bitnet.
Now that you know how to write the entries that will appear in your Works Cited, let us look at how the whole list is put together. First, note the format used in the sample entries provided. The author's last name is given first because the list is always presented alphabetically by author or, if no author is given, by title of work. The first line of each entry begins at the left margin and subsequent lines are indented five spaces.
Normally, Works Cited begins on a new page after the end of your text. The page is numbered as a new page, and the heading Works Cited or just References or Sources is centered on top of the page. However, if you are writing a short essay and refer to no more than three sources, and if room allows, you may place your list on the bottom of your last page. Note how the sample Works Cited on the next page conforms to these guidelines:
- Alphabetize references - do not number them.
- Include only works actually cited.
- Single-space within an entry.
- Double-space between entries.
- Make first line flush with left margin; second and following lines are indented five spaces.
- Put author's last name first, followed by comma and first name.
- If no author is given, begin directly with the title.
- Italicize book titles. A essays, poems, smaller parts of larger works are placed in quotation marks.
- Place a colon between place of pub
- Place periods between major parts and at end of the citation.
Use inclusive page numbers (where an article begins and ends) when citing page numbers for articles or chapters from an anthology or periodical. Use a colon between date and page numbers for articles from periodicals (journals, newspapers, magazines). Use a period to separate the publication date from page numbers in citations of books.
Sample list of works cited in MLA format.
WORKS CITED
"Christianity." World Religions: From Ancient History to the Present. Ed. Geoffrey Parrinder. New York: Hamlyn, 1971. 420-6 1.
Grant, Michael. Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels. New York: Scribner's, 1977.
"John the Baptist, St." Dictionary of Christian Lore and Legend. Ed. J.C.J. Metford. London: Thames and Hudson, 1983.
Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Complete Poems and Major Prose. Ed. Merritt Y. Hughes. Indianapolis: Bobbs Merrill, 1957.
Morris, Colin. "Medieval Christendom." The Christian World. Ed. Geoffrey Barraclough. New York: Abrams, 198 1.
Murphy, Cullen. "Who Do Men Say That I Am?" Atlantic Monthly December 1986: 37-58.
Perrin, Norman. The New Testament: An Introduction. New York: Harcourt, 1974.
Pope, Alexander. "An Essay on Man." Eighteenth Century Poetry and Prose. Ed. Louis I Bredvold, Alan D. McKillop and Lois Whitney. New York: Ronald Press, 1956. 370-85.
Trueheart, Charles. "Welcome to the Next Church." Reprinted from Atlantic Monthly August 1996. 12 August 1996. 37-58. <http://www.isg.Sfu.ca>.
Watson, Russell, et al. "Heaven Can Wait." Newsweek 8 June 1987: 58-65.
Will, George E "Creation Science." Editorial. Times Union [Albany, N.Y.] 25 June 1987: A21.
