MLA Citation: In-Text Rules, Works Cited, and Examples

MLA citation is the source-attribution system specified by the Modern Language Association in the MLA Handbook (ninth edition, 2021), used in literature, languages, cultural studies, philosophy, religion, and most humanities courses in the United States. The system has two pieces that always work together: a brief in-text citation that points to a source at the moment a writer borrows from it, and a Works Cited entry at the end of the paper that gives the full reference. EssayFount writing experts apply MLA 9 across high school, undergraduate, and graduate humanities work and resolve the citation edge cases that pull marks down on otherwise strong essays.

Written by Henry Whitfield, Lead Writing Expert (Humanities and Languages). Reviewed by Naomi Alvarez, Lead Writing Expert (STEM and Engineering). Last reviewed 2026-04-24.

What MLA Citation Is and Why It Exists

MLA citation has one job: tell the reader exactly where every quotation, paraphrase, summary, and borrowed idea came from, while keeping the prose readable. The system answers four questions for every source the writer uses: who wrote it, where can the reader find it, what kind of source is it, and which specific page or location is being cited. When a citation answers all four cleanly, the reader can locate the source in seconds and the writer is protected against plagiarism allegations.

The Modern Language Association introduced major revisions in the eighth edition (2016) that carried into the ninth edition (2021). The most important shift was the move from format-specific templates (one template for books, another for journals, another for websites) to a single nine-element container model that scales to any source type, including the ones MLA could not have anticipated when the previous edition was written. Writers who learned MLA 7 or earlier should know that the older formats are no longer correct: in-text citations have minor differences, but Works Cited entries follow a fundamentally different logic.

MLA 9 is required in most U.S. high school English classes, undergraduate literature and humanities courses, and graduate programs in English, comparative literature, languages, philosophy, religious studies, and (in some institutions) history. APA, Chicago, and Harvard dominate other disciplines; do not use MLA in a psychology, nursing, or business assignment unless the syllabus specifies it.

In-Text Citations in MLA 9

An MLA in-text citation appears at the moment a writer uses a source in the body of the paper. It has two functions: it signals that material was borrowed and it points the reader to the matching Works Cited entry. The citation contains the author's last name and the page number where the borrowed material appears.

Parenthetical Citation

The default form is parenthetical: the author's last name and the page number sit in parentheses at the end of the sentence, before the period.

The novel rejects the redemption arc its critics insist on (Whitfield 142).

No comma between the author and the page number. No "p." or "page" before the number; MLA uses the bare number. The closing parenthesis comes before the period.

Citation with a Signal Phrase

When the author's name appears in the prose (a signal phrase), only the page number goes in the parenthetical citation. This is the cleaner-reading form and the one experienced writers use most of the time.

Whitfield argues that the novel rejects the redemption arc its critics
insist on (142).

Signal phrases also let the writer characterize the source's stance with a precise verb (argues, claims, concedes, demonstrates, observes, suggests). Beginning writers tend to default to "says" and "states," which are accurate but flat; the verb choice is part of the argument.

Quoting a Source

Place quotation marks around the borrowed words, follow the quote with the parenthetical citation, and end the sentence with a period after the citation.

The narrator describes Daisy's voice as "full of money" (Fitzgerald 120).

Block Quotations

Quotations longer than four lines of prose or three lines of verse are set as block quotations. The block is indented one half inch from the left margin, double-spaced, with no quotation marks. The parenthetical citation comes after the closing punctuation, not before it.

Fitzgerald describes the moment with characteristic compression:

        It was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such
        as I have never found in any other person and which it is not
        likely I shall ever find again. (2)

The "extraordinary gift for hope" sets the standard against which every
later character will be measured.

Paraphrase and Summary

Paraphrased and summarized material requires the same in-text citation as a quotation. The citation appears at the end of the borrowed material; if a single paragraph borrows from one source throughout, place the citation at the end of the last sentence that uses the source.

Two or More Authors

• Two authors: (Whitfield and Bennett 87).
• Three or more authors: (Whitfield et al. 87). MLA 9 retains et al. for sources with three or more authors.
• Two works by the same author: include a shortened title to distinguish them: (Whitfield, Reading Joyce 142) and (Whitfield, Reading Faulkner 53).
• Two authors with the same last name: include first initials: (H. Whitfield 142) and (J. Whitfield 88).

Source with No Author

Use a shortened version of the title in place of the author's name, formatted exactly as the title appears in the Works Cited entry (italics for stand-alone works, quotation marks for parts of larger works).

("Climate Report" 8).
(National Style Guide 33).

Source with No Page Numbers

Many web sources, audio works, and films lack page numbers. MLA 9 prefers a numbered locator when one exists: paragraph numbers (par. 4), chapter numbers (ch. 12), section numbers (sec. 3), or timestamps for audio and video (00:14:22). When no numbered locator exists, give only the author's last name in the citation.

(Whitfield, par. 8).
(Bennett 00:14:22).
(Mehta).

Indirect Source ("Quoted In")

When a source quotes another source and the original is unavailable, cite the indirect source with "qtd. in" before the source you actually consulted.

Pound called the modernist gesture "the new" (qtd. in Whitfield 12).

MLA recommends locating the original whenever possible; "qtd. in" is a fallback.

The Works Cited Page

Every source cited in the body of the paper appears in the Works Cited list at the end. Sources consulted but not cited do not appear; that is what an annotated bibliography or "Works Consulted" page is for, and only when the assignment requires one.

Page Setup

• Begin the Works Cited list on a new page after the body of the paper.
• Continue the page numbering and last-name header from the body.
• Center the heading "Works Cited" at the top of the page in plain text. Do not bold, italicize, underline, or place quotation marks around it.
• Double-space the entire list, including within entries and between entries.
• Use a hanging indent on every entry: the first line is flush left, subsequent lines are indented one half inch.
• Alphabetize entries by the first word of the entry (the author's last name in most cases, the title when there is no author, ignoring "A," "An," and "The" at the start of titles).

The Nine-Element Container Model

MLA 9 builds every Works Cited entry from a single template of nine "core elements," in this fixed order. Not every source uses every element; you skip any element that does not apply and move to the next.

1. Author.
2. Title of source.
3. Title of container,
4. Other contributors,
5. Version,
6. Number,
7. Publisher,
8. Publication date,
9. Location.

The "container" idea is the key innovation. A short story is a source; the anthology that holds it is a container. A journal article is a source; the journal is its container; the database that hosts the journal is a second, larger container. When a source sits inside two containers (article in journal in database), the entry has two container blocks, each running from element 3 through element 9.

Punctuation Inside an Entry

• A period follows the author and the title of the source.
• Commas separate elements within a single container (publisher, date, location).
• A period closes each container.
• Italicize the titles of stand-alone works (books, journals, websites, films).
• Place the titles of works that are part of a larger work (articles, chapters, episodes, songs) in quotation marks.

Works Cited Examples by Source Type

The examples below cover the source types most students cite. For each, the entry is shown as it would appear in the Works Cited list.

Book by One Author

Whitfield, Henry. Reading Modernism: A Practical Guide.
        Oxford University Press, 2022.

Book by Two Authors

Whitfield, Henry, and Clara Bennett. Argument and Evidence.
        Routledge, 2023.

The first author's name is reversed (last, first); the second author's name is in normal order.

Book by Three or More Authors

Whitfield, Henry, et al. Methods in Literary Studies.
        Oxford University Press, 2024.

Edited Book

Bennett, Clara, editor. Approaches to Modernism.
        Cambridge University Press, 2022.

Chapter in an Edited Volume

Mehta, Rohan. "Health-Humanities Pedagogy in the Clinical Year."
        Approaches to Medical Humanities, edited by Clara Bennett,
        Routledge, 2023, pp. 117-148.

Journal Article (Print)

Alvarez, Naomi. "Computational Stylometry and the Authorship Question."
        Modern Philology, vol. 121, no. 2, 2023, pp. 245-271.

Journal Article from a Database

Alvarez, Naomi. "Computational Stylometry and the Authorship Question."
        Modern Philology, vol. 121, no. 2, 2023, pp. 245-271.
        JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/725144.

Note the two containers: the journal (Modern Philology) and the database (JSTOR). Each ends with a period.

Article in a Magazine

Bennett, Clara. "How Workplaces Decide What to Read." The Atlantic,
        12 Mar. 2024, pp. 44-51.

Article on a News Website

Whitfield, Henry. "What MLA 9 Changed About Citing Websites."
        The Guardian, 8 Sept. 2023,
        www.theguardian.com/books/2023/sep/08/mla-9-changes.

Webpage on a Website

"Hanging Indents in Word." Microsoft Support, Microsoft, 2024,
        support.microsoft.com/en-us/word/hanging-indent.

Entire Website

Modern Language Association. MLA, 2024, www.mla.org.

YouTube Video

"How to Format Works Cited in MLA 9." YouTube, uploaded by EssayFount,
        14 Feb. 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=example.

Podcast Episode

"Episode 12: Reading Beckett Aloud." The Modernism Podcast,
        hosted by Clara Bennett, Acast, 22 Jan. 2024,
        www.acast.com/themodernismpodcast/episode-12.

Film or Streaming Movie

Past Lives. Directed by Celine Song, A24, 2023.

Television Episode (Streaming)

"Pine Barrens." The Sopranos, season 3, episode 11, written by
        Terence Winter and Tim Van Patten, HBO, 6 May 2001. Max,
        www.max.com/shows/the-sopranos.

Tweet or Social Media Post

@MLAstyle. "Quick reminder: MLA 9 dropped 'web' as a medium descriptor."
        Twitter, 18 Mar. 2023, twitter.com/MLAstyle/status/example.

Government Publication

United States, Department of Education. Digest of Education
        Statistics, 2023. National Center for Education Statistics,
        2024, nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d23.

Image in a Museum or Online

Cassatt, Mary. The Boating Party. 1893-1894, oil on canvas,
        National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.,
        www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.61356.html.

Interview

Mehta, Rohan. Personal interview. 22 Mar. 2024.

Lecture or Speech

Whitfield, Henry. "Modernism After 2020." Modern Language Association
        Convention, 6 Jan. 2024, Philadelphia Marriott, Philadelphia.
        Lecture.

Common MLA Citation Mistakes

• Mixing MLA 7 and MLA 9 conventions. Older online guides still show "Web." as a medium descriptor and list URLs without commas. MLA 9 dropped the medium descriptor and uses URLs as the location element. Verify the date of any guide you cite from.
• Adding "p." before page numbers. MLA uses the bare number in parenthetical citations: (Whitfield 142), not (Whitfield p. 142).
• Putting a comma between author and page in parenthetical citations. Correct: (Whitfield 142). Incorrect: (Whitfield, 142).
• Italicizing the wrong elements. Italicize stand-alone works (books, journals, websites, films). Use quotation marks for parts of larger works (articles, chapters, episodes, songs).
• Wrong title capitalization. MLA uses headline case (capitalize all major words) for both titles of sources and titles of containers. The exception is words such as articles, prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions inside a title, which stay lowercase unless they are the first or last word.
• Missing hanging indent. The Works Cited list requires a hanging indent applied at the paragraph level. Manual tab indents break when fonts or margins change.
• Wrong alphabetical order. Alphabetize by the first word of the entry, ignoring "A," "An," and "The" at the start of titles. Sources by the same author go in chronological order, oldest first.
• Including URL prefixes. MLA 9 drops "https://" and "http://" from URLs in Works Cited entries. The entry begins with the domain name (www.theguardian.com/...).
• Listing sources you did not cite. Works Cited contains only sources cited in the body. Sources consulted but not cited belong in a "Works Consulted" page, included only when the assignment requires one.
• Using the wrong date format. MLA 9 uses day-month-year with month abbreviations (12 Mar. 2024). It does not use the U.S. month-day-year format inside Works Cited entries.
• Block quotations with quotation marks. Block quotations (more than four lines of prose) are indented and presented without quotation marks. The indentation itself signals quotation.
• Citing a database as the only container. The journal is the first container; the database is the second container. Skipping the journal and going straight to the database hides where the article actually lives.

How to Build a Citation From Scratch

1. Identify the source type. Is it a stand-alone work or part of a larger work? Books, journals, websites, and films are stand-alone; articles, chapters, episodes, and webpages are parts of a larger work.
2. Identify the author. Personal author? Group author? No author (use the title)?
3. Identify the title. Italicize stand-alone works; place parts of larger works in quotation marks.
4. Identify the container. The larger work that holds the source: journal, anthology, website, streaming service.
5. Walk through elements 4 to 9. Other contributors (editor, translator), version (edition), number (volume, issue, season, episode), publisher, publication date, location (page numbers, URL, DOI, timestamp).
6. Repeat for any second container. Article in journal in database = two container blocks.
7. Apply punctuation. Period after author and title of source; commas inside containers; period at the end of each container.
8. Apply hanging indent and alphabetize. Slot the entry into the Works Cited list in alphabetical order.

How EssayFount Writers Apply MLA Citation

EssayFount produces MLA-cited essays, research papers, annotated bibliographies, and dissertations across literature, languages, philosophy, religious studies, and humanities-leaning history programs. The internal workflow has three stages dedicated to citation accuracy alone. Stage one is a pass on every in-text citation in the draft to confirm author and page format. Stage two is the Works Cited build, where each entry is assembled from the nine-element template using the source itself rather than database export shortcuts (database tools frequently produce MLA 7 output). Stage three is a citation reconciliation pass: every Works Cited entry must have at least one in-text citation, and every in-text citation must have a matching Works Cited entry.

For complex source types (translated works, multi-volume editions, archival manuscripts, social media posts, audio interviews) EssayFount writers apply the container model rather than searching for a pre-built template, which is what produces correct citations for sources MLA never anticipated. The result is a paper that survives plagiarism checks and instructor citation audits without the late-night reformatting most writers do alone.