Modern Language Association Bibliographic Form (MLA)*

SAMPLE ENTRIES IN MLA FORMAT: BOOKS

Books:

Brown, Lester R. Building a Sustainable Society. New York: Norton, 1981. Print

Two books by the same author:

Toffler, Alvin. Future Shock. Toronto: Bantam, 1970.  Print.

----. The Third Wave. Toronto: Bantam, 1980.  Print.

Book by two or three authors:

Brooks, Cleanth Jr., and Robert Penn Warren. Understanding Fiction. New York: Appleton, 1943. Print.

McCrum, Robert, William Cran, and Robert MacNeil. The Story of English. New York: Viking, 1986. Print.

Book by four or more authors:

Lauer, Janice, et al. Four Worlds of Writing. 2nd ed. New York: Harper, 1985. Print.

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. Print.

Book with an author and an editor:

Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary. Ed. Paul de Man. New York: Norton, 1965. Print.

Collection or anthology:

Baker, Houston, Jr. Black Literature in America. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1971. Print.

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.  Print.

Book in translation:

Turgenev, Ivan. Fathers and Sons.  Trans. Rosemary Edmonds. New York: Penguin, 1965. Print.

Book with no specified/anonymous author:

Peterson's Competitive Colleges, 1995-96. Princeton: Peterson's Guides, 1995. Print.

Second or later edition of a book:

Lauer, Janice, et. al. Four Worlds of Writing. 2nd ed. New York: Harper, 1985. Print.

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. Print.

Book in a numbered series:

Wolf, Maryanne, Mark K. McQuillan, and Eugene Radwin. Thought and Language/Language and Reading.
     Cambridge: MIT Press, 1968. Print. Reprint Ser. 14.

Reprint of a book:

Huey, Edmund Burke. The Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading. 1908. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1968. Print.

Book published before 1900:

Dewey, John. The Study of Ethics: A Syllabus. Ann Arbor, 1894. Print.

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. Print.

"Hart, Gary." Who's Who in American Politics. 10th ed. 1985-86: 78-80. Print.

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. Print.

Article from a monthly or bimonthly periodical:

Kennedy, Paul. "What Gorbachev is Up Against."  Atlantic Monthly June 1987: 29-43. Print.

Article from a daily newspaper (signed author):

Roberts, Sam. "Like Weather, Ethics is Proving Hard to Control." New York Times 4 June 1987: B1. Print.

Article from a daily newspaper (unsigned author):

"Microsoft Puzzled by Stock Action." Boston Globe 30 April 1987: 45. Print.

Journal article:

Annas, Pamela J. "Style as Politics: A Feminist Approach to the Teaching of Writing." College English 47
     (1985): 360-71. Print.

Motulsky, Arno G. "Impact of Genetic Manipulation on Society and Medicine." Science 14 (1983): 135-40.  Print.

Editorial:

Secord, Richard V "America Must Learn to Keep Secrets." Wall Street Journal 28 May 1987, Eastern ed.: 30. Print. 

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." By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart Arias. Cond. Alain Lombard. Strasbourg Philharmonic Orch. RCA, 1979. LP.

Simon, Paul. "Under African Skies." Graceland. Warner, 1986. Audiotape.

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. Radio.

"Eye on America: Ruby Bridges and the Integration of the Frantz School" Narr. Wyatt Andrews.CBS Evening News. WRGB, Schenectady, NY. 31 August 1995. Television.

Lectures and speeches:

Cuomo, Mario. Democratic Convention. San Francisco, CA. 16 July 1984. Keynote Address.

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. Print.

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. Print.

Banana Republic. Advertisement. New York Times Magazine 12 September 1993: 35. Print.

Congressional record:

Cong. Rec.15 Mar. 1981: 3763. Print.

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. Print. 

ELECTRONIC SOURCES

Citation format for electronic sources continues to evolve as new forms of electronic media develop.  Although citation format includes, where possible, an author, title, and publication information, citation for electronic sources also includes medium and date of access as well as date of publication.  MLA style no longer includes URLs. 

World Wide Web:

Green, Joshua.  “The Rove Presidency.”  The Atlantic.com Atlantic Monthly Group. Sept. 2007. Web. 15 May 2008.

Ceylan Deniz, Tarba. “Intimidation and Embarrassment in Conversations of Dickens’ Novels.”The Victorian Web. 2000. Web. 20 July 2007.

Personal E-mail correspondence:

Glotfelty, Cheryll A.  “Environmental History / Ancient Greece.”  Message to ASLE Discussion List.  3 September 2008. E-mail.

CD-ROM:

The Amazing Writing Machine. Novato, Ca.: Broderbund, 1995. CD-ROM, videodisc.

Online databases:

Lal  Ananda.  Letter.  TDR 51.3 (2007): 17-18. Project Muse.  Web. 30 Nov. 2007 

COMPILING THE MLA LIST OF WORKS CITED

Now that you know how to write individual entries for your Works Cited, lets look at how the whole list is put together.  The Works Cited 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, the Works Cited list begins on a new page after the end of your text. The page is numbered as a new page, and the heading Works Cited,  References, or Sources is centered on top of the page. However, if you are writing a short paper and refer to no more than three sources, you may place your list on the bottom of your last pageif room allows. The sample Works Cited on below 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. Essays, poems, smaller parts of larger works are placed in quotation marks.
• Place a colon between place of publication and the publisher.
• 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

Astro, Richard. John Steinbeck and Edward F. Ricketts: The Shaping of a Novelist.
     Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1973. Print. 

Barnhill, David Landis and Roger S. Gottlieb, eds. Deep Ecology and World Religions:

New Essays on Sacred Ground. Albany: State University of New York Press,

2001. Print. 

Brasch, James. “The Grapes of Wrath and Old Testament Skepticism.” John

Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea

House Publishers, 1988. 45-56. Print. 

Crockett, Kelly H. "The Bible and The Grapes of Wrath." College English 27 (1962):

193-99. Print. 

Dean, Thomas. “What Is Eco-Criticism?” Proceedings of the Western Literature

Association Meeting, 6 October 1994: Defining Ecocritical Theory and Practice.

Ed. Michael Branch and Sean O’Grady. Web. 28 April 2010. 

Gilbert, Bil. “Prince of Tides: Before 'Ecology' Became a Buzzword, John Steinbeck

Preached that Man Is Related to the Whole Thing.” Smithsonian. Jan. 2002. Web. 3 April 2010. 

Katz, Eric. “Faith, God, and Nature” in Deep Ecology and World Religions: New Essays

on Sacred Ground. Eds. David Landis Barnhill and Roger S. Gottlieb. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2001. 153-167.  Print. 

Leopold, Aldo. “The Land Ethic” from A Sand County Almanac. Web. 28 April 2010.           

Nimitz, Jack. “Ecology in The Grapes of Wrath.” Hartford Studies in Literature 2

(1970): 165-68. Print. 

Railsback, Brian. “John Steinbeck, Ecocriticism and the Way Ahead.” John Steinbeck

and His Contemporaries. Ed. Stephen K. George and Barbara A. Heavilin.

Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2007. 271-279. Print. 

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 1992. Print. 

----. The Log from the Sea of Cortez. New York: Penguin, 1995. Print. 

----. To a God Unknown. New York: Penguin, 1995. Print. 

Seaman, Donna. "Many Shades of Green, or Ecofiction Is in the Eye of the Reader."

TriQuarterly 113 (2002): 9-28. Print. 

White, Lynn. “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis.” The Ecocriticism

Reader. Ed. Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1996: 3-13. Print. 

*For information on APA bibliographic format, click here.