MLA 9th Edition Referencing: A Complete Student Guide

MLA (Modern Language Association) is the citation style for English literature, film studies, linguistics, cultural studies, and many other humanities disciplines. The 9th edition (2021) simplified the format using a universal set of 'core elements' that work across all source types.

How MLA in-text citation works

MLA uses parenthetical citations in the body of the essay. The format is: (Author's Last Name Page Number) — no comma between them.

Situation	Format	Example
Standard citation	(LastName Page)	(Smith 45)
Author named in sentence	(Page)	As Smith argues (45)
Two authors	(LastName and LastName Page)	(Smith and Jones 45)
Three or more authors	(LastName et al. Page)	(Smith et al. 45)
No page number	(LastName)	(Smith)
No author	(Shortened Title Page)	("Reading Skills" 12)
Two works by same author	(LastName, Short Title Page)	(Smith, "Essay" 45)

Example in prose:

The testing effect demonstrates that "retrieval practice enhances long-term retention more than additional study" (Roediger and Karpicke 249).

As Roediger and Karpicke have shown, retrieval practice is "one of the most effective learning strategies" (249).

The Works Cited list

The Works Cited page:

• Appears at the end of the essay on a new page
• Is titled Works Cited (centred, not bold or italicised)
• Lists all sources cited in the essay (and only those)
• Is sorted alphabetically by author's last name
• Uses hanging indentation (first line flush left, subsequent lines indented 0.5 inches)
• Is double-spaced throughout

The core elements framework

MLA 9 uses nine core elements that appear in a fixed order for any source. Not every element applies to every source — omit those that do not.

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

Container is the umbrella work that holds the source — a journal is the container for an article; a book is the container for a chapter; Netflix is the container for a film.

Format by source type

Journal article

Smith, Jane, and Alan Jones. "The Effects of Spaced Practice on 
   Long-Term Retention." Journal of Educational Psychology, 
   vol. 113, no. 4, 2021, pp. 782–795.

Notes:

• Article title: quotation marks, title case
• Journal name: italics, title case
• vol. and no. abbreviations used
• pp. for page range

Book

Baddeley, Alan, et al. Memory. 3rd ed., Psychology Press, 2020.

Notes:

• Author's first name given in full after last name
• et al. used for three or more authors
• Edition abbreviated as "3rd ed."
• Publisher listed, city of publication not required in MLA 9

Book chapter in an edited collection

Brown, Sarah. "Working Memory in Academic Contexts." Learning 
   and Cognition, edited by Jane Smith and Alan Jones, 
   Routledge, 2021, pp. 102–125.

Website / webpage

Smith, Jane. "How Spaced Repetition Improves Memory." 
   BBC Future, 15 Mar. 2023, www.bbc.com/future/article/
   20230315-spaced-repetition.

Notes:

• Include access date only if the page content may change or has no publication date
• URL without https://

Newspaper article (online)

Jones, Alan. "Students Struggle with Essay Structure." 
   The Guardian, 12 Jan. 2024, www.theguardian.com/education/
   2024/jan/12/essay-structure.

Film or video

*Inception*. Directed by Christopher Nolan, Warner Bros., 2010.

YouTube video

CrashCourse. "Study Skills: Crash Course Study Skills #1." 
   *YouTube*, 6 Sept. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlU-zDU6aQ0.

Government or institutional report

Department for Education. *Reading Framework: Teaching the 
   Foundations of Literacy*. GOV.UK, 2021.

MLA formatting for the essay itself

Beyond citations, MLA also specifies essay formatting:

• Font: Times New Roman or similar serif font, 12pt
• Margins: 1 inch on all sides
• Spacing: Double-spaced throughout (including Works Cited)
• Header: Last name and page number top right of every page
• Heading block: Top left of first page — your name, instructor's name, course, date (on separate lines)
• Title: Centred, not bold or underlined
• Indentation: First line of each paragraph indented 0.5 inches (tab)

Common MLA mistakes

Comma between author and page number — MLA uses no comma: (Smith 45) not (Smith, 45). The comma is APA style.

Including the year in in-text citations — MLA in-text citations do not include the publication year: (Smith 45) not (Smith, 2021, p. 45).

'Bibliography' instead of 'Works Cited' — MLA calls the reference list "Works Cited", not "Bibliography" or "References".

Citing sources not used in the essay — Works Cited lists only sources you actually cited in-text. A bibliography lists all sources you consulted; MLA does not use a bibliography by default.

Italicising article titles — Article and chapter titles go in quotation marks in MLA; book and journal titles are italicised.

Use the Citation Reference Formatter to generate correctly formatted MLA Works Cited entries. For other citation styles, see the APA Referencing Guide and Harvard Referencing Guide.