Skip to Main Content

Citation and Style Guides: Works Cited

Some of the most frequently used citation formats are APA, Chicago, and MLA styles.

Books

According to MLA style, you must have a Works Cited page at the end of your research paper. All entries in the Works Cited page must correspond to the works cited in your main text.

Begin your Works Cited page on a separate page at the end of your research paper. It should have the same one-inch margins and last name, page number header as the rest of your paper.

Label the page Works Cited (do not italicize the words Works Cited or put them in quotation marks) and center the words Works Cited at the top of the page. Only the title should be centered. The citation entries themselves should be aligned with the left margin.

Book: General

 Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date.

Book:
Single Author

Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House. MacMurray, 1999.
Book: Two or more works by Same Author

Palmer, William J. Dickens and New Historicism. St. Martin's, 1997.

---. The Films of the Eighties: A Social History. Southern Illinois UP, 1993.

Book:
Two or more Authors

Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring. Allyn and Bacon, 2000.

Wysocki, Anne Frances, et al. Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of Composition. Utah State UP, 2004.
   

Book:
No Author

Begin citation with title. For example:

Encyclopedia of Indiana. Somerset, 1993.
   

A Work in an Anthology, Reference, or Collection

Last name, First name. "Title of Essay." Title of Collection, edited by Editor's Name(s), Publisher, Year, Page range of entry.

For additional examples and explanations, please refer to the MLA Handbook (2021).

Print Articles

Journal: General AuthorLastname, AuthorFirstname. "Article Title." Journal Title Vol.Num (Year): pages. Print.

Journal with Volume Numbers

Graham, Sarah. “Impossible to Hold: Women and Culture in the 1960s.” Journal of American Studies 40.2 (2006): 418-19. Print.

Journal with only Issue Numbers

Simmons, Carolyn, and Karen Becker-Olsen. “Achieving Marketing Objectives through Social Sponsorships.” Journal of Marketing 70 (2006): 154-69. Print.

Magazine (published week or every two weeks)

Reed, Stanley. “Seeing Past the War.” Business Week 21 Aug. 2006: 35-36. Print.

Newspaper

Seward, Zachary. “Colleges Expand Early Admissions.” Wall Street Journal 14 Dec. 2006, Eastern ed.: D1-D2. Print.

 

For additional examples and explanations, see pp. 136-148 in the MLA Handbook (2009).

.

Online Articles

For scholarly journals that only exist in electronic form on the Web, cite the work like you would for a print article, only conclude the entry with the following items:

  1. Medium of publication consulted (Web)
  2. Date of access (day, month, and year)

If the publication does not include page numbers, use "n. pag." in place of the page numbers.

Example:

Shah, Parilah Mohd, and Fauziah Ahmad. "A Comparative Account of the Bilingual Education Programs in Malaysia and the United States." GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies 7.2 (2007): 63-77. Web. 8 Nov. 2008.

 

For articles retrieved full text from an online database, include the name of the database before "Web."

Example:

Chan, Evans. "Postmodernism and Hong Kong Cinema." Postmodern Culture 10.3 (2000): n. pag. Project Muse. Web. 20 May 2007.

 

For additional examples and explanations, see pp. 189-193 in the MLA Handbook (2009).

Non-Periodical Works Cited Only Online

An entry for a nonperiodical publication on the Web usually contains most of the following components, in sequence:

  1. Name of the author, compiler, director, editor, narrator, performer, or translator of the work
  2. Title of the work (italicized if the work is independent; in roman type and quotation marks if the work is part of a larger work
  3. Title of the overall Web site (italicized), if distinct from item 2
  4. Version or edition used
  5. Publisher or sponsor of the site; if not available, use N.p.
  6. Date of publication (day, month, and year, as available); if nothing is available, use n.d.
  7. Medium of publication (Web)
  8. Date of access (day, month, and year)

Each item is followed by a period except the publisher or sponsor, which is followed by a comma. Untitled works may be identified by a genre label (e.g., Home page, Introduction, Online posting), neither italicized nor enclosed in quotation marks, in the place where the title goes.

Example:

Quade, Alex. "Elite Team Rescues Troops behind Enemy Lines." CNN.com. Cable News Network, 19 Mar. 2007. Web. 21 Mar. 2007.

Example with no author:

"Hourly News Summary." National Public Radio. Natl. Public Radio, 20 July 2007. Web. 20 July 2007.

Website Home Page:

Liu, Alan, ed. Home page. Voice of the Shuttle. Dept. of English, U of California, Santa Barbara, n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2008.

Online Map:

"Maplewood, New Jersey." Map. Google Maps. Google, 23 July 2007. Web. 23 July 2007.

Tweet (Twitter Post):

LastName, FirstName (Username). "The tweet in its entirety." Date, Time. Tweet.

Smith, John (smithdogg). "This has sure been a hot summer." 12 August 2011, 2:36 p.m. Tweet.

 

For additional examples and explanations, see pp. 184-187 in the MLA Handbook (2009).

Online Works Cited with Print Publication Data

If the nonperiodical work you are citing also appeared in print, you may determine that it is important to include the bibliographic data for the print publication as part of your entry. A book that was scanned for access in a database, for example, is usually cited this way. Instead of concluding with Print as the medium of publication, record the following information in sequence:

  1. Title of the database or website (italicized)
  2. Medium of publication consulted (Web)
  3. Date of access (day, month, and year)

Example:

Whittier, John G. "A Prayer." The Freedmen's Book. Ed. L. Maria Child. Boston, 1866. 178. Google Book Search. Web. 15 Aug. 2008.

Example:

Whitman, Walt. Preface. Leaves of Grass. By Whitman. Brooklyn, 1855. iii-xii. The Walt Whitman Archive. Web. 12 Mar. 2008.

 

For additional examples and explanations, see pp. 187-189 in the MLA Handbook (2009).

Personal Interviews, Films, Television Programs

You may include other information (names of performers, directors, etc.) if they are pertinent. List the most important as the main entry.

Personal Interview

Bush, George W. Personal Interview. 10 Feb. 2007.

Film

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Universal Pictures, 1982. Film.

Recorded Film

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Dir. Chris Columbus. 2001. Warner Bros., 2002. DVD.

Broadcast TV Program

“The Soup Nazi.” Seinfeld. NBC. WTHR, Indianapolis. 2 Nov. 1995. Television.
Recorded TV Program "The Soup Nazi." Seinfeld: Season 7. NBC, 2006. DVD.

 

For additional examples and explanations, see pp. 193 -211 in the MLA Handbook (2009).

Sound Recordings, Musical Compositions, Performances

You may include other information (names of performers, directors, etc.) if they are pertinent. List the most important as the main entry.

Entire Albums

The Beatles. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club’s Band. Capitol Records, 1967. LP.

Individual Songs

Sinatra, Frank. “Strangers in the Night.” Rec. 1966. My Way: The Best of Frank Sinatra. Warner, 1996. CD.

Spoken Word Recording

Darling, Sally, narr. To Kill a Mockingbird. 1960. By Harper Lee. Recorded Books, 1988. Audiocassette.

Musical Composition

Beethoven, Ludwig van. Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92. Boston: Oliver Ditson, 1932. CD.
Musical Score

If part of a series, include that information after the medium.

Beethoven, Ludwig van. Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92. 1811. New York: Belwin, 1994. Print. Kalmus ConcertMasters Series.

Performance

The Nutcracker. Dir. Richard Clark. Butler Ballet. Clowes Memorial Hall, Indianapolis. 2 Dec. 2008. Performance.

 

For additional examples and explanations, see pp. 193 -211 in the MLA Handbook (2009).