LibGuides: Citing Your Sources in MLA 9th: The Basics

About MLA 9th

This guide is a quick introduction to the MLA 9th edition citation style. MLA is a citation style developed by the Modern Language Association and is primarily used in the Humanities.

MLA Resources

MLA Handbook 9th Edition
Call Number: LB2369 .M52 2021 (Reference)
Copies are available at the Reference Desk.

Pierce Library's MLA 9th Quick Citation Guide
Downloadable PDF with sample citations (including in-text) for different types of sources and a sample Works Cited page.

MLA Style Center
Tips for working in MLA Style, answers to common questions, and more.
Purdue OWL MLA 9 Formatting & Style Guide
Very thorough overview of MLA 9th with examples for how to construct both in-text and Works Cited entries.

MLA Video Introduction

Video from CSU Dominguez Hills University Library.

In-Text Citations

In-text citations are the short citations in parentheses that you will include in the body of your paper or assignment. They appear at the end of a sentence or paragraph in which you have either directly quoted or paraphrased an outside source.

Basic Format:

(Last Name Page Number)

If you mention the author's name in the sentence or paragraph, you can omit the author's name and only include the page number. If a source does not have page numbers, such as a webpage, you may skip the page number.

Examples:

"Culture forms our beliefs" (Anzaldúa 38).

According to Anzaldúa, "culture forms our beliefs" (38).

I'm citing...

One Author

Format:

(Last Name Page Number)

Example:

(Anzaldúa 30)

Two Authors

Format:

(First Author's Last Name and Second Author's Last Name Page Number)

Example:

(Wykes and Gunter 53)

Three or More Authors

Format:

(First Author's Last Name et al. Page Number)

Example:

(Chan et al. 97)

Group or Corporate Author

Format:

(Group Name Page Number)

Example:

(Calgary Educational Partnership Foundation 230)

If your full citation for a group author starts with the title rather than the group's name, follow the "No Author" in-text citation rules instead.

No Author

Format:

(Title of Longer Work or "Title of Shorter Work" Page Number)

Heads up! For in-text citations, shorten any titles to the first 2-4 words of the title. Include the full title in your Works Cited list.

Examples:

(Fair Housing 15)

("How to Teach")

The first example above refers to a book, so the title is italicized to reflect that it is a longer work. The second example refers to a webpage, so the title appears in quotation marks to reflect that it is a shorter work, and we also skip the page number since websites don't have page numbers.

For more guidelines and examples, check out the Purdue OWL In-Text Citation Guide.

Works Cited List

Your Works Cited list will appear at the end of your paper or project, and will contain a list of citations in alphabetical order corresponding to the in-text citations you used in the body of your project. Each citation will include the complete publication information for that source, so that anyone may find and check the sources.

The format for your citations will differ depending on the type of source you are citing. Please select your source type below for detailed instructions.