MLA Work Cited Page

This guide outlines how to write a work

cited page for some of the more common
information sources using the 9th Edition of
the MLA style.
 Important guidelines

• The Works Cited Page appears at the end of the paper

on its own page.
• This page provides the information needed for a
reader to find and retrieve any source used in the
paper.
• Refer to this page as: Works Cited, in bold. (Capitalize
the letter W and C).
• The words should be centered at the top of the page.
(Do not put in quotation marks, or capitalize all words
or underline the words)
• Put a full stop at the end of each entry.
• Everything referenced in the text must be listed in the
• Conversely, everything listed in the Works Cited page
must have been cited in the essay.
• Ensure that the sources are cited in parentheses
within the text of the paper.
• Double-space the entire paper, including the Works
Cited list.
• Each entry begins near the left margin of the page,
and subsequent lines are indented ½ an inch from the
margin. This is known as hanging indentation.
• Capitalize each word in a title of the source and for a
writer’s article. However, do not capitalize articles,
prepositions, and conjunctions unless they are the
first words in the title.
• Also capitalize the first word in a subtitle. A subtitle
comes after a full colon.
• Titles of books, journals and government documents,
magazines etc. are italicized.
• Titles of book chapters, articles, poems, short stories
that appear in books, journals, magazines, and
newspapers are put in "quotation marks".
• Arrange entries alphabetically by the last name of the
first author or by title if there is no author. When
beginning with the title ignore initial articles (e.g. A, An,
The) for alphabetization.
• Multiple entries by one author are arranged
chronologically i.e. by using the title with the earliest
letter of the alphabet.
• Books:
• Below is the basic format for a Works Cited
entry for books.
• Author. Title of Book. Publisher, Year.
• For the 9th edition, locations of publication are
NOT indicated.
• The medium of presentation e.g. Print or Web,
is not indicated like in earlier editions.
• Take the title from the title page not the cover.
The title page is inside the book.
• The book title (and subtitle) should be italicized.
• Shorten the publisher's name when possible, by
omitting articles (a, an, the), business abbreviations
(Co., Corp., Inc.).
• Omit descriptive words such as Press, Publisher,
Books, House.
• Examples:
• "Little, Brown and Company, Inc." is shortened to
"Little, Brown and Co.“
• Salem Press is shortened to "Salem."
• For publisher's names that are personal names, use
the surname only, e.g., for John Wiley, use Wiley.
• For university presses, use U for University and P for
Press, e.g., Princeton UP or U of Nairobi P.
 A book written by one Author
• General format:
Author, surname, First name (in full) Title of Book. Publisher, Year.
Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human
Societies. New York: Norton, 1999.
A book by two authors.
NOTE: Only the name of the first author should be reversed (Last
Name, First Name); the other name(s) should be written in regular
order. E.g.
Format:
Author, surname, First name in full, Initial of any other name and
Author’s First Name Author’s initial Author’s surname. Title of
Book. Publisher, Year.
Example:
Singer, S. Fred and Dennis T. Avery. Unstoppable Global Warming:
• More than two authors
• Write only the first author and add et al., (Latin for and others).
Format:
Author, surname, First name in full, Initial of any other name et al. Title
of Book. Publisher, Year.
Example:
Laverty, Melina F.,et al. Biodiversity 101. Greenwood, 2008.
• Book listed as anonymous
• Ignore the name anonymous and list the work beginning with the title of
the chapter or the book title if the chapters in the book have no titles.
• Ignore initial articles (a, an, the), when ordering alphabetically in the
works cited page.
• Format:
“Title of chapter”. Book Title. Publisher, Year.
Example:
“American Libraries". New York Public Library Reference. Macmillan, 1997.
Two or More Works by the Same Author(s)
When citing two or more sources by the same author, write the
name in the first entry only. For the next entries, type three
hyphens, add a period, and skip a space (---. ) then write the
title. The three hyphens stand for the name(s) in the preceding
entry.
Example:
Scott, Susan Plants and Animals of Hawaii. Bess, 1991.
---. Exploring Hanauma Bay. U of Hawaii P, 1993.
For books by the same author in different years: Begin with
the earliest published first.
• For example
Greenspan, Ann. Orthopedic Radiology: A Practical
Approach. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2000.
---. Orthopedic Imaging: A Practical Approach. Lippincott
• An edited book (compiled by an editor or editors) An
edited book features articles or other material on
the same subject but by different authors collected
together in one book by an editor.
• The person(s) may also be referred to as compilers, or
translators. For editor, add a comma and a descriptive
label, e.g., editor.
• For example:
Aldrige, Alfred O., editor. Comparative Literature: Matter
and Method. U of Illinois P, 1969.
For translator, compilers etc, indicate as: Translated or
compiled by….E.g.
Homer. The Odyssey. Translated by Robert Fagles, Viking,
NOTE: When writing a reference for an edited book one can
highlight the editor as in the previous example, or
highlight the writer of the article or chapter as in the
manner below. Note that the chapter, article, poem, short
story etc in a book is placed within quotation marks.
• Format
Author of Work Within Book Last Name, First Name.
"Title of Shorter Work." Title of Book, edited by Editor
First Name Last Name, Publisher, Year, page numbers.
Example
Bordo, Susan. “The Moral Content of Nabokov’s Lolita.”
Edited by Pamela R. Matthews and David McWhirter. U of
Minnesota P, 2003. pp. 125-52.
Note the use of pp. in this entry
• An edition of a book
• If a book is identified as being other than the
first edition (e.g., 2nd edition 2nd ed.), Revised
edition (Rev. ed.), Abridged edition (Abr. ed.)
2009 edition (2009 ed.), give the edition just
before the publication information.
• Gralla, Preston. How Wireless Works. 2nd ed.,
Que, 2006.
• Deutschmann, Linda. Deviance and Social
Control. 2009 ed., Nelson Thompson, 2009.
A Corporate Author
Cite a book by corporate author when a group, such as an
organization, committee, or association rather than individual
persons, is the author.
If the author and publisher of the work are different, include the
name of the corporation/organization responsible for the work
as the author, and include the publisher. E.g.
American Welding Society Committee on High-Energy Beam
Welding and Cutting. Process Specification and Operator
Qualification for Laser Beam Welding. Newman Spring,
2008.
If the author and publisher of the work are the same, skip the
author and begin your works cited entry with the title of the
work. E.g.
MLA Handbook. 9th ed., The Modern Language Association
of America, 2021.
• A book with no date of publication
• If no year is available, ignore it.
• Format:
Author Surname, Second name. Book title: Subtitle.
Publisher.
For example:
Cox, Alice. Urban Policy and Approach. Blackwell.
A book with no publisher indicated
If no publisher is available, ignore it.
Format:
Author Surname, First name. Book Title: Subtitle.
• For example:
Okota, Linda. Approaches to Dealing with the
Child in Nigeria.
 Writing a review of a book.
 Format
Surname of Reviewer, First name. Review of Title of the review, by First
name of the writer of the reviewer of the work. Title of the
source where the review is. Date of publication: Page number.
(add a doi or URL if it is online)
For Example
Khovanova, Tanya. Review of Love and Math: The Heart of Hidden
Reality, by Edward Frenkel. The College Mathematics Journal, vol.
45, no. 3, May 2014, pp. 230-231. JSTOR.
OR
Khovanova, Tanya. Review of Love and Math: The Heart of Hidden
Reality, by Edward Frenkel. The College Mathematics Journal, vol.
45, no. 3, May 2014, pp. 230-231. JSTOR. https://doi.org/10.4169/
college.math.j.45.3.230.
• A Government Publications
• Generally, give the name of the government
first, then the name of the agency as well as
any additional agency or (sub-)committee
names, as necessary.
• Kilifi County government. Dept. of Business,
Economic Development and Tourism.
Visitors Research Report. Kilifi: Kilifi
County, 2014. Print.
• Encyclopaedias and Reference Books
• Cite an article in an encyclopaedia like a work in an
anthology.
• When citing familiar reference books, especially those
that appear often in new editions, full publication
information is not necessary.
• If articles are arranged alphabetically, volume and page
numbers are not necessary.
• Give the edition (if available) and the year of publication.
• Pelley, Patricia M. "Vietnam." The World Book
Encyclopaedia. 2008 ed. Oxford, 2008.
 PERIODCLES

• A periodical is a publication that is published in

regular intervals for an indefinite period of time.
Magazines, journals, and newspapers are all
examples of periodicals
• Magazine Articles
• A magazine is a periodical that usually contains an
assorted collection of articles, fiction, recipes, and
images. Magazines are typically directed at a
general reading audience (public). Magazines are
often published on a weekly or monthly basis.
Some examples of popular magazines are: Time,
Newsweek, True Love, Parents etc.
• The format for writing a magazine article is :
• Author of article. "Title of Article." Title of
Magazine Date: Page(s). Type of Material.
• If no author's name is given for an article, begin
with the title of the article.
• For magazines issued every week or every two
weeks, give the complete date in this order: Day
Month Year, e.g., 21 Jan. 2009. Abbreviate the
months (except May, June, July).
• For magazines issued monthly or bi-monthly,
give the month(s) and year.
• Do not give volume and issue numbers for
magazine articles.
• If the article is on consecutive pages, specify the
page numbers of the entire article, e.g., 16-20.
Give just the last two digits of the second number,
for page numbers above 100, e.g. 188-89, but
196-200.
• If the article is not on consecutive pages -- for
example, it begins on page 27, then skips to page
30, and continues on page 32 -- write only the
first page number, followed by a plus sign: 27+.
Examples:
Estroff, Sharon D. "I Was an Undercover
Penguin." Good Housekeeping Feb. 2009: 99+.
Kelley, Raina. "Octomom Hypocrisy." Newsweek.
16 Mar. 2009: 58.
Reynolds, Kim. "Body Doubles." Motor Trend.
May 2009: 152-53. "Tweet Liberty." Sports
Illustrated 30 Mar. 2009: 18.
• What is a Journal?
• A journal is a publication that contains articles
focused on a specific topic or discipline of study.
Articles in journals are usually published by
academic publishers or by scholarly or
professional societies and organizations.
• The intended audience is made up of specialists
in professions and academic disciplines.
• The format for writing a journal article is :
• Author of article. "Title of Article." Title of
Journal Volume number. Issue number (Year):
Pages. Type of Material.
• Journals are of two types in terms of how they are paginated.
There are those with continuous pagination and those with
separate pagination.
• Continuous pagination means that all of the issues of one
volume have consecutively number pages; thus the first issue of
the volume might contain pages 1-145 and the second issue of
the volume might contain pages 146-290, etc. The following is a
sample entry for an article from a journal with continuous
pagination:
• Terrill, William, and Michael D. Reisig. “Neighborhood Context
and Police Use of Force.” Journal of Research in Crime and
Delinquency vol. 40, 2003, pp. 291-321.
• Note that with this type of journal, issue number are not
necessary.
• Also note the use of pp.
• A journal with issues with separate pages, means
that if in a year, an organization produces several
journals bearing the same volume number, each
issue has pages beginning from the first to the last
for example from page 1 to 150. The next one will
also begin from page 1. When citing such a journal
one has to write the volume number after the title
of the journal, then add a full stop and then the
issue number. For example
• Woods, Tryon P. “Globalizing Social Violence:
Race, Gender, and the Spatial Politics of Crisis”.
American Studies vo. 43. no. 1, 2002, 127-53.
https://doi.org/10.5642/amerstu.20170120
• Note: add a doi or URL if it is an online journal.
• Newspapers . These are daily periodicals that
have informative and entertaining news items.
• The general format for referencing a newspaper
article is:
• Author of article. "Title of Article." Title of
newspaper, date, page and medium.
• Write the title as it appears on the masthead,
omitting any introductory article: Standard
Newspaper, not The Standard Newspaper .
• If an edition is specified on the masthead, add it
after the date.
• If the city of publication of a local newspaper is
not part of the title, give it in square brackets,
e.g., County News [Kisumu]. The city of
publication is not necessary for nationally
published newspapers, e.g. Daily Nation.
• Give the date in this order: Day Month Year,
e.g., 31 Aug. 2008. Abbreviate the months
(except May, June, July).
• If the article is not on consecutive pages, write
only the first page number, followed by a plus
sign: A1+.
• There are no volume and issue numbers for newspapers.
• Format:
Author(s). "Title of Article." Title ofNewspaper, Day Month
Year, pages.
• For Example:
Dreazen, Yochi J., and Loretta Chao. "U.S. Asks China to
Account for Tiananmen." Wall Street Nespaper 4 13 June
2009: p. A8.
Kalani, Nanea. "Stimulus Money for Technology Available,
Could Be Hard to Get." Pacific Business News
[Honolulu] 5 June 2009: pp. 4+.
For editorials of newspapers, follow the format for articles,
and add the term Editorial after the article title. For example:
"Don't Block Preschool Funds." Editorial. Daily Nation
13 Apr. 2009: p. 20.
• WORKS CITED PAGE FOR CLASS LECTURE NOTES:
• Format 1: (Handout given in class)
Instructor's Last Name, First Name. "Title of
Handouts/Notes." Name of Course, Date handout
was received, University/College. Class
handout.
• Example:
Doe, Mark. "Critical Analysis." English 100, 4 Sept.
2016, U of Portland. Class handout.
.
Format 2: Handout downloaded online.
Instructor's Last Name, First Name. "Title of
Handouts/Notes." Name of Course, Date handout
was received, University/College, URL. Access
date. Class handout.
Easton, Todd. “Model Paper.” Economics 121, 10
Apr. 2019, U of Portland,
learning.up.edu/moodle/mod/resource/view.
php?id=54 4855. Accessed 15 May 2019. Power
Point Slides
• Oral Presentation at Conference
Speaker's Last Name, First Name. "Title of
Speech." Title of Conference or Meeting, Day
Month, Year, Location of Conference.
Descriptor (i.e. Keynote Address, Guest
Lecture, Conference Presentation, Address,
Lecture, Reading).
Example:
• Stein, Bob. “Reading and Writing in the Digital
Era.” Discovering Digital Dimensions,
Computers and Writing Conference, 23
May 2003, Union Club Hotel, West
• Electronic sources
• These are sources that are online. Books, journals,
newspapers, magazines etc are often put online for easy
access for those who cannot get the hard copies.
• Web Sites: When citing web sites, include the author, title,
and publication information as for print sources and add
the date of access, because web pages are often updated
or moved. All components in the format below may not be
identifiable for a web site; include as much as is available.
• Write the title of the web page in italics if it is independent
or shares the same name as the overall web site, but if
none is indicated, use N.p.
• If a complete date is given, write it in the order: Day
Month Year. If no publication date is indicated, write n.d.
• The URL of the web site is optional. Provide the URL if the
site is difficult to find, or if the instructor requires it. Write
the URL at the end of the entry, enclosed in angle brackets.
If the URL must be divided between lines, break it after a
slash.
• "The Norwegian Pirate Whaling Fleet." Sea Shepherd.
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, 2009. 17 June
2009.
<http://www.seashepherd.org/whales/norway.ht
ml>.
• The name of the database is very important for retrieving
the publication. The access date should be specified
because online content changes constantly.
• Articles on the web may not have page numbers; when
• The format is:
• Author. "Title of the Web Page." Title of the Overall Web
Site. Version or Edition. Publisher or Sponsor, Date.
Date of Access.
• For example:
Altonn, Helen. "Marine Team Sounds Alarm for Reefs."
StarBulletin.com. Star Bulletin, 29 Aug. 2008. 17 June
2009.
"Hawaii Drunk Driving Statistics." Alcohol Alert. KeRo,
2009. 17 Mar. 2009.
Holahan, Catherine. "Eddie Bauer Files for Bankruptcy."
MSN Money. 17 June 2009. 17 June 2009.
Lehrman, Lewis E. Lincoln at Peoria. Lincoln Institute,
n.d. 17 June 2009.
• Electronic Books: Refer to books that are on the
internet.
• The general format is:
Author. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher,
Year. Online Database Name. Web. Date of Access.
Kawamura, Yuniya. Fashion-ology: An Introduction to
Fashion Studies. Oxford: Berg, 2005. ebrary. 8
June 2009.
Sweet, William. Kicking the Carbon Habit: Global
Warming and the Case for Renewable and Nuclear
Energy. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006.
Net Library. 4 Apr. 2010.
• Television Broadcast
• General format:
"Title of Episode." (if available) Title of Program.
Responsible Person(s). Name of Network. Call
letters of local station (if any), City, Broadcast
Date. Television.
"The Graying of Hawaii." Insights on PBS Hawaii.
Prod. Mark Delorme and Audrey Kubota. PBS.
KHET, Honolulu, 18 June 2009. Television.
"A Vow of Silence." Forensic Files. Narr. Peter
Thomas. Prod. Stephanie Kovac. TruTV. 14 June
2009. Television.
 Video recording

• General format:
Title of Video. Director's Name. (and/or other
Responsible
Person(s)) Distributor, Year. Type of Media.
• Mardi Gras: Made in China. Dir. David Redmon.
Carnivalesque Films, 2008. DVD.
• Picasso. Commentary by Waldemar Januszczak. Dir.
Didier Baussy. Home Vision, 1985. Videocassette.
• Interview Conducted By the Student
Name of Person Interviewed. Type of interview. (Personal
or Telephone) Date.
Kato, Ken. Personal interview. 11 Apr. 2009.