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MLA Style for Documenting Sources

See E1–E2 in the Quick Research Guide for a brief overview of MLA style. Turn also to the Quick Format Guide beginning on p. A-1.

The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Seventh Edition(New York: MLA, 2009), supplies extensive recommendations for crediting sources. If you want more advice than that given here, you can purchase a copy of the MLA Handbook or consult a copy through your college library. For MLA updates, visit mla.org/handbook_faq.

MLA style is often used in the humanities, including composition, literature, and foreign languages. Although other disciplines follow other style guides, MLA style can help you get used to scholarly practice. MLA style uses a two-part system to credit sources.

For advice about using APA style, see Ch. 37.

To review how to find details about sources, turn to the Source Navigators on pp. 642–49.

Briefly cite or identify the source in your text, usually by noting the author’s last name in your discussion or in parentheses right after you supply the information from the source. In most cases, complete the in-text citation with the page number in the source.
Then use the author’s name to begin a full description of the source in your concluding alphabetical list, called “Works Cited.” For each entry there, look up the sample for that type of source. Follow its pattern for details, format, punctuation, and spacing. Check all similar entries for consistency, too.

Credit your source every time you quote, paraphrase, or sum up someone else’s ideas. The only general exception is “common knowledge,” uncontested information that readers in a field know and accept. Examples might include dates, facts about events, and popular expressions such as proverbs. Identify your source any time your readers would — or might — wonder about it, especially if you are unsure what they consider controversial.

Use the Take Action chart to figure out how to improve the MLA style in your draft. Skim across the top to identify questions you might ask about your draft. When you answer a question with “Yes” or “Maybe,” move straight down the column to Locate Specifics under that question. Use those activities to identify problems. Then move straight down to Take Action. Use the advice that suits your draft as you revise.