MLA Works Cited Entries

MLA works cited entries

General Guidelines for MLA Works Cited Entries

AUTHOR NAMES

  • Authors listed at the start of an entry should be listed last name first and should end with a period.
  • Subsequent author names, or the names of authors or editors listed in the middle of an entry, should be listed first name first.
  • If the source has no date, give your date of access at the end: Accessed 24 Feb. 2016.

    DATES

  • Format dates as day month year: 27 May 2014.
  • Use abbreviations for all months except for May, June, and July, which are short enough to spell out: Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec. (Months should always be spelled out in the text of your paper.)
  • If the source has no date, give your date of access at the end: Accessed 24 Feb. 2016.

    TITLES

  • Italicize the titles of long works — such as books, plays, periodicals, entire Web sites, and films. (Underlining is an acceptable alternative to italics, but note that whichever format you choose, you should be consistent throughout your paper.)
  • Titles of short works — such as essays, articles, poems, and songs — should be placed in quotation marks.

    PUBLICATION INFORMATION

  • Provide the publisher's full name as listed on the title page, leaving out business terms such as "Inc." and "Corp." If no publisher is given on the title page, look at the copyright page.
  • Do not abbreviate words in the publisher's name, except for "University" ("U") and "Press" ("P") in the case of academic publishers.
  • Use the abbreviations "vol." ("volume") and "no." ("number") for issues of periodicals, and precede page numbers with "pp." ("pages").
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