MLA Referencing Guide

MLA referencing Overview

1. Books
2. Articles
3. Online sources
4. Images/visual mediums
5. Other source types

Key things to remember

There are two types of citation in MLA referencing: in-text citations, which are found in the main body of the work and contain a fraction of the full bibliographical information, and reference lists, which are located at the end of the main work and list full information for all sources mentioned within the work. In text citations in MLA do not cite the year like many other referencing styles; instead, you would cite the page number: for example, 'Jones (87)' or '(Jones, 87)'. Reference lists are sometimes called 'List of works cited' in MLA, although this is not compulsory.

1. Books

Citations for books with one author:

Last name, first name. Title. Edition (if not the first edition of the book). City of publication: Publisher, Year.

Citations for books with two or three authors:

Last name, first name and Last name, first name. Title. Edition (if not the first edition of the book). City of publication: Publisher, Year.

Citations for books with four or more authors:

If a book has four or more authors, only the first author's name should be listed in-text followed by 'et al.', meaning 'and others'. In the reference list, you can either list all authors or just the first author's name followed by 'et al.'.

Last name, first name, Last name, first name, Last name, first name, and Last name, first name. Title. City of publication: Publisher, Year.

Citations for a chapter in an edited book:

When citing a single chapter in a larger book, it is important to ensure that you add the page range (pp.) that the chapter spans.

Last name, first name. "Chapter name." Book title. Ed. Editor/s name/s. City of publication: Publisher, Year. Page/s.

Citations for multiple books by the same author:

In text, the author's texts can usually be differentiated by year. They should be listed in chronological order of publication. Where you are citing two works by the same author which were published in the same year, these should be labelled with 'a', 'b', 'c' and so on directly after the year.

Last name, first name. Title. Edition (if not the first edition of the book). City of publication: Publisher, Year.

2. Articles

Citations for Print Journals

Last name, First initial. "Article Title." Journal name, Volume.Issue (Year): Page/s.

Citations for Journal Articles accessed on a website or database

Last name, First initial. "Article Title." Journal name, Volume.Issue (Year): Page/s. Web. Date of access. <URL>

Citations for Newspaper or magazine Articles – Print or Online:

Newspaper or magazine citations are rendered similarly to journal articles; the same differences in formatting occur, as the example below illustrates.

Last name, First name. "Article title." Newspaper name. Date published.

Last name, First name. "Article Title." Newspaper name [City of publication if not obvious in title], Page/s. Web. Date accessed <URL>

3. Online sources

Citations for websites:

When citing a website, it is important to ascertain authorship of the website – if it's an article on website which is not a newspaper/magazine site or online journal, there may be an individual author; if not, the organisation or website name would be credited with authorship.

Author/Source if no specific author. "Title of web document/page." Website name. Date published if available. Web. Date accessed. <URL>

Citations for emails:

Sender's last name, First name. "Subject Line of Email." Message to: person who received the message. Date received. Email.

Citations for Social Media:

Last name of author, First name. (Username if relevant). "Title of page/ title of post". Social media format. Date posted. Date accessed. <URL>

4. Images/visual mediums

Citations for films/videos/DVDs:

Full Title of Film/Video/DVD. Dir. Name of Director. Film studio or maker, year. Format.

Citations for YouTube videos:

Username of contributor. "Video Title". Type of medium. Name of website, date posted. Date accessed. <URL>

Citations for broadcasts:

"Title of episode." Name of programme. TV channel/network name, city of broadcast. Date of broadcast. Format.

Citations for images/photographs – Print or Online:

Last name, first name. Title of image. Year. Type of medium. Site of photograph, city.

Last name, first name. Title of image. Year. Type of medium. Site of photograph, city. Website title. Medium. Date accessed. <URL>

Citations for podcasts:

Broadcaster/author's name. "Programme title". Broadcaster: Series Title. Date of transmission. <URL>

5. Other source types

Citations for reports:

Organisation/author. Full title of report. Place of publication: Publisher, Year.

Citations for dissertations:

Last name of author, first name. Title of dissertation. Level. Official name of university, year published. Web. Date accessed. <URL>

Citations for Acts of Parliament:

Short title (key words capitalised), which includes the chapter number. Year.

Citations for government/official publications:

Country of publication. Government agency/Last name of author, first name. Title of document. City of publication: publisher, year.

Citations for interviews:

Last name of interviewee, first name. Interview. "Title/description of interview." Last name of interviewer, first name. Place of publication. Date of publication. Page/s.

Citations for presentations/lectures:

Last name of author, first name. "Presentation/lecture title." Event name if relevant. Location if relevant. Date presented/accessed. Format.

Citations for music:

Performer/writer's last name, first name. Recording title. City: Publisher, Year. Format.

Citations for dictionaries:

"Entry name". Def. number. Full title of dictionary. Place of publication: Publisher, Year.

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