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MLA Style Guide, 8th ed.

This guide provides tips and examples for MLA style formatting of papers and citations.

Authors and Contributors

Single Author

When only one author is responsible for the work, list last name first, followed by a comma and the first name, fully spelled out.

Examples

Gawande, Atul. Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. Metropolitan Books, 2014.

Inskip, Charles. "Making Information Literacy Relevant In Employment Settings." Online Searcher, vol. 39, no. 4, 2015, pp. 54-57. CINAHL Plus with Full Text, https://flclosrios.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rzh&AN=109819027&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Accessed 16 Sept. 2016.


Two Authors

When there are two authors responsible for a work, the first author listed should start the citation. The first author's name is inverted with last name first. The second author is listed first name last name. Connect the two names with the word "and".

Examples

Dorris, Michael, and Louise Erdrich. The Crown of Columbus. HarperCollins Publishers, 1999.

Karber, Sharon, and Nancy Fasano. "What You Need to Know about the Smallpox Vaccine." Nursing, vol. 33, no. 6, 2003, pp. 36-43. Academic Search Complete, https://flclosrios.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=106848056&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Accessed 21 Sept. 2016.


Three or More Authors

When there are three or more authors, the first person listed should start the citation and is the only name displayed. The first author's name is inverted with last name first, followed by a comma and the abbreviation et al., which means "and others."

Examples

Sajid, Mahmood, et al. "Effectiveness of School-Based Intervention Programs in Reducing Prevalence of Overweight." Indian Journal of Community Medicine, vol. 39, no. 2, 2014, pp. 87-93. Academic Search Complete, doi: 10.4103/0970-0218.132724. Accessed 15 Sept. 2016.

Ahmed, Maria, et al. "Identifying Best Practice Guidelines for Debriefing in Surgery: A Tri-continental Study." American Journal of Surgery, vol. 203, no. 4, 2012, pp. 523-529. Medline, https://flclosrios.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cmedm&AN=22450027&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Accessed 19 Sept. 2016.


Multiple Works - One Author

When the same author is responsible for two or more sources in your Works Cited page, list the author’s name in the first entry and three hyphens to represent the name in subsequent entries.

Examples

Morrison, Toni. Beloved: A Novel. Penguin, 1998.

---. The Bluest Eye. Knopf, 1994.


Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew. Edited by Barbara A. Mowat, and Paul Werstine, Simon & Schuster, 2009.

---. A Midsummer Night's Dream. Edited by Harold F. Brooks, 2nd Revised Edition, Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare, 1979, The Complete Works of Shakespeare, shakespeare.mit.edu/midsummer/index.html. Accessed 29 Sept. 2016.


Author and Editor

When a source has an author and editor, start the citation with the author's name - last name first. The editor goes after the title as another contributor.

Examples

Carroll, Michael P. “Myth.” Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology, edited by David Levinson and Melvin Ember, vol. 3, Henry Holt and Company, 1996, pp. 827-831.

Theilmann, John M. "Air Pollution History." Encyclopedia of Global Warming, edited by Steven I. Dutch. Salem, 2009. Salem Online, https://flclosrios.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=GloW_1012. Accessed 20 Sep. 2016.


Multiple Works - Co-Authors

When the same authors are responsible for two or more sources in your Works Cited page, list the authors’ names in the first entry and three hyphens to represent the names in subsequent entries.

Examples

Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar, editors. The Female Imagination and the Modernist Aesthetic. Gordon and Breach Science Publishers, 1986.

---. “Sexual Linguistics: Gender, Language, Sexuality.” New Literary History, vol. 16, no. 3, Spring 1985, pp. 515-43. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/468838. Accessed 24 Aug. 2016


Michaelsen, Larry K., and Michael Sweet. "Team-Based Learning." New Directions For Teaching & Learning, no. 128, 2011, pp. 41-51. Academic Search Complete, doi: 10.1002/tl.467. Accessed 21 Sept. 2016.

---. "The Essential Elements Of Team-Based Learning." New Directions For Teaching & Learning, no. 116, 2008, pp. 7-27. Academic Search Complete, doi: 10.1002tl. Accessed 21 Sept. 2016.


One Editor

When the person primarily responsible for producing the work is an editor then list the editors name, last name first name, followed by the descriptive label "editor."

Examples

Haerens, Margaret, editor. Air Pollution. Greenhaven Press, 2011. Gale Virtual Reference Library, https://flclosrios.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=GVRL&sw=w&u=sacr88293&v=2.1&it=etoc&id=GALE%7C4NLW&sid=GVRL. Accessed 20 Sept. 2016.

Young, Tom, editor. Readings in the International Relations of Africa. Indiana UP, 2016.


Multiple Editors

When there are two editors, list them both. If there are three or more editors, the first person listed should start the citation and is the only name displayed. The first author’s name is inverted with last name first followed by a comma and the abbreviation et al., which means “and others.”

Examples

Holland, Merlin, and Rupert Hart-Davis, editors. The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde. Henry Holt, 2000.

Baron, Sabrina Alcorn, et al., editors. Agent of Change: Print Culture Studies after Elizabeth L. Eisenstein. U of Massachusetts P/Center for the Book, Library of Congress, 2007.


Translator - Focus on Original Work

If the focus of your research is on the work itself, include the translator, but begin the citation with the original author.

Examples

Dante, Alighieri. Inferno: A New Verse Translation, Backgrounds and Contexts, Criticism. Translated by Michael Palma, edited by Giuseppe Mazzotta. W.W. Norton, 2008.

Tolstoy, Leo. Anna Karenina. Translated by Rosamund Bartlett, Oxford UP, 2014.


Translator - Focus on Translator

If the focus of your research is on the translation of a work, treat the translator as the author.

Examples

Bartlett, Rosamund, translator. Anna Karenina. By Leo Tolstoy, Oxford UP, 2014.

Pevear, Richard, and Larissa Volokhonsky, translators. Crime and Punishment. By Feodor Dostoevsky, Vintage Classics, 1993.


Corporate Author - Author/Publisher is Same Organization

If there is no author name listed, and the same organization acts as both the author and publisher, start with the title of the work.

Examples

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 6th ed., American Psychological Association, 2010.

“About Zika.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 Aug. 2016. www.cdc.gov/zika/about/index.html. Accessed 14 Sept. 2016.


Corporate Author - Different Author and Publisher

If there is no author name listed, and the organization acting as the author is different than the publisher, start with the name of the authoring organization.

Example

American Civil Liberties Union. Why President Richard Nixon Should be Impeached. Public Affairs Press, 1973.