Citing-Sources: MLA

The MLA citation style aids writing in the Humanities with its use of parenthetical references as opposed to footnotes. Parenthetical references are brief bibliographic references that are located within the text. This style guide also provides information on how to fully cite sources in a longer bibliography or works cited page.

The examples below come from the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 8th ed. (2016).

Note: The 8^th edition shifts away from a listing of style formats for each type of resource, to the elements that might be found in any type of information source, whether it be a book, an article, a Youtube video or social media posting. The writer then builds a citation using those elements with formatting rules from the style guide.

Purdue's OWL is a good source for more information on citing sources using MLA.