MLA Documentation System

The MLA documentation system consists of two components:

1. At the end of each passage in the text that requires documentation, the last name of the author and the page number(s) are inserted in parentheses.

2. At the end of the paper a complete bibliographical entry is provided for each source. These entries are arranged alphabetically on a separate page under the heading Works Cited.

The Parenthetical Citation

A typical citation follows the last word of the passage (or the closing quotation marks) and precedes the final punctuation:

. . . regarding the problem (Jones 234).

. . . no easy solution” (Jones 222).

However, in a block quotation (a quote more than five lines long), no quotation marks are used and the parenthetical citation follows the final punctuation.

If the name of the author is introduced in the text of the paper, it is deleted from the citation to avoid unnecessary repetition:

Jones has a similar view of the problem. He believes that the new law would be an appropriate solution (223).

If more than one work of a given author is used, the title (often abbreviated) is inserted between the name and the page number to avoid confusion:

(Smith, Discussion 67)

If the author of the source is unknown, the citation consists of the title (abbreviated if necessary) and the page number:

(“Surprising Solution,” 8)

Works Cited Page

The works cited page should be double-spaced throughout, each entry using reverse indentation (the first line of each entry starting on the left margin and the following lines indented five spaces). A typical entry consists of the following three elements, each ending with a period: the author, the title, and the publication data. The next page contains a list of typical entries.

Book by one author:

Fairbanks, Carol. Prairie Women: Images in American and Canadian Fiction. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986.

Book by two authors (only the first name is reversed):

Welsh, Roger L., and Linda K. Welsch. Cather’s Kitchens: Foodways in Literature and Life. Lincoln: University of

Nebraska Press, 1987.

An anthology or compilation:

Allen, Robert, ed. Channels of Discourse: Television and Contemporary Criticism. Chapel Hill: University of North

Carolina Press, 1987.

Essay in an anthology:

Martin, Wendy. “Anne Bradstreet’s Poetry: A Study of Subversive Piety.” Shakespeare’s Sisters: Feminist Essays on

Women Poets. Eds. Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar. Bloomington: Indiana United Press, 1979. 19-31.

Article in a weekly or monthly magazine:

Cotter, J.F. “Women Poets: Malign Neglect?” America 17 Feb. 1973: 140-142.

Article in a journal with continuous pagination:

Laughlin, Rosemary M. “Anne Bradstreet: Poet in Search of Form.” American Literature 42 (1970): 1-17.

Article in a newspaper:

Cater, Douglass. “A Communications Revolution?” Wall Street Journal 6 Aug. 1973: 18.

Personal interview:

Thatcher, Margaret. Personal interview. 7 June 1994.

Government publication (pamphlet):

U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information. National Information Policy. Rept. to the president submitted

by the staff of the Domestic Council on the Right of Privacy. Washington: GPO, 1975.

Internet home page (personal):

Rosenberg, Jim. Home page. 30 March 1998 <http://www.well.com/user/jer/index.html#menu.>

Internet home page (professional):

The H.D. International Society 30 March 1998 <http://www.well.com/user/heddy/hdsoc.html.>

Magazine article from a database (such as Infotrac):

Jannisson, Gabriel. “Germany’s Biotech Comeback.” Business Week Sept. 1994: 78+. Infotrac. 15 Oct. 1999

<http://web5.infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/session>.

Journal article from a database (such as Infotrac):

Joyce, Michael. “Notes Toward an Unwritten Non-Linear Electronic Text.” Postmodern Culture 2 (1991): 2-18. Infotrac.

27 Oct. 1999 <http://web5.infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/session>.