MLA Documentation Style

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Documenting Sources

An essay presents an argument, and arguments require evidence. Scholarly practice requires writers to note the source of any evidence which is not common knowledge (any point which is specific or which depends upon expert interpretation). Historical and literary critiques cite original documents (sometimes referred to as primary evidence) as well as the works of other scholars or authorities (secondary evidence). In either case, accurate documentation is essential. The failure to acknowledge borrowed ideas is plagiarism, a serious academic offence. 

Most faculties and departments have a style guide outlining the format for documenting sources. The guide for English studies at the University of New Brunswick is currently the English Department's own Form and Format. Form and Format condenses the major points of both the American Psychological Association (APA) style manual (used in the social sciences) and the Modern Language Association (MLA) style manual (used in the humanities). 

The MLA method of documentation has two components: parenthetical citations and bibliographic entries. The former are embedded in the text (parenthetically, as the name suggests); the latter are appended to the end of the document in a section titled "Works Cited." Endnotes and footnotes are normally used only for explanatory notes, i.e .comments on a whole range of authorities or texts, or discussions of tangential points.  Notes are used sparingly. 

Parenthetical Documentation

Close to each quotation or reference appears a parenthetical note which "contains only enough information to enable readers to find the source in the works-cited list" (Gibaldi 105). The preceding is a simple parenthetical citation containing only the author's name and the page number on which the words quoted are found. The works-cited list would provide full information: 

Together, parenthetical citations and entries on the Works Cited page offer a complete indication of where a particular quotation or idea comes from. Parenthetical references provide sufficient information to identify the text; the amount required depends upon the context. If the author and title are indicated in the text, a page number may be enough: 

Fahnestock's strongest point in "Teaching Argumentation" is her rejection of "the ancient schism" between informing and persuading (180).

Note that a comma divides the names of the author and the title, and that the title is shortened (the full title is Action is Eloquence: Shakespeare's Language of Gesture); note also that no abbreviation for "page" is used. The object of parenthetical citation format is to maintain the flow of the essay, while providing a compact and immediate reference for the reader; therefore, do not include unnecessary information. 

Works Cited Page Format

The list of works cited begins on a new page after the end of the paper. Each page is numbered in the top right hand corner. The heading, with initial capitals but with neither underlining nor quotation marks, is centered one inch from the top of the page. The first entry is typed two lines below the heading. The entire list is double-spaced, with no extra space between entries. Entries on the Works Cited page include full bibliographic information. Entries are arranged in ascending alphabetical order (from A to Z) by the author's last name, if there is one, or by the title in the case of anonymous works. The first line of each entry should be aligned with the left margin of the page, and every subsequent line of each entry should be indented five spaces; this format is called a hanging indentation.

Citation Format

Parenthetical documentation follows a very simple format; documenting sources on the Works Cited page is more difficult and requires careful attention to form and detail. The following are the basic elements of an MLA bibliographic citation (the most commonly used parts are in bold type): 

1. Author's Lastname, Author's Firstname. 
2. "Title of Document." 
3. Title of Complete Work (if applicable). 
4. Name of editor (normal order of parts). 
5. Edition (if applicable).
6. Volume number.
7. Series name.
8. Place of publication.
9. Name of publisher.
10. Date of publication.
11. Page numbers.

Conventional Sources

The bulk of references are still to printed or microfilmed sources. The following are some of the more common types of bibliographic entries. 
 

Book by a single author:

The last name appears first, followed by a comma and then a period. The title of the book is underlined and is followed by a period. The place of publication appears next, followed by a colon, the name of the publisher, a comma, and the date of publication. A period appears at the end of the entry. The information which you will need for such an entry is available on the title page (and the publication information page) of the book you are using. 

Hawking, Stephen. A Brief History of Time from the Big Bang to Black Holes. New York: Bantam Books, 1988.

The name of the first author is reversed--last name first--but the parts of the names of any other authors are listed in their usual order (first name first). Include the names of up to three authors. If a work has more than three authors, record only the name of the first author and add the abbreviated Latin term et al. (short for et alii, "and others"). 

Huppé, Bernard F., and Jack Kaminsky. Logic and Language. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1957.

Baugh, Albert C., et al. A Literary History of England. Ed. Albert C. Baugh. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1948.

This is the format you will use for any work attributed to an institutional or corporate author. The first words in the entry name the institution. In other respects, this entry is similar to that for a work by a single author. 

University of New Brunswick. 1993-1994 Undergraduate Calendar of the University of New Brunswick. Fredericton: University of New Brunswick, 1993.

Whenever you have more than one work by an author, the author's name need not be repeated from one entry to the next; instead, mark all subsequent entries with three consecutive hyphens and then a period. 

Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Middlesex: Penguin, 1966.

---. Shirley. Middlesex: Penguin, 1983.

Some works are part of a large editorial, critical, or research project and have a series title and even a number. The title and number appear after the title of the book and are separated by a period. 

Ngugi, James. Weep Not, Child. African Writers Series. 7. London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1964.

Do not use the word "Anonymous" or the abbreviation "Anon." Begin the entry with the title of the book and follow with publication information. When alphabetizing the entry, ignore any leading articles (e.g. the or a). Because this book was published before 1900, the publisher is omitted and a comma, not a colon, follows the place of publication. 

The Taming of a Shrew. London, 1594. 

In a reference to an entire anthology or compilation, the name of the editor appears as the first information in the entry. The editor's name is followed by a comma, the lower-case abbreviation "ed" and a closing period. 

Cassill, R.V., ed. The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. 4th ed. New York: Norton, 1990.

Work in an anthology or compilation:

To cite a specific work in an anthology rather than the entire anthology, indicate first the name of the author of the individual work cited, then the title of that work, then anthology title, then the editor's name, then the edition number, and finally the publication information. The entry closes with the page numbers which are occupied by the anthologized work. The abbreviations "p" or "pp" are no longer used to indicate page numbers: simply present the page numbers as a hyphenated range. 

Laurence, Margaret. "The Loons." The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Ed. R. V. Cassill. 4th ed. New York: Norton, 1990. 920-929.

Fahnestock, Jeanne. "Teaching Argumentation in the Junior-Level Course." Teaching Advanced Composition: Why and How. Ed. Katherine H. Adams, and John L. Adams. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1991. 179-93.

To document references to the work of an editor (explicit comments, notes, or textual decisions), simply begin with the editor's name, follow it with the abbreviation "ed.", and then place the author's name after the title, introducing it with the preposition "by." 

Hunter, G. K., ed. Antonio and Mellida. By John Marston. 1602. Regents Renaissance Drama. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1965. 

In citing additions to a text written by somone other than the author, place the secondary author's name first, followed by the title of the addition, the title of the work, the name of the author of that work, the usual publication information, and the page range. Note that the descriptive titles Preface, Introduction, Foreword, and Afterward are not put into quotation marks or italics; they simply have initial capitals. 

Pottle, Frederick A. Introduction. Boswell in Holland, 1763-1764. By James Boswell. Ed. Frederick A. Pottle. Yale Edition of the Private Papers of James Boswell. London: Heinemann, 1952. ix-xix.

Indicate the number of volumes after the title of the work. To cite a specific article from a single volume of a multivolume work, indicate the volume number and the pages occupied by that article: 

Wiener, Philip P., ed. Dictionary of the History of Ideas. 5 vols. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973.

Grant, Robert M. "Gnosticism." Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Ed. Philip P. Wiener. Vol. 2. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973. 326-331.

The citation begins with the author's name; the name of the editor appears after the title of the work, followed by the abbreviation "Ed." The edition number or edition series name follows the name of the editor. 

Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights. Ed. William M. Sale, Jr. and Richard J. Dunn. Norton Critical Edition. New York: Norton, 1990.

The name of the translator follows the title of the work and is introduced by the abbreviation "Trans." 

Lessing, G. E. Nathan the Wise. Trans. R. Dillon Boylan. Lessing's Dramatic Works. Ed. Ernest Bell. London: George Bell, 1878. 

The underlining (or italics) used to designate the title of the book is omitted around any title within the title. In this example, the title of the play Hamlet is not underlined in the title of the book, Twentieth Century Interpretations of Hamlet. The remainder of this example follows the format for a book in a series. 

Bevington, David, ed. Twentieth Century Interpretations of Hamlet. Twentieth Century Interpretations. Ed. Maynard Mack. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1968.

The author's name appears first, followed by the title of the dissertation (in quotation marks). Then the abbreviation "Diss" appears, followed by the name of the institution for which the dissertation was written, a comma, and the date the dissertation was accepted. 

Spacek, Richard. "Staging in Antony and Cleopatra: The Monument Scenes." Diss. U of New Brunswick, 1985.

Pamphlets are treated as books, although they generally have a corporate author: 

Canadian Cancer Society. Don't Play the Fool. Toronto: Canadian Cancer Society, 1995.

The author's name appears first, followed by the title of the article (in quotation marks), the title of the periodical (underlined), the volume number and the issue number (separated by a period), the year of publication (in parentheses), a colon, and the page numbers on which the article appears. 

Hamblin, Robert.  "'A Fine Loud Grabble and Snatch of AAA and WPA': Faulkner, Government, and the Individual." Arkansas Review: A Journal of Delta Studies 31.1 (2000): 10-15. 

If the city of publication does not form part of the newpaper title, it is included in square brackets. The title is presented without a definite article.

Picard, André. "BC Premier's Intake Estimated at 10 Drinks." Globe and Mail [Toronto] 14 Jan. 2003: A1.

Rice, Joan. Rev. of The Nymph and the Lamp, by T. Raddall. Commonweal 1 Dec. 1950: 213-214.

The name of the reviewer is the first item in the entry, followed by "Rev. of," the title of the work being reviewed, a comma, the word "by," and the name of the author of the work. Note that untitled and unsigned reviews are alphabetized by the title of the work being reviewed (the following one would be treated as though it had the title Nymph and the Lamp).

Rev. of The Nymph and the Lamp, by T. Raddall. Commonweal 1 Dec. 1950: 213-214.

The underlined title of the movie comes first and is followed by the name of the director and principal performers. The name of the studio which produced the movie appears next, followed by a comma and the date of release. 

The Ladykillers. Dir. Alexander Mackendrick. With Peter Sellers, Alec Guiness, and Herbert Lom. Ealing, 1955.

Bibliographic entries for electronic sources are modelled on those established for printed materials. The format is tricky; the materials are in constant flux, and so are standards for identifying them. Generally, the following information is expected: 

Author's Lastname, Author's Firstname.  "Title of Document."  Date of publication. Service/Sponsoring Institution.  Date of access.  <Protocol and address, access path or directories>. 

Lastname, Firstname. "Title of Document." Title of Complete Work. Version/File Number. YYYY. URL (DD MMM, YYYY). 

The access date is important: Internet documents change constantly, and they often vanish or become unavailable. Use angle brackets to enclose the URL and avoid line breaks. It is a wise precaution to save an archived copy of any document you cite. Note that italics are equivalent to underlining; normally, a work will use only one of these two conventions for marking the titles of independent texts. 

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) texts:

To cite files available for downloading via ftp, give the author's name (if known), the full title of the paper in quotation marks, the document date if known and if different from the date accessed, and the address of the ftp site along with the full path to follow to find the paper, and the date of access. 

Sampson, Geoffrey. "Introduction." The Susanne Corpus. 1994. Oxford Text Archive. 11 Aug. 1997. <ftp://ftp.ox.ac.uk/pub/ota/public/susanne/SUSANNE.doc>.

Newspaper article appearing online:

Note that this closely resembles a standard entry, except for the inclusion of an access date and a URL.

Miller, Judith. "Holy Warriors: Dissecting a Terror Plot from Boston to Amman." New York Times on the Web. 15 Jan 2001. 16 Jan 2001. <http://www.nytimes.com>

WWW (World Wide Web) documents:

To cite World Wide Web documents, provide the author's name; the title of the document; the document date; the sponsoring organization or institution; the date of access; and the full http address. 

Spacek, Richard. "Stress." 1997. The UNB Writing and Study Skills Centre On-line. 15 Jan. 2001. <http://www.unb.ca/coned/wss/stress.htm>.

E-mail, LISTSERV, and Newslist citations:

List the author's name, the subject line from the posting (in quotation marks), the date of the message, and the address of the listserv or newslist, along with the date of access in parentheses. For personal e-mail listings, include only the date of the message and omit the e-mail address; instead, include the specification "E-mail to the author," as below: 

Friesen, Peter. "Resolving Marking Disputes." E-mail to the author. 9 June 1997.

For more examples of citations of electronic sources, visit Columbia Press online.

There are specific bibliographic formats for every distinct form of publication. The following detailed works explain the presentation of citations from a variety of sources in a variety of formats: 

Achtert, Walter S. and Joseph Gibaldi. The MLA Style Manual. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1985.

Form and Format: A Guide to the Presentation of Essays and Reports. Multiformat Edition II. Fredericton: UNB English Department, 1989. 

A Manual of Style. 12th ed. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1969.

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1984.

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 3rd ed. Washington: American Psychological Assn., 1983.

Yogis, John A., and Innis M. Christie. Legal Writing and Research Manual. 2nd ed. Toronto: Butterworths, 1974.