MLA Style Guide: Formatting and Citation Examples for MLA 9

MLA style is the citation and formatting system most English, language and humanities courses use, and it is set out in the MLA Handbook, now in its ninth edition. This MLA style guide covers everything a typical college paper needs: how to set up the page, write the first-page heading, build works-cited entries from the nine core elements, write in-text citations and format quotations, tables and figures. Your instructor's directions always come first, so check the assignment sheet for anything that differs from standard MLA format.

What Is New in MLA Style in the 9th Edition

MLA 9 keeps the system introduced in the eighth edition: instead of memorizing a separate format for every source type, you build each entry from the same core elements. The ninth edition expands that guidance with more examples and adds advice on notes, quotations, formatting papers and inclusive language. If you learned older MLA, drop these habits:

• Do not add the medium of publication (Print, Web, DVD) at the end of an entry.
• Do not include the city of publication for most books. It is only needed in special cases, such as books published before 1900.
• Use "et al." after the first author for any source with three or more authors.
• Access dates are optional. Add one when a web page has no publication date or is likely to change.

MLA Format: Page Setup Rules

These settings apply to the whole paper, including the Works Cited page:

• Paper and font: standard 8.5 by 11 inch page, a readable font such as Times New Roman in 12 point, with italics that are clearly distinct from regular type.
• Spacing: double-space everything, including the heading, block quotations and works-cited entries. Leave one space after periods unless your instructor says otherwise.
• Margins and indents: 1-inch margins on all sides. Indent the first line of each paragraph half an inch.
• Running header: your last name and the page number in the upper-right corner, half an inch from the top and flush with the right margin, on every page. Some instructors ask you to leave it off the first page.
• Title page: none, unless your instructor asks for one or it is a group project.
• Italics: use them for titles of long works such as books, films and journals, and only rarely for emphasis.
• Notes: if you use endnotes, put them on a separate page titled Notes before the Works Cited page.

The First-Page Heading and Title

In the upper-left corner of the first page, type four double-spaced lines: your name, your instructor's name, the course, and the date in day-month-year order. Then center your title on the next line.

Jordan Ellis

Professor Ramirez

English 102

9 October 2026

Memory and Silence in Toni Morrison's Beloved

Write the title in title case. Do not bold, underline or italicize it or put it in quotation marks, except for the title of another work inside it (as with Beloved above). Do not put an all-caps shortened title in the header; that running head comes from APA professional papers. The MLA header is just your last name and the page number.

MLA Works Cited: The Nine Core Elements

Every works-cited entry is assembled from the core elements below, in this order, with the punctuation shown. Skip any element that does not apply to your source.

Containers are the larger wholes that hold your source: a journal holds an article, an anthology holds a poem, a website holds a page, a streaming service holds an episode. Titles of sources that sit inside a container go in quotation marks; titles of containers and stand-alone works are italicized. When a source sits inside two containers, such as a journal article you found in a database, add the second container's elements after the first. Leave out the publisher for periodicals and for websites whose name matches the publisher.

MLA Works Cited Page Format

• Start the list on a new page at the end of the paper, with the same margins and header.
• Center the title Works Cited at the top in plain text (use Work Cited if you have only one source).
• Alphabetize entries by their first word, ignoring A, An and The.
• Use a half-inch hanging indent: the first line of each entry is flush left and the following lines are indented. Our guide to creating hanging indents in Word and Google Docs shows the clicks.
• Double-space within and between entries, with no extra blank lines.
• Write the first author as Last, First. For two authors: Last, First, and First Last. For three or more: Last, First, et al.
• For several works by the same author, give the name in the first entry and replace it with three hyphens and a period in the next ones.
• Abbreviate months longer than four letters (Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.) and use pp. for a page range.

Not sure whether your class wants a Works Cited list or a bibliography? See the difference between a bibliography and a works cited page.

MLA Citation Examples by Source Type

The examples below use invented authors and titles so you can focus on the pattern. On your Works Cited page, each entry would also have a hanging indent.

Book

Nguyen, Linh. The Shape of Rivers. Harbor Press, 2023.

Book With an Editor and a Chapter in an Anthology

Brooks, Alana. "Leaving Home." New Voices in Short Fiction, edited by Sam Ortiz, Lakeview UP, 2022, pp. 88-102.

Journal Article From a Database

Patel, Ravi, and Emma Cole. "Reading Habits of First-Year Students." Journal of College Literacy, vol. 9, no. 3, 2021, pp. 210-29. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.1234/jcl.2021.0093.

Use a DOI rather than a URL whenever the source has one, written as a link beginning https://doi.org/.

Web Page or Online Article

Garcia, Maria. "How Sleep Shapes Memory." Mind Matters, 14 Jan. 2025, www.mindmatters.example/sleep-memory.

MLA lets you drop http:// or https:// from a URL, though some instructors prefer full clickable links in papers submitted online.

Online Video

Lee, Daniel. "Solving Quadratic Equations Step by Step." YouTube, uploaded by Math With Mr. Lee, 5 May 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=example.

Podcast Episode

Ross, Tara, host. "The Science of Habits." Everyday Psychology, episode 42, Lantern Audio, 3 Feb. 2025, www.everydaypsych.example/42.

Artwork Seen in Person

van Gogh, Vincent. The Starry Night. 1889, Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Generative AI Output

MLA's Style Center advises against listing an AI tool as the author. Describe what was generated in the title position, italicize the tool's name as the container, then give the version, the company, the date the content was generated and the URL. The in-text citation uses the start of that description, such as ("Describe the symbolism"). Check your course policy before using AI tools at all.

MLA In-Text Citations

An in-text citation points the reader to the matching works-cited entry. It normally gives the author's last name and the page number, with no comma between them, placed before the sentence's final period.

Whatever word you use in the citation must match the first word of the works-cited entry, so readers can find it. Do not invent page numbers from a browser's print preview, and do not count paragraphs yourself; only cite paragraph numbers if the source numbers them. Paraphrases need citations too. Our guide on how to paraphrase without plagiarizing explains how to rewrite ideas in your own words.

Long Quotations

Use a block quotation for prose longer than four lines or poetry longer than three lines. Start it on a new line, indent the whole quotation half an inch, keep it double-spaced, drop the quotation marks, and put the parenthetical citation after the final punctuation mark.

Tables and Figures in MLA

• Tables: above the table, put the label and number (Table 1) flush left, with a title on the next line. Below the table, give the source and any notes.
• Figures: images, charts and diagrams are labeled Fig. 1, Fig. 2 and so on, with the label and caption below the figure.
• Place each table or figure as close as possible to the text that discusses it.
• If a caption gives full source information and you do not cite the source elsewhere, it does not also need a works-cited entry.

For worked examples with charts and diagrams, see how to cite a diagram.

Common MLA Mistakes to Avoid

• A comma between author and page, as in (Nguyen, 47). MLA uses (Nguyen 47).
• Adding an APA-style title page, running head or publication year in the in-text citation.
• Forgetting the hanging indent or adding blank lines between entries.
• Italicizing an article title instead of putting it in quotation marks.
• Listing sources in the order you used them instead of alphabetically.
• Citing a source in the text that never appears in Works Cited, or the reverse.

Switching between styles for different classes? Our APA style guide covers the main differences: APA puts the year in every in-text citation and calls its list References.

Getting Help With MLA Format

Citation managers and the citation tools in Word and Google Docs save time, but they often get capitalization, containers and DOIs wrong, so check every entry against the rules above. Your campus writing center and your instructor are the best first stops for questions. If you want a tutor to review your formatting and explain the fixes, Ace My Homework's academic writing help connects you with writing tutors. You submit your draft and instructions, compare bids and tutor profiles, and can chat before choosing. Use their notes to correct your own paper and follow your school's academic integrity policy. You can post your MLA formatting question here.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the Current Edition of MLA Style?

The current edition is the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook. It keeps the core-elements system from the eighth edition and adds expanded guidance and examples, including a chapter on inclusive language. If an older guide tells you to end entries with Print or Web or to include the city of publication for every book, it is out of date.

Does MLA Format Need a Title Page?

No. Standard MLA papers start with a four-line heading in the upper-left corner of the first page (your name, instructor, course and date), followed by a centered title. MLA only calls for a separate title page if your instructor requests one or the paper is a group project. When a title page is required, follow your instructor's instructions for its layout.

How Do You Cite a Source With No Author in MLA?

Start the works-cited entry with the title of the source, and alphabetize it by the first important word of that title. In the text, use a shortened version of the title in place of the author, in quotation marks for short works or italics for long ones, such as (“Impact of Rising Tuition” 4). If an organization wrote the work, you can list it as the author.

How Do You Cite a Website With No Page Numbers in MLA?

Give only the author's last name in parentheses, such as (Garcia), or name the author in your sentence and skip the parentheses. Do not use page numbers from a print preview, and do not count paragraphs yourself. If the source numbers its own paragraphs or sections, you can cite those, such as (Garcia, par. 6).

Do You Need an Access Date in MLA 9?

Access dates are optional in MLA 9. They are most useful when a web page has no publication date or is likely to change, because the date shows when you saw that version. Put it at the end of the entry in the form Accessed 9 Oct. 2026. Follow your instructor's preference if they require access dates for every online source.

Should I Include URLs in MLA Citations?

Yes, for most online sources MLA recommends a URL so readers can find the source. Copy it from your browser; you may omit http:// or https://, though some instructors prefer full links in online submissions. If the source has a DOI, use that instead of the URL, written as a link beginning https://doi.org/. Shorten very long URLs only if your instructor allows.

What Font and Spacing Does MLA Format Use?

MLA asks for a readable font such as Times New Roman in 12 point, with italics that look clearly different from regular text. Double-space the whole paper, including the heading, block quotations and Works Cited page. Use 1-inch margins, indent paragraphs half an inch and put your last name and page number in the upper-right header.