MLA bibliographic style

Lists of Works Cited: MLA style

Books—Journal &Magazine Articles—Newspaper Articles—Electronic Resources—Multimedia and Live Resources—Selected Other Primary Resources

MLA style is prominent in the humanities, but is also used in other disciplines. If you don't see an appropriate example below, check the relevant style guide.

Books

Author, Arthur, Brian Author & Cathy Author. Title of work. Place of
       publication: Publisher, date of publication.

Single space between lines; double space between entries. Indent only the first line.
Leave blank those elements that are irrelevant or unavailable.

With a single author

Lukacs, John. Philadelphia: Patricians and Philistines, 1900-1950. New 
       York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1981.

More than one author

Loudraville, Richard, and Janis Loudraville. Dear Yeats, Dear Pound,
       Dear Ford: Jeanne Robert Foster and Her Circle of Friends. Syracuse:
       Syracuse UP, 2001.

Edited book

Lodeme, Ivar and Heather Trickey, ed. An Offer you can't Refuse: Workfare 
       in International Perspective. Bristol: The Policy Press, 2001.

Edition of a book

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New 
       York: Washington Square-Pocket, 1992.

Translated book

Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Philosophical Investigations. Trans. G.E.M. Anscombe.
       New York: Macmillan, 1953.

Book with a corporate author

National Research Council. Funding a Revolution: Government Support for
       Computing Research. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1999.

Book of more than one volume

Singer, Irving. The Nature of Love. 3 vols. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1984.

Electronic book

Tucker, Karen B. Westerfield. American Methodist Worship. New York: 
       Oxford UP, 2001. 2 Dec. 2001 <http://digital.library.upenn.edu/ebooks/
       pdfs/019512698X.pdf>.

Article within a book

Schwartz, Joel. "The Triumph of Liberalism." The Empire State: A History
       of New York. Ed. Milton M. Klein. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 2001. 519-621.

Encyclopedias and other multi-volume works

Boxer, B. "Shanghai." The New Encyclopaedia Britannica: Macropaedia.
       15th ed. 1995.

Journal and Magazine Articles

Author, Arthur, Brian Author & Cathy Author. "Title of article."
       Title of Periodical volume number. issue number, (publication date-no 
       parentheses for magazine articles): page numbers.

Single space between lines; double space between entries. Indent only the first line.
Leave blank those elements that are irrelevant or unavailable.

From print journals

Hitchcock, Christopher. "The Intransitivity of Causation Revealed in
       Equations and Graphs." The Journal of Philosophy 98 (2001): 273-299.

From e-journals

Janssen, Maarten C. "On the Principle of Coordination." Economics and 
       Philosophy, 17.2 (2001). 29 Nov. 2001 <http://www.journals.cambridge.org/>.

From full-text databases

Gourevitch, Victor. "Rousseau on Providence." The Review of Metaphysics.
       (Mar. 2000). Expanded Academic ASAP. Gale Group. University of
       Pennsylvania Library, Philadelphia. 2 Dec. 2001. <http://web7.
       infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/429/324/18810857w7/purl=rc1_ 
       EAIM _0_A70696454&dyn=4!xrn_9_0_A70696454?sw_aep=upenn_main>.

From printed magazines

O'Brien, Jeffrey M. "The Making of the Xbox." Wired. 9 Nov. 2001: 66-75.

From online magazines

Stokes, Gale. "Why the West?" Lingua Franca Nov. 2001. 2 Dec. 2001.
       <http://www.linguafranca.com/print/0111/cover.html>.

Book Reviews

Markosian, Ned. Rev. of Semantics, Tense, and Time, by Peter Ludlow. The
       Journal of Philosophy 98 (2001): 325-329.

Newspaper Articles

Author, Arthur, Brian Author & Cathy Author. "Title of article." Title of
       Newspaper day month year: section numbers (if used) page numbers.

Single space between lines; double space between entries. Indent only the first line.
Leave blank those elements that are irrelevant or unavailable.

From print newspapers

Wilford, John Noble. "Artifacts in Africa Suggest an Earlier Modern Human."
       New York Times 2 Dec. 2001, natl. ed.: A1+.

Newspaper articles without a title

"This Stadium Available." Editorial. Chicago Tribune 5 Jan. 2002: 10.

From online newspapers

Wilford, John Noble. "Artifacts in Africa Suggest an Earlier Modern Human."
       New York Times on the Web 2 Dec. 2001. University of Pennsylvania 
       Library, Philadelphia 4 Dec. 2001. <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/02
       /science/social/02BONE.html>

From full-text databases

Wilford, John Noble. "Artifacts in Africa Suggest an Earlier Modern Human."
       New York Times 2 Dec. 2001, A1+. Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, 4 Dec.
       2001. < http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe>.

Electronic Resources

Author, Arthur. "Title of work within a larger work." Publication
       information for any print version of the work. Title or description such
       as 'home page.' Date of electronic publication, name of database or
       online services. Pages, paragraphs or sections used. Name of any
       institution affiliated with the web page. date of access <URL>.

Single space between lines; double space between entries. Indent only the first line.
Leave blank those elements that are irrelevant or unavailable.
When page numbers are not available to identify part of an electronic document, use chapter or section information
When a document consists of multiple pages or sites, provide the URL of whatever page provides easiest access to all of them (the home page, for example).

Electronic book

Tucker, Karen B. Westerfield. American Methodist Worship. New York:
       Oxford UP, 2001. 2 Dec. 2001 <http://digital.library.upenn.edu/ebooks/pdfs
       /019512698X.pdf>.

Articles from e-journals

Janssen, Maarten C. "On the Principle of Coordination." Economics and
       Philosophy 17.2 (2001). 29 Nov. 2001 <http://www.journals.cambridge.org/>.

Articles from full-text databases

Gourevitch, Victor. "Rousseau on Providence." The Review of Metaphysics.
       (Mar. 2000). Expanded Academic ASAP. Gale Group. University of Pennsylvania
       Library, Philadelphia. 2 Dec. 2001. <http://web7.infotrac. galegroup.com/itw
       /infomark/429/324/18810857w7/purl=rc1_ EAIM _0_A70696454&dyn=4!xrn_9_0_
       A70696454?sw_aep=upenn_main>.

Articles from online magazines

Stokes, Gale. "Why the west?" Lingua Franca Nov. 2001. 2 Dec. 2001 
       <http://www.linguafranca.com/print/0111/cover.html>.

Articles from online newspapers

Wilford, John Noble. "Artifacts in Africa Suggest an Earlier Modern Human."
       New York Times on the Web 2 Dec. 2001. University of Pennsylvania Library,
       Philadelphia 4 Dec. 2001. <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/02/science/social
       /02BONE.html>.

Newspaper articles from full-text databases

Wilford, John Noble. "Artifacts in Africa Suggest an Earlier Modern Human."
       New York Times 2 Dec. 2001, A1+. Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, 4 Dec. 2001.
       <http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe>.

E-mail

Okrent, Nicholas. "About Toni Morrison." E-mail to Kathryn Charkatz. 2 Dec. 2001.

Online Posting to a Discussion List or Newsgroup

Okrent, Nicholas. "Help on Anti-Plagiarism Software." Online Posting.
       1 Dec. 2001. BI-L. 2 Dec. 2001. < http://www.ala.org/acrl/is/bil.html>.

Other Type of Electronic Resource

In general, follow the rules for the specific type of resource, and add the name of the electronic tool from which the resource came, the date of access, and the URL.

Schultz, Charles. "Peanuts." Cartoon. The Official Peanuts Web Site. Sun 11 Feb. 2003. 26 Apr. 2005. 
       <http://www.peanuts.com/>

Smith Brothers. Advertisement. New York American Weekly. 1939. Medicine and Madison Avenue.
       26 Apr. 2005. <http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/dynaweb/mma/cough/@Generic__BookTextView/2028>

Multimedia and Live Sources

There is no standard reference style for non-print items. Each type of media has a slightly different format. Also, the format can be varied to provide empahsis. For example, a spoken-word recording can begin with the speaker, writer or production director depending on what information is most relevant.

Movies

Star Wars. Dir. George Lucas. Twentieth Century Fox, 1977.

Other information, such as performers (perf.), producers (prod.) or adaptor (adapt.) can be added it if steems pertinent.

Movies Based on Books

Wings of the Dove. Adapt. Amini Hossein. By Henry James. Dir. Iain Softley. 
       Miramax, 1997.

Individual Performance or Contribution in a Movie

 Lucas, George, dir. Star Wars. Twentieth Century Fox, 1977.

 Fisher, Carrie, perf. Star Wars. Twentieth Century Fox, 1977.

Videocassette, Videorecording, or Other Recording of an Original Work

Star Wars. Dir. George Lucas. Twentieth Century Fox, 1977.  Videodisc. Twentieth Century 
       Fox Home Entertainment, 2004.

Live Visual or Musical Performance

 Much Ado About Nothing. By William Shakespeare. Dir. David Esbjornson. 
       Delacorte Theater, New York. 7 Aug. 2004.

Sound Recording

 Abbado, Claudio, cond. Symphony no. 3. By Ludwig van Beethoven. Berlin Philharmonic. 
       Deutsche Grammophon, 2002.

 The Smiths. "Meat is Murder." Meat is Murder. Rough Trade Records, 1985.

Interviews (unpublished)

Messmer, Lydia. Interview with Mark W. Allem. Interview with Lydia Messmer:
       Oral History. 1987. Videotape. University Archives, U. of Pennsylvania.

Other Primary Resources

There is no standard reference style for miscellaneous primary resources. Each type of resource has a slightly different format. Also, the formats can be varied to provide empahsis.

Letters (unpublished)

Orwoll, Mark. Letter to Sophia Mumford. 1986. Lewis Mumford Papers. 
       Rare Book and Manuscripts Lib., U. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

Works of Art

Gogh, Vincent van. Irises. The Cleveland Museum of Art,
       Cleveland.

Maps and Charts

New York. Map. Chicago: Rand, 1995.

Cartoons

Schultz, Charles. "Peanuts." Cartoon. Lewiston Daily Sun 11 Feb. 2003.

Advertisements

Smith Brothers. Advertisement. New York American Weekly1939.