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MLA Research Paper Formatting

• MLA 9th Template & Paper Sample
• Finding Sources for Your Paper
• Detailed Comparison (Printable)
• Additional Resources

MLA Style (9th Edition)

• Sample Papers

You are going to love this! Save this template somewhere safe or e-mail it to yourself. Then resave it immediately with the name of your new document. This will keep your template safe and ready to reuse again for future assignments.

This template will be sufficient for most student MLA papers. For more information on formatting your paper, consult the official MLA Style website:  https://mlahandbookplus.org/books/book/5/chapter/56247/Introduction-to-Formatting-Your-Research-Project  or pages 1-14 in the MLA Manual. 

• Purdue Owl Sample Paper Sample paper is downloadable.
• Sample Papers - MLA Style Center PDFs available of the 2022 MLA Student Essay Contest winners.
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Polk State College is committed to equal access/equal opportunity in its programs, activities, and employment. For additional information, visit polk.edu/compliance .

Sample Essays: Writing with MLA Style

Congratulations to the students whose essays were selected for the 2023 edition of Writing with MLA Style! Essays were selected as examples of excellent student writing that use MLA style for citing sources. Essays have been lightly edited. 

If your institution subscribes to MLA Handbook Plus , you can access annotated versions of the essays selected in 2022 and 2023. 

Writing with MLA Style: 2023 Edition

The following essays were selected for the 2023 edition of Writing with MLA Style. The 2023 selection committee was composed of Ellen C. Carillo, University of Connecticut (chair); Rachel Ihara, Kingsborough Community College, City University of New York; and Tarshia L. Stanley, Wagner College.

Caroline Anderson (Pepperdine University)

“ L’Appel du Vide : Making Spaces for Sinful Exploration in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ”

Hunter Daniels (University of South Carolina, Aiken)

“Biblical Legalism and Cultural Misogyny in The Tragedy of Mariam ”

Aspen English (Southern Utah University)

“Putting the ‘Comm’ in Comics: A Communication-Theory-Informed Reading of Graphic Narratives”

Raul Martin (Lamar University)

“The Book-Object Binary: Access and Sustainability in the Academic Library”

Grace Quasebarth (Salve Regina University)

“Finding a Voice: The Loss of Machismo Criticisms through Translation in Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits ”

Writing with MLA Style: 2022 Edition

The following essays were selected for the 2022 edition of Writing with MLA Style. The 2022 selection committee was composed of Ellen C. Carillo, University of Connecticut; Jessica Edwards, University of Delaware (chair); and Deborah H. Holdstein, Columbia College Chicago.

Kaile Chu (New York University, Shanghai)

“Miles Apart: An Investigation into Dedicated Online Communities’ Impact on Cultural Bias”

Sietse Hagen (University of Groningen)

“The Significance of Fiction in the Debate on Dehumanizing Media Portrayals of Refugees”

Klara Ismail (University of Exeter)

“Queering the Duchess: Exploring the Body of the Female Homosexual in John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi ”

Yasmin Mendoza (Whittier College)

“Banning without Bans”

Niki Nassiri (Stony Brook University)

“Modern-Day US Institutions and Slavery in the Twenty-First Century”

Samantha Wilber (Palm Beach Atlantic University)

“‘Pero, tu no eres facil’: The Poet X as Multicultural Bildungsroman”

Writing with MLA Style: 2019 Edition

The following essays were selected for the 2019 edition of Writing with MLA Style. The 2019 selection committee was composed of Jessica Edwards, University of Delaware; Deborah H. Holdstein, Columbia College Chicago (chair); and Liana Silva, César E. Chavez High School, Houston, Texas.

Catherine Charlton (University of King’s College, Nova Scotia)

“‘Coal Is in My Blood’: Public and Private Representations of Community Identity in Springhill, Nova Scotia”

Alyiah Gonzales (California Polytechnic State University)

“Disrupting White Normativity in Langston Hughes’s ‘I, Too’ and Toni Morrison’s ‘Recitatif’”

Meg Matthias (Miami University, Ohio)

“Prescriptions of (Living) Historical Happiness: Gendered Performance and Racial Comfort in Reenactment”

Jennifer Nguyen  (Chaminade University of Honolulu)

“The Vietnam War, the American War: Literature, Film, and Popular Memory”

Emily Schlepp (Northwest University)

“A Force of Love: A Deconstructionist Reading of Characters in Dickens’s  Great Expectations ”

English Education & English Writing: MLA Sample Paper from OWL Purdue

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Sample Paper Formatted in MLA Style from OWL Purdue

• Sample MLA Paper Below is a sample paper from OWL Purdue formatted to MLA Standards

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Citation Guides

• AMA (American Medical Association)
• APA Citation Examples
• APA Sample Paper
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• Chicago Citation Examples
• Chicago Sample Papers
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MLA Sample Paper

• Theological/Philosophical Citations

The following PDF provides a sample paper written in the MLA style to demonstrate visually how the guidelines work in action. This PDF is used with thanks and full credit to the Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) , which maintains a robust online guide to a variety of style guides, avoiding plagiarism, and writing at the academic level in general. They are strongly recommended as a resource if you need something more in depth than this guide provides.

“MLA Sample Paper.” MLA Sample Paper - Purdue OWL® - Purdue University , Purdue OWL / Purdue University, 21 Oct. 2019, owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_sample_paper.html. Accessed on 28 Sept. 2023.

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Format Your Paper & Cite Your Sources

Mla style (8th/9th ed.).

• Citing Sources
• Avoid Plagiarism

MLA Citation Style Video

Formatting your paper, formatting your works cited page, citation examples, in-text citation basics, mla annotated bibliography example, noodletools.

• APA Style, 7th Edition
• Chicago Style
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• Other Styles
• Annotated Bibliographies
• How to Create an Attribution

What is MLA Style?

Created by the Modern Language Association, MLA is most often used by the Humanities, which includes languages, literature, philosophy, visual & performing arts.

Watch this short but excellent video from Hayden Memorial Library at Citrus College, It walks you through creating an MLA citation and the corresponding in-text citation

• Margins:  1" all around (except for the page number)
• Font:   Easily readable typeface set to a standard size (Times-New Roman 12pt is always safe)
• Line-spacing:  Double-space throughout the paper, including heading, title, block quotes, and Works Cited. 
• Page Numbers:  All pages are numbered in right hand corner, 1/2" from top. Last name appears before the page numbers.
• Heading:  Top left corner. Your name, your instructor's name, course number, date. Date must be written dd Month yyyy. 
• Title:  Centered. Plain (no italics, underlining, or font variation). Standard double-spacing between heading/title, and title/first line of paper.

Use Word to Format Your Paper:

This brief video will show you how to use Word 2010 to format your paper.

Use Google Docs to Format Your Paper:

This brief video will show you how to set up your document in MLA format using Google Docs.

Sample MLA Papers:

• MLA Sample Paper (Purdue OWL) This paper includes instructions for formatting your paper.
• Sample Paper from MLA Style Center

Placement: The Works Cited list appears at the end of the paper, on its own page(s) . For example, If your research paper ends on page 8, your Works Cited begins on page 9. 

Arrangement: Alphabetize entries by author's last name. If source has no named author, alphabetize by the title, ignoring A, An, or The.

Spacing: Like the rest of the MLA paper, the Works Cited list is double-spaced throughout. Be sure NOT to add extra spaces between citations.

Indentation: To make citations easier to scan, add a hanging indent to any citation that runs more than one line.

Citation Examples and Template:  

Use the links below to see examples of source citations and practice using one of the templates.

If you don't find what you need below, check out the MLA's,  Ask the MLA .

• MLA Citations - Containers
• MLA Citation Examples (Yellow Handout)
• MLA Practice Template (Printable)
• Interactive Practice Template (Online)

Citation Examples by Format:

• How to Cite a Book
• How to Cite a Book Chapter or Handout Professor Uploaded to a Website
• How to Cite Online Work
• How to Cite an Online Lecture or Speech
• How Do I Cite Generative AI in MLA style?
• How to Cite a Song, Recording, or Performance
• How to Cite a Movie, Video, or Television Show
• How to Cite an Image

What Are In-Text Citations?

In-text citations are brief references within the body of your paper that tell your readers that a) you've used an outside source, and b) point them toward that source in your Works Cited list. Where relevant, the in-text citation also points your reader to the location in the source being cited (e.g. page number).

The in-text citation can appear within the body of your paper, within a parentheses, or a combination of the two.

You need to cite all direct quotations, paraphrased information, and summarized ideas.

What To Include in an In-Text Citation

• An in-text citation begins with the shortest piece of information that di­rects your reader to the entry in the Works Cited list. Therefore, it begins with what ever comes first in the entry: the author’s name or the title of the work.
• Most often, an MLA in-text citation begins with the  author's last name  followed by the page number : (Jones 14).
• If there is no author, use the "Title" of the source:  ("Global Warming" 129).

If page numbers are available, they MUST be listed. This often means examining the pdf version of database articles to locate page numbers.

Detailed Rules

• For most citations, the parenthetical reference is placed BEFORE the punctuation:

Magnesium can be effective in treating PMS (Haggerty 42).

• Direct quotes longer than 4 lines are indented an extra 1/2 inch, the quotation marks are removed, and the parenthetical comes AFTER punctuation.

A preliminary study presented recently at the American College of Cardiology annual meeting found that getting enough sleep was associated with greater protection of death from all causes.If magnesium does work to help someone get a little shuteye, that may be because it is acting on certain receptors on the surface of brain cells to quiet down brain cell activity.The nutrient acts on the benzodiazepine receptor, which is the same receptor used by Valium-type drugs and the sleep medication Ambien. (Gurubhagavatula)

• If author name or title is used within the text, do NOT list it again within parenthesis. 

Haggerty notes magnesium is effective at relieving some symptoms of PMS (42).

• MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics from the Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue.
• In-Text Citations: An Overview from the MLA Style Center.

MLA tells us that, you should cite a source in an annotated bibliography just as you would in a list of works cited and then append an annotation to the end of the entry. Annotations describe and/or evaluate sources. Further, annotations should not rehash minor details, cite evidence, quote the author, or recount steps in an argument. Writing an effective annotation requires reading the work, understanding its aims, and clearly summarizing them.

To learn more about annotated bibliographies click on the link below from Purdue OWL

Sample annotated bibliography using mla.

• MLA 9 Annotated Bibliography Sample

Annotated Bibliography Template

You may also want to use the template below. Just type over the words in the template with your own information, citations, and annotations.

• MLA, 9th ed. Annotated Bibliography Template

Use NoodleTools to help you create your citations .

It's easy; it's a form you fill out with the information about your source; it helps you catch mistakes.

• NoodleTools Express Use NoodleTools Express to create citations on the fly in MLA, APA, or Chicago style.
• NoodleTools (Login Full Database) This link opens in a new window Create and organize your research notes, share and collaborate on research projects, compose and error check citations, and complete your list of works cited in MLA, APA, or Chicago style using the full version of NoodleTools. You'll need to Create a Personal ID and password the first time you use NoodleTools.

NoodleTools Help:

• NoodleTools Help Desk Look up questions and answers on the NoodleTools Web site
• NoodleTools for Researchers Research guide created for MJC students
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Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 and CC BY-NC 4.0 Licenses .

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MLA Style Guide

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MLA Resources

• Official MLA Style Center The Modern Language Association provides many useful resources on their website.
• Print MLA Handbook Find a paper copy in the library.
• MLA Overview (Purdue OWL) The Online Writing Lab (OWL) created by Purdue University provides detailed information on MLA formatting.

Paper Format

• Formatting a Research Paper (MLA)
• General Format (OWL)

Sample Papers

• Sample Papers (MLA)
• Sample Paper (OWL)

General Formatting (MLA 1.1, 1.2)

• Margins are 1" from both side, top, and bottom. 
• Use Times New Roman size 12 font. 
• Double space all lines. 
• Running head: in the right corner, one-half inch from the top, put the last name of the author(s) and the page number (Ex. Smith 1). 

Heading (MLA 1.3)

• Writer's Name(s)
• Instructor's Name(s)
• Course Number (Ex.: English 5)
• Date (Number Month Year; Ex.: 2 April 2020)
• NOTE: your instructor may prefer that you use a title page, in which case move all the information in the header and title to its own page starting one-quarter of the way from the top of the page. 

Title (MLA 1.3)

• On the line immediately after the date in the header. 
• Centered. 
• Use plain text (not bold, italicized, underlined, or in quotation marks).
• Capitalize all words except articles and prepositions. 
• NOTE: your instructor may prefer that you use a title page, in which case move all the information in the header and title to its own page starting one-quarter of the way from the top of the page. 

Text (MLA 1.2)

• Indent the first line of every paragraph by a half-inch. 
• Short quotes can be surrounded by quotation marks and inserted in the lines of the text.
• Long quotes do not use quotation marks and are separated out onto their own lines, all of which begin one-half inch from the left margin. 
• Do not hyphenate words in order to separate them onto two separate lines. This often happens because your document is not set to left justify or because you have auto-hyphenate on. 
• The punctuation mark at the end of a sentence is followed by a single space. 

Works Cited (MLA 1.6)

• Begin on a new page. 
• Center the title "Works Cited" (if there is only one entry, title "Work Cited"). 
• The first line of a citation is flush left and any subsequent lines are indented one-half inch from the left (a.k.a. a "hanging indent"). 
• Alphabetize the list by first word in the citation.
• See more guidelines in the Works Cited tab. 
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MLA Style Guide

• MLA 9 Resources
• Formatting the Essay
• Works Cited Page
• In-text Citations
• The Annotated Bibliography in MLA

Books for MLA questions

We have print books that you can access at our campuses and eBooks that you can access anywhere!

This print copy of MLA's official publication lays out every aspect of MLA style formatting. There's a copy of the 9th Edition at every campus!

We also have eBooks, like this  online guide  that can be accessed anywhere through our library! 

Overview of MLA Format

Visit Purdue's OWL to see a sample MLA paper . The image below from EssayPRO has basic MLA format guidelines. 

EssayPRO. (2017, February 10). How to cite a research paper: APA, MLA, and Chicago formats . https://essaypro.com/blog/research-paper-format

Purdue OWL. (n.d.). ML A sample paper . Purdue Writing Lab.         https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_sample_paper.html

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Citing Your Sources

• Introduction to Citing Sources

Online MLA guides

Sample papers.

• Chicago/Turabian
• Citing Computer Code
• Citing Data
• Citing Film and Video
• Citing Generative AI
• Citing Images
• Citing Online Sources
• Citing Sound Recordings
• Citations Formatters
• Citation Management Software (redirect to a guide) This link opens in a new window
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MLA style for documentation is widely used in the humanities, especially in writing on language and literature.

• The MLA Style Center A quick guide to works cited, FAQ, and overview of the changes in the 8th edition, guidelines for formatting your paper, and more.
• MLA Formatting and Style Guide (the OWL at Purdue) This resource offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page.
• MLA Format A user-friendly guide from EasyBib.
• MLA Sample Paper (Purdue OWL)
• Sample Papers in MLA Style (The MLA Style Center) The three sample research papers (First-year course in expository writing, Second-year course in African American studies, and Fourth-year course in English literature) are typical of the papers that might be submitted in different kinds of courses.
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Citations: MLA Citation

• MLA Citation
• APA Citation
• Chicago Citation
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• Plagiarism This link opens in a new window

Works Cited

For more information on MLA citations, click here to see the guidelines on the Purdue OWL website . You can also view a sample MLA paper and a  sample Works Cited page .

If you're writing an annotated bibliography, you can check out their guide on  how to write an annotated bibliography , or look at some sample annotations . 

Sample MLA Paper from Purdue OWL

• Sample MLA Paper

In-Text Citations

(Author last name page number)

Two authors (Author 1 and Author 2 page number)

(Hanson and Avidan 75)

Three or more authors (Author last name et al. page numbers)

(Hannigan et al. 179)

Last Name, First Name. Title of Book . City of Publication, Publisher, Publication Date.

Satrapi, Marjane. The Complete Persepolis . New York, Pantheon Books, 2007.

Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness . New York, The New Press, 2010.

Essay in a Collection

Last name, First name. "Title of Essay." Title of Collection , edited by Editor's Name(s), Publisher, Year, Page range of entry.

Perkins Gilman, Charlotte. "The Yellow Wallpaper." The Norton Anthology of American Literature, vol. 2, edited by Nina Baym, W. W. Norton and Company, 1994, 645-656. 

YouTube Video

Author last name, First name. “Title of Video.” YouTube , uploaded by Name of Channel, day month year, URL

Cox, Elizabeth. "The Surprising Link Between Stress and Memory." YouTube , uploaded by TED-Ed, 4 September 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyg7lcU4g8E. 

Green, John. "What is the real unemployment rate?" YouTube , uploaded by Vlogbrothers, 10 January 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watchv=Hn6JWzoKv14.

Academic Article

One author Last name, First name. "Title of Article." Title of Journal , Volume, Issue, Year, pages, Title of database, URL. Accessed day month year.

​Pagliaro, Michael. “Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words? Determining the Criteria for Graphic Novels with Literary Merit.” The English Journal , vol. 103, no. 4, 2014, pp. 31-46, JSTOR,  https://www.jstor.org/stable/24484218. Accessed 3 March 2017.

Two authors Last name, First name and First name Last name. "Title of Article." Title of Journal , Vol. number, no. issue number, year, page numbers, Title of database, URL. Accessed day month year.

Nonis, Sarath A. and Gail I. Hudson. "Academic Performance of College Students: Influence of Time Spent Studying and Working." Journal of Education for Business, vol. 81, no. 3, 2006, pp. 151-159, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254344820. Accessed 1 February 2019.

Three or more authors Author Last name, First name et al. "Title of Article." Title of Journal , Volume, Issue, Year, pages, Title of database, URL. Accessed day month year.

Lepp, Andrew et al. "The Relationship Between Cell Phone Use, Academic Performance, Anxiety, and Satisfaction With Life in College Students." Computers in Human Behavior,  vol. 31, 2013, pp. 342-350, Science Direct, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563213003993. Accessed 5 June 2018. 

Note: If the article is not from the a library database,  you can skip adding the title of the database.

Last name, First name. “Title of web page”. Title of website. URL. Accessed date.

“Asthma: Data, Statistics, and Surveillance.” Center for Disease Control and Prevention website. https://www.cdc.gov/asthma/asthmadata.htm. Accessed 26 September 2018.

Newspaper Article

Last name, First name. "Title of Article."  Title of Periodical , Day Month Year, pages.

Maheshwari, Sapna. “Hold the Donuts, Says Newly Named Dunkin’”.  The New York Times , 25 September 2018. 

Last name, First name. “Title of Work.” Name of institution , date of creation, URL, date accessed.

VanGogh, Vincent. “Self-portrait With Straw Hat.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art , 1887, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436532, Accessed 27 September 2019.

Himsaini007. “Librarian.png.” Wikimedia Commons , 2016, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Librarian.png, Accessed 27 September 2019.

If you have any questions about your citations, email [email protected] .

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Integrated Social Sciences Program: MLA

What is mla style.

MLA (Modern Language Association) is widely used in the humanities, especially in writing on language and literature, but it is also used in the social sciences. MLA style uses brief  parenthetical citations  in the text that refer to an alphabetical list of works cited appearing at the end of the work. This means that when you quote another's works verbatim or use ideas that you got somewhere else, you must make note of that directly in your writing. Always include the author's last name and the page number, if relevant. 

To see what an MLA formatted paper looks like, you can download this Sample MLA Paper from Purdue OWL

In-Text Citations: the Basics

MLA Format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. The author's last name and the page number(s) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear in the text, and with a complete citation appearing on the Works Cited page at the end of your paper. The author's name may appear either in the sentence itself or in the parentheses following the quotation of paraphrase. Here are examples for from Purdue OWL :

Wordsworth states that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263)

Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Wordsworth 263)

Wordsworth extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (263). 

Example Citations: Books

General Format For Books

AuthorLastName, AuthorFirstName.  Title.  Location: Publisher, Year. Medium.

Myers, Polly Reed.  Capitalist Family Values: Gender, Work and Corporate Culture at Boeing.  Lincoln: U of Nebraska, 2015. Print.

Two Authors

Druin, Allison, and Solomon, Cynthia.  Designing Multimedia Environments for Children . New York, NY: J. Wiley & Sons, 1996. Print.

Article or chapter in edited book or anthology

Yorbach, Erich. "Odysseus Wonderful."  Peripatesis:  The Representation of Fantasy and Adventure in Western Literature . Ed. Polly Feemis. Ithaca: Syracuse University Press, 1943. 3-23. Print.

​ Electronic Book

Sparke, Matthew.  Introducing Globalization Ties, Tensions, and Uneven Integration.  Chicester: Wiley, 2012. Web.

Example Citations: Articles

General Format

AuthorLastName, AuthorFirstName. "Article Title."  Journal Title,  Volume.Number (Year): pages. Format. Date Accessed [if from web]

Carney, Megan. "Compounding Crises of Economic Recession and Food Insecurity: A Comparative Study of Three Low-income Communities in Santa Barbara County."  Agriculture and Human Values  29.2 (2012): 185-201. Web. 4 May 2017.

Journal Article, two or more authors

Vannini, Sara, Simone Sala, Lorenzo Cantoni, and Isabella Rega. "Using Photo-elicitation to Explore Social Representations of Community Multimedia Center in Mozambique."  Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries  67.1 (2015). Web. 4 May 2017.

Newspaper from online database

Beyette, Beverly. "Here's Looking at Casablanca." Los Angeles Times 7 Oct 1998: E1.  Lexis-Nexis.  Web. 10 May 2000.

Online newspaper article from web

Friskics-Warren, Bill. "The Latest Nonconformist from Nashville West."  New York  Times.  Web. 7 May 2000. 11 May 2000.

Newspaper from print source

Kaplan, Robert D. "Robert Frost's Vermont: in the Green Mountain National Forest, Scenes from the Poems."  New York Times  1 Sept. 1991, natl. ed.: 13.

Example Citations: Web Material

AuthorLastName, AuthorFirstName (if available). "Title of Web Page of Article (if applicable).  Title of Web Site.  Version or edition used. Publisher if known (if unknown use N.p), Date of Publication (Day Month Year, as available, if not use n.d.). Medium. Date accessed (Day Month Year).

Myers, Polly. "Thinking Slow in Online Learning."  At the Center: Center for Teaching and Learning Blog.  University of Washington, 10 May 2016. Web. Accessed 15 May 2016.

Web page with no author

"Athlete's Foot-- Topic Overview."  WebMD,  25 Sept. 2014, www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/tc/athletes-foot-topic-overview.

Entire web site

The Purdue OWL Family of Sites.  The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U, 2008, owl.english.purdue.edu/owl. Accessed 23 Apr. 2008.

@uwlibraries. "We do value your privacy and try minimize collecting & retaining personally identifiable information lib.washington.edu/about/policy/p... #choose privacy."  Twitter,  1 May 2017, 12:05 p.m., https://twitter.com/uwlibraries/status/859121526284726272. 

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Literature and Literary Research

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The source!

Citing Social Media

• Citing Social Media Guide by Boise State This guide by Boise State University, Albertsons Library, shows examples of citing Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter in MLA or APA style.

MLA Quick Links

• MLA in-text citations. (Purdue) How to document sources within the text of your paper.
• Sample MLA Paper (PDF) A PDF sample MLA formatted paper from Purdue OWL.
• Sample Works Cited Page (Purdue OWL) A sample of an MLA style Works Cited page.

MLA In-text Citations

MLA Examples:

The global debt crisis is having a strong impact on women and children in developing nations (Bronstein 74).

Bronstein contends the global debt crisis is having a strong impact on women and children in developing nations (74).

For electronic sources that have no page number, give the paragraph number (par. 4).

Examples of how to format sources for your works cited list.

Didn't find the example you were looking for?.

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Purdue Owl: MLA Formatting & Style Guide

Developed by the Purdue Online Writing Lab.  MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities. This resource offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page.

Author/Editor (By:)

Contributor, corporate author, related organizations, citation type.

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MLA Sample Works Cited Page

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This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue (https://owl.english.purdue.edu/). When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice at bottom.

MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities. This resource, updated to reflect the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7 th ed.) and the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (3 rd ed.), offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page.

Contributors: Tony Russell, Allen Brizee, Elizabeth Angeli, Russell Keck, Joshua M. Paiz, Michelle Campbell, Rodrigo Rodr�guez-Fuentes, Daniel P. Kenzie, Purdue OWL Staff Last Edited: 2013-02-14 10:32:55

This handout provides an example of a Works Cited page in MLA 2009 format.

"Blueprint Lays Out Clear Path for Climate Action." Environmental Defense Fund . Environmental Defense Fund, 8 May 2007. Web. 24 May 2009.

Clinton, Bill. Interview by Andrew C. Revkin. �Clinton on Climate Change.� New York Times . New York Times, May 2007. Web. 25 May 2009.

Dean, Cornelia. "Executive on a Mission: Saving the Planet." New York Times . New York Times, 22 May 2007. Web. 25 May 2009.

Ebert, Roger. "An Inconvenient Truth." Rev. of An Inconvenient Truth , dir. Davis Guggenheim. rogerebert.com . Sun-Times News Group, 2 June 2006. Web. 24 May 2009.

GlobalWarming.org . Cooler Heads Coalition, 2007. Web. 24 May 2009.

Gowdy, John. "Avoiding Self-organized Extinction: Toward a Co-evolutionary Economics of Sustainability." International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology 14.1 (2007): 27-36. Print.

An Inconvenient Truth . Dir. Davis Guggenheim. Perf. Al Gore, Billy West. Paramount, 2006. DVD.

Leroux, Marcel. Global Warming: Myth Or Reality?: The Erring Ways of Climatology . New York: Springer, 2005. Print.

Milken, Michael, Gary Becker, Myron Scholes, and Daniel Kahneman. "On Global Warming and Financial Imbalances." New Perspectives Quarterly 23.4 (2006): 63. Print.

Nordhaus, William D. "After Kyoto: Alternative Mechanisms to Control Global Warming." American Economic Review 96.2 (2006): 31-34. Print.

---. "Global Warming Economics." Science 9 Nov. 2001: 1283-84. Science Online . Web. 24 May 2009.

Shulte, Bret. "Putting a Price on Pollution." Usnews.com . US News & World Rept ., 6 May 2007. Web. 24 May 2009.

Uzawa, Hirofumi. Economic Theory and Global Warming . Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2003. Print.

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MLA Citation Guide

• Paper Format
• Books/eBooks
• Annotated Bibliography

What Is Required for MLA Citation?

MLA formats features  rules and guidelines that make papers and writing projects consistent. They cover the following:

• Layout of the paper (margins, spaces between lines, font size, etc.)
• Citations (source documentation) at end of paper  - titled  Works Cited
• In-Text  citations near quoted or paraphrased information

Two Types of Citations Needed

With MLA format, each information source  you use — such as a website you directly quote or an article idea you paraphrase (put into your own words) — must have the following:

1. a Works Cited citation

2. an In-Text citation .

1. Works Cited Citations

Works Cited citations provide details about sources used for your research project. Your Works Cited list goes at the end of your project or paper and includes information about each source that must be in a specific order. MLA calls this information Core Elements . Here is the list of Core Elements in order, including the punctuation that must be included after each element ( MLA Handbook , 8th Edition, page 20):

• Title of source .
• Title of the container ,
• Other contributors ,
• Publisher ,
• Publication date ,

Some sources don't require all of these elements. Click on the link below for more details.

2. In-Text Citations

In-Text citations (also called parenthetical documentation or citation) goes in your paper or project near the information you are using. In-text citations are required when you do the following:

• Directly quote  from a source by putting exact wording in quotation marks
• Paraphrase  from a source by putting ideas into your own words
• Summarize   from a source

Your in-text citation consists of the first item (or Core Element) in your Works Cited citation and a page number , if the source you used has page numbers. Often the first element you use is the author of the source. Click on the link below for more details.

MLA Format Examples

Changes in mla 9th edition.

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MLA 9th Edition

How to format your paper, sample mla papers, additional resources.

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Title Page Setup

Title page requirements.

On the top, left-hand side of the first page of your paper write:

• Your Professor's Name
• Your Course Name and Number
• The Date of your Paper written in day, month year format (see example below)

Kevin Bacon

Professor Brown

English 1010

10 November 2023

Beneath the information listed above write the title of your paper, centered on the page, using standard capitalization rules for titles, and do not bold or italicize your title unless you are including the title of another work that would otherwise be italicized. Standard MLA capitalization rules include capitalizing the first and last word in the title and all "important" words.  This excludes articles (a, an, the, etc.), conjunctions (and, but, or, etc.), prepositions (as, of, to, between, against, etc.), and "to" when used as an infinitive, unless they begin or end the title.  

The Use of Symbolism in A Tale of Two Cities

After the title begin the text of your paper, making sure it is left-aligned and that the first line is indented.

Note on group papers:

If you are writing a group paper, MLA suggests creating a separate title page at the beginning of your paper with the same information listed above.

**Check with your professor to see if they want a different title page set-up. Title page set-up may vary depending on the preferences of your professor.**

Running Header

Starting with your first page, add your last name followed by page number (e.g., Chen 2) at the top right corner of the page in the header. 

If you are writing a group paper, start your header on the second page of your paper after the title page. Add all students' last names followed by the page number at the top right corner of the page. If all last names do not fit in a single line in the header, you may just include the page number.

To add running headers in Microsoft Word on a PC device:

• Open the "Insert" tab in the top application window
• Click "Page Number", hover over insert on "top of page" and select preset option "plain number 3," which will insert automatic page numbering in the top-right corner of each page
• Next to the page number, type your last name and add a space
• Select the entire text of the header you just created and change the font size and style to match that of the rest of your paper (usually Times New Roman font size 12)
• Click "Close Header and Footer" to continue writing and/or editing the rest of your paper

Add 1 inch margins on all sides.

To add 1-inch margins in Microsoft Word on a PC device:

• Open the "layout" tab in the top menu
• Open the "Margins" option on the left of the menu
• Select the "Normal" preset option to add 1" margins on all sides and pages of your paper

Text Size, Style, and Spacing

Font style & size.

Unless specified by your instructor, MLA recommends choosing an easy-to-read typeface set to 11 pt, 12 pt, or 13 pt. This includes:

• Times New Roman

To set the font style and size using Microsoft Word on a PC device:

• Select all text in your paper
• In the drop-down menu of font styles in the "font section" of the "Home" top menu tab find and select an appropriate font
• In the number drop-down menu next to the font style, type or select an appropriate font size

Line Spacing

Double-space your text.

To make your paper double-spaced in Microsoft Word on a PC device:

• Click the "paragraph settings" button in the bottom right corner of the "Paragraph" section in the "Home" tab of the application menu
• In the pop-up menu that appears, in the "Indents and Spacing" tab, find "line spacing" and change it to "Double"
• Check the box next to "Don't add space between paragraphs of the same style
• Click "Okay"

MLA Headings should be

• Center-aligned
• Written in 12pts font
• Double spaced above the first line of the paper or essay

Works Cited Page

Your works cited page should...

• Start on a new page at the end or your paper or project
• Have "Works Cited" written at the top-center of the page
• List all sources referenced throughout your work in alphabetical order by author last name (or title if there is no author or creator)
• Use 0.5" hanging indents for all references longer than 1 line of text

To add hanging indents to your works cited page in Microsoft Word on a Windows device:

• Select all of your citations
• In the pop-up menu that appears, in the "Indents and Spacing" tab, find "Special" under "Indentation" and change it to "Hanging"

See Purdue OWL's  Sample MLA Works Cited Page  for an example of how your works cited page should look.

• Annotated MLA Sample Paper - Purdue OWL
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• Last Updated: Apr 10, 2024 3:44 PM
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