MLA - Modern Language Association Style

Citing Sources in MLA Style

The Modern Language Association citation style is among the most widely used in academic institutions. For a research paper in literature, arts, or any other discipline in humanities, MLA style will be the right choice for citing sources.

The definitive source for information on citing sources and formatting a research paper in any discipline is a citation style manual. For MLA style such a manual is:

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th ed. New York: The Modern Language Association, 2009.

The manual is located in the reference section of the library. Look for it by its call number:

REF Z253.G53 2009.

MLA style also has a website: http://www.mla.org/. It should be consulted for updates on citation formats, especially for documenting electronic sources.

For more information and examples, please see the following websites:

• Humanities Research and Documentation 5th ed. by Hacker Handbooks
• MLA information and examples from the Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University
• MLA Sample Works Cited list from OWL at Purdue University
• MLA Style Aid, produced by the Cooperative Library Instruction Project (CLIP)
• MLA Basics free book from BibCite