Hanley Library - MLA-Style Citations
This is a guide to creating MLA-style citations.
Author Statement
Begin all citations with the author statement, choosing from the examples
below. Numbers in parentheses refer to a section of MLA Handbook
for Writers of Research Papers, Sixth Edition.
1 author (5.6.1)
Maizell, Robert E.
2 authors (5.6.4)
Pope, Kenneth S., and Laura S. Brown.
3 authors (5.6.4)
Huck, Charlotte S., Susan Hepler, and Janet Hickman.
More than 3 authors (5.6.4)
Doenges, Marilynn E., et al.
Editor as author
Boritt, Gabor S., ed.
No author (anonymous)
Begin the citation with the title (5.6.11 & 5.7.9)
Pennsylvania Education Directory. (a book)
"Children in War." (an article)
Capitalization (3.6.1)
"The rules for capitalizing titles are strict. In a title or
subtitle, capitalize the first word, the last word, and all principal
words" (MLA 103).
Picturing the Rose: A Way of Looking at Fairy Tales
The Old Man and the Sea
How to Build a Working Digital Computer
Use the appropriate abbreviations for months of the year (7.2)
Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July
Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.
Articles
Select from these examples after determining if the article is from
a popular magazine or a scholarly journal. Use the appropriate abbreviations
for months of the year.
Popular Magazine Article viewed in electronic database (html) - Weekly and every 2 weeks (5.7.6 & 5.9.7)
Annin, Peter, and Sharon Begley. "Great Lake Effect." Newsweek 5 July 1999: 52-54. Academic Search Premier. Ebsco. Hanley Library, U of Pittsburgh at Bradford, Bradford, PA. 26 Sept. 2005 <http://web30.epnet.com>.
Popular Magazine viewed in electronic database (html) - Monthly (5.7.6 & 5.9.7)
Bergman, Charles. "The Peaceful Primates." Smithsonian June 1999:78-82+. Expanded Academic ASAP. Gale. Hanley Library, U of Pittsburgh at Bradford, Bradford, PA. 26 Sept. 2005 <http://infotrac.galegroup.com>.
Scholarly Journal viewed as Electronic Journal (E-Journal) - Continuous pagination (5.7.1 & 5.9.1) pdf
Sedley David. "The Ethics of Brutus and Cassius." Journal of Roman Studies 86 (1997):41-53. JSTOR. 25 June 2003 <http://www.jstor.org/browse>.
Scholarly Journal viewed as Electronic Journal (E-Journal) - Pages each issue separately (5.7.2 & 5.9.1) pdf
Helpman, Elhanan. "The Structure of Foreign Trade." Journal of Economic Perspectives 13.2 (1999): 121-44. Academic Search Premier. 26 Sept. 2005 <http://web30.epnet.com>.
Database Information for Selected Databases (Each URL may vary somewhat)
| Database Name | Service | URL |
| Expanded Academic ASAP | Gale | http://infotrac.galegroup.com/ |
| Academic Search Premier | Ebsco | http://web30.epnet.com/ |
| Academic | Lexis-Nexis | http://web.lexis-nexis.com |
Months of the Year
Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.
When days are given as part of a date, they are always given in the
following order in the citation: day month year
Newspaper viewed as Electronic Journal (E-Journal) (pdf) - Section with a LETTER (5.7.5)
Bruni, Frank. "Senate Agrees on Framework to Weigh Patient's Rights Bill." New York Times 30 June 1999, late ed.: A18. ProQuest Historical Newspapers. 26 Sept. 2005 <http://proquest.umi.com>.
Newspaper viewed in electronic database (html) - Section with a NUMBER (5.7.5)
Andrews, Edmund L. "Selling the Other Football to Europeans." New York Times 27 June 1999, natl. ed., sec. 3: 4. Academic. Lexis-Nexis. Hanley Library, U of Pittsburgh at Bradford, Bradford, PA. 26 Sept. 2005 <http://web.lexis-nexis.com>.
Newspaper viewed as Electronic Journal (E-Journal) (pdf) - Continuous pagination, no section designation (5.7.5)
Lubasch, Arnold H. "Seneca Ceremony Mourns Land Taken by U. S. Despite Treaty." New York Times 17 Sept. 1962, late city ed.: 1+. ProQuest Historical Newspapers. 26 Sept. 2005 <http://proquest.umi.com>.
Books (5.6.1)
Include the city of publication, and abbreviate the publisher's name
as shown below. Pomeroy, Sarah B. Women in Hellenistic Egypt: From
Alexander to Cleopatra. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 1990.
Abbreviations for publishers' names (7.5)
Shorten the publisher's name as indicated in these typical examples.
| Full Publisher's Name | Use Abbreviation |
| Basic Books | Basic |
| Cambridge University Press | Cambridge UP |
| Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, Inc. | Farrar |
| Gale Research, Inc. | Gale |
| Harper & Row Publishers,Inc. | Harper |
| St. Martin's Press, Inc. | St. Martin's |
| University of ChicagoPress | U of Chicago P |
| University Press of Mississippi | UP of Mississippi |
Reference Book Entry (5.6.8)
Include number of volumes in the set only if there is more than one.
Schulzinger, Robert D. "Cold War." Encyclopedia of the American Presidency. Ed. Leonard W. Levy and Louis Fisher. 4 vols. New York: Simon, 1994. 251-253.
Online Reference Database Entry (5.9.1)
"Fairy Tale." Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. 2003. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 25 June 2003 <http://search.eb.com>.
Entire Web Site (5.9.2)
Victorian Web. Ed. George P. Landow. 1994. Brown U. 25 June 2003 <http://www.victorianweb.org>.
Portion of Web Site (5.9.1)
Leach, Karoline. "Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll): A Brief Biography." Victorian Web. 23 Oct. 2002. Brown U. 25 June 2003 <http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/carroll/bio1.html>.