The Modern Language Association (MLA) produces the grammar rules that govern most academic work in the humanities. You can ensure that you follow the correct format for citing an MLA-style paper by gathering as much information as possible about your publication or website before you begin. MLA style essays should be accompanied by a "Works Cited" section showing your sources. Learn how to cite an article in MLA format.
Steps
Method 1 of 6: Part One: Authors
Step 1. Begin the citation with a list of the authors
Last names must appear before first names with a comma between them. This applies to magazine, newspaper, review, editorial, and scholarly articles online and in print.
- Include an "and" between 2 authors and a comma and an "and" (without oxford commas) if you include 3 names. You must put up to 3 authors related to the work.
- If an article has more than 3 authors, you must write the name of the first author and write "et al" afterwards.
Step 2. Place a period (full stop) after the list of names
Step 3. Omit the name of the author if it is an anonymous article
Don't put the word "anonymous" at the beginning of the quote.
Method 2 of 6: Part Two: Title
Step 1. Include the title of the article in quotation marks
The title must also include the subtitle with a colon between the title and the subtitle, if applicable.
Step 2. Capitalize the words in the title, with the exception of shorter articles like "a" and "la
"
Step 3. Put a period after the title, but before the last quotation marks
Method 3 of 6: Part Three: Post Name
Step 1. Add the name of the publication or magazine
Step 2. Italicize the name of the post
Step 3. Put the volume of the journal after the title of the publication, if you are citing an academic journal
Don't italicize it. Do not include a period before the name of the magazine and the volume.
Step 4. Don't put a period before the next section
Method 4 of 6: Part Four: Date
Step 1. Include the date the article was published
The format must be the day, month and year, without a comma between the numbers.
Step 2. Put the year in parentheses
This must be in a 4 digit format.
Step 3. Put a colon after the date
Method 5 of 6: Part Five: Pages and a Half
Step 1. List the pages of the cited article
For a short article this can be a single number. For a longer article, you can indicate the starting page number with the ending page number with a dash in the middle
Step 2. Put a period after the page numbers
Step 3. Specify the medium from which the article was obtained
This is often sourced "in print" or "online."
Step 4. Put a period after specifying the medium
Method 6 of 6: Part Six: Quotes in Parentheses
Step 1. Enter the authors' names and page numbers when you are directly quoting or paraphrasing the text on your paper
This information must be in parentheses.