MLA Style Guide

IEG Södermalm

Index

TOPICPage

Introduction3Basic in-text citation rules3Multiple Citations4When Citation is not needed4In-text citations: Author-Page style5Author-Page Citation for Classic and Literary Works with MultipleEditions5Anonymous Work/Author Unknown6Citing Authors with Same Last Names6Citing Multiple Works by the Same Author 6Citing Indirect Sources7Citing the Bible7Formatting Quotations8Short Quotations8Long Quotations8Adding or Omitting Words In Quotations9Footnotes and Endnotes10Numbering Endnotes and Footnotes10Formatting Endnotes and Footnotes11Example Overview of MLA Citation Style12Example Works Cited Page14Example MLA Style Essay16

Introduction

Guidelines for referring to the works of others in your text using MLA style iscovered in chapter six of the MLA Handbook and in chapter seven of the MLAStyle Manual. Both books provide extensive examples, so it's a good idea toconsult them if you want to become even more familiar with MLA guidelines or if you have a particular reference question.

Basic In-Text Citation Rules

In MLA style, referring to the works of others in your text is done by usingwhat's known as parenthetical citation. Immediately following a quotation froma source or a paraphrase of a source's ideas, you place the author's namefollowed by a space and the relevant page number(s).

Human beings have been described as "symbol-usinganimals" (Burke 3).

When a source has no known author, use a shortened title of the work insteadof an author name. Place the title in quotation marks if it's a short work, oritalicize or underline it if it's a longer work.Your in-text citation will correspond with an entry in your Works Cited page,which, for the Burke citation above, will look something like this:

Burke, Kenneth. Language as Symbolic Action: Essays on Life,Literature, and Method. Berkeley: U of California P, 1966.

Parenthetical citations and Works Cited pages allow readers to know whichsources you consulted in writing your essay, so that they can either verify yourinterpretation of the sources or use them in their own scholarly work.