Introduction to the Ninth Edition of the MLA Handbook
The handbook includes
MLA stands for Modern Language Association.
Source: MLA Style Center
In-text Citations
An in-text citation begins with the shortest piece of information that directs your reader to the entry in the works-cited list. Thus, it begins with whatever comes first in the entry: the author’s name or the title (or description) of the work. The citation can appear in your prose or in parentheses.
Citation in prose
Naomi Baron broke new ground on the subject.
Parenthetical citation
At least one researcher has broken new ground on the subject (Baron).
Work cited
Baron, Naomi S. “Redefining Reading: The Impact of Digital Communication Media.” PMLA, vol. 128, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 193–200.
Citation in prose
According to the article “Bhakti Poets,” female Bhakti poets “faced overwhelming challenges through their rejection of societal norms and values.”
Parenthetical citation
The female Bhakti poets “faced overwhelming challenges through their rejection of societal norms and values” (“Bhakti Poets”).
Work cited
“Bhakti Poets: Introduction.” Women in World History, Center for History and New Media, chnm.gmu.edu/wwh/modules/lesson1/lesson1.php?s=0. Accessed 20 Sept. 2020.
When relevant, an in-text citation also has a second component: if a specific part of a work is quoted or paraphrased and the work includes a page number, line number, timestamp, or another way to point readers to the place in the work where the information can be found, that the location marker must be included in parentheses.
Parenthetical citations
According to Naomi Baron, reading is “just half of literacy. The other half is writing” (194). One might even suggest that reading is never complete without writing.
Reading at Risk notes that despite an apparent decline in reading during the same period, “the number of people doing creative writing—of any genre, not exclusively literary works—increased substantially between 1982 and 2002” (3).
Source: MLA Style Center
For more instructions and examples, please refer to the MLA Handbook and MLA Style Center.
Core Elements and Containers
Core Elements
Each entry in the list of works cited is composed of facts common to most works—the MLA core elements. They are assembled in a specific order.
Containers
The concept of containers is crucial to MLA style. When the source being documented forms part of a larger whole, the larger whole can be thought of as a container that holds the source. For example, a short story may be contained in an anthology. The short story is the source, and the anthology is the container.
Source: MLA Style Center
Book by One Author
Mantel, Hilary. Wolf Hall. Picador, 2010.
Book by an Unknown Author
Beowulf. Translated by Alan Sullivan and Timothy Murphy, edited by Sarah Anderson, Pearson, 2004.
An Edited Book
Sánchez Prado, Ignacio M., editor. Mexican Literature in Theory. Bloomsbury, 2018.
Article on a website
Deresiewicz, William. “The Death of the Artist—and the Birth of the Creative Entrepreneur.” The Atlantic, 28 Dec. 2014,
theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/01/ the-death-of-the-artist-and-the-birth-of-thecreative-entrepreneur/383497/.
Book on a website
Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Masque of the Red Death.” The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, edited by James A. Harrison, vol. 4, Thomas Y. Crowell, 1902, pp. 250-58.
HathiTrust Digital Library, hdl.handle.net/2027/coo.31924079574368.
Journal Article in a Database
Goldman, Anne. “Questions of Transport: Reading Primo Levi Reading Dante.” The Georgia Review, vol. 64, no. 1, spring 2010, pp. 69-88. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41403188.
Songs, Recordings, and Performances
Song from an Album
Snail Mail. “Thinning.” Habit, Sister Polygon Records, 2016. Vinyl EP.
Song on a website
Snail Mail. “Thinning.” Bandcamp, snailmailbaltimore.bandcamp.com.
Concert Attended in Person
Beyoncé. The “Formation” World Tour. 14 May 2016, Rose Bowl, Los Angeles.
For more instructions, please refer to the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook and MLA Style Center.
Source: MLA Style Center
Interactive Practice Template
This template, provided by the MLA Style Center, is a tool for writing the works-cited-list entries.
"To build a works-cited-list entry, enter the elements present in your source into the template. You must include any necessary punctuation, capitalization, and italics. The entry will appear under “Your Citation,” color-coded to correspond to the template.
The template is a tool for teaching and learning MLA style, not a citation generator. To verify that your entry is correct, consult the MLA Handbook" (MLA Style Center)
Please click the template to start your practice.
MLA Handbook by 
MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing by