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Cite Your Sources: MLA Style 8th Edition

MLA 8th Edition

Citations are based on core elements, rather than a specific format for each source type. This makes the system more adaptable for digital publications.

When citing sources use the following core elements—in the order given and with the punctuation marks shown.

  1. Author.
  2. Title of source.
  3. Title of container,
  4. Other contributors,
  5. Version,
  6. Number,
  7. Publisher,
  8. Publication date,
  9. Location.

If you have included these elements and assembled them in a way that makes sense to your readers, then your works cited entries will be consistent and thorough.

MLA Examples

Type of Entry Reference List In-Text Citation*

Book: 1 Author

Thompson, Paul B. From Field to Fork: Food Ethics for Everyone. Oxford UP, 2015.​

(Thompson 14)

Book: 3 or More Authors

Barringer, Mary-Dean, et al. Schools for All Kinds of Minds: Boosting Student Success by Embracing Learning Variation. Jossey-Bass, 2010.

(Barringer et al. 226)

Article in a Book

Wilson, Charles Reagan. "William Faulkner and the Southern Way of Death." Fifty Years after Faulkner, UP of Mississippi, 2016, pp. 268-278.

(Wilson 265-270)

E-book: Edited

Batra, Rajeev, et al., editors. The Psychology of Design: Creating Consumer Appeal. Routledge, 2016. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), http://excelsior.sdstate.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1036406&site=eds-live.

(Batra 233-235)

Journal Article: With DOI

Spangler, Lynn C. "Class on Television: Stuck in the Middle." Journal of Popular Culture, vol. 47, no. 3, 2014, pp. 470-488. MLA International Bibliography, doi:10.1111/jpcu.12141. 

(Spangler 480)

Journal Article: Without DOI

Newman, Benjamin J. “Acculturating Contexts and Anglo Opposition to Immigration in the United States.” American Journal of Political Science, vol. 57, no. 2, 2013, pp. 374–390. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23496603.

(Newman 389)

Magazine Article

Jahren, Hope. "Engineered Food Holds Our Future." Time, 24 Oct. 2016, pp. 78-79. Academic Search Premier, http://excelsior.sdstate.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=118831104&site=eds-live.

(Jahren 78)

Newspaper Article

"Has the Quality of Online Learning Kept Up With Its Growth?" Chronicle of Higher Education, 5 Nov. 2010, B42-B46. 

(“Has the Quality” B43)

Website

NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. “Heart Value Diseases, Summary.” MedlinePlus, 2016, www.medlineplus.gov/heartvalvediseases.html

(NIH)

YouTube

​Andersen, Paul. “Global Climate Change.” YouTube, uploaded by Bozeman Science, 1 Feb. 2016, youtu.be/QLteLZNXmyI

(Anderson 00:01:25-50)**

* Use page numbers (where available) for all types of borrowing—quotations, paraphrases, and summaries.

**Use hours, minutes, and seconds as displayed in your media player for works in time-based media.

Introduction

Get help citing your sources

E-mail a librarian: blref@sdstate.edu

Call a librarian: (605) 688-5107

More Information

Use these sites to help you learn MLA Style.


Citation engines and databases will help you create your citations. CAUTION! While these tools may save time, they usually do not generate error-free citations. You will need to check over the citations carefully.

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