MLA citation uses an author-page method: you place the author’s last name and the page number in parentheses at the end of a sentence, then list the full source details on a Works Cited page at the end of your essay. That two-part system, in-text citations paired with a Works Cited list, is the foundation of everything below.
How In-Text Citations Work
Every time you quote, paraphrase, or reference an idea from a source, you need a brief parenthetical citation right there in your paragraph. The basic format is the author’s last name and the page number, with no comma between them:
The novel suggests that memory is unreliable (Morrison 42).
If you mention the author’s name in your sentence, you only need the page number in parentheses:
Morrison suggests that memory is unreliable (42).
Place the parenthetical citation before the period that ends the sentence. For a block quotation (used when a quote runs longer than four lines of prose), the parenthetical goes after the closing punctuation instead.
Sources with Multiple Authors
For a source with two authors, include both last names joined by “and”:
(Smith and Yang 88)
For three or more authors, list only the first author’s last name followed by “et al.” (Latin for “and others”):
(Johnson et al. 112)
Your Works Cited entry should mirror whichever format you use in the text, so make sure those match.
No Author, Corporate Author, or Same Last Name
When a source has no known author, use a shortened version of the title in place of a name. Put the shortened title in quotation marks if it’s a short work like an article, or italicize it if it’s a longer work like a book or website:
(“Renewable Energy Trends” 14)
For a corporate author, such as a government agency or organization, use the organization’s name followed by the page number. You can abbreviate long names to keep the citation from disrupting your sentence:
(Nat’l Research Council 37)
If your paper cites two different authors who share the same last name, add each author’s first initial to distinguish them:
(M. Smith 22) and (R. Smith 78)
Sources Without Page Numbers
Many online articles, videos, and websites don’t have page numbers. When that’s the case, simply use the author’s last name (or shortened title) with no number:
(García)
For poetry, use line numbers preceded by the word “line” or “lines” on first reference. For plays, use act, scene, and line numbers, abbreviating where appropriate (sc., ch.):
(lines 14–18)
Building a Works Cited Entry
Your Works Cited page appears at the end of your essay on its own page. Every source you cited in the text gets a full entry here. MLA organizes entries around nine core elements, listed in this order and followed by specific punctuation:
- Author. Last name, First name.
- Title of Source. Italicized for standalone works (books, films), in quotation marks for shorter works (articles, poems).
- Title of Container, The larger work that holds your source (a journal, a website, an anthology).
- Other Contributors, Editors, translators, directors, if relevant.
- Version, Edition or version number.
- Number, Volume and issue number for journals.
- Publisher, The company or organization that produced the work.
- Publication date, As specific as the source provides.
- Location. Page numbers for print; a URL or DOI for online sources.
Skip any element that doesn’t apply. A simple book citation might only use author, title, publisher, and date. A journal article would add the container (journal name), volume and issue number, and page range. Here’s what a book entry looks like:
Morrison, Toni. Beloved. Vintage, 2004.
And a journal article:
García, Elena. “Urban Heat Islands and Public Health.” Environmental Research Letters, vol. 18, no. 3, 2023, pp. 201–215.
Alphabetize all entries by the first word (usually the author’s last name). Double-space the entire page, and use a hanging indent: the first line of each entry is flush left, and every subsequent line is indented half an inch.
Citing Generative AI
If you use a tool like ChatGPT to generate text or ideas, MLA has specific guidance. Do not list the AI tool as the author. Instead, describe what was generated as the title (you can reference your prompt here), then name the AI tool as the container, specify the model version, list the company as the publisher, give the date the content was generated, and provide a shareable URL if the tool offers one.
A citation might look like this:
“Explanation of photosynthesis for a general audience” prompt. ChatGPT, GPT-4o, OpenAI, 12 June 2025, chat.openai.com/share/abc123.
If the tool doesn’t generate a shareable link, use the tool’s general URL instead.
Formatting Your Paper
MLA also sets rules for how your essay itself should look:
- Margins: 1 inch on all sides.
- Font: A legible typeface like Times New Roman, 12-point size. The regular and italic styles should be visually distinct from each other.
- Spacing: Double-space the entire document, including the Works Cited page.
- Header: Your last name and the page number in the upper right corner of every page, half an inch from the top.
- Title: Centered, in title case, with no underlining, italics, or quotation marks. Double-space between your heading information and the title, and between the title and the first line of text.
The first page should include your name, your instructor’s name, the course, and the date, all left-aligned and double-spaced, before the centered title. There is no separate title page in standard MLA format unless your instructor requests one.
Quick Reference: In-Text Citation Formats
- One author: (Smith 45)
- Two authors: (Smith and Yang 88)
- Three or more authors: (Johnson et al. 112)
- No author (short work): (“Article Title” 14)
- No author (long work): (Book Title 14)
- Corporate author: (Nat’l Research Council 37)
- No page number: (García)
- Poetry: (lines 14–18)
Get the in-text citation right, make sure each one points to a complete Works Cited entry, and your MLA formatting is covered.