An MLA Works Cited page lists every source you referenced in your paper, formatted with specific layout rules and a consistent citation structure. It goes on its own page at the end of your paper, and every in-text citation should have a matching entry here. Getting it right comes down to two things: formatting the page correctly and building each entry using MLA’s core elements in the right order.
Page Layout Requirements
Your Works Cited page should look like a continuation of your paper, not a separate document. Use the same one-inch margins, the same font and size, and the same running header (your last name and page number in the upper right corner) as the rest of your essay. If your paper ends on page 7, the Works Cited page is page 8.
Center the title “Works Cited” at the top of the page. Don’t bold it, italicize it, underline it, or put it in quotation marks. Just type it in the same font and size as your body text. Double-space everything on the page, including between the title and the first entry and between entries. Don’t add extra space between citations.
Hanging Indents and Spacing
Each entry uses a hanging indent: the first line sits flush with the left margin, and every subsequent line of that same entry is indented half an inch. This makes it easy for a reader to scan down the left margin and find entries by author name or title. In most word processors, you can set this up by highlighting your entries, opening paragraph settings, and selecting “Hanging” under the indentation options. Avoid pressing Tab or the spacebar manually, since that creates inconsistent spacing and can break your formatting if anything shifts.
The Nine Core Elements
MLA uses a universal template of nine core elements for every type of source, whether it’s a book, journal article, website, podcast, or film. You fill in the elements that apply and skip the ones that don’t. Here they are in order, with the punctuation that follows each one:
- Author. The person or organization primarily responsible for the content.
- Title of Source. The title of the specific work you’re citing.
- Title of Container, The larger work that holds your source (a journal, website, anthology, or database).
- Other Contributors, Editors, translators, directors, or others who played a key role.
- Version, The edition or version (e.g., “2nd ed.” or “expanded ed.”).
- Number, Volume and issue numbers for journals or numbered series.
- Publisher, The organization that produced or released the work.
- Publication Date, When the work was published or posted.
- Location. Page numbers, URLs, or DOIs that tell the reader where to find the source.
Notice the punctuation pattern: each element ends with a comma except the author (period), title of source (period), and location (period). If a source doesn’t have a version or number, you simply skip that element and move to the next one. You never write “N/A” or leave a placeholder.
How to Format Author Names
For a single author, write the last name first, followed by a comma and the first name, then a period: Smith, John. For two authors, list the first author last-name-first and the second author first-name-first, connected by “and”: Smith, John, and Jane Doe. For three or more authors, list only the first author followed by “et al.”: Smith, John, et al.
When a source has no individual author, such as an article published by an organization, you can list the organization as the author. If no author or organization is identified at all, skip the author element entirely and begin the entry with the title.
Titles: Italics vs. Quotation Marks
The rule is straightforward. Italicize the titles of standalone works: books, films, TV series, albums, websites, and journals. Use quotation marks for titles of works that are part of a larger whole: articles, chapters, individual episodes, songs, and web pages within a site. A journal article, for example, gets quotation marks for the article title and italics for the journal name (which is the container).
Capitalize titles using standard title case, meaning you capitalize the first word, the last word, and all major words. Don’t capitalize short prepositions, conjunctions, or articles (like “of,” “and,” “the”) unless they’re the first word of the title.
Containers Explained
A container is the larger work that “holds” your source. If you read a chapter in an edited book, the book is the container. If you read a journal article through a database like JSTOR, you actually have two containers: the journal and the database. When a source has two containers, you finish the first container’s elements with a period, then list the second container’s title (italicized) followed by its own set of elements.
For example, an article you found through a database might look like this: the article title in quotation marks, then the journal name in italics with its volume, issue, date, and page numbers, then a period, then the database name in italics followed by the DOI or URL.
URLs, DOIs, and Access Dates
For online sources, include a URL or DOI (a permanent digital identifier that starts with “https://doi.org/”) in the location element. When a DOI is available, prefer it over a URL because DOIs don’t change. Remove “http://” or “https://” from regular URLs unless your instructor says otherwise, but keep the full DOI link intact.
MLA does not require an access date for online sources from stable, reliable publishers. However, you may include one if the source lacks a publication date, if the content could be changed or removed, or if your instructor requests it. Access dates go at the end of the entry in day-month-year format: “Accessed 15 Mar. 2025.”
Alphabetizing Your Entries
Arrange entries in alphabetical order by the first word of each citation. In most cases, that’s the author’s last name. When there’s no author, alphabetize by the first significant word of the title, ignoring “A,” “An,” and “The.” So an article titled “The Rise of Remote Work” would be alphabetized under “R,” not “T.”
If you cite two or more works by the same author, list them alphabetically by title. After the first entry, replace the author’s name with three hyphens followed by a period (—.) in each subsequent entry. This signals to the reader that the author is the same as the one above.
Sample Entries
Here are a few common source types formatted correctly so you can see the template in action.
Book With One Author
Morrison, Toni. Beloved. Vintage International, 2004.
Journal Article From a Database
Kincaid, Jamaica. “In History.” Callaloo, vol. 24, no. 2, 2001, pp. 620-26. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.1353/cal.2001.0086.
Web Page
“Climate Change Indicators.” United States Environmental Protection Agency, 27 June 2024, www.epa.gov/climate-indicators.
Formatting in Your Word Processor
Start a new page after the last line of your paper by inserting a page break (not by hitting Enter repeatedly). Type “Works Cited” and center it. Set your line spacing to double with no extra spacing before or after paragraphs. Type your entries, then select them all and apply a hanging indent of 0.5 inches through the paragraph formatting menu. In Google Docs, go to Format, then Align and Indent, then Indentation Options, and set the special indent to “Hanging.” In Microsoft Word, right-click, choose Paragraph, and select “Hanging” under the Special dropdown.
Check that your running header carried over to the new page. If it didn’t, make sure your header settings aren’t set to differ by section. The final page should be visually seamless with the rest of your paper: same font, same margins, same header, same spacing.