🌲E2: MLA Citation and Works Cited Format
The Modern Language Association and the Modern Student
The correct citation format for English classes is the Modern Language Association (MLA) citation format Links to an external site. or, MLA Style. MLA was introduced in E1 when discussing document set up. MLA is also a system of properly attributing the work of outside sources within your paper so that the reader can have the context of the entire work if desired.
Works Cited (Not bibliography!)*
Perhaps you are familiar with footnotes or end notes or a bibliography. Those are other ways of indicating details of quotes or a paraphrases that represent someone else's original thought. These are not part of the MLA Style. In place of a bibliography you will have a page at the back of your essay (that is not counted among the minimum page count) that will be titled Works Cited.
On your Works Cited page you will have a list of items that may be listed alphabetically by author last name, or, if there is no named author, then the title is the first word of the citation and is also alphabetized by the first main word of the title (not a, an, the).
In your essay, after a quote or paraphrase you will have a parenthetical citation that includes the author's last name -- or the first identifying word of the title followed by the page number, or by nothing if there is no page number. So, whatever word is in your in-text citation, the same word should be the first word of the Works Cited page entry, listed alphabetically so it is easy to find.
Every in-text citation is referenced on your Works Cited page.
Every Works Cited entry references an in-text citation in the essay. The citation is either quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.
Sample Works Cited page from https://www.mesacc.edu/~paoih30491/MLA%20Citing.html Links to an external site.
* The Works Cited page is a bibliography of sorts but MLA format requires the page to be titled Works Cited. To break it down, Works Cited means exactly what it says -- works that you have cited in your essay. When a reference is used but not cited it would go on a separate page tiled Works Consulted. The topics we are covering will not require that sort of research detail. The word bibliography Links to an external site. is less specific and can mean both Works Cited and Works Consulted.
In-text Citation
If you previously used footnotes you remember that at the end of the quote or paraphrase you typed in a little number. For an in-text citation there is no little number. Instead there are parentheses wherein an author's name or article title is referenced. The same word that is listed as the first word in the Works Cited list as mentioned above.
There is a nice explanation on this page https://www.mesacc.edu/~paoih30491/MLA%20Citing.html Links to an external site.:
The in-text citation is simple, generally including the author's last name and page number. Clearly, an author's last name is not enough information for readers to know exactly where the outside information came from. This is why writers need to include a works cited page Links to an external site. at the end of all researched essays: the in-text citation references something more fully listed in the works cited page.
Please use the Discussions if you have questions about MLA Style.
It is normal to feel confused if this is your first experience with citations or this particular citation format.