MLA Examples in Eighth Edition
Elements and Definitions
Author: The main creator of an item. This can be a writer, a director, an editor, a translator, etc.
Title of Source: The title of a book, article, TV show episode, movie, etc. For something like a tweet, the entire text is considered the title.
Title of Container: The item that contains the source. An article is contained by a website or journal, a chapter is contained by a book, an episode is contained by a show, a tweet is contained by Twitter, and so on.
Other Contributors (if any): Anyone besides the author who played a very important part in the source’s creation. TV shows, for example, are the result of many people working toward a single goal. While the director of an episode is the “author” of that episode, that episode would not exist without the actors.
Version: Journals are usually split into versions, volumes, or editions that contain specific articles. Shows have seasons or arcs.
Number: A step down from version. So if a show has seasons, it also has episode numbers. If a journal is split into volumes, those volumes are split into issues.
Publisher: The publisher of a source. This can be a book publisher or a production company (for shows and movies).
Publication Date: The date the source cited was published or an episode was first aired.
Location: The location of the source within the container. For example, a journal article might start on page 7 and end on page 14 within a journal. This can also be the URL of a website or streaming movie or episode.
Date of Original Publication (optional): If a source has been republished or updated, you can provide the date of original publication.
City of Publication (optional): Helpful for much older works, but not necessary for the eighth edition.
Type of Work (optional): If the type of work you’ve cited is unconventional, it can be helpful to state what the type of work it is. Sources like lectures, speeches, and transcripts would fall under this.
Date of Access (optional): The date a source was accessed online. Especially for online sources, putting the date of access is valuable for your reader.
Works Cited Examples
Books
Author(s). Title of Source. Publisher, Publication Date.
One Author
Weir, Andy. The Martian. Broadway Books, 2014.
More Than One Author
Garcia, Kami, and Margaret Stohl. Beautiful Creatures. Little, Brown Books, 2009.
Editor
Nunberg, Geoffrey, editor. The Future of the Book. U of California P, 1996.
More Than One Editor
Holland, Merlin, and Rupert Hart-Davis, editors. Agent of Change: Print Culture Studies after Elizabeth L. Einstein. U of Massachusetts P / Center for the Book, Library of Congress, 2007.
Journal Articles
Author(s). “Title of Source.” Title of Container. Version, Number, Publication Date, Location.
Baron, Naomi S. “Redefining Reading: The Impact of Digital Communication Media.” PMLA, vol. 28, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 193-200.
Kincaid, Jamaica. “In History.” Callaloo, vol. 24, no. 2, Spring 2001, pp. 620-26.
Web Articles
Author(s). “Title of Source.” Title of Container, Date of Publication, URL.
Guillaume, Jenna. “This ‘Game Of Thrones’ Theory About Daenerys Is Mind Blowing.” BuzzFeed, 31 May 2016.
Blanchard, Olivia. “I Quit Teach for America.” The Atlantic, 23 Sept. 2013.
Senthilingam, Meera. “Does this doctor hold the secret to ending malaria?” CNN, 2 June 2016.
Social Media / Video Streaming
Author(s). “Title of Source.” Title of Container, Date of Publication, URL, Date of Access (optional).
“Name of Episode.” Title of Container (Show), season number, episode number, Publisher, Date of Publication, URL, Date of Access (optional).
@Hozay__. “Sir? Excuse me, sir? Sir? Do you have a moment to talk about our Lord and Savior, Cthulu?” Twitter, 27 July 2015, 1:06 p.m.
@kimkardashian. “Wore my new Yeezy Season 2 heels with an orange Pablo shirt yesterday in support of gun violence awareness day. Something has to change.” Instagram, 3 June 2016, 8:40 a.m.
CollegeHumor. “If Google Was A Guy.” YouTube, 21 Jan. 2014.
“iPad Pro to Replace iPad mini?” YouTube. Uploaded by David Di Franco, 7 Nov. 2014. Accessed 16 February 2016.
“The Runway Club.” Bob’s Burgers, season 5, episode 16, Fox, 22 March 2015. Netflix. Accessed 15 May 2016.
Movies and TV Shows (non-streaming)
Author(s). Title of Source. Publisher, Year of Publication.
Russo, Anthony, and Joe Russo, directors. Captain America: Civil War. Marvel Studios, 2016.
Clements, Ron, and John Musker, directors. The Little Mermaid. Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Feature Animation, 1989.
“Black.” Supernatural, directed by Robert Singer, performances by Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, season 10, episode 1, Warner Bros. Television, 7 Oct. 2014.
In-Text Citation Examples
Citations are used to tell a reader which source is being quoted. The citation should match information in the Works Cited page. Generally, you’ll use the author’s last name and the page number (if the source cited has page numbers).
**Periods should always follow the parenthetical citation. They should NEVER go within the quotation. Only exclamation points (!) and question marks (?) should be included in the quote.
Regular Citation (Books and Journal Articles)
According to Naomi Baron, reading is “just half of literacy. The other half is writing” (194).
Or
Reading is “just half of literacy. The other half is writing” (Baron 194).
Authors with The Same Last Name
Reading is “just half of literacy. The other half is writing” (Baron, “Redefining” 194).
*In this case, you’ll want to include a shortened version of the source’s title.
Audio Sources (TV shows, movies, YouTube, etc.)
Buffy’s promise that “there’s not going to be any incidents like at my old school” is obviously not one on which she can follow through (“Buffy” 00:03:16-17).
In College Humor’s skit, people walk into an office and say nearly incomprehensible phrases like “foot same length Europe?” in order to demonstrate how absurd our use of the search engine can be (“Google” 00:14).
*Instead of citing pages, you have to cite time or range of times for when the quote is said.
Social Media
A picture of a cephalopod harassing a diver and the caption “Sir? Excuse me, sir? Sir? Do you have a moment to talk about our Lord and Savior, Cthulu?” draw a connection between Jehovah’s witnesses and Lovecraft’s Lord of Chaos, Cthulu (@Hozay__).
In an Instagram post, Kim Kardashian West recognizes Gun Violence Awareness Day by wearing an orange outfit (“Wore”). However, many people may not see a dress worn on a single day of the year as advocacy.