• 2-minute read
• 8th May 2017

MLA Referencing – Citing a Conference Paper

Whether you’ve attended in person or read a report afterwards, conference papers can be useful sources for an essay. But MLA referencing has specific rules for how to cite a conference paper, so take note!

In-Text Citations for a Conference Paper

In-text citations for a conference paper follow standard MLA rules. For a published paper, this means naming the author in the text and giving page numbers in parentheses. For example:

Jeff Jones claims that cats display emotional intelligence (45).

Alternatively, you can give both in parentheses at the end of the sentence:

The situation is ‘not expected to end soon’ (Walker 42).

For an unpublished paper, no page numbers are required. You just need to make sure that you clearly refer to an entry in the Works Cited list:

At the 2005 Animals and Us Conference, Jones brought his cat on stage to demonstrate its emotional intelligence.

Citing Multiple Works by One Author

If you cite more than one paper by the same author, you should use the titles in the citations (as well as making sure to mention the author name):

Rankin initially derided the concept as ‘totally unworkable’ (‘Working in Retail’ 32), but later conceded that there are ‘certain merits’ (‘Making 9-5 Work for You’ 12).

Here ‘Working in Retail’ and ‘Making 9-5 Work for You’ are two papers delivered by Rankin. Making this clear ensures your reader can find the right entry in the Works Cited list.

Works Cited

When writing an entry in the Works Cited list for a paper from published conference proceedings, use the following format:

Surname, First Name. ‘Conference Paper Title’. Conference Title, Date, Location, edited by Conference Editor(s), Publisher, Date of Publication, page numbers.

For example, we would list a published conference paper as follows:

Walker, Paul. ‘The Fallout from Capitalism’. Modern Economy, 27 May 2015, Sydney, edited by T. Barker, Roundhouse, 2016, pp. 39-47.

If the date and location are not included in the title of the proceedings, give them afterwards instead. For example:

Jones, Jeff. Understanding the Way Your Cat Thinks, 23 April 2015, Melbourne, edited by G. Simmons, Roundhouse, 2016, pp. 45-51.

For unpublished conference papers, moreover, the format differs:

Surname, First name. ‘Title of Paper’. Title of Conference/Meeting, Organisation, Date, Venue, City. Conference.

In practice, then, an unpublished paper would look like the following:

Rankin, Peter. ‘Working in Retail’. Increasing Profits, Retail Unpacked, 1 May 2015, Sydney, Australia. Conference.