• 4-minute read
• 31st January 2017

4 Things You Need to Know About MLA Referencing

Many people find citing sources one a tricky part of writing an essay. This may be due to the large number of referencing systems available. But with MLA referencing, it’s simple once you know the basics. Read on to find out more.

1. What Is MLA Referencing?

Commonly used in the humanities, MLA referencing is a citation system set out in the MLA Handbook. This style guide covers many aspects of writing and formatting, but here we’re just looking at citations.

The eighth edition of the MLA Handbook introduced several changes to the system, as recommended by the Modern Language Association. Make sure you know which version your university uses.

2. Citing Sources

When using MLA referencing, give a citation whenever you quote or paraphrase a source. To do this, the standard format is to give the author’s surname and a page number for the section in question:

The spread of democracy is part of US foreign policy (Mitchell 70).

If the author is named in the text, just give a page number citation:

Mitchell says that the spread of democracy is part of US foreign policy (70).

If you’re quoting a source, moreover, give the citation after the quote:

Mitchell says that the spread of democracy has been a ‘vital national interest’ (70) in US politics.

3. Multiple Sources by the Same Author

While other referencing systems use the year of publication to distinguish between multiple texts by one author in an essay, the MLA citation format doesn’t allow for this.

Instead, when citing more than one work by a single author, you should use a shortened version of the title in place of the author’s name in citations. For example:

Mitchell says that spreading democracy has long been part of US policy (‘Democracy Bound’ 70). However, he also says that the role of the military has been controversial (Democracy Promotion 79).

Here, both works are by Lincoln A. Mitchell, so we use the titles to distinguish them. The first is in quotation marks because it’s an article, while the second is italicised because it’s a standalone book.

If we had not named the author in the text above, however, we would include the name in citations as well. For instance:

Spreading democracy has long been part of US policy (Mitchell, ‘Democracy Bound’ 70). However, the role of the military within this has been controversial (Mitchell, Democracy Promotion 79).

You can also use titles in citations when no author name is available.

4. The ‘Works Cited’ Page

MLA referencing requires that all sources cited in your work are listed at the end of your document in a ‘Works Cited’ page. This should be formatted as follows:

• List should start on a new page
• Sources should be listed alphabetically by author name, surname first
• Works by the same author should be ordered alphabetically by title, using three hyphens (—) in place of the author’s name for each one after the first
• The main words in titles should be capitalised, but not articles, prepositions or conjunctions (unless they’re the first word of a title or subtitle)
• Titles of longer works (e.g. books and films) should be italicised
• Titles of shorter works (e.g. journal articles and poems) should be enclosed in quotation marks
• Use a 1.27cm (0.5”) hanging indent for each line after the first in each reference

The information needed for each reference depends on the source. However, it usually includes the author’s surname, the title, and publication details. For instance:

Mitchell, Lincoln. A. ‘Democracy Bound’. The National Interest, no. 95, 2008, 70-76.

– – -. The Democracy Promotion Paradox. Brookings Institution Press, 2016.