It’s important to understand why citations are a fundamental part of any research project. A citation is a reference to an information source that contains key publication details about that source in order to allow others to find it.

Three reasons why citation is important

By reading, analyzing, and citing scholarly sources in your assignments, you are contributing to and participating in scholarly communication! You grow in your understanding of a field of study by learning from its subject experts.

Giving credit is key for showing professionalism and giving evidence in your paper. You will mainly use scholarly and professional sources to support your research and to give other researchers credit for their findings. Citations allow others (and you!) to find the sources used in your paper to learn more about them.

Module 5.1 – Plagiarism Video Transcript

It might help to think: is this my own idea, or did I read or hear about it in one of my sources? If it came from somewhere else, cite it.

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_{“Open Book Library” by lil_foot_ is licensed under Pixabay License, no attribution required.}

_{“Silhouette Head Bookshelf Knowledge” by Gerd Altmann is licensed under Pixabay License, no attribution required.}

MLA style citation is a standardized set of guidelines used in the Arts and Humanities (for example, in English courses). It includes guidelines for formatting your paper, citing sources in the text of your paper, and citing sources at the end of your paper. The 9th edition of the MLA Handbook includes expanded instructions on using the core elements of citation as well as more writing recommendations than previous editions.

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In MLA Style, there are two components to every citation:

1. A works cited list entry
2. An in-text citation

Works Cited List Entry

The works cited list goes at the end of your paper. It contains longer citations that provide enough information to describe and find your source. For example, here is a citation for a book:

Dolmage, Jay Timothy. Academic Ableism: Disability and Higher Education. U of Michigan P, 2017. JSTOR, https://jstor.org/stable/j.ctvr33d50.

In-text Citation

Whenever you use words or ideas from a source in your text, you need to add an in-text citation. It includes the author last name(s) and the page number (or other location) where the information can be found within the source. For example:

We will explore each of these citation components, first separately and then together. First, we will discuss the works cited list.

A works cited list is an alphabetized list, located on a separate page at the end of your paper, that lists all the citation details for the sources used in your paper.

Elements of Citation

MLA uses nine core elements for citing sources, but you usually do not need to use all of them for a single source. Click on each element below to learn more about it and how it is formatted.

Using MLA Resources to Create Citations

You’re not expected to memorize MLA guidelines. Instead, use available resources (e.g., U of A MLA QuickGuide (PDF), NorQuest College MLA 9 Research Guide, and this tutorial) to help guide you. Over time, you will become more comfortable with creating citations.

Using MLA resources to help create a works cited list entry is like using a recipe. The ingredients are the key pieces of information about a source (core elements). If you’re missing an ingredient, leave it out or substitute it.

Next, we will use the 9 core elements of citation to explore how to cite different types of sources.

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_{“Pancake recipe with ingredients Free Vector” by pikisuperstar is licensed under CC BY 4.0 International.}

Books are a key type of information source when you’re doing scholarly research. Click through the slides below for information about each element of a book citation, along with images of where you can find each element within a source.

Book Citation Examples

Next, let’s look at some examples of different types of book citations.

Print Book

A print book is a physical copy of a book (as opposed to an ebook). To cite this type of source, you usually only need about four or five different elements.

Steussy, Joe, and Scott Lipscomb. Rock and Roll: Its History and Stylistic Development. 7th ed., Pearson, 2013.

The example above includes these citation elements:

You might use multiple different types of articles in your research. Some of the most common types are journal articles, news articles, and magazine articles. For online works, especially journal articles, you may come across a digital object identifier (DOI), which is a unique series of numbers and letters assigned to the article by the publisher.  DOIs are more stable than URLs, so if a work has one, you should use it instead of a URL in your works cited list entry.

Click through the slides below to learn about each element of an article citation.

Article Citation Examples

Now we can look at examples of different types of article citations.

Journal Article

A journal article might be located in a library database or on a publisher’s website, or in some cases, in a print issue of the journal. The format will help determine which elements you should include in the citation. The following example is for an article in a library database that has a digital object identifier (DOI).

Antonie, Luiza, et al. “Full-Time and Part-Time Work and the Gender Wage Gap.” Atlantic Economic Journal, vol. 48, no. 3, 2020, pp. 313-326. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11293-020-09677-z.

The example above includes these citation elements:

News Article

Just like a journal article, a news article might be in a library database, on a publisher’s website, or in a print issue of the publication. The following example is for an article on a publisher’s website.

Chaya, Lynn. “Keanu Reeves Reminisces About Growing Up in Toronto After Induction Into Canada’s Walk of Fame.” Edmonton Journal, 20 Dec. 2021, https://edmontonjournal.com/news/keanu-reeves-reminisces-about-growing-up-in-toronto-after-induction-into-canadas-walk-of-fame.

The example above includes these citation elements:

Magazine Article

Some magazines have volume or issue numbers, like journals, while others might just give a month or season of publication. In your citation, you should include whichever elements are available for the article. The example below is for a print issue of a journal that gives the months and year of publication rather than an issue number.

Estroff Marano, Hara. “An Element of Protection: Magnesium is a Mineral Essential to Mental Health.” Psychology Today, May-Jun. 2016, pp. 29-30.

The example above includes these citation elements:

^{Media attribution}

^{Presentation slides adapted from Library Research Skills for First Year Seminar Students by Augustana Campus Library, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.}

Audiovisual works can include a wide variety of sources such as films, TV episodes, online videos, music recordings, performances, and more. The citation elements vary depending on the source.

The slides below will guide you through the elements you might need for citations of audiovisual works.

Audiovisual Citation Examples

The next examples show citations of some common types of audiovisual sources.

Online Video

The following example is for a YouTube video. If there is not a clear named author, skip the author element and start with the title, like in this example. The individual who uploaded the video is included under the Contributor element.

“Literary Devices in Pop Culture.” YouTube, uploaded by bcwalden43, 11 Jul. 2012, https://youtu.be/U_pxfifB6Co.

The example above includes these citation elements:

Film

The following example is for a film watched on the Netflix app.

Room. Performance by Brie Larson, Element Pictures, 2015. Netflix app.

The example above includes these citation elements:

Audio Recording

This example is for a podcast episode, streamed from the host’s website. The publisher name is excluded because it is the same as the container.

McMahon, Ryan. “A Letter to the Puzzle People.” The Red Man Laughing Podcast, season 8, 14 Apr. 2020, https://redmanlaughing.squarespace.com/listen/2020/4/red-man-laughing-a-letter-to-the-puzzle-people.

The example above includes these citation elements:

TV Episode

The next example is for an episode of a TV series, watched on a streaming website.

“It’s Comedy or Cabbage.” The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, season 3, episode 5, Amazon, 2019. Amazon Prime, www.primevideo.com.

The example above includes these citation elements:

Image

For some images you may be able to find full citation details, and for others it might be harder. The next example is for an untitled image within a magazine article, where a description is given in place of a title.

Savage, Jim. Margaret Atwood at 14 on a dock. Flare, 15 Sep. 2013, https://www.flare.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Attwood-5.jpg.

The example above includes these citation elements:

Webpages and social media posts can take many different forms. Some have authors and publication dates, while others are anonymous and undated. For online materials whenever possible try to use stable/permanent/persistent links instead of the URL that appears in your browser (unless it’s a stable link) for your works-cited-list entries.

The slides below show elements you might need to include when citing online works.

Webpage and Social Media Citation Examples

Now that we’ve shown you the elements of webpage and social media citations, review the examples below to learn more about citing different types of online sources.

Webpage

Webpages sometimes include full citation details, but sometimes information like the author or the publication date are not available. If this is the case, skip to the next element. Including the date you accessed the page, as in the following example, can be helpful in case the information changes in the future.

“Shakespeare Lives in Science; Poisons, Potions and Drugs.” Shakespeare Lives, British Council. Accessed 14 Jan. 2022.

The example above includes these citation elements:

Blog Post

A blog post will almost always include the date of publication. If the title of the website and the publisher name are the same, you can omit the publisher, like in this example.

Brantz, Loryn. “11 Charts to Make You Feel Better About Not Feeling Better.” BuzzFeed, 23 Nov. 2021, https://www.buzzfeed.com/lorynbrantz/anyone-with-an-invisible-illness-will-feel-seen-by-these.

The example above includes these citation elements:

Tweet

For a social media post like a tweet, if the author’s name (e.g., Jemma) is different from their handle (e.g., @jlm_86), you should include both in your citation. Because social media posts generally do not include titles, you can use the content of the post in place of the title. If it is long, you may shorten it using ellipses. For example:

Jemma [@jlm_86]. “Pillar post coverings in Plymouth, Devon!! Just in time for Remembrance Day . . .” Twitter, 2 Nov. 2021, twitter.com/jlm_86/status/1455484129978560513.

The example above includes these citation elements:

Sometimes research involves contact with individuals or organizations, such as through interviews or emails. These types of information are generally not formally published, so they’re treated a bit differently from other sources. Click through the slides below to learn more.

Personal Communication Citation Examples

Below are two examples of personal communications.

Interview

This example is for an interview that you conducted. If someone else performed the interview, add their name under the Contributor element (see the slides above for an example).

Morrison, Toni. Interview with the author. 5 Jan. 2019.

The example above includes these citation elements:

Email

Emails or text messages usually only include three elements: the person who sent the message, a description of the communication, and the date of the communication. For example:

Robinson, Eden. E-mail to the author. 8 May 2015.

The example above includes these citation elements:

Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers

MLA does not have a specific format for citing Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers.

In the spirit of wahkôhtowin and reconciliation, NorQuest College Library continues to follow templates created by Lorisia MacLeod and NorQuest College Indigenous Student Centre staff that meet this need.

For example:

Cardinal, Delores., Goodfish Lake Cree Nation. Treaty 6. Lives in Edmonton. Oral teaching. 4 April 2004.

Note: If you would like to approach an Elder or Knowledge Keeper for teachings, remember to follow protocol or if you are unsure what their protocol is, please ask them ahead of time.

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_{Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers adapted from Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers by NorQuest College Library, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.}

Once you have created all of your works cited list entries, you will need to organize them alphabetically in a list at the end of your paper. Below is an example with citations used in this tutorial.

Works Cited

Antonie, Luiza, et al. “Full-Time and Part-Time Work and the Gender Wage Gap.” Atlantic Economic Journal, vol. 48, no. 3, 2020, pp. 313-326. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11293-020-09677-z.

Brantz, Loryn. “11 Charts to Make You Feel Better About Not Feeling Better.” BuzzFeed, 23 Nov. 2021, https://www.buzzfeed.com/lorynbrantz/anyone-with-an-invisible-illness-will-feel-seen-by-these.

Charters, Ann. “Beat Poetry and the San Francisco Poetry Renaissance.” The Columbia History of American Poetry, edited by Jay Parini and Brett C. Millier, Columbia UP, 1993, pp. 581-604.

Chaya, Lynn. “Keanu Reeves Reminisces About Growing Up in Toronto After Induction Into Canada’s Walk of Fame.” Edmonton Journal, 20 Dec. 2021, https://edmontonjournal.com/news/keanu-reeves-reminisces-about-growing-up-in-toronto-after-induction-into-canadas-walk-of-fame.

Dolmage, Jay Timothy. Academic Ableism: Disability and Higher Education. U of Michigan P, 2017. JSTOR, https://jstor.org/stable/j.ctvr33d50.

Estroff Marano, Hara. “An Element of Protection: Magnesium is a Mineral Essential to Mental Health.” Psychology Today, May-Jun. 2016, pp. 29-30.

Froggatt, Katherine, et al., editors. Understanding Care Homes: A Research and Development Perspective. Kingsley, 2009.

“It’s Comedy or Cabbage.” The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, season 3, episode 5, Amazon, 2019. Amazon Prime, www.primevideo.com.

Jemma [@jlm_86]. “Pillar post coverings in Plymouth, Devon!! Just in time for Remembrance Day . . .” Twitter, 2 Nov. 2021, twitter.com/jlm_86/status/1455484129978560513.

“Literary Devices in Pop Culture.” YouTube, uploaded by bcwalden43, 11 Jul. 2012, https://youtu.be/U_pxfifB6Co.

McMahon, Ryan. “A Letter to the Puzzle People.” The Red Man Laughing Podcast, season 8, 14 Apr. 2020, https://redmanlaughing.squarespace.com/listen/2020/4/red-man-laughing-a-letter-to-the-puzzle-people.

Morrison, Toni. Interview with the author. 5 Jan. 2019.

Robinson, Eden. E-mail to the author. 8 May 2015.

Room. Performance by Brie Larson, Element Pictures, 2015. Netflix app.

Savage, Jim. Margaret Atwood at 14 on a dock. Flare, 15 Sep. 2013, https://www.flare.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Attwood-5.jpg.

“Shakespeare Lives in Science; Poisons, Potions and Drugs.” Shakespeare Lives, British Council. Accessed 14 Jan. 2022.

Steussy, Joe, and Scott Lipscomb. Rock and Roll: Its History and Stylistic Development. 7th ed., Pearson, 2013.

Using the document linked below, fill in the missing words to complete the following works cited list entry for a chapter in an edited book with a DOI. The selected book chapter is highlighted on the Contents page.

Mama, PhD: Women Write About Motherhood and Academic Life (PDF)

Journal Article

Use the following example of a journal article in a library database to answer the question below.

Online Video

Use the following example of a YouTube video to answer the question below.

Webpage

Use the following example of a webpage by an organization to answer the question below.

You find a great idea in a source, and you want to use it to support your argument. To do this, you need to create an in-text citation and add it to your paper where you have used information from that source, either as a direct quotation or a paraphrased idea. In-text citations tell your reader which ideas belong to you and which ideas belong to someone else.

Narrative and Parenthetical Citation

The information for an in-text citation is pulled directly from its matching works cited list entry. It is usually easiest to create the works cited entry first and use it to create an in-text citation. The example below shows a works cited list entry.

Dolmage, Jay Timothy. Academic Ableism: Disability and Higher Education. U of Michigan P, 2017. JSTOR, https://jstor.org/stable/j.ctvr33d50.

There are two different ways you can add an in-text citation to your writing: as a narrative citation, in which the author’s name is part of your sentence, or as a parenthetical citation, in which the citation details are given in parentheses at the end of a phrase or sentence.

Here is a sentence with a narrative citation that matches the works cited list entry above:

Here is the same sentence, but with a parenthetical citation:

As the above examples show, an in-text citation includes two key pieces of information:

1. Author last name(s) (e.g., Dolmage)
2. Page number, or other location within a work (e.g., 117)

Formatting Author Names

The following table shows examples of how to format the author element for in-text citations.

Formatting Page Numbers and Other Divisions

The next table shows how to format page numbers and other divisions of works in your in-text citation. For most works, you should use a page number. For poetry or drama, you should usually use line numbers. For works with no page numbers, you might use a chapter, scene, or other division provided in the work. This information should go in parentheses at the end of the words or ideas you are citing. For works without any page numbers or any other division, do not include a number in the parenthetical citation; just follow the guidelines for Formatting Author Names.

^{*Include the word “line” only the first time you cite the work.}

Direct Quotation

So far we have focused on paraphrasing examples. Next we will explore how to cite quotations.

Short Quotations

For a quotation that “runs no more than four lines in your paper” (MLA Handbook, sec. 6.34), incorporate it into your paragraph with quotation marks around it. The following examples are for prose. If you are quoting more than one line of poetry, add a forward slash ( / ) between the lines.

Narrative citation example

Parenthetical citation example

Block Quotations

According to the MLA Handbook, “a quotation that runs more than four lines in your prose should be set off from the text as a block indented half an inch from the left margin” (sec. 6.35). The following examples are for a poem, but the rules are the same for prose.

Narrative citation

Parenthetical citation

Now that we’ve introduced in-text citations, go to the next section to complete a few in-text citation practice activities.

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_{“Illuminated crumpled yellow paper light bulb idea on white background Free Photo” by Freepik is licensed under Freepik Licence, attribution required.}

In this section, complete the following three activities to practice creating narrative and parenthetical in-text citations.

Social Media Post

What core elements do you need for an in-text citation using this source? For example: Author, Title of source, or Location, etc…

Creating In-text Citations from Works Cited List Entries

For the next two questions, use the works cited entry to help you fill in in the missing elements of the in-text citation.

Works Cited Entry #1

Walker, Margaret. “The Struggle Staggers Us.” Poetry Foundation, July 1938, www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=22079.

Works Cited Entry #2

Ou, Li. Keats and Negative Capability. Continuum, 2009. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=306656&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

As we have shown, works cited list entries and in-text citations should match each other. They work together to clearly indicate which sources provide support to your assignment.

You wouldn’t want to wear mismatched socks, just like you don’t want mismatched citations!	You want your in-text and reference list citations (and socks) to match each other!

In the next activity, you will practice matching in-text citations with their works cited list entries.

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_{“Mismatched Socks Solidarity Day” by Rik Panganiban is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 International.}

_{“X-ray socks” by unknown author is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 International.}

For the four multiple-choice questions in this activity, choose the correct in-text citation for the provided works cited list entry.