Skip to Main Content
site header image

English 271: Critical Writing in the Field of English Literature: Citing

MLA Style

Whether you choose to quote, summarize, or paraphrase sources you use in your research paper, you must cite each one. For rules and examples in MLA 8th ed. style, look here:

Sometimes students will use online citation formatters provided free on the Web or within a library database. If you use one of these online formatters, remember that they are not foolproof. You will need to review your citations to make sure they are correct. This Citation Helper Tools guide may have some tools you can use. The library supports both Zotero and EndNote, which are very useful when using many sources.

MLA Citation Outlines

Note: These tips are from the MLA Handbook (8th ed.).

Each entry should include the following core elements, when known, which should be taken from the source's title page or the first page of a periodical article or webpage:

  • author name(s).
  • title of source.
  • title of container,
  • other contributors,
  • version,
  • number,
  • publisher,
  • publication date,
  • location.

You may find that you need to combine several examples to fit what you are citing.  

Book with two authors

Dorris, Michael, and Louise Erdrich. The Crown of Columbus. HarperCollins Publishers, 1999.

Journal article, online or in database, doi (preferred over URL)

Chan, Evans. “Postmodernism and Hong Kong Cinema.” Postmodern Culture, vol. 10, no. 3, May 2000. Project Muse, doi:10.1353/pmc.2000.0021.

Journal article, online or in database, no doi, stable link if available or, if not, other available URL

Goldman, Anne. “Questions of Transport: Reading Primo Levi Reading Dante.” The Georgia Review, vol. 64, no. 1, 2010, pp. 69-88. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41403188.

Journal article, print

Baron, Naomi S. “Redefining Reading: The Impact of Digital Communication Media.” PMLA, vol. 128, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 193-200.

Lecture

Brieger, Brian. “Lecture 3: Recruitment and Involvement of Trainees.” Management 320 course. 28 Jan. 2014, U of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Address.

Citing Criticism from Literature Criticism Online/Gale Literary Sources in MLA Style

Holladay, Hillary. “Narrative Space in Ann Petry’s Country Place.”
Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, edited by Linda Pavlovski and Scott
Darga, vol. 112, Gale, 2002, pp. 356-62. Literature Criticism Online,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=JVPFJB936361473&v=2.1&u=h2o&it=
r&p=GLS&sw=w&asid=ddb4aa8a6683d6872d5e69b99859ca71. Originally
published in Xavier Review, vol. 16, no. 1, 1996, pp. 21-35.

Get Help: Ask a Librarian