MLA 9th edition: Citation Basics

Contributor: Ethan Schlobohm

Core Elements of MLA Citations

Writing a citation in any style can feel daunting at first, but the MLA 9th edition can feel especially dense due to its unique way of organizing citations.

Instead of having concrete citation formats for each type of source (books, articles, movies, etc.), MLA uses what it calls the “nine core elements” of a citation to allow writers to cite any source, whether it is a book, TV show, Twitter post, etc. Included in these elements are some familiar terms (like authors and titles) as well as some unfamiliar terms (like containers).

This guide will take you through formatting an MLA 9th edition citation while clarifying some of these new concepts.

A typical MLA 9th edition citation will look something like this: 

Author. “Title of Source.” Title of Container, Contributor(s), Version, Number, Publisher, Publication Date, Location.

Author

The author of a source is the primary creator of that text (or film, song, etc.). For example, John Green is the author of The Fault in Our Stars, and Jimmy Buffett is the author of Margaritaville.

• Author(s) are cited as: Last Name, First Name Middle Initial.
  • Green, John M.
• Works with two authors are separated by a comma and the word “and”
  • Green, John M., and Hank Green.
• Works with three or more authors have only the first author followed by et al.
  • Green, John M., et al.

Title of Source

The title of a source is the name of whatever you are citing. This could be the title of a book, one of its chapters, a song, an essay title, etc.

• Titles are formatted in title case (using capital letters for principal words but not conjunctions, prepositions, or articles) and are placed in quotes.
  • Green, John M. “The Fault in Our Stars.”

Title of Container

A container is any work that has (or contains) another work within it. For example, a book is the container of all of its chapters, an anthology is the container of any of its essays, an album is the container of any of its songs, and a journal is the container of the articles published within that journal.

• Containers are written in italics and followed by a comma.
  • Hank, Green. “Chapter One.” An Absolutely Remarkable Thing,
  • Lerner, Josh, and Ramana Nanda. “Venture Capital's Role in Financing Innovation: What We Know and How Much We Still Need to Learn.” The Journal of Economic Perspectives,

Contributor(s)

A contributor is any individual who contributed to the creation of a work without being its primary author. For example, the editors of an anthology would be listed as contributors. The directors, producers, etc. of a film would also count as contributors.

• Contributors are cited using the format: _____-ed by Full Name,
  • “Captain America: Winter Soldier.” Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, produced by Kevin Feige,
  • Marx, Karl. “The German Ideology.” Literary Theory: An Anthology, edited by Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan,
    • Tip: Try to focus on major contributors (like directors) and contributors who are most relevant to your use of a work.
      • For example, if you are analyzing the dialogue of a film, its writers might be the most important contributors.
      • If you are analyzing the choreography of a ballet recital, then the choreographer might be the most important contributor.

Version

The version is listed if a given work has been published in multiple forms or formats. For example, a textbook with multiple editions or a re-release of a movie are works with multiple versions.

• Version numbers are formatted using ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, etc.). “Revised” and “Edition” are abbreviated as “Rev.” and “ed.”
  • Marx, Karl. “The German Ideology.” Literary Theory: An Anthology, edited by Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan, 3rd ed.,

Number

The number of a source is listed if that single work is presented over several physical (or digital) copies. For example, an encyclopedia set often has several volumes, and the bonus scenes of a movie may be on a second disc in the same case.

• Numbers are formatted using Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc). The words “volume” and “number” are abbreviated as “vol.” and “no.”
  • Lousley, Cheryl. “Toxic Comedy.” Alternatives Journal, Vol. 29, no. 1,
• When citing a work that uses alternative names for volume/ number equivalents, default to the language used by that source.
  • “Hush.” Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon, season 4, episode 10,
    • Note: In this case, both the season number and episode number are considered “numbers” in MLA.

Publisher

The publisher of a work is the person or group primarily responsible for making that work available to the public. For example, Penguin Random House is responsible for publishing many different books, The Food Network would be the publisher of Iron Chef, a theater company might be the publisher of a play that they produced, and Twitter is the publisher of all tweets.

• Green, John. “Chapter One.” The Fault in Our Stars, Dutton Books,
• “I am shiny and fast!” Twitter,

Publication Date

The publication date of a work is the time at which a given version of the work was made available to the public. A general rule of thumb is to include the most specific date that your source does, so if it includes the day, you should too.

• Books typically only include a year
  • Green, John. “Chapter One.” The Fault in Our Stars, Dutton Books, 2012
• Academic journal articles may include a year and season
  • Lerner, Josh, and Ramana Nanda. “Venture Capital's Role in Financing Innovation: What We Know and How Much We Still Need to Learn.” The Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 35, No. 3, summer 2020,
• Online news articles often include much more specific publication dates.
  • Robinson, Harriet, and Jude Holden. “Wiltshire Breaking Green Promises, Campaigners Say.” BBC News, 25 Oct. 2022 1:31 pm.,

Location

The location of a source refers, broadly, to where the specific version (used by you, the writer) of a source was found. This means that locations can come in many forms. Some sources also have multiple locations (see: Multiple Containers, below).

• DOI number
  • McGurl, Mark. “The Posthuman Comedy.” Critical Inquiry, vol. 38, no. 3, The University of Chicago Press, pp. 533-553, JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.1086/664550.
• Link:
  • Robinson, Harriet, and Holden, Jude. “Wiltshire Breaking Green Promises, Campaigners Say.” BBC News, 25 Oct. 2022 1:31 pm., https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-wiltshire-63383700.
• Page Numbers:
  • Green, John. “Chapter One.” The Fault in Our Stars, Dutton Books, 2012, pp. 3-21.

Multiple Containers

Some works can be nested within multiple containers. For example, many journal articles are published in a specific journal and stored in databases. Both the journal and database, in this case, count as a container.

While this may sound complex, the general formatting rules still apply; the second container and its subsequent information are simply placed after the location of the first container.

• Journal article with multiple containers (Container 1: Alternatives Journal; Container 2: JSTOR)
  • Lousley, Cheryl. “Toxic Comedy.” Alternatives Journal, Vol. 29, No. 1, Alternatives Inc., winter 2003, pp. 35-36. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/45034224.
• Chapter of a book accessed online (Container 1: The Magicians; Container 2: Internet Archive)
  • Grossman, Lev. “Brooklyn.” The Magicians, Viking Press, 2009, pp. 11-29. Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/lev-grossman-the-magicians.

Supplemental Elements

Supplemental elements are pieces of information that do not fit any of the nine core elements but help to clarify important information. Supplemental elements can be placed in different locations depending on what information they are clarifying.

• If a supplemental element applies to a specific work but not its container, it is placed directly after the title of that work. For example, the translator of a specific essay in an anthology would be supplemental information.
  • Lacan, Jaques. “The Mirror Stage as Formative of the I as Revealed in Psychoanalytic Experience.” Translated by Alan Sheridan, Literary Theory: An Anthology, edited by Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan, 3rd ed., Wiley-Blackwell, 2017, pp. 618-623.
• If a supplemental element applies to an entire works cited entry, it is placed at the end. For example, if you are citing an online work that is regularly updated, the date that you accessed the source would be a supplemental element.
  • “Pedro Pascal.” IMDb, Amazon, 2023, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0050959/?ref_=tt_cl_t_1. Accessed 13 Apr. 2023.

Works Cited

“Interactive Practice Template.” MLA Style Center, Modern Language Association of America, 2022, https://style.mla.org/interactive-practice-template/.

“The List of Works Cited.” MLA Handbook, 9th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2021, pp. 105-226.