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Assignment | Unit 1 Research (Le): MLA Examples

BIOL 1409 | Prof. Michael Khoa Le (Fall 2025)

Example Citations

Podcast

Niesel, David W. and Norbert K. Herzog. "The Stuff of Life Came from Outer Space." Medical Discovery News, episode 831, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, 21 Oct. 2022, https://www.utmb.edu/mdnews/podcast/episode/the-stuff-of-life-came-from-outer-space.

Parenthetical citation: (Niesel and Herzog). (Niesel and Herzog 0:34-0:37). 

Zukerman, Wendy. "Dire Wolves! They're Back?" Science Vs, Gimlet Media / Spotify Studios, 29 May 2025.

Parenthetical citation: (Zukerman). (Zukerman 14:34).

Video

PBS Space Time. "The Physics of Life (ft. It's Okay to be Smart & PBS Eons!)" YouTube, 11 Apr. 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcfLZSL7YGw.

Parenthetical citation: (PBS Space Time). (PBS Space Time 3:05-3:10). 

Einhorn, Catrin. "They Kindled Froggy Romance and Rescued Eggs to Save a Species in Mississippi." The New York Times, 20 Aug. 2025, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/climate/mississippi-dusky-gopher-frog.html.

Parenthetical citation: (Einhorn).

Denworth, Lydia. "Hotter Nights, Brought on by Climate Change, Pose More Health Threats." Scientific American, edited by Josh Fischman, 17 June 2025, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hotter-nights-after-scorching-days-threaten-heart-health-and-mental-well/.

Parenthetical citation: (Denworth).

Hint: All the library databases offer premade citations for you to copy/paste! Look for a icon or Cite button.
Just double-check them for accuracy against our examples. Most common issue? CAPS LOCK.

Guglielmi, Giorgia. "First Fossil Chromosomes Found In Mammoth Skin." Nature, vol. 631, no. 8022, 2024, pp. 719-720. ProQuest, https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02253-4.

Parenthetical citations: (Guglielmi).  (Guglielmi 720).

Rau, Christoph D., et al. “Modeling Epistasis in Mice and Yeast Using the Proportion of Two or More Distinct Genetic Backgrounds: Evidence for ‘Polygenic Epistasis.’” PLoS Genetics, vol. 16, no. 10, Oct. 2020, pp. 1-18. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1009165.

Parenthetical citations: (Rau et al.).  (Rau et al. 12). (Rau et al. 8-9). 

Textbook

Seeds, Michael A., and Dana Backman. Foundations of Astronomy. 14th ed., Cengage, 2018, https://www.cengage.com/c/foundations-of-astronomy-14e-seeds-backman/9781337399920/.

Parenthetical citation: (Seeds and Backman). (Seeds and Backman ch. 12).

Lectures

Le, Michael Khoa. Lecture. Introduction to a Hypothetical Unit, 28 Aug. 2025, Lone Star College-University Park.

Parenthetical citation: (Le).

Block Quotes

The longer your overall paper, the more room you have to include quotes, including longer quotes. A quote that runs longer than 4 lines of your paper should be showcased as a block quote.

  • Do not add quotation marks.
  • Start the block quote on a new line.
  • The block is evenly indented 0.5" (half an inch) from the margin (1" total from the edge of the page).
  • Do not tab-indent the block quote as for a new paragraph unless you're quoting where it breaks into a new paragraph.
  • Parenthetical citation comes at the end of the block, after the final period/closing punctuation mark.

MLA 9th ed. 6.35

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee emphasizes the importance of moral integrity through Atticus Finch’s words:

We know all men are not created equal in the sense some people would have us believe... But there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal—there is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president. That institution, gentlemen, is a court. (Lee 233)

This moment underscores Atticus’s belief in justice and equality, even in the face of overwhelming prejudice. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.

Tables & Images Inserted in Paper

Place any visuals as close as possible to the relevant parts of your paper they support.

All visuals will be labeled and numbered as well as provide a caption of some kind. The label will depend on the type of visual.

MLA 9th ed. 1.7

How to Add Captions in Word

Example Table 1, Number of Libraries in the US, showing a source and note below the tableTables will be labeled Table # (e.g. Table 1) with a title on the next line. The Table label appears above the actual table.

In a caption below the table, provide the source and any notes you want to add, double-spaced throughout.

You might add a horizontal line below the table to make the caption obviously separate.

Use alphabetical letters to identify each note rather than numbers. (This ensures there's no confusion with the numbers in the table itself.)

 

In-Text

Mention the table in parentheses where relevant. For example,

Public and school libraries make up the majority of the total libraries in the United States (Table 1).

MLA 9th ed. 1.7

More Examples

Any photos, maps, graphs, charts, etc will be labeled as Figures (usually abbreviated as Fig.) and consecutively numbered (e.g. Fig. 1., Fig. 2., and so on). Include a period after the number before the citation or caption.

Below the figure, you'll provide a citation or a caption.

  • If you write a full, proper citation, you don't need to invert the creator's name (that is, the citation will start with Jane Doe rather than Doe, Jane). If you have a full citation with the figure and you didn't otherwise have an in-text citation referring to that source, you don't have to include the figure's citation on the Works Cited.
  • If you just want to provide a caption, include:
    Author Name, Title of the Source, the date of the image (YYYY), and, if relevant, the location of the image.
    • You will need a full citation in the Works Cited as well.

Caption Examples

Photo of a dog named Honey Bun

Fig. 1. John Doe. Therapy Pets Newsletter. 2018, Therapy Pets Pals of Texas.

Fig. 2. Artemisia Gentileschi. Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting. 1638-39, British Royal Collection.

 

Works Cited

Gentileschi, Artemisia. Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting. 1638-39. Google Arts & Culture, https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/self-portrait-as-the-allegory-of-painting-la-pittura/fAHok0QVLkyJXQ.

MLA 9th ed. 1.7

These are labeled Example (usually abbreviated Ex.) and consecutively numbered (Ex. 1, Ex. 2, and so on), and will have a caption beneath the score.

MLA 9th ed. 1.7

Get Your Paper or Presentation Checked for MLA Style