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Citations: MLA Style (9th ed.)

A guide to writing and citing in MLA format.

Do I Need a Title Page?

Official MLA style does not include a title page. However, some instructors may like having one. If you have any doubts, check with your professor to find out what they want and, if they do want a title page, what kind of information they want on it.

Document Set Up

Font

  • Times New Roman
  • 12 point

Line Spacing

  • Double-spaced: including title, headings, citations, and all text lines of the paper (i.e. everything!)

Margins

  • 1-inch margins all the way around (this is probably the default of your program)

Alignment

  • Do not justify the right margin (make the right margin even); for text use flush left
  • Do not divide words at the end of a line (do not use hyphenation)

First Page

Start off with a four-line heading in the upper left corner (but not inside the margin) of your first page, including: your name, your professor's name, your course, and the assignment due date.

Doe 1

Jane Doe

Prof. Smith

ENGL 1301.6001

13 Oct. 2021

Title of Your Paper

Don't label any of these elements! Just list the info itself. It will be double-spaced

Inside the margin/header, in the upper right corner, you'll include your last name and page number.

 

Last Page: Works Cited

The Works Cited should be its own page and not be combined with the final page of your paper. Center the title on the top line. If you only used one source, the title should reflect that as Work Cited rather than Works Cited. No other formatting should be done.

References should be listed in alphabetical order by whatever the first name or word is. A work without an author will be alphabetized by the first word of the article title.

All references will be double-spaced, just like everything else. They will also use a hanging indent.

Doe 5

Works Cited

Avirgan, Jody. "Not All Privacy Policies Are Created Equal." FiveThirtyEight, 12 Feb. 2016, fivethirtyeight.com/features/not-all-privacy-policies-are-created-equal.

Jackson, Michael, and Paul Lieber. “Countering Disinformation: Are We Our Own Worst Enemy?” The Cyber Defense Review, vol. 5, no. 2, 2020, pp. 45–56. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26923521.

Basic rules:

  • Authors names are always given last name first. If you have multiple authors, the subsequent authors will be FirstName LastName order.
  • Dates are written as day month year, with the month abbreviated. ex, 28 Jan. 2014.
  • Article titles go inside quotation marks and have regular capitalization. Website names and magazine/newspaper/journal names will be properly capitalized, as well.
  • If information is missing, skip that element and go on to the next. Exception: you'll use n.p. if there's no publisher and n.d. if there's no publication date.

The other pages of this guide will help you create the citations themselves. If you need additional help, please get in touch with a librarian!