New edition
The Modern Language Association (MLA) published the 9th edition of the MLA Handbook in 2021.
For current information on MLA style, all students should use our MLA Referencing Guide.
Only continuing students who have already commenced theses or other major works should continue to use this MLA 8th - Referencing Guide,
This guide to the 8th edition is no longer being updated and will be withdrawn on December 17, 2021.
About MLA Style
There are two parts to referencing: the citations within the text of your paper and the works cited list at the end of your paper.
The aim of the MLA style is to be brief and to provide only as much detail as is necessary to identify the work cited and the location of the information in that work. The flow of the text should not be interrupted.
Use only the surname of the author(s) followed by the page, chapter or section numbers if you need to be specific:
No distinction is made between books, journal articles, internet documents or other formats except for electronic documents that do not provide page numbers. In this case use the paragraph number, if available, with the abbreviation par.
The full details of the source are given in a works cited list at the end of the document.
References in the Works Cited list contain all of the information that someone needs to locate your source and are arranged alphabetically by author:
See Works Cited List Entries or All Examples for details on how to construct references for specific resources such as books, journals and web pages.
Important Information
Created July 2010; modified July 2019
When using EndNote referencing software, please use the following output style - MLA. For information about EndNote, please see the EndNote Guide.
Please remember to check with your unit co-ordinator or tutor before submitting your assignments, as their style preference may vary from the guidelines presented here.
Acknowledgement
This referencing guide follows the principles and examples given in the MLA Handbook (8th ed., 2016) and the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (3rd ed., 2008).
The Modern Language Association (MLA) published the 9th edition of the MLA Handbook in 2021. For current information on MLA style, all students should use our MLA Referencing Guide. Only continuing students who have already commenced theses or other major works should continue to use this MLA 8th - Referencing Guide, This guide to the 8th edition is no longer being updated and will be withdrawn on December 17, 2021.