MLA Works Cited PageFROM THE WRITING CENTER@ THE A.R.C.

What is a Works Cited page?A Works Cited page is where you give credit to all the sources you’ve used in your paper

This walkthrough will help you correctly format a Works Cited page in MLA

It will also take you through the methods to cite commonly used sources

Example All font should be Times

New Roman, size 12, double-spaced

“Works Cited” should be centered at the top of the page with no extra space between it and the first source

Sources should be alphabetized by the first item in the citation

The first line of each source should have no indent, while all following lines should have a half-inch hanging indent

Basic Format for Book SourcesLastname, Firstname. Title of Book.

City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication.

As a general rule, if you are missing any piece of information, just leave it out. For example, if you do not know the author of a book source, the first item would be the next piece of information asked for, in this case the Title of Book.

Book Sources with More than One Author

Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring. Boston: Allyn, 2000. Print.

Here, since you have two authors for one source, you would put the first author’s name mentioned in the basic format, and the second (and all following) author’s name(s) in the format of Firstname Lastname. The rest of the format is the same as before.

Basic Format for Periodical Sources

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Periodical Day Month Year: pagescited. Medium of publication (e.g. Print).

For periodicals, the author(s) are formatted in the same way as book sources. Next you have the Title of Periodical, followed by the Day Month and Year, using no punctuation until the colon after the Year, and before the number of the pages cited (e.g. 81-90). If the periodical is a newspaper, you need to identify the edition following the date (e.g. 17 May 1987, late ed.). The pagination is also different (e.g. A11).

Basic Format for Electronic Sources

This is how you would cite an entire website. Again, the name of the author(s) is formatted as usual. Usually, you will be missing one piece of the information. If that is the case, just omit it. Use “n.p.” if no publisher is given, and “n.d.” if no date of creation is provided. MLA no longer requires that you provide the URL, but always ask if your professor wants it. If so, put it in <angled brackets> after the Date of access.

Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site. Version number. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available). Medium of publication (e.g. Web, for “web publications”). Date of access.

Oral Presentations (Speeches/Lectures)

Lastname, Firstname. “Title of Speech (if any)." Name of meeting/organization. Location, City, State (abbreviated). Day Month Year. Type.

Start with the name of the speaker, and follow with the title of the speech, if there is one. Next comes the name of the meeting, the location, city, and state (which should be abbreviated). End with the date of the speech, and the type (e.g., Address, Lecture, Reading, Keynote Speech, Guest Lecture, Conference Presentation).

Personal Interviews

Lastname, Firstname. Personal interview. Day Month Year.

Start with the name of your interviewee, follow with “Personal interview,” and end with the date the interview takes place.

Recorded Films or MoviesTitle of Movie/Film. Dir. Firstname Lastname. Perf.

Firstname Lastname, Firstname Lastname, and Firstname Lastname. Distributer, Year. Medium of publication (e.g. DVD, VHS, Laser disc).

Following the title of the work, abbreviate director as “Dir.” After the director’s name, abbreviate performers as “perf.”, and list the most prominent performers in the film. If the movie has not been released from theaters yet, the medium of publication is Film.

Conclusion Now you know how to properly format a Works Cited page You also know the basic citation formats for commonly

used sources Note that some online databases will provide citations for

you There are also websites that can help you cite more

complicated sources (such as EasyBib.com) Always be sure to give credit for work that is not your own