An MLA 8 citation is built from nine core elements, such as author, title and container, listed in a fixed order. In the text, you cite the author's surname and a page number.
MLA 8 was published in 2016 and introduced the core-elements system that MLA 9 (2021) still uses. This guide explains how MLA 8 citations work, with examples, and notes where to check MLA 9 if your course has moved on.
How an MLA 8 Citation Is Built
Author. Title of source. Title of container, Other contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location.
In text: (Author page), for example (Hale 34)
Include only the elements that apply to your source, in this order, with the punctuation shown. End the entry with a full stop. Every Works Cited entry must match at least one citation in your text.
What Is MLA 8th Edition?
The MLA Handbook, 8th edition, replaced a long list of format rules for each source type with one flexible method. Instead of looking up "how to cite a blog comment", you identify the source's elements and list them in order.
It also simplified older rules. MLA 8 dropped the medium of publication (such as "Print" or "Web"), usually omitted the city of publication, added the labels "vol." and "no.", and encouraged URLs or DOIs for online sources.
| Change in MLA 8 | Earlier practice (MLA 7) |
|---|---|
| No medium of publication | "Print." or "Web." at the end |
| City of publication usually left out | City given for books |
| "et al." for three or more authors | "et al." for four or more |
| "vol." and "no." labels for journals | Numbers such as 13.2 |
| URLs or DOIs included for online sources | URLs optional |
The Nine Core Elements
| Element | What it is | Punctuation after it |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Author | Surname, first name of the person or group responsible | Full stop |
| 2. Title of source | The work you are citing: article, chapter, page, book | Full stop |
| 3. Title of container | The larger work holding it: journal, website, anthology | Comma |
| 4. Other contributors | Editors, translators, directors | Comma |
| 5. Version | Edition, such as 2nd ed. or updated ed. | Comma |
| 6. Number | Volume and issue, or season and episode | Comma |
| 7. Publisher | Organization that produced the work | Comma |
| 8. Publication date | Date the version was published | Comma |
| 9. Location | Page range, DOI, URL or place | Full stop |
Titles of whole works, such as books and journals, are italic. Titles of parts, such as articles, chapters and web pages, go in quotation marks. MLA uses title case for all titles.
The Container System
A container is whatever holds your source. An article sits in a journal; a chapter sits in an edited book; a web page sits in a website; an episode sits in a series.
Sometimes there are two containers. A journal article read in a database sits in the journal, which sits in the database. List the first container's elements, then add the second container's title and location.
Two containers: Mensah, Abena. "Rewriting the Harbor Town." Journal of Coastal Literature, vol. 13, no. 2, 2017, pp. 211–36. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/xxxxx.
The details are invented to show the pattern. The first container is the journal; the second is the database where you read it.
In-Text Citations: Author and Page
MLA in-text citations give the author's surname and the page number, with no comma between them. If you name the author in your sentence, give only the page.
Parenthetical: The harbor is described as "a ledger of losses" (Mensah 218).
Narrative: Mensah describes the harbor as "a ledger of losses" (218).
Two authors: (Hale and Ward 34)
Three or more authors: (Hale et al. 34)
No author: ("Visiting Hours")
Two works by one author: (Mensah, "Rewriting" 218)
For sources without page numbers, such as most web pages, cite the author alone. Do not invent page numbers from a printout. Place the citation at the end of the clause it supports, before the full stop.
Examples: Books, Articles and Websites
Books
One author: Hale, Rose. Rivers and Cities. Northgate Press, 2016.
Two authors: Hale, Rose, and Tom Ward. Rivers and Cities. Northgate Press, 2016.
Three or more: Hale, Rose, et al. Rivers and Cities. Northgate Press, 2016.
Chapter in an edited book: Bose, Ravi. "The Drowned Market." Stories of the Delta, edited by Kemi Adeyemi, Harbor Books, 2015, pp. 45–67.
Journal Articles
Mensah, Abena. "Rewriting the Harbor Town." Journal of Coastal Literature, vol. 13, no. 2, 2017, pp. 211–36.
Websites
Okonjo, Lina. "How Tides Shape Coastal Towns." Ocean Matters, 18 May 2017, www.example.org/tides.
All titles and names above are invented. MLA abbreviates months longer than four letters, such as Feb. and Sept., and usually omits "https://" from URLs.
Films, Episodes, Videos and Other Sources
The core elements cover any source, which is the main strength of MLA 8. Ask the same questions each time: who made it, what is it called, what holds it, and when and where was it published?
Film: Harbor Lights. Directed by Kemi Adeyemi, Northgate Pictures, 2015.
TV episode: "The Flood." River Town, season 2, episode 4, Coastline Studios, 2016.
Online video: "How Estuaries Work." YouTube, uploaded by Ocean Matters, 3 Mar. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxxxx.
Poem in an anthology: Ward, Tom. "Low Tide." New Coastal Poems, edited by Rose Hale, Harbor Books, 2014, p. 12.
All examples are invented. For a film, start with the title if you are discussing the work as a whole; start with the director's name if your paper focuses on their role.
For time-based media, in-text citations can give a time range instead of a page, for example ("The Flood" 00:12:05–00:14:30).
Works Cited Page Layout
- Start a new page titled Works Cited, centered, not bold or italic.
- Double space the whole list, with no extra lines between entries.
- Use a hanging indent of half an inch.
- Alphabetize by the first word of each entry, usually the author's surname.
- For several works by one author, give the name in the first entry and three hyphens in later ones.
Use "Works Cited" for sources you cite. A list that includes uncited background reading is called "Works Consulted", but most assignments ask only for Works Cited.
MLA 8 Versus MLA 9
MLA 9, published in 2021, kept the core elements and the in-text citation format, so an MLA 8 paper looks almost identical to an MLA 9 paper. The changes are mainly additions and clarifications.
- Much more guidance and many more examples, including for social media and other new formats.
- A new chapter on inclusive language.
- Expanded guidance on notes, formatting and annotated bibliographies.
If your course says simply "MLA", check whether it means the current edition. When unsure, follow MLA 9, since the core of both editions is the same. Our free citation generator builds MLA references from a DOI, ISBN or URL.
Common MLA 8 Mistakes
| Mistake | Correct form |
|---|---|
| (Mensah, 218) | (Mensah 218), no comma |
| (Mensah p. 218) | (Mensah 218), no "p." |
| "Print." at the end of a book entry | Leave out the medium |
| Journal numbers as 13.2 | vol. 13, no. 2 |
| Article title in italics | Quotation marks for parts, italics for wholes |
| Works Cited in bold | Plain, centered heading |
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Frequently Asked Questions
Author, title of source, title of container, other contributors, version, number, publisher, publication date and location.
Some courses still specify it, but MLA 9 (2021) is the current edition. The two share the same core system.
Give the first author's name, reversed, followed by "et al.", for example Hale, Rose, et al.
Usually not. MLA 8 dropped the city for most books.
It is optional in MLA 8, but useful for web sources without a publication date.
Give the author's name only. You can add a section or paragraph label if the source numbers them.
The larger work that holds your source, such as a journal for an article or a website for a page.
Yes, MLA 8 recommends URLs or DOIs for online sources, usually without "https://".
Use line numbers for poems and act, scene and line numbers for verse plays, rather than page numbers, once you have stated that you are using them.
Start the Works Cited entry with the title, and use a shortened title in the in-text citation.