Works Cited Page Layout Rules
The Works Cited page follows strict physical formatting that most instructors mark on sight. These rules apply regardless of the source types you are citing.
| Rule | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Page margins | 1 inch on all four sides |
| Font | Times New Roman 12pt (or same readable font used throughout the paper) |
| Line spacing | Double-spaced throughout — including between entries, no extra blank lines |
| Hanging indent | First line flush left; all continuation lines indented 0.5 inches |
| Page heading | "Works Cited" centred on its own line — no bold, no underline, no quotes |
| Sort order | Alphabetical by first word of entry (usually author last name); ignore "A," "An," "The" |
| Page number | Continues from your paper; top-right corner as "LastName PageNumber" (e.g., Smith 7) |
| Multiple works, same author | After the first entry, replace author name with three hyphens (---) followed by a period |
Element Punctuation Rules
MLA 8 uses a specific punctuation mark after each of its nine core elements. Getting these right is the difference between a correctly formatted entry and one that loses marks. The punctuation is not optional — it tells the reader which container the element belongs to.
| Element | What It Is | Punctuation That Follows |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Author | Person(s) responsible for the source | Period . |
| 2. Title of Source | The specific work you are citing | Period . (or comma if source is part of a container) |
| 3. Title of Container | The larger whole that contains the source | Comma , |
| 4. Other Contributors | Editors, translators, illustrators, directors | Comma , |
| 5. Version | Edition, revised version, director's cut | Comma , |
| 6. Number | Volume and/or issue number for a series | Comma , |
| 7. Publisher | Organisation responsible for producing the source | Comma , |
| 8. Publication Date | When the source was published | Comma , (or period if the last element in the container) |
| 9. Location | Page numbers, DOI, URL, or physical place | Period . |
After element 9 closes a container with a period, if there is a second container (e.g., a database), you begin again at element 3 (container title) and work through 4–9 for that second layer.
Title Formatting Rules
How you format a title signals whether the work stands alone or is part of a larger container. The rule is simple: standalone works are italicised; contained works are in "double quotation marks."
| Source Type | Format | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Book (standalone) | Italics | Beloved |
| Journal (standalone) | Italics | PMLA |
| Newspaper (standalone) | Italics | The Guardian |
| Website / database (standalone) | Italics | JSTOR, Wikipedia |
| Album / film / TV series (standalone) | Italics | The Crown |
| Journal article (contained) | Quotation marks | "Memory and Narrative" |
| Book chapter (contained) | Quotation marks | "Introduction" |
| Web page (contained in site) | Quotation marks | "About Us" |
| TV episode (contained in series) | Quotation marks | "The Bridge" |
| Short story / poem (contained in anthology) | Quotation marks | "The Dead" |
In-Text Citation Format
MLA 8 in-text citations are parenthetical and placed immediately after the relevant passage, before the final period. The standard form is (Author LastName PageNumber) — no comma between them.
| Scenario | Format | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 author | (LastName Page) | (Achebe 22) |
| 2 authors | (LastName and LastName Page) | (Lorde and Rich 88) |
| 3 or more authors | (First LastName et al. Page) | (Bhabha et al. 14) |
| Author named in sentence | (Page) | As Woolf notes, "…" (43). |
| No author — article title | (Shortened Title Page) | ("Migration" 7) |
| No author — book title | (Shortened Title Page) | (Oxford Guide 112) |
| No page numbers (website) | (LastName) or (Title) | (Gladwell) |
| Multivolume work | (LastName vol: page) | (James 2: 56) |
| Block quotation (4+ lines) | Citation after final period of block | …end of block. (Author Page) |
Author Name Formatting
Element 1 (Author) has specific formatting rules depending on how many authors a source has and what kind of entity produced it.
| Scenario | Works Cited Format | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 author | Last, First. | Achebe, Chinua. |
| 2 authors | Last, First, and First Last. | Woolf, Virginia, and E. M. Forster. |
| 3+ authors | First author Last, First, et al. | Smith, John, et al. |
| Corporate / institutional author | Organisation name as-is, then period. | World Health Organization. |
| No author | Skip element 1; start with title | "AI in Education." Nature, … |
| Editor (whole edited book) | Last, First, editor. | Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., editor. |
| Translator | Translated by First Last (element 4) | translated by Gregory Rabassa, |
| Author with suffix (Jr., III) | Last, First, Suffix. | Kennedy, Robert F., Jr. |
Complete Source Examples
Journal Article (Print)
Format: Author. "Article Title." Journal Title, vol. #, no. #, Year, pp. #–#.
Book (Single Author)
Format: Author. Book Title. Publisher, Year.
Chapter in an Edited Book
Format: Author. "Chapter Title." Book Title, edited by First Last, Publisher, Year, pp. #–#.
Website Page with Author
Format: Author. "Page Title." Website Name, Day Month Year, URL.
Formatting Errors: Before and After
These are the six most penalised formatting errors in MLA 8 papers, shown with the incorrect version alongside the corrected version.
MLA does not use parentheses around the year. The date is element 8, separated by commas, not APA-style.
Journal title must be italicised; include the publication year; use en dash (–) not hyphen (-) for page ranges.
MLA 8 drops the city of publication entirely. Do not include it.
No comma between author name and page number in MLA. That comma belongs to APA (author, year).
"Retrieved from" is APA language. MLA lists the URL directly, without introductory text, as the location element.
Achebe, Chinua…
Morrison, Toni…
Achebe, Chinua…
Morrison, Toni…
No extra blank lines between entries. The entire list is uniformly double-spaced — the same spacing within and between every entry.
Optional Elements
MLA 8 recognises that some information, while not required, helps readers locate or understand a source. These are added after element 9 (location) if they add meaningful context.
| Optional Element | When to Include | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Access date | When content may change (wikis, personal sites) or when instructor requires it | Accessed 14 Jan. 2025. |
| City of publication | Only for historical works (pre-1900) where city helps identify the publisher | London, |
| Descriptive label | When format is not obvious — lecture, map, photograph, interview | Photograph. or Lecture. |
| Original publication date | When citing a reprinted or republished classic and the original date matters | 1813; Oxford UP, 2008. |
| Series title and number | For works in a numbered series (e.g., monograph series) | Cambridge Studies in Linguistics, vol. 43, |
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