Systems Engineering - UA Yuma

See the MLA Formatting and Style Guide from Purdue OWL.

The MLA (Modern Language Association) citation style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities. The style guide at Purdue OWL is updated to reflect the MLA Handbook (8th ed.) and offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes, footnotes, and works cited pages.

Use the link at the top of the page to get comprehensive guidance on using MLA format.

Creating a works cited page in MLA

The current MLA system is based on a few principles, rather than an extensive list of specific rules. While the handbook still gives examples of how to cite sources, it is organized according to the process of documentation, rather than by the sources themselves. This process teaches you a flexible method that is universally applicable. Once you are familiar with the method, you can use it to document any type of source for any type of paper in any field.

Here is a quick overview of the process:

When deciding how to cite your source, start by consulting the list of core elements. These are the general pieces of information that MLA suggests including in each citation. In your citation, the elements should be listed in the following order:

1. Author.
2. Title of source.
3. Title of container,
4. Other contributors,
5. Version,
6. Number,
7. Publisher,
8. Publication date,
9. Location.

Each element should be followed by the punctuation mark shown above.