MLA 9th Edition Format and Citation Guide

The humanities standard explained: MLA's container system, in-text citations by page number, and the Works Cited page done properly.

MLA (Modern Language Association) style, 9th edition, dominates literature, languages, cultural studies, and much of the humanities. Unlike APA's author–date logic, MLA uses an author–page system, because humanities arguments constantly quote and close-read specific passages.

The Core Logic: Author + Page

In-text citations give the author's surname and the page number, with no comma and no year:

Parenthetical: The novel frames memory as "a rebellious archive" (Ishiguro 112).
Narrative: Ishiguro describes memory as "a rebellious archive" (112).

Two authors: (Gilbert and Gubar 45). Three or more: (Nguyen et al. 90). No page numbers exist for many web sources, then cite the author alone (Sontag).

The Container System

MLA 9's genius is one universal template instead of dozens of source-type rules. Every entry is built from nine elements in fixed order: Author. "Title of Source." Title of Container, Other Contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication Date, Location. A "container" is whatever holds the source, a journal holds an article, a website holds a page, Netflix holds a film. Sources inside two containers (an article in a journal inside JSTOR) simply repeat the container elements.

Worked Examples

Book:
Ishiguro, Kazuo. The Buried Giant. Faber & Faber, 2015.

Journal article in a database (two containers):
Goldman, Anne. "Questions of Transport: Reading Primo Levi Reading Dante." The Georgia Review, vol. 64, no. 1, 2010, pp. 69–88. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41403188.

Webpage:
Hollmichel, Stefanie. "The Reading Brain: Differences between Digital and Print." So Many Books, 25 Apr. 2013, somanybooksblog.com/2013/04/25/the-reading-brain.

Formatting the Paper

No title page by default: your name, instructor, course, and date go top-left of page one, followed by a centred title in plain text.
Double-spaced throughout, 1-inch margins, legible font (Times New Roman 12 is standard).
Header: your surname + page number, top-right of every page.
The source list is titled Works Cited (not References or Bibliography), alphabetised, with hanging indents.

Quotations: MLA's Speciality

Prose quotations longer than four lines become block quotations: indented 1.27 cm, no quotation marks, citation after the final punctuation.
Poetry: up to three lines run into your text with slashes marking line breaks ("line one / line two"). Four or more lines are blocked preserving original lineation.
Use square brackets for alterations and ellipses for omissions, and never let a quotation stand as its own sentence. Integrate it grammatically.

The Nine Elements in Order

MLA 9 replaced dozens of source-type rules with one template. Work through the nine elements in order, skip any that do not apply, and you can cite anything.

#	Element	Punctuation after	Example
1	Author	full stop	Goldman, Anne.
2	Title of source	full stop	"Questions of Transport."
3	Title of container	comma	The Georgia Review,
4	Other contributors	comma	edited by Peter Hall,
5	Version	comma	2nd ed.,
6	Number	comma	vol. 64, no. 1,
7	Publisher	comma	University of Georgia,
8	Publication date	comma	2010,
9	Location	full stop	pp. 69-88.

Where a source sits inside a second container, such as a journal article accessed through JSTOR, repeat elements 3 to 9 for that container. That is the whole trick, and it is why MLA 9 needs no separate rule for databases, streaming services or apps.

In-Text Citation Patterns

Situation	Form
One author	(Ishiguro 112)
Author named in your sentence	Ishiguro describes memory as "a rebellious archive" (112).
Two authors	(Gilbert and Gubar 45)
Three or more	(Nguyen et al. 90)
No page numbers	(Sontag)
Two works by one author	(Ishiguro, Buried Giant 112)
Corporate author	(British Library)
Verse drama	(Shakespeare 3.2.14-18) for act, scene, lines

Note there is never a comma between name and page, and never "p." in the bracket. Both are APA habits that transfer badly.

Works Cited by Source Type

Source	Entry
Book	Ishiguro, Kazuo. The Buried Giant. Faber & Faber, 2015.
Chapter	Marsh, Anne. "Photography and Memory." Visual Cultures, edited by Peter Hall, Routledge, 2019, pp. 84-99.
Article, two containers	Goldman, Anne. "Questions of Transport." The Georgia Review, vol. 64, no. 1, 2010, pp. 69-88. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41403188.
Webpage	Hollmichel, Stefanie. "The Reading Brain." So Many Books, 25 Apr. 2013, somanybooksblog.com/2013/04/25/the-reading-brain.
Film	Parasite. Directed by Bong Joon-ho, Neon, 2019.
Streaming episode	"Ozymandias." Breaking Bad, season 5, episode 14, AMC, 2013. Netflix, www.netflix.com.

MLA drops "http://" and "https://" from URLs in Works Cited, which surprises students used to other styles.

Quotations, MLA's Speciality

Prose over four lines becomes a block quotation: indented, no quotation marks, citation after the final punctuation.
Poetry up to three lines runs into your text with slashes marking line breaks: "line one / line two".
Four or more lines of poetry are blocked, preserving the original lineation.
Square brackets mark your alterations, ellipses mark omissions.
Never let a quotation stand as its own sentence. Integrate it grammatically into yours.

Common Errors and Fixes

Error	Fix
(Ishiguro, 112) with a comma	No comma. (Ishiguro 112)
"p." in the in-text citation	MLA drops it in text, though "pp." appears in Works Cited
Alphabetising by title when an author exists	Alphabetise by author surname
Italicising article titles	Articles take quotation marks. Containers take italics
Calling the list "References" or "Bibliography"	MLA calls it Works Cited
Including "https://" in URLs	MLA omits the protocol
Adding a title page	MLA uses no title page by default. Details go top-left of page one

Country and Discipline Notes

United States: the default in English, literature, languages and much of the humanities, from high school onward.
UK and Ireland: less common than Harvard or MHRA, though it appears in English and American studies.
Canada: widely used in English departments.
Australia and New Zealand: occasional in literature, with Harvard more usual across the humanities.
India: common in English literature programmes, often specified at department level.

Where Ethical Support Fits

Checking your Works Cited against the nine-element template is legitimate, and so is feedback on whether quotations are integrated grammatically. What stays yours is the close reading, because in literary study the interpretation of the quoted passage is the assessment.

Frequently Asked Questions

What if two authors share a surname?

Add first initials to distinguish them, as in (K. Ishiguro 112) and (S. Ishiguro 44), so the reader can tell which entry in Works Cited you mean.

Do I need to cite a work I only mention in passing?

If you name a text without drawing on its content, no citation is needed. As soon as you quote it, paraphrase it, or make a claim about what it says, it needs both an in-text citation and an entry in Works Cited.

How do I quote a play or poem correctly?

Verse drama is cited by act, scene and line rather than page, as in (Shakespeare 3.2.14-18), because line numbering is stable across editions while pagination is not. For poetry, cite line numbers, writing "lines 12-14" the first time and bare numbers thereafter.

Should I use present or past tense when discussing a text?

Present tense, which MLA calls the literary present. Write "Ishiguro frames memory as unreliable" rather than "framed", because the text continues to make its argument every time it is read.

Why does MLA use page numbers rather than years?

Because humanities arguments turn on specific passages. When your paragraph analyses a sentence on page 112, the reader needs to find that sentence. How recent the novel is rarely matters to the argument, so the year does not earn its place in the bracket.

What if the source has no page numbers?

Cite the author alone. MLA does not substitute paragraph numbers unless the source numbers them itself.

How do I cite a source with no author?

Begin with the title, and use a shortened form of the title in the in-text citation.

Do I include the date I accessed a website?

It is optional in MLA 9 but recommended for sources likely to change. Add it at the end as "Accessed 11 Aug. 2026."

What counts as a container?

Whatever holds the source. A journal holds an article, a website holds a page, a streaming service holds an episode.

Is a Works Cited the same as a bibliography?

No. Works Cited lists only what you cited. A bibliography may include works consulted, and MLA does not use one by default.

How do I format the header?

Your surname and the page number, top right of every page. Name, instructor, course and date go top-left of page one only.

Your Next Step Today

Take the most awkward source in your Works Cited, the one you were unsure how to format, and work it through the nine elements in order. Skip what does not apply. The template handles source types no rule list ever covered.

Trusted Sources

MLA Style Center, MLA Handbook, ninth edition, the official authority for the container system. Accessed 11 August 2026.
University of Nevada, Reno, MLA 9 in-text citation guide, author-page patterns. Accessed 11 August 2026.
Bellevue College, MLA 9 Works Cited handout, worked examples. Accessed 11 August 2026.
Royal Literary Fund, MLA, APA, Harvard or MHRA?, on choosing a style by discipline. Accessed 11 August 2026.
Harvard Guide to Using Sources, on discipline defaults. Accessed 11 August 2026.

Departments sometimes modify MLA. Where this guide and your module handbook differ, follow the handbook.