Skip to Main Content

MLA Style

This guide is intended to help you cite sources in MLA style, avoid plagiarism, learn what MLA style is and includes, find examples of MLA style, lead you to campus resources that can help you cite sources in MLA, and more.

Journal Articles

Print Article by a Single Author

General Format:

AuthorLastName, AuthorFirstName. "Title of Article." Title of Journal, vol. vol#, no. issue#, Date, pp. #-#. 

For Example:

Mikulan, Krunoslav. "Harry Potter through the Focus of Feminist Literary Theory: Examples of (Un)Founded Criticism." Journal of International Social Research, vol. 2, no. 9,  Nov. 2009, pp. 288-298.

See note ¹

 

Electronic Article by a Single Author

General Format:

AuthorLastName, AuthorFirstName. "Title of Article." Title of Journal, vol. vol#, no. issue#, Date, pp. #-#. Database, stableURL(without the http://) or DOI.

For Example:

Mikulan, Krunoslav. "Harry Potter through the Focus of Feminist Literary Theory: Examples of (Un)Founded Criticism." Journal of International Social Research, vol. 2, no. 9,  Nov. 2009, pp. 288-298. EBSCO, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edo&AN=45126533&site=eds-live&scope=site.

 

Print Article by Two Authors

General Format:

AuthorLastNameA, AuthorFirstNameA, and AuthorFirstNameB AuthorLastNameB. "Title of Article." Title of Journal, vol. vol#, no. issue#, Date, pp. #-#. 

For Example:

Lewin, Beverly A., and Perpignan, H. "Recruiting the Reader in Literary Criticism." Text & Talk, vol. 32, no. 6, Nov. 2012, pp. 751-772. 

See note ²

 

Electronic Article by Two Authors

General Format:

AuthorLastNameA, AuthorFirstNameA, and AuthorFirstNameB AuthorLastNameB. "Title of Article." Title of Journal, vol. vol#, no. issue#, Date, pp. #-#. Database, stableURL(without the http://) or DOI.

For Example:

Lewin, Beverly A., and Perpignan, H. "Recruiting the Reader in Literary Criticism." Text & Talk, vol. 32, no. 6, Nov. 2012, pp. 751-772. ProQuest, doi:10.1515/text-2012-0035.

 

Print Article by Three or More Authors

General Format:

AuthorLastNameA, Author FirstNameA, et al. "Title of Article." Title of Journal, vol. vol#, no. issue#, Date, pp. #-#. 

For Example:

Brown, Stephen, et al. "I Can't Believe It's Not Bakhtin!: Literary Theory, Postmodern Advertising, and the Gender Agenda." Journal of Advertising, vol. 28, no. 1, Spring 1999, pp. 11-24. 

See note ³

 

Electronic Article by Three or More Authors

General Format:

AuthorLastNameA, AuthorFirstNameA, et al. "Title of Article." Title of Journal, vol. vol#, no. issue#, Date, pp. #-#. Database, stableURL(without the http://) or DOI.

For Example:

Brown, Stephen, et al. "I Can't Believe It's Not Bakhtin!: Literary Theory, Postmodern Advertising, and the Gender Agenda." Journal of Advertising, vol. 28, no. 1, Spring 1999, pp. 11-24. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4189097.

See note ¹¹

 

¹ For more information see page 32 of the MLA Handbook 8th edition.

² See page 21 of the MLA Handbook to see how to format sources with two authors.

³ See page 22 of the MLA Handbook to see how to format sources with three or more authors.

¹¹ If a source is only one page, use p. instead of pp. See page 46 of the MLA Handbook 8th edition for more information.