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Citations 101


"MLA" stands for Modern Language Association, and this style of citations is mainly used in literature and the study of world languages.

We recommend that you create all your citations in NoodleTools because that will ensure your citations are in proper MLA format.

In lieu of NoodleTools, we suggest you visit the Purdue Online Writing Lab's MLA overview, which includes specific examples of in-text citations, references, sample papers, and more.


general guidelines

MLA General Guidelines

  • Paper Setup: one inch margins, double spaced, size 12 Times New Roman font
  • Paper Sections: Main Body and Works Cited

MLA In-Text Citations - Basic Guidelines

  • Italicize the titles of books, movies, television series, documentaries, or albums
    • Ex.: Jordan Peele's directorial debut, Get Out, came out in 2017.
  • The titles of short stories, journal articles, specific web pages, and song titles go in quotation marks
    • Ex.: The 1950 film Rashomon is based on Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s “In a Grove,” which was first published in 1922.
  • General author/date formats when summarizing or paraphrasing: Sentence (Lastname page number).
    • Ex.: Paraphrasing is an important skill (Wilcove 76).
    • Ex.: According to Wilcove, paraphrasing is an important skill (76).
  • When there is no author or you have referred to the author within the sentence, use a shortened title of the work instead of an author name: Sentence (Title page number).
    • Ex.: In his book on censorship, Ovenden offers multiple examples of the centrality of books to Jewish religion and culture (Burning the Books 119-120).
  • Block quote only when the quote is four or more lines long. The parenthetical citation for block quotes comes after the closing punctuation: word. (p. 56)

MLA Works Cited - Basic Guidelines

  • Double spaced, alphabetical by author's last name
  • Books: Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. City of Publication, Publisher, Publication Date.
  • Journal Articles: Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Periodical, Day Month Year, pages.
  • Websites: Author. "Title of webpage." Title of website, Publisher, Publication Date, Location (pages, paragraphs and/or URL, DOI or permalink). Date of Access (if applicable).
  • Images/art: Creator. Name of the artwork. Date of creation. Owning institution/museum/gallery, URL.

class handouts

MLA Citation Format for Class Handouts

Works Cited: Teacher last name, first name. "Name of the handout." Class Term and Year. Class Handout, Name of the class.

    • Ex.: Silverman, Russell. "Everything You've Ever Wanted to Know About The Odyssey but Were Afraid to Ask." Winter 2021. Class Handout, Class 9 English.

NoodleTools Steps for Class Handouts:

Select "File, app, or eBook"

  • In the "Type of file/software/app" box, put "Class Handout, Name of the class"
  • List the teacher as "Author" and the title of the handout as the "Title of the document"
  • In the Date written/created box, put in the class term and year.

course packs

MLA Citation for Coursepacks

  • Works Cited: Teacher last name, first name. Name of Course Pack. Name of the class, The Chapin School, Class Term and Year.
    • Ex.: Silverman, Russell. Class 9 English Course Pack. Class 9 English, The Chapin School, Winter 2021.
  • Excerpts in Course Packs:
    • In-text citations: Sentence (Original Author lastname, in Lastname page number).
      • Ex.: The Odyssey is just as much the story of Telemachus (Beard, in Silverman 16).
    • Works Cited: Original Author Last Name, First Name. "Name of Excerpt." Name of Course Pack, by Teacher First Name Last Name, Name of the Class, The Chapin School, Class Term and Year.
      • Ex.: Beard, Mary. "Women and Power." Class 9 English Course Pack, by Russell Silverman, Class 9 English, The Chapin School, Winter 2021.

NoodleTools Steps for a Course Pack:

  • Select "Anthology/Collection"
  • List the original author, title, and publication year in the "Story, Essay, Poem, Longer Work" section
  • Put in the page number(s) of the excerpt for the course pack (not any original page numbers)
  • List the teacher as "Author" and the title of the course pack as the "Title of anthology"
  • Publisher is The Chapin School, Year is the Class term and year, and Publication city is the name of the course