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Home » Writer's Handbook » MLA Documentation

MLA Documentation Guide

Introduction

MLA documentation is commonly used in English and foreign language and literature courses, as well as in other disciplines in the humanities. If you're not sure if you're supposed to be using MLA style, consult with your instructor.

In the 2009 MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (New York: MLA), the MLA recommends the use of a parenthetical system of documentation. Information about other systems of documentation appears in Appendix B of the manual. These systems include Endnotes and Footnotes, Author-Date System, and Number System.

With the MLA parenthetical system, you will place citations in parentheses within your text to point to sources in an alphabetized list of works cited that appears at the end of your paper.

Notes--numbered consecutively throughout your paper--may still be used for explanation or comment that the paper itself cannot accommodate.

Table of Contents

• General information about MLA parenthetical citations
• Citing books, articles, and other sources parenthetically in your paper
• Formatting quotations according to the MLA guidelines
• Abbreviating references to your sources
• Creating an MLA works cited page
• Article
• Short Story
• Book
• Government publication, encyclopedia entry
• Personal interview, film, tv program
• Electronic source