"Better to overcite than undercite" is a wise proverb about research you might hear from fellow students around campus!  When in doubt about providing a citation, it's usually a good idea to go ahead and include one. 

Use the examples on this page to create MLA citations for your Works Cited page and in-text parenthetical documentation.

Did you know librarians help with MLA citations?  We do more than help search!  Click the "Ask A Librarian" button on the right side of the screen to chat with us about MLA.

Scholarly journal article from a library database (JSTOR):

Probst, Jennifer C., et al. "Increase in Numbers and Potential Phenological Adjustment of

Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds (Archilochus Colubris) during Autumn Migration at Hawk

Mountain Sanctuary, Eastern Pennsylvania, 1990–2014." The Wilson Journal of

Ornithology, vol. 129, no. 2,  2017, pp. 360-364. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26429801.

Popular magazine article:

Koren, Marina. “Astronomy’s Most Dazzling Era Is About to Begin.” The Atlantic, 24 Jan. 2022,

www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2022/01/nasa-james-webb-space-telescope-

journey/621352/

Popular newspaper article:

Bakalar, Nicholas. “To Hippos, a Wheeze and a Honk Mean More Than Just ‘Hello!’” The New

York Times, 25 Jan. 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/01/24/science/hippos.html.

Website with author:

Kraizer, Sherryll. Safe Child. Coalition for Children, 2022, www.safechild.org.

Web page with no author:

“Giant Panda.” World Wildlife Fund, 2022, www.worldwildlife.org/species/giant-panda.

MLA Resources

The Basics of MLA Citation: The 9th edition of the MLA Handbook recommends using the following core elements in every citation. If elements are missing from the source, they should be omitted from the citation.

Author.
Title of source.
Title of container,
Other contributors,
Version,
Number,
Publisher,
Publication date
Location.

Note: MLA recommends using hanging indentation for the second and subsequent lines of each entry.