References are key to providing your readers with the information they need to look up the sources (articles, books, websites, etc.) you used for your paper. References also act to boost the credibility of your research and writing.
Reference Citations are the citations included at the end of your paper in the Works Cited List, whereas In-Text Citations are the citations you include within the body paragraphs of your paper.
Power Tip: Be sure that your Works Cited Citations are consistent with your In-Text Citations. Learn more about In-Text Citations here.
Reference Citations are formatted differently depending on what type of source you are citing. Below are the formats for how to cite common sources in MLA. If you have a question about how to cite a source that is not included here, please check out the links at the bottom of this page and/or reach out to us at libhelp@egcc.edu.
BOOK WITH ONE AUTHOR
Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date.
Example:
O’Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.
BOOK CHAPTER
Last Name, First Name. "Title of Chapter." Title of Collection, edited by Editor’s Name(s)*, Publisher, Year, pp. Page range of entry.
* If you are unable to locate the name of the editor or if there is no editor this may be omitted
Example:
Burling, Alexis. “Literary Fiction.” Women in Literature, Adbo Publishing, 2017, pp. 15-23.
BOOK WITH TWO AUTHORS
Last Name, First Name, and First Name Last Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Year.
Example:
Skapura, Robert, and John Marlowe. Literature: A Student's Guide to Research and Writing. Libraries Unlimited, 1988.
ARTICLE IN ELECTRONIC JOURNAL, WITH MULTIPLE AUTHORS
Last Name, First Name, et al. "Title of Article." Title of Journal, vol. #, no. # (this is the issue #), Publication Year, pp. page range, DOI or permalink.
PLEASE NOTE: If a source has three or more authors, only the first author shown in the source is given, followed by et al.
Example:
Kilibarda, Zoran, et al. “Changes in Beach Gravel Lithology Caused by Anthropogenic Activities along the Southern Coast of Lake Michigan, USA.” Environmental Earth Sciences, vol. 71, no. 3, Feb. 2014, pp. 1249–66, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-013-2529-2.
AN ENTIRE WEBSITE
Author Last Name, First Name (if available). Website Title/Name. Name of Institution/Organization Affiliated with the Site (Sponsor or Publisher), Date of resource creation (if available), DOI (preferred), otherwise include a URL (without https://). Date of access (use for sources updated frequently).
Example:
The Pluralism Project. Harvard University, pluralism.org. Accessed 4 Feb. 2022.
AN INDIVIDUAL WEBPAGE ON A WEBSITE
Author Last Name, First Name (if available). “Title/Name of Page or Article.” Title/Name of Site. Sponsor or Publisher, Date of resource creation (if available), DOI (preferred), otherwise include a URL (without https://). Date of access (if applicable – use for sources that are updated frequently).
Example:
“Humanist History.” The Pluralism Project. Harvard University, pluralism.org/humanist-history. Accessed 4 Feb. 2022.
YOUTUBE OR OTHER STREAMING VIDEOS
Creator's Last Name, First Name (if applicable). “Title of Video.” Name of Streaming Service, uploaded by Username (if applicable), Date uploaded (formatted like 3 July 2012), URL (without https://).
PLEASE NOTE: If the author’s name is the same as the uploader, only cite the author once. If the author is different from the uploader, cite the author’s name before the title.
Example:
EGCC Library and Information Commons. “A 30-Minute Guide to Conducting Research.” YouTube, 28 April 2021, youtu.be/eglRlxz8AdM.
CLASSROOM POWERPOINT PRESENTATION
Instructor’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Presentation.” Title of Course, Date of presentation (if available), College Name. Microsoft PowerPoint presentation.
Example:
Engel, Susan. “Microeconomics: An Introduction.” Microeconomics, 4 Feb. 2022, Eastern Gateway Community College. Microsoft PowerPoint presentation.
The following links from the MLA Handbooks Plus will provide you with the information you need to create your own Lists of Works Cited.
The MLA Handbook refers frequently to "containers" in its guidelines; the container represents the larger body of work a source may be part of. For example, if you are citing a poem that is part of a collection of poems, the single poem would be the source and the larger collection of poems is the container.
Example:
COLOR KEY: The yellow highlighted text above is the Source. The blue highlighted text is the Container.