MLA Citation Examples
One author
Works cited list
Courtois, Charles A.
In-text citation
(Cortois 70)
Two authors
Works cited list
Martin, Jonathan A., and Christopher Jackson.
In-text citation
(Martin and Jackson 127-28)
Three or more authors
Works cited list
Fontela, Pablo, et al.
If a work has more than 2 authors, MLA gives you the option of listing only the first author followed by "et al." (Latin for "and others").
In-text citation
(Fontela et al. 153-54)
Group author
Works cited list
Modern Language Association of America.
In-text citation
(Modern Language Association 111)
For brevity, shorten group author names to the shortest possible noun phrase. For example, American Historical Society would not be shortened, but Modern Language Association of America can be shorted to Modern Language Association. If possible, remove articles (a, an, the), and give the first noun and any preceding adjectives.
No authors listed
Works cited list
"Hints and Notions." The Decorator and Furnisher, vol. 6, no. 2, May 1885, pp. 61-68. JSTOR, ezproxy.umgc.edu/login?url=www.jstor.org/stable/25584271.
If there is no known author, start the citation with the title. Alphabetize reference list entries beginning with a title using the primary word of the title (excluding a, an, the).
In-text citation
("Hints and Notions" 61)
In-text citations should include the title and the page number(s) of the text you are quoting or referring to, with the titles of articles in quotations, and the titles of books or websites italicized. In cases where the title is long, shorten the title to the noun phrase and exclude articles (a, an, the). For example:
| Full Titles | Shortened Titles |
| Faulkner's Novels of the South | Faulkner's Novels |
| "The Yellow Wallpaper" | "Yellow Wallpaper" |
| The Double Vision: Language and Meaning in Religion | Double Vision |
Two or more works by the same author
Works cited list
Baron, Naomi S. "Know What? How Digital Technologies Undermine Learning and Remembering." Journal of Pragmatics, vol. 175, Apr. 2021, pp. 27-37. ScienceDirect, doi:10.1016/j.pragma.2021.01.011.
Baron, Naomi S. "Reading in a Digital Age." Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 99, no. 2, Oct. 2017, pp. 15-20. Academic Search Ultimate, doi:10.1177/0031721717734184.
In-text citation
(Baron, "Know" 30)
(Baron, "Reading" 19)
If you are citing more than one work by an author, include a short form of the source's title in your in-text citation to avoid ambiguity about which source is being referred to.