Based on the MLA Handbook, 9th Edition, 2021
MLA Document Formatting
Videos on how to format your paper in MLA style using Microsoft Word, including how to do hanging indents for your works cited list.
Need More Help?
For further guidance on MLA citations, please visit The MLA Style Center. You can also ask a librarian for help with citation-related questions.
The Modern Language Association (MLA) updated its style manual in April 2021. The 9th edition focuses on clarification, guidance, and expansion on MLA 8, an edition that featured extensive changes. The Works Cited formats developed in MLA 8 remains the same in MLA 9, but with more guidance and focus particularly with emerging sources, digital and otherwise. In MLA 9, there is more guidance on the core elements system to create a Works Cited, more details into in-text citations, a new chapter on inclusive language, and a reintroduction of MLA guidance on writing and grammar which was absent in MLA 8.
Entries in MLA works-cited lists are created using a template of the core elements, information common to most sources like author, title, and publication date.
You will include information based off of the type of source you are using and omit any element that does not apply except Title of Source. If there is no title given, you will use a description of the source as a title. Conclude each element with the punctuation mark shown in the template, but always end the citation with a period.
If a source is contained within another source, like an article published within a journal, you can repeat the core elements for a container to include all of the information about the source.
Use the navigation on the left side of the screen to see how to put these core elements to use for different types of sources.