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CAP 070 - College & Academic Prep (Hale): MLA Citations

Library information and resources for Marilyn Hale's CAP 070 class

Things to remember about MLA citations

  • In MLA, you list the author's last name, first name
    • One author: Turner, Cory
    • Two authors: Eggins, Sue, and Diane Slade
    • Three or more authors: Blaine, John, et al
  • If the author is not a person, you write the name as it looks
    • Mayo Clinic Staff
  • In MLA, you only capitalize the big/important words in a title (see p. 67 of the MLA Handbook)
    • Original Title: The Key To Raising A Happy Child
    • MLA Title: The Key to Raising a Happy Child
    • Original Title: ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA
    • MLA Title: Encyclopaedia Britannica
  • In MLA, if the publisher/sponsor is the same as the website title, you don't need to list it again
    • If it's not exactly the same but close, ask:
      • Does including it give your reader important information?
      • If they didn't have the URL, would your reader need the publisher/sponsor name in addition to the website title to find the website again?
  • In MLA, you list dates like this: day month year
    • Abbreviate months over four letters long
    • 14 Feb. 2018
  • If a website doesn't have a clear person or organization that created it, it's okay not to list an author
  • Use the URL to help you figure out the title of the website and publisher/sponsor
    • URL: https://www.fns.usda.gov/tags/food-desert-locator
    • Website title: Food and Nutrition Service [the fns part of the URL]
    • Publisher/sponsor: United States Department of Agriculture [the usda part of the URL]
  • You can usually work your way away from the text of the article/webpage to help you find the title and website. The title closest to the text is the title of the article/webpage, and the title closest to the top of the page is the title of the website.
  • In MLA if there is no date, you write the date you found the website at the end of your citation
  • Check for a "cite"/"citation" button or suggestion to help you find more information.

MLA Handout - 9th edition

MLA Quick Guide

Other MLA Resources

Subjects: CAP

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