WORKS CITED LISTS
You must include a citation for any information source you cite in your paper on your Works Cited list.
The purpose of the Works Cited list is to give as much information as possible about the sources you used. This allows your reader to see where you're getting your information and to find the source again so they can read it for themselves.
Every citation on your Works Cited list must correspond to at least one in-text citation somewhere in your paper.
If you don't include Works Cited citations for information you use from your sources, you are at risk of plagiarism (passing off others' work as your own). Plagiarism has serious academic consequences.
WORKS CITED LIST CITATIONS
Printed Book
Format
Author. Title of Book. Publisher, Year.
Example:
Kendi, Ibram X. Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. Bold Type Books, 2016.
Electronic Book from the Open Web
Format
Author. Title of Book. E-book, Publisher, Year. Website, URL.
Example:
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. E-book, Anti-Slavery Office, No. 25 Cornhill, 1845. Project Gutenberg, www.gutenberg.org/files/23/23-h/23-h.htm.
Electronic Book from a Library Database
Format
Author. Title of Book. E-book, Publisher, Year. Database Name, permalink.
Example:
Jessica Maddox. The Internet Is for Cats: How Animal Images Shape Our Digital Lives. Rutgers University Press, 2023. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,cpid&custid=s1088435&db=nlebk&AN=3181282&site=ehost-live.
Important things to notice about book citations:
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If your book has two authors, write them both out. Only reverse the order of the first author's names and include a comma after:
Kendi, Ibram X., and Jason Reynolds.
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If your book has three or more authors, only write the first author's name and then type a comma and the "et al." abbreviation:
Doe, Jane, et al.
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If your book has an edition number, put that after the book title and before the publisher.
Danielewski, Mark. House of Leaves. 2nd ed., Pantheon, 2000.
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If your book has more than one publisher listed, use the first publisher's name on the title page as the publisher.
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If your book has more than one copyright year on the back of the title page, use the most recent year as the date.
Reading from a textbook or chapter from a book
Format:
Author of Reading. "Title of Reading." Title of Book, edited by Editor, # ed., Publisher, Year, pp. ###-###.
Example:
Mir, Shabana. "Muslim American Women in Campus Culture." Everything's an Argument With Readings, edited by Andrea A. Lunsford, et al., 7th ed., Bedford/St. Martin's, 2016, pp. 702-10.
Reading from an Electronic Textbook
Format:
Author of Reading. "Title of Reading." Title of Book, edited by Editor, e-book, # ed., Publisher, Year, pp. ###-###.
Example:
Baron, Dennis. "What's Your Pronoun?" Everyone's an Author With Readings, edited by Andrea A. Lunsford, et al., e-book, 3rd ed., W. W. Norton, 2020, pp. 846-852.
Important things to notice about textbook reading citations:
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If a title ends in a punctuation mark other than a period (like a question mark or exclamation mark), you do not need to type a period after: use the original punctuation mark in the source as your closing punctuation.
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If your textbook has three or more editors, only write the first editor's name and use the "et al." abbreviation like the example.
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If your textbook has an edition number, put that after the editors' names like the example. If your textbook doesn't have an edition number, just skip that part of the citation.
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If your textbook has more than one publisher listed, use the first publisher's name on the title page as the publisher.
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If your textbook has more than one copyright year on the back of the title page, use the most recent year as the date.
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Notice that page numbers have pp. before them in the Works Cited citation, but never use p. or pp. in MLA in-text citations.
- Cite a Textbook Reading in MLAThis video walks you through citing a reading from an English textbook.
Page on a Website
Format
Author. "Title of Webpage." Title of Website, Publisher of Website*, Date, URL.
Example
Saul, Isaac. "A Personal, Non-Partisan Perspective on the Israel-Hamas War." Medium, 12 Oct. 2023, medium.com/@isaac_1884/the-attacks-on-israel-and-the-response-15ed50e63da6.
* Note: MLA says that if the title of a website and the publisher of the website are the same, you do not need to repeat it in the citation. In this example, the publisher of Medium as listed at the bottom of the site is A Medium Corporation. Since they are nearly the same, we didn't include it in the citation.
Online News or Magazine Article
Format
Author. "Title of Article." Title of Website, Date, URL.
Example:
Losos, Jonathan. "House Cats Will Rule the World: Domestic Cats May Evolve into the Alpha Predators of the Future." Slate, 23 Oct. 2023, slate.com/technology/2023/10/house-cats-evolution-anthropocene-extinction.html.
Blog Post
Format
Author. "Title of Post." Title of Blog, Date, URL.
Example:
Wilson, Frances. “Storytelling in Music.” The Cross-Eyed Pianist, 17 July 2018, crosseyedpianist.com/tag/storytelling-in-music.
Webpage with No Author or Date
Format
"Title of Article." Title of Website, Publisher of Website*, URL.
Example
"Environmental Justice." NACCHO, National Association of County and City Health Officials, www.naccho.org/programs/environmental-health/justice.
* Note: MLA says that if the title of a website and the publisher of the website are the same, you do not need to repeat it in the citation. We included it in this citation to let readers know what the NACCHO acronym stands for.
Important things to notice about webpage citations:
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A lot of webpages don't have a specific author listed. That's OK! Just skip the author and start the citation at "Title of Webpage."
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MLA says that if the title of a website and the publisher of the website are the same, you do not need to repeat it in the citation.
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A lot of webpages don't have dates. That's OK! Just skip the date and go right from Title of Website, to either the website publisher or the URL (depending on whether or not the publisher is different from the website title).
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When you copy and paste the URL into your webpage citations, take off the http:// or https:// at the beginning: MLA does not require it.
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Type a period at the end of your URL.
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MLA does not require access dates (the date you looked at the webpage) unless a source changes frequently (like a Wikipedia entry). Some professors may require accessed dates, too, so if you need to include one, just pop it at the very end of the citation and format it as Accessed Day Month. Year (example: Accessed 24 Apr. 2020).
- Cite a Webpage in MLAThis video walks through citing two types of webpages - an online news article and a webpage with no author or date - in MLA format.
Film (without a specific format noted)
Format
Film Title. Directed by Director, Film Distributor, Year.
Example
Bohemian Rhapsody. Directed by Bryan Singer, 20th Century Fox, 2018.
YouTube videos
Format
"Video Title." YouTube, uploaded by username, Date, URL.
Example
"Impressionism in 8 Minutes: How it Changed the Course of Art." YouTube, uploaded by Curious Muse, 17 Sept. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jhHX_tpy70.
Films from Streaming Services (e.g., Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime)
Format
Film Title. Directed by Director, Film Distributor, Year. Streaming Service, URL.
Example
Everything Everywhere All at Once. Directed by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, A24, 2022. Paramount+, www.paramountplus.com/movies/video/Us5KETz9uN5_zCoEJsyITt6LykZHTKrG/.
Citing TV Episodes from Streaming Services (e.g., Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime)
Format
"Title of Episode." TV Show, season #, episode #, TV Network, Date. Streaming Platform, URL.
Example
Citing Videos on DVD
Format
Film Title. Directed by Director, Film Distributor, Year, DVD.
Example
Emphasizing a specific performer or director:
Format
Performer Name, performer. Film Title. Film Distributor, Year, DVD.
Example
Important things to notice about video/film citations:
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If you want to emphasize a particular aspect of a film (like its director, performers, or writers), start the citation as if that person(s) were an author and include a word describing their role afterward, like in the Moana citation above.
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When you create in-text citations for videos, include the timestamp of the part of you're citing in the place where page numbers would normally go. In this example, I'm citing Cravalho's performance in Moana from minutes 30 - 32 in the film:
(Cravalho 00:30:00 - 00:32:00)
Citing an Image from the Web
Format
Image Creator. Title of Image. Collection or Publisher, Date. Image Aggregator, URL.
Example
Important things to notice about image citations:
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If you can't find one of the citation pieces for your image, that's OK! Just include as many citation elements as you can find.
-
If an image doesn't have a specific title, you can create a title by describing it:
Photograph of Women Holding Protest Signs at March.
- Many images have copyrights and cannot be used, even with attribution and under Fair Use guidelines. For more information and links to websites where you can find rights-free images, check out our Art LibGuide: https://cflibguides.lonestar.edu/c.php?g=864248&p=6197576
Most databases will format citations in MLA for you, but you always need to double check them!
Format:
Author. "Title of Article." Title of Publication, vol. #, no. #, Date, pp. ## - ##. Database Name, DOI or Permalink.
Example:
Important things to notice about database citations:
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Databases do a good job of putting the right citation elements in the right order, but they do not do a good job on formatting: always double-check and edit database citations so they follow MLA formatting rules of Times New Roman font, 12 pt size, double spacing, and hanging indents.
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Citations from a database include the database name. If you are using an EBSCO database, the automatic citation will put in EBSCOhost as the database name: change that to the specific EBSCO database you used (like Academic Search Complete, Literary Reference Center, etc.)
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Citations from a database will end in either a DOI (digital object identifier) or a URL. Remove the http:// from in front of a DOI or URL if the database includes it.
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Scroll down or visit the Citing Database Sources in MLA page in this guide for examples on correcting MLA citations from different library databases.
Citing Journal Articles and eBooks from EBSCO Databases
- Cite a Journal Article from EBSCO Databases in MLAThis video walks you through copying, pasting, and correcting an MLA citation for a journal article in an EBSCO database like Academic Search Complete.
- Cite an eBook from EBSCO in MLAThis video walks you through copying, pasting, and correcting an MLA citation for a book from the EBSCO eBook Collection database.
Citing Something from the Credo Reference Database
- Cite an Entry from Credo Reference in MLAThis video walks you through copying, pasting, and correcting an MLA citation from the Credo Reference database.
Citing Generative AI (such as ChatGPT)
Format
"Prompt used in AI service" prompt. Title of AI Service, version, publisher, date, location.
Example:
"Describe the controversy surrounding generative ai in the academic setting" prompt. ChatGPT, 3 Aug. version, OpenAI, 16 Aug. 2023, chat.openai.com/chat.
A note about generative AI
The field of generative AI is rapidly evolving and writing associations are working to quickly provide guidance on using and citing these materials generated by AI. To find the most up-to-date information and examples, visit MLA's page on citing generative AI.
