MLA 9 has a general or universal set of guidelines that can be used for all sources (print and electronic) as opposed to specific set of rules for each type of source. This guide will assist the user with guidelines provided by MLA (Modern Language Association).
Elements of an MLA Citation
Below are the elements that you will need to create MLA citations for your sources. Try to identify as many of these as possible when citing your sources but you will not always need or be able to identify every element for every source you use. In those cases try and identify as many of the elements possible/available when creating your citation.
The elements should be formatted like this:
Author(s). Title. Title of Container, Other Contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location.
So what is a container? Usually a source is part of a larger piece. An example would be that a magazine article (a source) is part of a larger piece - the magazine itself. In MLA 9 the larger piece (in our example the magazine) is called a container. When citing sources, the container is generally italicized and followed by a comma.
Note: Not all elements are required and some repeat. For example, there can be more than one container listed (articles appearing in a journal housed in a library database have 2 containers: the journal and database).
Some elements (usually titles and containers) should be in quotes or italicized depending on the source information. Generally, long titles (titles of books, databases) are italicized and short titles (article and chapter titles) are put in quotation marks.
The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) provides extensive details and examples of MLA.
The MLA Style Center also provides great examples and details for using all of the citation elements correctly.
EasyBib's Ultimate Guide to MLA provides useful information and examples as well.
For more specific questions, please see the handbook in the Reference Collection.
