Why Citations Matter

Citing your sources isn't just a rule your teacher invented to make your life harder. It serves three important purposes: it gives credit to the people whose ideas you used, it shows your reader where to find more information, and it protects you from accidental plagiarism. Once you learn the pattern, writing citations becomes quick and consistent.

This guide covers the most common source types in MLA 9th Edition format — the style used in most middle and high school English and social studies classes.

The Basic MLA Formula

MLA citations follow this general pattern:

Last Name, First Name. "Title of Source." Title of Container, Other Contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Date, Location.

Not every element applies to every source — fill in what's available and skip what isn't.

Common Source Types with Examples

Book

Format: Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Year.

Example: Lowry, Lois. The Giver. Houghton Mifflin, 1993.

Website / Webpage

Format: Last Name, First Name (if available). "Title of Webpage." Name of Website, Publisher or Sponsor, Date Published or Updated, URL.

Example: "The Water Cycle." National Geographic Education, National Geographic Society, 12 Mar. 2022, education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/water-cycle.

Magazine or Newspaper Article

Format: Last Name, First Name. "Article Title." Publication Name, Day Month Year, page(s).

Example: Smith, Jordan. "How Schools Are Embracing AI Tools." Education Weekly, 15 Jan. 2025, p. 4.

Database Article (e.g., EBSCO)

Format: Last Name, First Name. "Article Title." Journal or Magazine Name, vol. #, no. #, Date, pp. ##–##. Database Name, URL or DOI.

Most databases have a Cite button that generates this for you — always double-check the output!

Works Cited Page Rules

  • Title the page Works Cited — centered at the top, not bolded or underlined.
  • List all entries in alphabetical order by the author's last name (or title if no author).
  • Use hanging indent format: the first line is flush left, and all following lines are indented 0.5 inches.
  • Double-space all entries — no extra spaces between them.
  • The Works Cited page goes at the very end of your paper, on a new page.

Quick Tips to Avoid Common Mistakes

  1. Italicize containers (books, websites, journals) and put "quotation marks" around items within them (chapters, articles, web pages).
  2. Abbreviate months longer than four letters: Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.
  3. If an author is listed as an organization (like NASA or the CDC), cite the organization name in the author position.
  4. If there's no date, write n.d. If there's no author, start with the title.
  5. When in doubt, use the Purdue OWL (owl.purdue.edu) — it's the gold standard free MLA reference guide.

Free Citation Tools

Several free tools can help you build citations: EasyBib, Citation Machine, and the citation generators built into library databases like EBSCO. These are helpful starting points, but always review the output for accuracy before submitting your work.

Need help with a specific source type? Stop by the library — Mrs. Bond is happy to walk through any citation with you.