MLA Sample Sources 9th Edition
July 22, 2025
Posted by STLCC in Writing Resources
In the MLA 9th edition, citations are based on information about the source, including the author, title of source, container, publication date and other core elements. MLA requires these elements to appear in a specific order with punctuation that follows each element.
Most sources have a container. When a source is part of a larger work, such as a short story in a textbook, an article on a website or an episode in a TV series, MLA calls the larger work a container. Sample citations of frequently used source categories appear below.
Works Cited Examples
Article from a Website
Author's Last Name, Author's First Name. "Title of Article." Website Title, Publisher (if different from website), Publication Date, URL.
Grobar, Matt. "Garfield: Ving Rhames, Nicholas Hoult, Hannah Waddingham, and Cecily Strong Board Animated Feature from Alcon Entertainment." Deadline, Penske Media Corp., 17 Aug. 2022, www.deadline.com/2022/08/garfield-adds-ving-rhames-nicholas-hoult- hannah-waddingham-cecily-strong-1235094576/.
Note: Some sources have two containers. For example, a journal article accessed through a database has two containers: the journal and the database.
Journal Article from an Online Database
Author Last Name, Author's First Name. "Title of Article." Journal Title, volume number, issue number, Publication date, page numbers, Database Title, URL.
Dixit, Jay, and Marissa Kristal. "Reading Between the Lines." Psychology Today, vol. 40, no. 4, July-Aug. 2007, pp. 74-79. Academic Search Elite, ezproxy.stlcc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=true&db=afh&AN=25482785&site=ehost-live.
Reference on the Web
"Title of Entry." Website Title, Publication date, URL.
"Juxtaposition." Dictionary.com, 2016, dictionary.com/browse/juxtaposition.
Journal Article from an Online Database with a DOI
Author Last Name, Author's First Name. "Title of Article." Journal Title, volume number, issue number, Publisher, Publication date, page numbers, Database Title, DOI.
Camargo, Julio A., et al. “Eutrophication Downstream from Small Reservoirs in Mountain Rivers of Central Spain.” Water Research, vol. 39, no. 14, Elsevier Ltd., 2005, pp. 3376-84. ScienceDirect, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2005.05.048.
Material from a Government Agency Website
Author(s), such as Government, Department or Agency. "Title of Article." Website Title, Publication date, URL.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "CDC Recommends Only Two HPV Shots for Younger Adolescents." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 19 Oct. 2016, www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2016/p1020-hpv-shots.html.
Article in an Online Newspaper
Author's Last Name, Author's First Name. "Title of Article." Newspaper Title, Publisher, Publication date, URL.
Badger, Emily. “We’re All a Little Biased Even If We Don’t Know It.” The New York Times, 5 Oct. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/10/07/upshot/were-all-a-little-biased-even-if-we-dont-know-it.html.
Essay or Article in an Edited Text
Author's Last Name, Author's First Name. "Title of Article." Title of Textbook, edited by the names of the editors, version, Publisher, Publication date, page range.
Tyler, Kathryn. “The Tethered Generation.” Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric With Readings, edited by John D. Ramage et al., 9th ed., Pearson, 2012, pp. 469-73.
Article in a Scholarly Journal
Author Last Name, Author's First Name. "Title of Article." Journal Title, volume number, issue number, Publication date, page numbers.
Naylor, K. E., et al. “The Effect of Pregnancy on Bone Density and Bone Turnover.” Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, vol. 15, no. 1, Jan. 2000, pp. 129-37.
Video from a Streaming App
Creators or producers of video. "Title of Video." Series, season number, episode number, Publisher, Publication date, Streaming app.
The Duffer Brothers, creators. "The Vanishing of Will Byers." Stranger Things, season 1, episode 1, Netflix, 2016, Netflix app.
Video on the Web
"Title of Video." Website Title, uploaded by author, Publication date, URL.
"Writing Center (Good Session)." YouTube, uploaded by Christopher Hueg, 10 Dec. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC9ZU9pLuc.
TED Talk
Author's Last Name, Author's First Name. "Title of TED Talk." Website Title, Publication date, URL.
Nugent, Carrie. "Adventures of an Asteroid Hunter." TED, Feb. 2016, www.ted.com/talks/carrie_nugent_adventures_of_an_asteroid_hunter.
Podcast
Author's Last Name, Author's First Name. "Title of Podcast." Website Title, Publication date, URL.
Burrell, Pamela. "My Unlikely Brothers." The Moth, 20 Sept. 2016, themoth.org/stories/my-unlikely-brothers.
Interview
Interviewee's Last Name, Interviewee's First Name. Personal interview, Date of interview.
Newsome, Harriet. Personal interview, 25 Oct. 2021.
Book
Author's Last Name, Author's First Name. Title of Book. Version, Publisher, Publication date.
Coates, Ta-Nehisi. Between the World and Me. E-book ed., One World, 2015.
Course Material (Uploaded to Canvas or Handed Out in Class)
Author's Last Name, Author's First Name. "Title of Source." Supplementary information, Course materials, Name of class, Date.
Hawson, Chris. "Students Should Proofread Their Papers." St. Louis Community College-Meramec, Course materials, ENG030, Fall 2022.
Generative AI
"Prompt." AI tool, Version, Publisher, Date generated, URL.
"Discuss the literary devices used in the book To Kill a Mockingbird." ChatGPT, 13 Feb. version, OpenAI, 16 July 2024, chatgpt.com.
Learn the Parts of an MLA Citation
Not all sources will include every element. Skip any element that is not provided.
| Elements | Examples and notes | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Author |
The first author's name should be written as Last name, First name. Additional authors are written in normal order.
If no author is listed, begin the citation with the title. For government documents, use the government entity as the author, such as United States or Missouri State. |
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| Title |
Capitalize the first and major words in titles and subtitles. Separate the title and subtitle with a colon. Example: "The Best Laid Plans: Scheduling Your Time." Use quotation marks or italics? |
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| Title of container 1 or 2 |
Shorter works are often part of a larger source called a container. Some sources have two containers, such as a journal article found in a database. Possible containers include:
|
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| Other contributors |
Possible contributors include:
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| Version |
Versions identify a specific edition or release. Examples include:
|
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| Number |
Numbers identify volumes, issues, seasons or episodes. TV shows have seasons and episode numbers.
|
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| Publisher |
If the author and publisher are the same, omit the publisher. Remove endings such as Inc. and Co.. For academic publishers, abbreviate University as U and Press as P. Example: University of Chicago Press becomes U of Chicago P. |
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| Publication date |
Include full date given in source. Dates should be in European format: date, then
abbreviated month, and then year. Example: Example: 12 Nov. 2016. |
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| Location |
The location of the source can be page numbers or the web address (URL), a permalink (permanent web address), or the DOI number. Examples include:
If a URL is longer than three full lines, you may shorten it to the site's home address. If the DOI number from your source is not preceded by http:// or http://, add “https://doi.org/” before the DOI number. |
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| Date of access |
Optional: For Internet sources that do not provide a publication date or where the URL is likely to change, you may include the date of access (the day you found the source). This date of access would appear at the end of the citation (after the URL). Example: Accessed 3 Nov. 2022. |
Formatting the Works Cited Page
- Center Works Cited at the top of the page. If your essay includes sources that are not cited in the text, use Works Cited and Consulted as the title instead.
- Arrange entries in alphabetical order based on the first word of each citation, which is usually the author's last name or the title.
- When alphabetizing by title, ignore the articles A, An and The. For example, The Best Laid Plans is alphabetized under B, not T.
- Do not number entries in your Works Cited list, just alphabetize.
- Double-space the entire Works Cited page and use a hanging indent. The first line of each citation begins at the left margin, while all following lines are indented. See the sample citations in this resource for an example. You can also refer to the resource on applying a hanging indent automatically in Microsoft Word or Google Docs.
See our MLA In-text Citations and Sample Essay 9th Edition resource for a sample Works Cited page and to learn about the necessary step of including in-text citations, which identify the source you are quoting or paraphrasing in the essay.
Remember to do both steps — the Works Cited page and the in-text citations — to build your credibility as a knowledgeable writer and to avoid plagiarizing someone else's work.
Learn more about MLA in-text citations.
View information on STLCC's academic integrity policy.
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