Mla 9thed 2021rev3
Mla 9thed 2021rev3
Mla 9thed 2021rev3
9TH EDITION
There are nine MLA core elements, and they are basic pieces
of information that should be common to all sources. The
overwhelming majority of changes to MLA 9 will not impact the
way you draft the Works Cited pages or in-text citations. The
examples provided are from the official MLA 9 manual but are
not comprehensive. For clarification or examples not provided in
this handout, please consult with a WMC writing consultant.
BOOKS
By One Author (physical book you read, not online)
New for 9th Edition: No publication location.
Davis, Angela Y. Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie
Smith, and BIllie Holiday. Pantheon, 1998.
(Davis 48)
Knapp, David. Beneath the Smokestacks. 15 July-29 Nov. 2020, Springfield Museum of
Art, Springfield, Ohio.
(Knapp)
By Two Authors
Dorris, Michael, and Louise Erdrich. The Crown of Columbus. HarperCollins Publishers,
1999.
(Beowulf 18)
With an Editor
New with 9th Edition: Notice no “https:/” preceding the url.
Milton, John. The Riverside Milton. Edited by John Conlee, Medieval Institute
Publications, 2004. TEAMS Middle English Texts, U of Rochester,
d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/publication/conlee-dunbar-complete-works.
(Milton 3)
With a Translator
Pevear, Richard, and Larissa Volokhonsky, translators. Crime and Punishment. By
Fyodor Dostoevsky, e-book ed., Vintage Books, 1993.
Audiobook
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Narrated by Sissy Spacek, audiobook ed.,
unabridged ed., HarperAudio, 2014.
(Lee 00:27:33-35)
(Euripides 457)
(Marvell 1368)
Indirect Source
An indirect source is a work that is cited in another work. If you quote an author’s
quotation of a source you did not personally consult, put the abbreviation qtd. in
(quoted in) before the indirect source you are citing. In the example taken from the MLA
handbook, Samuel Johnson is being quoted by James Boswell, his biographer.
Example prose: Samuel Johnson admitted that Edmund Burke was an “extraordinary
man” (qtd. in Boswell 289).
The work cited would be the Boswell piece that was read.
Boswell, James. Boswell’s Life of Johnson. Edited by Augustine Birrell, vol. 3, Times
Book Club, 1912. HathiTrust Digital Library, hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.b3123590.
PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS
With Volume Number and Issue Number, No DOI (physical periodical that you
looked at)
New with 9th Edition: Drop the repeated number in pages or references to years . This
is similar to Chicago Style and ASA practice of dropping repeated numbers in the
hundredth place or higher. This applies in the Works Cited and the Parenthetical
Citation.
Boggs, Colleen Glenney. “Public Reading and the Civil War Draft Lottery.”
American Periodicals, vol. 26, no. 2, 2016, pp. 149-66.
(Boggs 150)
With a Season (NEW FOR MLA 9 - Seasons are lowercase in the ‘date’
element)
Belton, John. “Painting by the Numbers: The Digital Intermediate.” Film
Quarterly, vol. 61, no. 3, spring 2008, pp. 58-65.
(Belton 58)
WEB SOURCES
News Article or Blog Post Without an Author
New with 9th Edition: No “https:/” preceding the url.
“Evacuation Order Lifted at Nice Airport.” The Boston Globe, 15 July 2016,
www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/2016/07/15/evacuation-progress-nice-
airport/KO4BytWK4wFUOxjEkSpKTN/story.html.
(Evacuation Order)
MEDIA
Films
New with 9th Edition: No “https:/” preceding the url.
Opening Night. Directed by John Cassavetes, Faces Distribution, 1977. Netflix,
www.netflix.com.
(Opening Night 00:17:38)
Songs
Lopez, Jennifer. “Vivir mi vida.” Sony Music Latin, 2017. Spotify app.
(Lopez)
(Steinberg)
Class Notes/Lecture Notes (Name Given is that of the Professor; location is the
place that the notes where it is taken)
Kramer, John. Lecture. 11 Nov. 2020, CSU Channel Islands, Camarillo, CA.
(Kramer)
FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS FOR
MLA 9TH EDITION
The formatting listed below is the official MLA 9 standard for manuscripts. Please
note that your professor may have more specific formatting requirements.
Page Numbers:
Your paper should have your last name and the page number in the header, in the
upper right-hand corner.
Title Page:
There is no separate title page requirement for papers written by individual students in
MLA 9. However, if it is a group paper, you do need a title page. The title page for group
papers has no page number, only a header that lists all authors, the class it’s for, the
date of submission, and a centered title.
Header:
Your paper should always begin with a header, left-aligned in the upper left-hand
corner. It should have your name, your professor, what class the assignment is for, then
the date. After the date, provide the centered title of the paper. A sample is provided
below:
Gomez 1
Jane X. Gomez
Professor Garcia
ENGL 102
8 Sep 2021
The first paragraph of your paper starts on this line afterwards and continues
from here. You do not need a title page since you are the only one doing this project
unless your professor tells you otherwise and requests one. Always follow your
Works Cited
Works Cited should:
● appear at the end of the paper.
● include the heading Works Cited, centered and an inch from the top of the paper.
Example: The word lunar derives from the Latin word luna, meaning moon.
Examples
well-earned diploma (adverb)
fifth-year senior (number-noun compound)
early-eighteenth-century architecture (adjective before compound adjective)
on-campus activities (prepositional phrases)
Swiss-cheese maker (clarity: not a cheese maker who is Swiss)
Which is usually used in nonrestrictive clauses; these are clauses that add detail but
can be omitted without changing the main idea.
That is usually used in restrictive clauses; these are clauses that not only add detail but
also are essential for the meaning of the sentence.
Why: This sentence has a nonrestrictive clause and can omit the reference
“which was held on Tuesdays and Thursdays,” because the dates are not
essential to make the sentence's meaning clear.
Example of a restrictive clause (using “that” and no commas): The Portuguese Water
Dog that had a distinctive white patch won the prize for Best in Show.
Why: It is unclear which Portuguese Water Dog won without the clause.