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Academic Writing: MLA In-Text Citations

Core Elements of an MLA Citation

In your Works Cited page, you will create each entry using nine common elements that can be found in most works, following the order below (and with the punctuation noted below; however, the last element will always be followed by a period).  Provide as much information as is available and simply omit/skip any missing elements.

  1. Author.
  2. Title of source.
  3. Title of container,   (see below for an explanation of what a container is)
  4. Other contributors,
  5. Version,
  6. Number,
  7. Publisher,
  8. Publication date,
  9. Location.

#4, Other contributors - often refers to editors or translators.  

#9, Location - is often the page number(s) or the url. permalink or DOI for sources accessed online. For URLs, remove the leading "https://" and remove the hyperlink.

--Modified from an original Amarillo College Library guide

MLA Handbook and Style Guide

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