Below are some examples of how to format sources on your Works Cited page. Please see the In-Text Citations tab for additional examples on citing within the body of your paper.
| Book, One Author | Piper, John. The Pleasures of God. Multnomah, 1991. |
| Book, Two Authors |
Brand, Paul, and Philip Yancey. In His Image. Zondervan, 1984. (list authors as they appear on the title page) |
| Book, Three or More Authors | Wysocki, Anne Frances, et al. Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of Composition. Utah State UP, 2004. |
| Book, with Translator or other contributors | Luther, Martin. The Bondage of the Will. Translated by Henry Cole, Baker, 1976. |
| A work in an anthology, reference, or collection | Harris, Muriel. "Talk to Me: Engaging Reluctant Writers." A Tutor's Guide: Helping Writers One to One, edited by Bennett A. Rafoth. Heinemann, 2000, pp. 22-42. |
| Book, Later Edition | Crowley, Sharon, and Debra Hawhee. Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. 3rd ed., Pearson/Longman, 2004. |
| Article in an Online Database | “Between Image and Word, Color, and Time: Jacob Lawrence’s The Migration Series.” African American Review, vol. 40, no. 3, 2006, pp. 571-86. EBSCOHost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=24093790&site=ehost-live |
| Article in Print Journal |
Roach, Audra K., and Jessica J. Beck. "Before Coffee, Facebook: New Literacy Learning for 21st Century Teachers." Language Arts, vol. 89, no. 4, March 2012, pp. 244-255. |
| Article (Web page) on a Website | Petroff, Alanna. "These Countries Are Losing Millions of Tourists Because of Attacks." CNN Money, 18 July 2016, money.cnn.com/2016/07/18/news/travel-flight-holiday-turkey-egypt-france-tunisia/index.html. |
| Bible | The Holy Bible, New International Version. Zondervan, 1984. |
| @MZHemingway. "Apart from passages lifted from Michelle, interesting that Melania’s speech called for massive gov’t action to GOP cheers." Twitter, 19 July 2016, 10:07 a.m., twitter.com/MZHemingway/status/755403746180423680 | |
| YouTube | AVENUESdotORG. "Understanding by Design with Grant Wiggins." YouTube, 23 Apr. 2012. |
Besides standardizing the elements required for a citation, the MLA 8th edition also introduces the idea of "containers", so that the basic elements of a citation in a works cited list are the same regardless of the type of resource cited.
Below is a template using the "container" concept to help you formulate citations in MLA style.
Provide the artist's name, the title of the artwork in italics, and the date of composition. Finally, provide the name of the institution that houses the artwork followed by the location of the institution (if the location is not listed in the name of the institution, e.g. The Art Institute of Chicago).
Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800, Museo del Prado, Madrid.
If the medium and/or materials (e.g., oil on canvas) are important to the reference, you can include this information at the end of the entry. However, it is not required.
For photographic reproductions of artwork (e.g. images of artwork in a book), treat the book or website as a container. Remember that for a second container, the title is listed first, before the contributors. Cite the bibliographic information as above followed by the information for the source in which the photograph appears, including page or reference numbers (plate, figure, etc.).
Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800, Museo del Prado, Madrid. Gardener's Art Through the Ages, 10th ed., by Richard G. Tansey and Fred S. Kleiner, Harcourt Brace, p. 939.
If you viewed the artwork on the museum's website, treat the name of the website as the container and include the website's publisher and the URL at the end of the citation. Omit publisher information if it is the same as the name of the website. Note the period after the date below, rather than the comma: this is because the date refers to the painting's original creation, rather than to its publication on the website. Thus, MLA format considers it an "optional element."
Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800. Museo del Prado, museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-family-of-carlos-iv/f47898fc-aa1c-48f6-a779-71759e417e74.
Artist. Title of Artwork. Year. Museum, or Collection, City. Name of
Database, doi or URL (do not include “http://”).
Landing of Atlantic Cable in Newfoundland, 1866. 1900. George Eastman
House, Rochester. ARTstor, library.artstor.org.qe2a-proxy.mun.ca/
library/iv2.html?parent=true.