1. LIBRARY CATALOG
  2. DATABASES
  3. JOURNAL FINDER
  4. SUBJECT GUIDES
  5. LIBRARY SERVICES

 

Citing an article in MLA style

Step One:
Type the authors' names in the blank below.
 Step Two:
Type the article title in the blank below.
 Step Three:
Type the journal title in the blank below.
 Step Four:
Type the volume number in the blank below.
 Step Five:
Type the publication year in the blank below.
 Step Six:
Type the page numbers in the blank below.
Here are the rules:
 - Lastname, Firstname.
- Author's name as it appears on the first or last page.
- If more than one author:
-- list them in the order given
-- list additional authors FIRST NAME FIRST.
- Do not abbreviate a name given in full.

Examples:
Durant, Will.
Farmer , Sabina and Andy W. Wisenberg. (2 authors)
Miller, Adam, Sydney Rosen and Diana Kraal. (3 authors)
Nash, Oliver, et al. (4 or more)

- Take the title from the first page of the article.
- Give the full title, and separate the main title from the subtitle with a colon.
- Capitalize first, last, and all important words. Always capitalize first word of the subtitle.
- End the title with a period.
- Enclose the title in quotation marks.

Example:
"New Voices: The Computer in Music."
"Sound Bite News: Television Coverage of Elections, 1968-1988."

- Give the full title, and separate the main title from the subtitle with a colon.
- Capitalize first, last, and all important words. Capitalize the first word of the subtitle.
- Underline the journal title (we'll underline it for you).
- The journal title is NOT followed by any punctuation.

Examples:
Journal of Communication
William and Mary Quarterly
Mosaic

- Take the volume number from the publication information.
- The volume number is not followed by any punctuation.

Examples:
3
21

- The publication year is enclosed in parentheses and followed by a colon.

Examples:
(2001):
(1998):
(1991):

- Give page numbers for the entire article.
- Page numbers are followed by a period.
- Pay close attention to how the ending page number is formatted. If the first digit of the beginning and ending page numbers is the same, you may omit it when giving the ending page number.

Examples:
35-40.
200-10. (rather than 200-210)
398-410.

I give up! Show me!

Last name first for the first author, additional authors FIRST NAME FIRST. Do not abbreviate names unless abbreviated in the source.Try again!
Review the rules for capitalization and punctuation carefully, watch spelling.Try again
Take your journal title from the example, watch your capitalization. Try again
In MLA style, the volume number is taken from the publication and does not require punctuation.Try again
In MLA style, the publication year is enclosed in parentheses and followed by a colon.Try again
Type in the first and last page numbers, separated by a dash, and followed by a period. Careful with the format of the last page number. Try again
Your punctuation is not quite right. Try again!
Your completed citation will appear here.
 Schnabel, Albrecht and Ramesh Thakur. "Kosovo and World Politics." Peace Review
        11 , (1999): 455-60.

Excellent work!

Move on to Preparing to Cite Sources

Back to Previous Page Tutorial Home Page