MLA 8th Edition Style Guide

The author refers to the person, persons or entity responsible for the work. This may include any of the following: authors, editors, translators, directors, producers, performers, screenwriters, pseudonyms, or corporate authors.  For roles other than an author, the person’s role should be listed following their name. Here are general examples for listing authors and other responsible persons.

• Single author: Last name, First name. (e.g. Louv, Richard.)
• Two authors: Last name, First name, and First name Last name. (e.g. Chapman, Gary, and Ross Campbell.)
• Three or more authors: Last name, First name, et al. (e.g. Cunningham, Scott, et al.)

Editor: Haerens, Margaret, editor

The title and subtitle of the work are listed next. If the source is part of a larger work (e.g. an article in a periodical or a webpage on a website), then the title is placed in quotation marks. If the source is self-contained (e.g. an entire book or a full website), then the title is italicized. Capitalize the first word in the title, the last word in the title and all other words except the following parts of speech: articles, prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions. Here are examples of the formatting of a title:

• Part of a larger work: “Anecdotes from the Life of Pushkin.”
• Self-contained work: Outsmarting Cats: How to Persuade the Felines in Your Life to Do What You Want.

The container is listed when the source is part of a larger whole (e.g. an essay in a book, an episode in a TV series, an article in a newspaper, etc.). The title of the container is italicized and followed by a comma. An easy rule to keep in mind is that you will have a container in your citation only if the previous title is in quotation marks. Here is an example of the formatting for a container:

• Container: Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine,

At times the container of a source may be located in a second container (e.g. a journal stored in a database or a book of short stories found on Google Books). In such cases, provide the relevant information from elements 3-9, then provide the second container with any relevant elements 3-9. Here is an example with the containers highlighted:

• Two Containers: Poggi, Christine. “Picasso’s First Constructed Sculpture: A Tale of Two Guitars.” Art Bulletin, vol. 94, no. 2, 1 Jun. 2012, pp.274-298. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23268315. Accessed 23 Sept. 2016.

Credit other contributors in a source if they are important to the identification of the source. Begin with a description of their role followed by their name. Common descriptions include: adapted by, directed by, edited by, illustrated by, introduction by, narrated by, performance by, or translated by (MLA Handbook 37). Here are a few examples of other contributors:

• Translated by Edith Grossman,
• Introduction by Harold Bloom,
• Directed by Spike Lee,

If the source has been released in more than one form, include a description of the version. For a book this may be the edition. For media this may be a description such as abridged, unabridged, director’s cut, etc. Below are examples of versions:

• Edition: 5^th ed.,
• Edition: Expanded ed.,
• Version: English Standard Version,
• Media: unabridged version,
• Media: director’s cut,

If the source is part of a numbered set, include the corresponding number in the citation. Depending on the type of source this may be the volume number, issue number, season and/or episode number. Below are examples of how the number may be cited.

• Item from a multivolume set: vol. 2,
• Journal issue: vol. 23, no. 4,
• TV series: season 5, episode 10,

The publisher is the organization primarily responsible for producing the source. If multiple publishers or distributors are stated, use the organization that had the main responsibility for the work. If more than one organization was equally responsible, list each of their names separated by a forward slash (/). Do not list a publisher for the following: a periodical, a self-published work, a website whose title is the same as the name of its publisher, or a website not involved in the creation of the content (MLA Handbook 40-42). Examples:

• Oxford UP
• Penguin Press
• Universal/Forty Acres and Mule Filmworks

List the date that the source was published. Write the date as you find it in the source (e.g. year of publication only or day, month, year). If a source has more than one date, cite the date that is most meaningful to the version you are using (MLA Handbook 42). Here are examples of how to format the publication date:

• Year only: 2012
• Month and year: Jan. 2016
• Full date: 26 Jan. 2012

Include a location at the end of the citation to help the reader access the specific material cited. In a print source, you may include a page number (preceded by p.) or page range (preceded by pp.). For an online work, you may include the URL (but exclude the https://). For a journal article you may include a digital object identifier (DOI) if one is available. (Note: A DOI is an identifier assigned to online publications such as journal articles. The DOI may be listed on the bottom of the article or on the database or website where the article was found.)