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English 101

MLA Citations

Citation Generators

 

These tools help students quickly create citations for their Works Cited page and in-text citations.

  • ZoteroBib (Free & Easy): This is fantastic for quick, on-the-fly citations. Students can paste a URL, ISBN, or DOI, and it generates the citation without needing an account or software installation.

  • Scribbr's MLA Citation Generator (Free with helpful features): This generator supports MLA 8th and 9th editions, allows for searching by title/URL/DOI, and offers an easy export to Word. They also have good guides integrated.

  • EasyBib (Free with premium options): A popular choice that can generate citations for various source types. It also has helpful guides for different MLA components.

  • MyBib (Free & User-Friendly): Similar to Scribbr, MyBib is a straightforward, ad-free generator that supports MLA 8 & 9 and a variety of sources.

Comprehensive Style Guides & Examples

 

These provide the rules and examples for formatting papers and citations.

  • Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab): This is considered the gold standard for MLA formatting and citation guidelines. It's incredibly comprehensive, with detailed explanations and examples for every aspect of MLA style, including:

    • General Format: Page layout, margins, fonts, headings.

    • In-Text Citations: Basics, author-page method, various source types.

    • Works Cited Page: Basic format, specific examples for books, periodicals, electronic sources, and other common sources.

    • Sample Papers: Full example papers demonstrating MLA formatting.

    • MLA 9th Edition Changes: Explains updates from previous versions.

  • Official MLA Handbook: The official Modern Language Association is the definitive source.

Reference Management Software

 

For students working on larger research projects or managing multiple bibliographies, these tools go beyond simple citation generation.

  • Zotero (Free & Open Source): A powerful tool that integrates with browsers to collect, organize, and cite sources. It helps users manage their research library and generate bibliographies as they write.

  • Mendeley (Free with premium options): Another robust reference manager that allows users to organize personal libraries, annotate documents, and cite as they write. It also has social networking features for researchers.

Citations are auto generated for your convenience on the library's catalog. When you have found a source you wish to cite, simply click on the "Citation" button. Make sure to choose the correct format (in this case MLA), then copy and paste your citation. 

Please remember to always check the citation before using, to make sure there are no mistakes.

For information on how to use the library's catalog, please visit this page: https://library.smcsc.edu/primoguide. 

Citations in the Databases

Citations are also autogenerated in the databases. Each database is slightly different in where the citation button is located, however it will be very similar to choosing a citation in the library catalog. 

For precise information on how to find the citation generators in individual databases, please visit this guide to help you: https://library.smcsc.edu/databasetutorial. 

Formatting a Paper

  • Typed, double space, with 1" margins, 12 point font. 
  • Page Header (Running Head)
    • Last name Page Number on the top right
  • First Page
    • In the upper left-hand corner of the first page, list your name, your instructor's name, the course, and the date. Again, be sure to use double-spaced text.
    • Double space again and center the title. Do not underline, italicize, or place your title in quotation marks. Write the title in Title Case (standard capitalization), not in all capital letters.

In-Text Citations

When using MLA format, follow the author-page number method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the page number you are using for the source should appear in the text, like, for example, (Jones 201). One complete reference for each source should appear in the bibliography at the end of the paper.

Basic Reference Formats

  • Books
    • Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. City of Publication, Publisher, Publication Date.
  • Websites
    • Author. "Title." Title of container (self contained if book), Other contributors (translators or editors), Version (edition), Number (vol. and/or no.), Publisher, Publication Date, Location (pages, paragraphs and/or URL, DOI or permalink). 2nd container’s title, Other contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location, Date of Access (if applicable).
  • Journal Articles
    • Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Periodical, Day Month Year, pages.

Begin your Works Cited page on a separate page at the end of your research paper. It should have the same one-inch margins and last name, page number header as the rest of your paper. Label the page Works Cited (do not italicize the words Works Cited or put them in quotation marks) and center the words Works Cited at the top of the page. Double space all citations, but do not skip spaces between entries. Indent the second and subsequent lines of citations by 0.5 inches to create a hanging indent.