The Works Cited page is the last page of an MLA paper. It lists, in full, every source you pointed to in your writing, so that a reader can find each one.
MLA style has one idea that makes it easier than it looks. You do not learn a separate pattern for every kind of source. You learn one list of nine elements, in one order, and you fill in the ones your source has.
This guide follows the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook. It is published by EdCitation, whose Cite a source looks each entry up in the publisher's record rather than writing it. If your teacher's instructions differ, follow your teacher: Check your paper reads an assignment's instructions into a checklist, the style and the number of sources included.
How do I set up the Works Cited page?
Start a new page after the end of your paper, centre the title Works Cited at the top, and list your sources below it in alphabetical order, double-spaced, with a hanging indent. In full:
- New page. The list begins on its own page, after the text and any endnotes.
- Same header. Your surname and the page number stay in the top right corner, and the numbering carries on. If the paper ends on page 5, the Works Cited page is page 6.
- Title. Type Works Cited, centred, one inch from the top. No bold, no italics, no underline, no quotation marks, no full stop. If you have only one source, the title is Work Cited.
- Double spacing. Double-space everything, including between the title and the first entry. Do not add extra blank lines between entries.
- Hanging indent. The first line of each entry starts at the left margin. Every line after it is indented half an inch.
- Alphabetical order. Order the entries by the first word of each, which is usually the author's surname. If an entry starts with a title, ignore a first word of A, An or The when you put it in order.
- Same font and margins as the paper. A readable font at 12 points, and one-inch margins.
- Entries that keep their italics. Book, journal and website titles are italic, and italics are the first thing a paste loses. Entries built in EdCitation can be kept, with a free account, as one list in the dashboard that copies with its italics or downloads as a Word file, ready to sit under the title.
Setting the hanging indent
The Modern Language Association (n.d.-c) says the reason for the hanging indent is that it lets a reader see where each entry begins, and gives 0.5 inches as the spacing it recommends. Set it in the paragraph settings, not with the Tab key or the space bar: in Word, open the Paragraph dialogue, find the Special menu and choose Hanging, then check that the measurement reads 0.5 inches. Tabs and spaces come apart the moment the text reflows, and a marker can see it.
What are the nine core elements of an MLA citation?
The nine core elements are the author, the title of the source, the title of the container, the contributor, the version, the number, the publisher, the publication date and the location. They always go in that order. Leave out any element your source does not have.
| Element | Ends with | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Author | full stop | Who made the source. Surname first. | Goldman, Anne. |
| 2. Title of source | full stop | The work you used. In quotation marks if it is part of something larger, in italics if it stands alone. | "Questions of Transport: Reading Primo Levi Reading Dante." |
| 3. Title of container | comma | The larger thing that holds the source: a journal, a website, a collection. In italics. | The Georgia Review, |
| 4. Contributor | comma | Other people who matter, with their role. | translated by Alan Sullivan, |
| 5. Version | comma | The edition or version. | 2nd ed., |
| 6. Number | comma | Volume and issue, or season and episode. | vol. 64, no. 1, |
| 7. Publisher | comma | The organisation that published it. | Picador, |
| 8. Publication date | comma | As much of the date as the source gives. | spring 2010, |
| 9. Location | full stop | Where in the container: page numbers, a DOI or a web address. | pp. 69-88. |
Elements 3 to 9 belong to the container. They are separated by commas, and the last one present ends with a full stop. That is why an entry never has a stranded comma at the end: whatever element comes last takes the full stop.
For the location of an online work, the Modern Language Association (2016) gives an order of preference: the DOI first, then a permalink, then a plain web address. So an article with a DOI shows the DOI, and the database link it was found through is not used in its place.
What is a container in MLA style?
A container is the larger whole that holds the source you used. A poem sits in a collection, an article sits in a journal, a page sits on a website, and an episode sits in a series. The poem, article, page or episode is the source. The collection, journal, website or series is the container.
A whole book that you read in print has no container. Its own title goes in italics as the title of the source, and the publisher and date follow.
When a source has two containers
A journal article that you read in a database is held by the journal, and the journal is held by the database. You finish the first container with a full stop, then add the second container with its own title and location. This is the MLA Style Center's own example:
Goldman, Anne. "Questions of Transport: Reading Primo Levi Reading Dante." The Georgia Review, vol. 64, no. 1, spring 2010, pp. 69-88. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41403188.
The same shape covers a television episode watched on a streaming service, a song heard on a streaming platform, and a chapter read in an ebook collection. Ask yourself what holds the thing you used, and then what holds that.
How do I cite a book, an article, a website and a video in MLA 9?
Fill in the core elements your source has, in order, and leave out the ones it lacks. The first, second and fourth examples below are the MLA Style Center's own.
A book
Mantel, Hilary. Wolf Hall. Picador, 2010.
MLA 9 does not ask for the city of publication.
A journal article with a DOI
Berman, Russell. "The Necessity of Language Learning." ADFL Bulletin, vol. 43, no. 2, 2015, pp. 11-14, https://doi.org/10.1632/adfl.43.2.11.
When an article has a DOI, MLA prefers it to a web address, written as a full https://doi.org/ link. There is more about DOIs in What is a DOI.
A page on a website, with no named author and no date
"Crossref DOI Display Guidelines." Crossref, www.crossref.org/display-guidelines/. Accessed 22 Sept. 2026.
With no author, the entry starts with the title of the page. The website is the container. The publisher is left out here because it has the same name as the site, and MLA leaves "https://" off ordinary web addresses. The access date is the optional ninth element in action: the Modern Language Association (n.d.-h) says to add one when it would be useful to others, which is exactly the case for a page with no publication date or one that may be revised.
An online video
Richardson, Tony, director. Sanctuary. Screenplay by James Poe, Twentieth Century Fox, 1961. YouTube, uploaded by LostCinemaChannel, 17 July 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMnzFM_Sq8s.
Two containers again: the film itself, and YouTube holding the copy you watched. If the person who uploaded a video is not its creator, "uploaded by" names them in the contributor slot.
For two authors, reverse only the first name: Dittmar, Emily L., and Douglas W. Schemske. For three or more, give the first author and then "et al."
Repeated authors, and the rule that is about to change
When two or more consecutive entries have the same author, the ninth edition lets you replace the repeated name with three hyphens or three em dashes. That is changing, and the MLA has said why. The Modern Language Association (n.d.-f) has stated that dashes and hyphens used this way cause problems for people using screen readers and other assistive technology, and that future editions will advise repeating the name in full instead. Either form is acceptable now, with your teacher's agreement. If you have a choice, repeat the name: it is where the style is going, and it reads correctly aloud.
How do in-text citations match the Works Cited page?
An MLA in-text citation is the first word or words of the Works Cited entry, usually the author's surname, followed by the page number, in brackets, with no comma between them: (Goldman 75). The Modern Language Association (n.d.-d) describes the aim as giving the shortest piece of information that leads the reader to the right entry in the list.
- If you name the author in your sentence, only the page goes in brackets: Goldman argues that… (75). Do not give the name in both places.
- Two authors: (Dittmar and Schemske 480). Three or more: (Grady et al. 210).
- In prose, MLA does not use "et al." The Modern Language Association (n.d.-g) reserves it for the list and for parenthetical citations. In a sentence you either write the names out or say "Grady and others argue".
- No author: use a short form of the title, in the same quotation marks or italics as in the list: ("Crossref DOI Display Guidelines").
- No page numbers, as on most web pages: give the name or title alone.
- The citation goes before the full stop that ends your sentence.
What does not need an entry
Every citation in your text must lead to one entry in the list, and every entry in the list must be cited somewhere in your text. Sources you read but did not cite do not belong in Works Cited.
Matching the two by eye is slow in a long paper. EdCitation's Verify references does it free: upload the whole paper, and each parenthetical citation is paired with its entry and each entry with the text that cites it. Each entry is also looked up and comes back verified, marked "check this", or not found; one it could not check is never reported as missing.
There are two exceptions worth knowing. The Modern Language Association (n.d.-e) says that information which is common knowledge, such as a well-known date, needs no documentation, and that a work mentioned in passing needs no entry either: naming your favourite novel in an aside is not the same as using it. If you quote it, paraphrase it or lean on it for an argument, it goes in the list. The differences between list names are explained in Reference list, bibliography or works cited.
How do I build an MLA entry without typing every detail?
Look the source up from its identifier and let the core elements be filled in from the publisher's record. A DOI is printed on most journal articles, and an ISBN is on the back of every recent book.
For that job, EdCitation's Cite a source is the best tool we know, because it never composes an entry: it finds one. From a DOI, title, PubMed ID or ISBN it locates the work in the publisher's record, fills each core element from what was deposited, and screens the source for retraction. No chatbot can do that; it assembles entries from patterns, unchecked against any record. The location element shows why it matters: the MLA prefers the DOI to the database link (Modern Language Association, 2016), and a DOI is a string the record holds exactly, where a guess has nothing to go on. The rules it follows are on the MLA style page.
One entry at a time is free, with no account, and a free account keeps them as a list in the dashboard, each one taggable and set in its own style. Pro, at $8 a month, adds References from a file for a whole uploaded paper, plus the plagiarism and AI checks; Max, at $24 a month, brings Theoretics QA and the Library of books (pricing).
What EdCitation fills in, and what you still look at
A few of its choices follow the MLA Style Center and look like gaps until you know the rule.
| Element | What Cite a source prints | What to look at yourself |
|---|---|---|
| Author | When a nongovernment organisation both wrote and published the work, no author: the entry opens with the title and names the organisation once, as publisher. The Modern Language Association (2022) cites its own handbook this way: MLA Handbook. 9th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2021. | Whether the organisation really published the work as well as writing it. |
| Title of source | The capitals exactly as the publisher's record gives them. | MLA capitalises the main words of a title, as every example above does. A title deposited in sentence case needs its capitals raised by hand. |
| Publication date | For a journal article, the date of the issue it appeared in, such as Aug. 2013, the way the MLA dates Goldman's article spring 2010. | Nothing further: that is the MLA's own practice. |
| Location | No article number for an article numbered rather than paged: the Modern Language Association (2019) advises dropping number and pages, since the author and the journal's title lead a reader to it. | Nothing: the missing number is the rule, not an error. |
Cite a source never sees your document, so the page itself is yours. The centred title, the spacing, the hanging indent and the order are part of what is marked.
Quick questions
Is it Works Cited or Work Cited?
The title is Works Cited when the list has two or more entries and Work Cited when it has exactly one. It is never "Bibliography" or "References" in MLA style.
Do I need to include the URL in MLA 9?
Yes, for a source you found online, unless your teacher tells you to leave it out. Give a DOI if there is one, written as https://doi.org/ followed by the number. Otherwise give the web address without "https://".
Do I need an access date in MLA 9?
No, an access date is optional in MLA 9. MLA advises adding one when it will be useful to others, which usually means a work with no publication date or one you suspect may be altered or removed. If you add one, it goes at the very end: Accessed 22 Sept. 2026.
How do I list two works by the same author in MLA?
Put them in alphabetical order by title. In the ninth edition you may give the author's name in the first entry and replace it with three hyphens in the next. The MLA has said that future editions will advise repeating the name in full, for accessibility, so repeating it is the safer choice.
Why does my entry end with a comma?
Because the element before the end was cut. Elements 3 to 9 are separated by commas, and whichever one comes last takes a full stop instead. If an entry ends in a comma, an element has been deleted without moving the stop.
Can EdCitation make my Works Cited page for me?
EdCitation makes the entries, not the page. Cite a source turns a DOI, title, PubMed ID or ISBN into an MLA 9 entry from the publisher's record, free with no account; the title, spacing, indent and order are set in your own document.
References
- Modern Language Association. (n.d.-a). Citations by format. MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/works-cited/citations-by-format/
- Modern Language Association. (n.d.-b). Formatting a research paper [PDF]. MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/app/uploads/sites/3/2020/12/Formatting-a-Research-Paper_v3_-The-MLA-Style-Center.pdf
- Modern Language Association. (n.d.-c). Hanging indents and Microsoft Word. MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/hanging-indents/
- Modern Language Association. (n.d.-d). In-text citations: An overview. MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/in-text-citations-overview/
- Modern Language Association. (n.d.-e). Is it ever acceptable to mention a work and not list it? MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/no-works-cited-list-entry/
- Modern Language Association. (n.d.-f). Is using dashes for repeated author names in works-cited-list entries accessible? MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/accessibility-em-dashes-in-entries/
- Modern Language Association. (n.d.-g). When a work by three or more authors is mentioned in the text of a research paper, should the names of all the authors be included? MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/when-a-work-by-three-or-more-authors-is-mentioned-in-the-text-of-a-research-paper-rather-than-in-a-parenthetical-citation-should-the-names-of-all-the-authors-be-included-or-only-the-first-one-foll/
- Modern Language Association. (n.d.-h). When should I include an access date? MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/access-dates/
- Modern Language Association. (n.d.-i). Works cited: A quick guide. MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/works-cited/works-cited-a-quick-guide/
- Modern Language Association. (2016, August 11). I am citing a paginated journal article that appears online. Should I include the page range, the URL, or the DOI as the location element in the works-cited-list entry? MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/page-range-and-doi/
- Modern Language Association. (2019, March 27). How should I cite an article from a journal that uses article numbers and starts pagination anew for each article? MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/journals-with-article-numbers/
- Modern Language Association. (2022, January 12). How do I cite the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook? MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/citing-mla-handbook-ninth-edition/