MLA

MLA

The system of annotation recommended by the MLA (the Modern Language Association) uses in-text, parenthetical references that provide the author's last name and page number.

Each such reference links up to a corresponding entry in a concluding list of Works Cited (on which, see Bibliographies).

Full information on the MLA system can be found in The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6th ed. (New York: The Modern Language Association, 2003). Your college library has multiple copies.

For an explanation of the formatting of a Works Cited page in the MLA style, go to Bibliographies. Rules governing the use of single quotation marks, lengthy block quotes, on how to modify the wording of a quote without changing its meaning, and on ellipses can be found in the Advanced Quoting Skills section, along with recommendations on where to place references in the text.

Below, we have listed the MLA rules (with examples) that are most relevant to undergraduate history papers. They cover the following:

Please choose from the options above.

Basic quotes and in-text references (MLA system):

Having quoted, follow your quote with an in-text parenthetical reference listing the author's last name and page number.

Example # 1: (from the book The Rape of Nanking, by Iris Chang)

"Using numbers killed alone, the Rape of Nanking surpasses much of the worst barbarism of the ages" (Chang 5).

The author's last name is Chang, the page number of the quote is p. 5. Therefore the reference reads (Chang 5). There is no comma between the name and the page number, just a space.

Note that the end of the quote is indicated (with closing quotation marks) before the reference, but that the final punctuation of the quote (the period) is placed after the reference. Get this right!

Example # 2:

According to Iris Chang, "Nanking surpasses much of the worst barbarism of the ages" (5).

Note, again, that the end of the quote is indicated with closing quotation marks, followed by the parenthetical page reference and (only then) the final punctuation mark. This time however, because you have established the identity of the author in your own words, prior to the quote, it is unnecessary to list her last name: the page number alone will do.

Example 2a: (variation of # 2, above)

"Nanking surpasses much of the worst barbarism of the ages," writes Iris Chang (5).

Example # 3:

In like manner, it is also unnecessary to list an author's name if the previous reference has already identified her. Should you wish to follow up on the Iris Chang quote above with subsequent quotes from the same source, for example, the subsequent references need only provide page numbers: it is assumed that these page numbers refer to the work of the last-identified writer:

"Corpses piled up outside the city walls, along the river (which had literally turned red with blood), ponds and lakes, and on hills and mountains" (46).

Because the last-cited author was Iris Chang, and the reference above provides only a page number (46), the reader's assumption is that the preceding quote is taken from the last-cited author's work, from p. 46. In such a case, as in Examples # 2 and # 2a, no last name is listed in the reference.

Example # 4: (compare example # 1: same basic rule, but new author and internet source)

If, however, you interrupt a sequence of quotes by the same author, from the same work, with a quote from a different author, you need to identify the new author by last name in the reference, to signal that the source and author have changed:

Japanese scholars, however, disagree with Iris Chang's version of the event, suggesting that she describes "'mountains of dead bodies' that no one saw" (Masaaki Ch. 4).

Because the author of the above-cited internet source, "What Really Happened in Nanking" by Tanaka Masaaki, is different from the previously-cited author (Iris Chang) and because he has not been identified by name in the text leading into his quote, a new complete reference is required, giving both author's last name and page number: (Masaaki Ch 4).

Note that in the case of an internet source such as Masaaki's, above, it is not always possible to provide a page number. In the absence of available page numbers, we have instead provided the number of the section of his website in which this quote is located (in Chapter 4), to help orient the reader wishing to follow up on the reference: (Masaaki Ch 4). For more on websites and the MLA system, scroll down to References to sources other than books, below. To see how a website - or any other source - is listed on a Works Cited page, go to Bibliographies.

Note also that the Masaaki quote above features single quotation marks within the quote, on the use of which, see Advanced Quoting Skills.

Example # 5: (compare examples # 2 and # 2a: same basic rule)

If we had followed up on the last Iris Chang quote (Example # 3) with the Masaaki quote above, but had provided his name in the text leading into the quote, as shown below, it would again (as in Example # 2) have been unnecessary to list his name in the reference:

Japanese scholar Tanaka Masaaki disagrees with Chang's version of the event, suggesting that she describes "'mountains of dead bodies' that no one saw" (Ch. 4).

Example # 6: (same as # 1, with a source credited to two [or three] authors)

A source credited to two or three authors is referenced by all authors' last names followed by the page number:

Other Japanese scholars have argued that if deaths did indeed result from Japan's conquest of Nanking, they were solely "the responsibility of each individual [Japanese] soldier," rather than the responsibility of the Japanese army as a whole, or the Japanese government, whom these scholars absolve of all blame (Takemoto and Yasuo 130).

Example # 6a: (same as # 2 and # 2a)

As you know, if you provide the two authors' names in the text leading into (or coming out of) the quote, it is unnecessary to identify them by name in the reference:

Any deaths that resulted from Japan's conquest of Nanking were solely "the responsibility of each individual [Japanese] soldier," according to Japanese scholars Takemoto and Yasuo, who thus absolve the Japanese army and government of all blame (130).

Example # 7 (same as # 2, 2a, and 6a)

Returning (for a counter-argument) to Iris Chang, your very first source in this sequence, requires that you again provide a full reference (author's last name and page number, as in # 1) or, if you establish her as the source of the quote in your own text, as below, that you provide just the page number:

The arguments of Masaaki, Takemoto and Yasuo are examples of precisely the kind of revisionism Iris Chang seeks to challenge. They offer evidence, she says, of "how the Japanese, as a people, manage, nurture, and sustain their collective amnesia-even denial-when confronted with the record of their behavior through this period" (15).

Example # 8 (same as # 1, with a work credited to more than three authors)

A quote from a source credited to more than three authors requires you to list either all authors' last names in the reference, or (generally preferred) just the first-listed author on the book's cover page or spine, followed by the abbreviation et al. (from Latin, et alii, meaning "and others") and the page number. Note that "et al." is followed by a period to indicate that "al" is an abbreviation; there is no further punctuation between the authors' names and the page number, however, and the final punctuation follows only after the reference, as usual:

While the dispute between Chang and the Japanese scholars cannot be reliably settled, American World War II historiography favors her view over theirs. According to a standard U.S. history college textbook, The American Promise, "Japanese invaders captured Nanking and celebrated their triumph in a deadly rampage of murder, rape, and plunder that killed 200,000 Chinese" (Roark et al. 911).

Note that, when committing to the abbreviation et al. in your reference, as above, you also commit to listing the book's authors in like manner on your Works Cited page; conversely, if you were to have listed all authors' names of Roark et al. in your reference, you would do so in your list of Works Cited, too. As we chose the et al. option in our reference, above, we do so also in the sample list of Works Cited below.

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Sample Passage with sample Works Cited list

Following an introductory sentence, here is the entire sequence of quotes above, including all references, followed by a list of Works Cited (on which, see BIBLIOGRAPHIES).

While its exact death toll remains disputed, the so-called "Rape of Nanking" in 1937 surely numbers among the worst atrocities of the World War II-era, perhaps of all time: "Using numbers killed alone, the Rape of Nanking surpasses much of the worst barbarism of the ages" (Chang 5). Chinese-American historian Iris Chang conjures grisly images of the event: "Corpses piled up outside the city walls, along the river (which had literally turned red with blood), ponds and lakes, and on hills and mountains" (46). Japanese scholar Tanaka Masaaki, however, disagrees with Chang's version of the event, suggesting that she describes "'mountains of dead bodies' that no one saw" (Ch. 4). Other Japanese scholars have argued that if deaths did indeed result from Japan's conquest of Nanking, they were solely "the responsibility of each individual [Japanese] soldier," rather than the responsibility of the Japanese army as a whole, or the Japanese government, whom these scholars absolve of all blame (Takemoto and Yasuo 130). The arguments of the above-cited Japanese scholars are examples of precisely the kind of revisionism Iris Chang seeks to challenge. They offer evidence, she says, of "how the Japanese, as a people, manage, nurture, and sustain their collective amnesia-even denial-when confronted with the record of their behavior through this period" (15). While the dispute between Chang and the Japanese scholars cannot be reliably settled, American World War II historiography favors her view. According to a standard U.S. history college textbook, The American Promise, "Japanese invaders captured Nanking and celebrated their triumph in a deadly rampage of murder, rape, and plunder that killed 200,000 Chinese" (Roark et al. 911).


Works Cited

Please note: rules governing Works Cited entries are listed in Bibliographies.
  • Chang, Iris. The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II. New York: BasicBooks, 1997.
  • Masaaki, Tanaka. "'Mountains of Bodies' that No One Saw." N.d. What Really Happened in Nanking: The Refutation of a Common Myth. July 1, 2007 <http://www.ne.jp/asahi/unko/tamezou/nankin/whatreally/index.html>.
  • Roark, James, et al. The American Promise: A History of the United States. 3rd ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2005.
  • Takemoto, Tadao and Ohara Yasuo. The Alleged 'Nanking Massacre': Japan's Rebuttal to China's Forged Claims. Tokyo: Meisei-sha, Inc., 2000.
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References other types of source

Our sample passage included references to a book written by a single author (Chang's), and a book written by two authors (Takemoto and Yasuo's; the same rules of reference apply to books written by three authors); a book written by more than three authors (Roark's, et al.), and a website (Masaaki's). Below, we offer some rules on how to create in-text parenthetical references to other types of sources, beginning with variations on the website. To see how any of the types of sources listed below are listed on a Works Cited page, go to Bibliographies.

In-text references to websites:

(compare Example # 4, above)

If a website provides the name of an author, your reference lists the author's last name followed by (if available) a page number; if no page number is available, identify the location of the quote by the section of the site in which it is located: the heading, the chapter, or (last resort) the paragraph, which requires you to count the paragraphs in the site: yes, this is what the MLA recommends - if your site's author is Smith, and it consists of 49 paragraphs, and your quote is from the 44th paragraph, the reference is (Smith par. 44).

If a website does not provide the name of an author, list the title of the website itself. In the unlikely event that the site has no name, list (as a last resort) the URL, followed by the page or heading, section, chapter, or paragraph of the site).

In-text references to an author who has multiple works listed in your Works Cited

If you are quoting multiple works by the same author in your paper, avoid confusion by including in your reference a shortened version of the title from which you are quoting. If, for example, you quote both Iris Chang's The Rape of Nanking and The Chinese in America: A Narrative History (also by Chang), a reference to the first work, identifying a quote from p. 46, would read (Chang, Rape 46), whereas a reference to the second work, identifying a quote from p. 103, would read (Chang, Chinese 103).

In-text reference to an anthology, or edited work

If you are quoting from an essay or article contained within an anthology or a collection, provide the last name of the author of the article or essay in your parenthetical reference, followed by the page number.

In-text reference to an article in a scholarly journal

List the last name of the author of the article, followed by the page number. This is the rule regardless of whether the journal is paginated by volume or by issue (on which, see Bibliographies).

In-text reference to a newspaper article

Most newspaper articles list their authors' names. If available, list the last name of the article's author, followed by the specific page number of the newspaper in which the article appeared; if the page number is preceded by a capital letter indicating the paper's section (A1, for example, is the first page of the front section) include it in your reference.

If the article does not list an author's name, list an abbreviated version of the article's title, followed by the page number of the publication in which the article appeared.

In-text reference to a popular magazine

Most magazine articles list their authors' names. If available, list the last name of the article's author, followed by the specific page number(s) of the magazine in which the article appeared. If the article does not list an author's name, list an abbreviated version of the article's title, followed by the page number(s) of the publication in which the article appeared.

If you are using sources not listed in the examples above, consult

  • The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th ed. New York: The Modern Language Association, 2003.

Multiple copies are available at your college library.

To see how any of the above sources are correctly listed on a Works Cited page, see Bibliographies.

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