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Works Cited Template

MLA has created a template that can be used to help you determine which elements are required and quick guide. The first example featuring an article in a print journal is especially helpful.  

What is a Works Cited Page?

At the end of a research paper, MLA format requires a separate page that alphabetically lists all of the sources that you quoted, paraphrased, or summarized. Every source listed on the Works Cited page should correspond to one of your in-text citations. 

Citing sources gives credit back to the original author when you use someone else's words and ideas in your research paper.  The research process requires background information to develop the vocabulary, data, and details (who, what, where, why, and how) about your topic, so sometimes there are sources that you learned from but did not actually use in your writing. These sources do not go on your Works Cited page. Only sources that were quoted, paraphrased, or summarized should be on your Works Cited page.

Works Cited Formatting Details

Details of the Works Cited page:

  • A Works Cited page should be on a separate from the rest of the paper, but the header (with your last name and page number) should continue onto the Works Cited page. 
  • Center the words, Works Cited, at the top of the page.
  • The words, Works Cited, should never be italicized, bolded, underlined, "in quotation marks," or otherwise embellished.
  • The Works Cited page should be double spaced, however, there should not be extra space between citation entries. 
  • All entries should be in alphabetical order.
  • Any second and subsequent lines should have a hanging indentation of 0.5 inches. 
  • URL format differs slightly depending on which edition of the MLA you are using
    • If using MLA 8, remove http:// or https:// from URLs 
    • If using MLA 9, include http:// or https:// from URLs 
    • Additionally, in MLA 9 it is recommended but optional to include the full URL of a source. In most situations, you will want to include the full URL. However, if the URL is particularly long or cannot be freely accessed (such as in the case of a journal article located in a database or a magazine article behind a paywall, it is acceptable to not include the URL on the Works Cited page.

Parts of an MLA Citation

There are several core pieces of information that make up an MLA citation with corresponding punctuation. A typical citation should have the following core elements in the correct order. 

   Author.
   Title of source.

    Title of container,
    Other Contributors,
    Version,
    Number,
    Publisher,
    Publication date,
    Location.
 
In MLA, the portion inside of the black box is considered the container. Whenever a source is found within another source it is called a container. The most common example of this that you'll run into is when you are citing an academic article from a journal found in database. Other examples are collections of short stories or poems found inside one book, episodes that make up a television series, articles or other information that make up a Website, and more. In these examples, the database, book, and television series are all containers. A source can have multiple containers. 
 
Check out the visual example created by MLA for a better understanding. 

Some citations will have more or less information based on which facts about the publication are available and useful for helping a reader locate the resource.

Subjects: Tutorials