MLA Quick Citation Guide

Purpose: provides a list of all of the sources you cited in your writing, so that others can find the same information. 

Works Cited entries should include: 

• Core Elements (facts common to most works)

  • Author

  • Title of Source 

• Containers (information about the larger whole that contains the source, such as the journal, anthology, book, or website) 

  • Title of Container (Journal, Anthology, Book, Website, etc.) 

  • Contributor (Editors, Translators, etc.) 

  • Version (Volume or Edition) 

  • Number (Issue) 

  • Publisher 

  • Publication Date 

  • Location (name of the database, DOI, URL, page range, etc.) 

Formatting the Works Cited: 

• Start on a new page. 

• Center the title (Works Cited). Do not bold, italicize, or underline. 

• Double-spaced. 

• Hanging indent (the first line of each entry lines up on the left; if the entry is longer than one line, additional lines are indented) 

• Alphabetical by the first word in the citation (usually author’s last name; if there is no author, this is usually the first word of the title). 

• Title and Subtitles:

  • Capitalize all words except for articles (the, a, an), prepositions (at, by, in, of, on, with), and conjunctions (and, or, but). 

  • Italicize titles of full works (books, journals, websites, films, etc.) 

  • Use quotation marks for titles of parts of works (articles, chapters, short stories, essays, poems, web pages, etc.). 

• Dates: abbreviate months to three letters. 

  • Oct. 

• For author names, use: 

  • Last-name, First-name. 

    • Smith, John. 

• URLs: 

  • Do not include the https:// portion of the link. 

  • If a DOI is available, always use that rather than the URL. 

  • Use the permalink (shortened, stable version of the URL) if the source has one. You can often find permalinks under “share” or “cite this” options. 

• Punctuation: 

  • Use a period (.) after: 

    • Author. 

    • Title of Source. 

    • Page range. 

    • URL. 

    • Access date. 

  • Use a comma (,) after: 

    • Title of Container (journal, anthology, book, website, etc.), 

    • Contributor (Editors), 

    • Version (Volume or Edition), 

    • Number (Issue), 

    • Publisher, 

    • Publication Date,

Journal Articles: 

Last-name, First-name. “Title of Article: Subtitle of article.” Journal Title, vol. #, no. #, Date of Publication, pp. Page Range. Name of Database, www.doi.org/xx.xxxxxxxxxxxx or URL. 

Magazine Articles: 

Last-name, First-name. “Title of Article.” Title of Magazine, Day Month Year, pp. Page Range. 

Newspaper Articles: 

Last-name, First-name. “Title of Article.” Title of Newspaper, edition, Day Month Year, p. Page #. 

Newspaper Articles (local or lesser-known publications): 

Last-name, First-name. “Title of Article.” Title of Newspaper [City, State], Day Month Year, p. Page #. 

Books by authors: 

Last-name, First-name. Title of Book. Publisher, Year. 

Books with unknown authors: 

Title of Book. Publisher, Year. 

Books with translators: 

Last-name, First-name. Title of Book. Translated by First-name Last-name, Publisher, Year. 

Books with editors: 

Last-name, First-name, editor. Title of Book. Publisher, Year. 

Books with authors, translators, and editors: 

Last-name, First-name. Title of Book. Translated by First-name Last-name, edited by First-name Last-name, Publisher, Year. 

Editions of books (beyond first edition): 

Last-name, First-name. Title of Book. #th ed., Publisher, Year. 

Book chapters (from edited collections/books): 

Last-name, First-name. “Title of Chapter/Essay/Short Story.” Title of Book, edited by First-name Last-name, Publisher, Year, pp. Page Range. 

Webpage/Article on a Website: 

Last-name, First-name. “Title of Webpage/Article.” Title of Website, Day Month Year, URL. 

Use MLA's "core elements" template to generate your citation:

• Author - do not treat the AI tool as an author
• Title of Source - description of what the AI tool generated (including information about the prompt)
• Title of Container - name of the AI tool
• Version - include the most specific version number (which may include a date)
• Publisher - the company that made the tool
• Date - when the content was generated
• Location - general link (URL) for the tool

Example: ChatGPT (& DALL-E)

In-Text Citation

("Describe the symbolism")

Work Cited

“Describe the symbolism of the green light in the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald” prompt. ChatGPT, 13 Feb. version, OpenAI, 8 Mar. 2023, chat.openai.com/chat.

Work Cited for DALL-E (visual works)

“Pointillist painting of a sheep in a sunny field of blue flowers” prompt, DALL-E, version 2, OpenAI, 8 Mar. 2023, labs.openai.com/.