MLA Style

Setting Up the MLA List of Works Cited

1. What to list List only works you actually cited in the text of your paper, not works you read but did not mention, unless your instructor requires you to include all the works you consulted as well as those mentioned in your text.
   
   
2. Format of the list Begin the list on a new numbered page after the last page of the paper or any endnotes. Center the heading (Works Cited) without quotation marks, underlining, or a period. Double-space throughout the list. Do not add space between entries.
   
   
3. Organization Do not number the entries. List works alphabetically by author's last name. Begin each entry with the author's name, last name first (or the corporate name or the title of the work if no author is stated). Omit titles ("Dr.") or degrees, but include a suffix like "Jr." or a Roman numeral, as in "Patterson, Peter, III." Use normal orderfirst name firstfor the names of authors after the first name. List works with no named author by the first main word of each entry (52d, item 26).
   
   
4. Indentation To help readers find an author's name and to clearly differentiate one entry from another, indent all lines of each entry, except the first, one-half inch (or five spaces). A word processor can provide these "hanging indents" (see 10c for how to format hanging indents).

Two Basic Features of MLA Style

1. In the text of your paper, include the following information each time you cite a source:
   
   the last name(s) of the author or authors (or the title of the work if no author is named), along with the page number(s)
   where the information is located, unless the source is online or only one page long.
   See 52b for examples.
   
   
2. At the end of your paper, include a list, alphabetized by authors last names (or by title if no author is named) of all the sources you refer to in the paper. Begin the list on a new page and title it Works Cited. See 52d for sample entries.