Below are examples of common MLA citation formats. For the most authoritative guide to MLA format, please consult the style manual. There is a copy at the Reference Desk.

The latest edition of MLA format requires that you state whether your source was in Print or from the Web. If you use an online article, make sure you cite the database you got the full text of the article from, not the database you originally searched. For example, if you search MLA International Bibliography for articles, but you locate the article's full text in JSTOR, then you would cite JSTOR.

 

Articles 

Article (from a database) with one author:

Lastname, First M.  "Title of Article." Title of Publication volume.issue  

(year): pages. Database Name. Web. Date accessed.

Geuss, Raymond. "Happiness and Politics." Arion: A Journal of Humanities

and the Classics 10.1 (2002): 15-33. JSTOR Arts and Sciences

V Collection. Web. 25 Nov. 2009.

 

Article (print) with one author:

Lastname, First M.  "Title of Article." Title of Publication volume.issue

 (year): pages. Print.

Neve, Christopher. "Happiness is a Warm Hedgehog: Beatrix Potter's

Natural History." Country Life 152 (1972): 1728-9. Print.

 

 Article (found using Google) with one author:

Lastname, First M.  "Title of Article." Title of Publication or Overall

Website. Publisher or Sponsors of the Site, Publication Date.

Web.  Date accessed.

Cohen, Patricia. "Author's Personal Forecast: Not Always Sunny But

Pleasantly Skeptical." New York Times. New York Times, 9 Oct.

2009. Web. 25 Nov. 2009.

 

Article (from a database) with two authors:

Lastname, First M., and Firstname M. Surname. "Title of Article." Title of

Publication volume.issue (year): pages. Database Name. Web. Date accessed.

Lykken, David and Auke Tellegen. "Happiness is a Stochastic Phenomenon."

Psychological Science 7.3 (1996): 186-189. JSTOR Life Sciences

Collection. Web. 30 Nov. 2009

Article (from a database) with three authors:

Lastname, First M., Annie B. Surname, and Anon Y. Mous.

  "Title of Article." Title of Publication volume.issue (year): pages.

Database Name. Web. Date accessed.

More than three authors? List all authors or use the format below:

Authorone, First M. et. al. "Title of Article." Title of Publication

volume.issue (year): pages.

Books

Book with one author:

Lastname, First M.  Title of Book: Subtitle of Book. Publication Location:

Publisher, Date. Print.

Munro, Alice  Too Much Happiness: Stories . New Haven, CT: Yale UP,

2009. Print.

Books with multiple authors:

The format follows the author format as listed under articles.

 

An edited book:

Editor, First M., ed.  Title of Book: Subtitle of Book. Publication Location:

Publisher, Date. Print.

Cahn, Steven M., and Christine Vitrano, eds. Happiness: Classic and

Contemporary Readings in Philosophy. Oxford; New York:

Oxford UP, 2007. Print.

An online book:

Lastname, First M.  Title of Book: Subtitle of Book. Publication Location:

Publisher, Date. Site Sponsor. Web. Date accessed.

 

Wainewright, William. On the Elements of Human Happiness. London:

William Skeffington, 1857. Google Book Search. Web. 30 Nov. 2009.

 

Web Sites

Web site with one author:

Author, Firstname M. Title of Site. Sponsor of Site, Date Published.

Web. Date accessed.

 

Veenhoven, Ruut. World Database of Happiness. Erasmus

University Rotterdam, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2009.

 

Web site with a corporate or organizational author:

Corporation or Organization Name. Title of Site. Sponsor of Site, Date

Published. Web. Date accessed.

The Young Foundation. Summary of Literature Sources for Happiness

and Wellbeing. The Young Foundation, Oct. 2006. Web. 30 Nov. 2009.

 

Images

Image from an online source with a creator listed:

Creator, First M. Title of Image. Date created. Description. Web.

Date accessed.

Swanbrow, D. A happiness ranking of 97 nations. 23 Jul. 2008.

Chart. Web. 21 Jan. 2010.

 

Image from an online source with no creator listed:

Title of image. Date created. Description of image. Web. Date accessed.

 

Image from a print source with a creator listed:

Creator, F. M. (Date created). Title of image. [Continue the remainder of the citation

with title of book or article as appropriate.]