To cite a source in MLA 9th edition, build a works-cited entry from the nine core elements in a set order, then point to it in your text with the author’s surname and a page number. The citation generator assembles the entry for you, but it helps to know the model so you can check the result and fill gaps by hand.
MLA 9 does not give you a separate template for every source type. Instead it uses one container model that works for a book, a web page, a journal article, a film, or anything else.
The nine core elements
Every works-cited entry is built from the same nine elements, listed in this order, each ending with the punctuation shown:
- Author.
- “Title of Source.”
- Title of Container,
- Other contributors,
- Version,
- Number,
- Publisher,
- Publication date,
- Location.
You include only the elements that apply to your source and skip the ones that do not. A “container” is the larger work that holds the source, such as the website that holds a page, or the anthology that holds an essay. A source can sit inside two containers, for example an article inside a journal inside a database, in which case you repeat elements 3 to 9 for the second container.
In-text citations
An MLA in-text citation gives the author’s surname and the page number, with no comma between them and no year:
The narrator describes the kitchen in close detail (Tan 24).
If you name the author in your sentence, put only the page number in the parentheses:
Tan describes the kitchen in close detail (24).
For a source with no page numbers, such as most web pages, give just the author: (Tan). Do not invent a page number or use the position on screen.
Two authors, and three or more
The number of authors changes how you write the name.
- One author: (Tan 24).
- Two authors: join both surnames with “and”, as in (Smith and Jones 14). In the works-cited entry, invert the first name only: Smith, Jane, and Mark Jones.
- Three or more authors: give the first author’s surname followed by “et al.”, as in (Garcia et al. 88). The works-cited entry uses the first author’s name followed by “et al.” as well.
Citing a website page
Map the page onto the core elements. The author comes first, then the page title in quotation marks, then the website name in italics as the container, then the publication date, then the location as a URL without the https:// prefix.
Hollmichel, Stefanie. “Reading in a Digital Age.” So Many Books, 25 Apr. 2013, somanybooks.org/2013/04/25/reading-in-a-digital-age.
In text, cite it as (Hollmichel), since there are no page numbers. If the page has no publication date, add an access date at the end: Accessed 14 June 2026.
Citing a book
A book is simpler because the work and the container are the same thing, so the title goes in italics with no separate container. Give the author, the title, the publisher, and the year.
Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club. Penguin Books, 1989.
In text, cite a specific passage with the author and page: (Tan 24). For an edition other than the first, add the version element: 2nd ed., before the publisher.
Checking your work
The model is consistent, but small things trip people up: the period after the author, the comma versus period that ends each element, the choice between a URL and a DOI, and whether an access date is needed. Run your source through the MLA citation tool to get the order and punctuation right, then compare your other entries against it.
To see how MLA differs from APA and Chicago on dates, author order, and page formatting, read APA vs MLA vs Chicago. For the APA version of a web page citation, see how to cite a website in APA, or open the citation generator now.