The purpose of The Modern

Language Association (MLA)

format is to give credit for

ideas and information bor-

rowed from other sources. It

benefits the student by

preventing plagiarism and it

allows the instructor to

quickly identify the author

and location of the

borrowed information.

The Purpose of

MLA Style

AVILA

UNIVERSITY

Learning Services

How to wr i te a MLA works c i ted page

www.avila.edu/ls

Many instructors use varia-

tions of the standard MLA

format, and instructor prefer-

ence should be used.

General Format for MLA

Style Papers

• Your name should be typed in the upper-left hand corner of the first page of the paper, followed by your instructor’s name on the line beneath it, the name of your class beneath that, and the date the pa-per is due on the fourth line.

• Centered on the fifth line should be the title of your paper.

• The margins should be one inch on all four sides.

• Number each page on the right hand side, half an inch from the top, after your last name.

• Use double-spacing and 12-point font.

• Each paragraph should begin with an indentation of one half inch, or five spaces.

Phone: 816-501-3666 www.avila.edu/ls

Hodes Center

11901 Wornall Rd.

Kansas City, MO 64145

Hodes Center

11901 Wornall Rd.

Kansas City, MO 64145

Phone: 816-501-3666

www.avila.edu/ls

Letter, memo, e-mail, or public online posting Chitwood, Chad. “Re: running DA’s in the

MOC” E-mail to Multiple Recipients of

List. 20 Mar. 2001.

Interview Albright, Madeline K. Interview with Tim

Russert. Meet the Press. NBC, Wash

ington D.C. 4 Apr. 1999.

Advertisement Sony. Advertisement. ESPN 13 Dec. 1999.

Article from a database Johnson, Kirk. “The Mountain Lions of

Michigan.” Endangered Species

Update 19.2 (2002): 27+. Expanded

Academic Index. InfoTrac. Hooley-

Bundschu Lib. Kansas City. 10 July

2008.

Document from a web site without an

author

“Quick facts.” Avila University Admission.

2007. Avila University. 2 May 2007,

from http://www.avila.edu/admission/

facts.

Document from a web site with an author Shiva, Vandana. “Bioethics: A Third World

Issue.” NativeWeb. 22 Feb. 2006

<http://www.nativeweb.org/

pages/legal/shiva.html.

Important Note:

In this brochure, entries are single-

spaced to save space and provide

more examples.

MLA Works Cited pages should be

double-spaced.

General guidelines for a book Author’s last name, Author’s first name.

Title of book. City of Publication:

Publisher, Date..

General guidelines for an article Author’s last name, Author’s first name.

“Title of article.” Title of Periodi

cal, Volume (Year): page numbers.

General guidelines for a Web site Author. “Title of document on Web site.”

Title of site. Sponsor of site. Date

of access. <URL of document>.

Book by one author Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit. New York:

Ballantine Books, 1980.

Two or more books by one author Anthony, Piers. Blue Adept. New York

Ballantine Books, 1981.

- - - Juxtaposition. New York: Ballantine Books,

1983.

Edited book Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Works of Geoffrey

Chaucer. 2nd ed. Ed. F.W. Robin-

son. Boston: Houghton, 1957.

Essay, poem, short story, or article appearing in a collection of works Clarke, Arthur C. “The Star.” The Norton

Anthology of Short Fiction. 3rd edi-tion.

Ed. R.V. Cassill. New York: W.W, Norton

& Company, 1986. 23-34.

Book by a corporate author American Medical Association. The American

Medical Association Encyclopedia of

Medicine. New York: Random, 1989.

Newspaper article Horsley, Liz. “Leave a Mark at Avila.” The Talon

15 Feb. 2001: 8.

Magazine article McGee, Ryan. “Over the Rainbows.” ESPN Oct.

1999: 116.

Article in a scholarly journal Lapadat, Judith C. “Implicit Theories and Stigmatiz-

ing Labels.” Journal of College Read-

ing and Learning 29.1 (1998): 73-81.

Pamphlet Talk is Cheap, Dreams are not. United States: Access

Group, Inc, 1998.

Film or video recording Intermediate Algebra with Applications. Prod. Chalk

Dust Productions, Inc. Videocassette.

Houghton Milton Co, 2000.

Television or radio program “American Limbo.” This American Life. Host Ira

Glass. Public Radio Intl. WBEZ. Chicago. 9

Feb. 2001.

Sound recording or sound clip Nader, Ralph. Interview with Ray Suarez. Talk of the

Nation. National Public Radio, 16 Apr.

1998.

Examples Of What To Do

For Your Works Cited Page

You do not have to

guess whether or not

you did your works

cited page correctly.

Sign up for a tutor to

help you check it!