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ENGL& 101: English Composition I, with Ann Modzelewski: Citation Examples

Setting up a citation

For any source you use in your essay, your citation should include as many of these elements:

Author: Last Name, First Name Middle Name or Initial. 
"Title of article, chapter, or webpage"
Title of magazine, newspaper, journal, or website (longer work)
Publisher (if available)
Date Month Year (if available)
URL

MLA  citations are designed around the idea of containers.  For example:

  • an article is contained in a journal, magazine or newspaper
  • a journal, magazine or newspaper can be contained in a library database or a website
  • a video or movie is contained on a website like YouTube or a streaming service like Kanopy

You can see how the containers work and the different elements needed in this interactive template. You fill in the template with the information that is available. If the source does not give you a piece of information, like a date, just skip that space and go to the next element. The amount of information available will vary depending on each source.

Examples for citing articles

From a library database

Set-up:

Author's last name, first name. "Title of Article or Review." Title of Newspaper, Magazine or Journal, vol number, issue number (if available), date, page numbers (if available). Name of Database, URL.
 

Example:

Reiley, Laura. "Impossible Foods Sees End to Meat Industry." The Washington Post, 18 Jul. 2021, p. A,21. ProQuest, http://edmonds.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.edmonds.idm.oclc.org/newspapers/impossible-foods-sees-end-meat-industry/docview/2552528274/se-2?accountid=1626.

From an online magazine or news website

Set-up:
Author's last name, first name. "Title of Article." Title of Website, date (if available), URL.
Examples:
Twilley, Nicola, and Cynthia Graber. "Kelp is the New Kale." The Atlantic, 13 Sep. 2016, www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/09/gastropod-seaweed499760/.
Singer, Natasha. "Online Schools Are Here to Stay, Even After the Pandemic." New York Times, 14 Apr. 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/11/technology/remote-learning-online-school.html?smid=url-share.

Website (no author)

"MLA 8/9 Citation Guide." Edmonds College Library. https://edcc.libguides.com/mla_revised2021.

A few notes

► When there are two authors:  Last name, first name, and first name, last name.

► When there are three or more authors:  Last name, first name, et. al. (et al. means "and more" and indicates there are more than two authors).

► If there is no author listed, start your citation with the title of the "title of the article, chapter, or webpage."

► Many scholarly journal articles have a unique identifier called a DOI (digital object identifier).  If you see a DOI on the article, use that at the end of your citation. If there is no DOI on the article or the record, that's fine; use the permalink or URL instead.

► Dates should be set up like this: 20 Sept. 2023 (day month abbreviated year). If there is only a year available, list just the year.