MLA citation style

A guide to citing sources using MLA Style, 9th edition

General rules

Some articles won’t have a day and/or month of publication, or might list a season instead (e.g. Spring). If the article is not on consecutive pages, use the first page number followed by a plus sign. Use “p.” for one page, “pp.” for multiple pages. Some online-only articles won’t have page numbers.

Month names longer than four letters used in journal and magazine citations should be abbreviated: Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.

Article citations from online sources should include a DOI (preferred) proceeded by “https://doi.org/” or a URL. For URLs you can omit the “http://" or "https://" from the web address.

Some journal articles also include supplemental materials that are linked from the main article web page. If you cite a specific file type from the web other than the one presented as the default version on a page where other versions of the work are available, you should include information about that file format you accessed as a supplemental element in your citation (see section 5.112).

Articles from ejournals

Citation format:

Author Lastname, Firstname. "Title of Article." Name of Journal, vol. #, no. #, day Mon. year, pp. #s. DOI or URL.

Sample Works Cited entry:

Richling, Barnett. "On Common Ground: Nunavik Inuit in Nunatsiavut, 1763–1942." Newfoundland & Labrador Studies, vol. 37, no. 1, June 2023, journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/NFLDS/article/view/33491.

Articles accessed through a library database

If the article was found online through an online database, include the name of the database in italics.

Citation format:

Author Lastname, Firstname. "Title of Article." Name of Journal/Magazine/Newspaper, vol. #, no. #, day Mon. year, pp. #s. Database Name, DOI or URL.

Sample Works Cited entry:

Guillen, Jorge. "Does Financial Openness Matter in the Relationship Between Financial Development and Income Distribution in Latin America?" Emerging Markets Finance & Trade, vol. 52, no. 5, 2016, pp. 1145-1155. Business Source Complete, https://doi.org/10.1080/1540496X.2015.1046337.

Articles from print journals

Citation format:

Author Lastname, Firstname. "Title of Article." Name of Journal/Magazine/Newspaper, vol. #, no. #, day Mon. year, pp. #s.

Sample Works Cited entry:

Cox, Gordon. "A Newfoundland Christmas Caroling Tradition.” Folk Music Journal, vol. 3, no. 3, 1977, pp. 242-60.

Articles with multiple authors

Articles with 2 authors

For articles with 2 authors, include the names of both names of both authors in the citation (see section 5.7).

Sample Works Cited entry:

Penton, Paulette, and Gail Davoren. Patterns of Larval Emergence of Capelin (Mallotus Villosus) and Environmental Cues at Demersal Spawning Sites on the Northeastern Coast of Newfoundland. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, vol. 65, no. 6, 2008, pp. 1135-43, https://doi.org/10.1139/F08-037.

Articles with 3 or more authors

For articles with 3 or more authors, list only the first author, followed by "et al." (see section 5.8)

Golinkoff, Roberta Michnick, et al. “(Baby) Talk to Me: The Social Context of Infant-Directed Speech and Its Effects on Early Language Acquisition.” Current Directions in Psychological Science : A Journal of the American Psychological Society, vol. 24, no. 5, 2015, pp. 339–44, https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721415595345.

Newspaper articles

If the city of publication is not included in the name of a locally-published newspaper, add the city, not italicized, in square brackets after the newspaper's name (see section 5.122). You do not need to add the city of publication to the name of a nationally-published newspaper.

Sample Works Cited entry:

Hudson, Catherine. "Sunken Boat Discovered in Deer Lake." The Western Star [Corner Brook], 16 Oct. 2009, p. 3

Magazine articles

Sample Works Cited entry:

Young, Ron. "Christmas, Mummers and Sleigh Bells." Downhome, vol. 27, no. 7, Dec. 2014, pp. 26-27.

Articles with no author

If an article has no author, begin with the article title instead.

Sample Works Cited entry:

"Cluster Balloonist Jonathan Trappe Lands in Newfoundland in Failed Attempt to Cross Atlantic." The Huffington Post, 13 Sept. 2013, www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/09/13/jonathan-trappe-balloonist-atlantic_n_3920702.html.

Articles with no date

For online articles, if no publication date is given, include the date you accessed the article at the end of the entry.

Sample Works Cited entry:

McCulley, Kate. “Travel to Newfoundland, Canada, and You’ll Never Want to Leave.” Adventurous Kate, www.adventurouskate.com/travel-newfoundland-canada/. Accessed 13 Aug. 2021.