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Extended Essay : MLA Citations

A guide to ASW's research tools and supports to help you with the Extended Essay.

MLA Citations

MLA Style is currently in its 9th edition (as of November 2021). Disciplines that use MLA Style are English Studies, Foreign Languages, Literary Criticism, Cultural Studies. Talk to your teacher about the proper format for your paper.

MLA Style Guide

MLA9 Poster

For more information, visit Purdue OWL website. 

What are in-text citations?

MLA 9th Edition

Citing AI

Find a bibliography citation tool

Works Cited Example

MLA8 Posters

MLA Citations Review

In-Text Citations Quick Guide

As with all Citations, check Noodletools for In-Text Citation guidance.  For each source, Noodletools will instruct / guide on how to create an in-text citation for each individual source. 

The table below gives some examples of basic in-text citations.

Author/Source In-Text Citation(s) Structure & Explanation
No author

(Corgi Care 41)

("Nothing Lost" 178)

Use shortened version of title

Italics are used for whole sources, like books, plays, entire websites. 

Quotation marks are used for works part of a bigger source (chapter in a book, article in a journal, post in a blog).

1 author (Epstein 16-21) Author's last name and page number(s) (if available)

1 author,

2 sources

(Austen Emma and Mansfield Park) Author's last name with 1st source's title and 2nd source's title

2 authors,

1 source

(Eriksson and Sagen 23) 1 Authors last name and 2nd Author's last name
3+ authors (Leung et al. 58) 1st Author's last name with et al. and page number
Editor (Castillo 74) Editor's last name and page number

Different sources,

Same in-text citation

(Sarreal 11; Dearce 65) Author's last name and page number of 1st source; Author's last name and page number of 2nd source
Source divided into numbered parts (Luxemburg, ch. 26) Add a comma after the author's last name and give a paragraph, section, or chapter number with relevant abbreviation
Play with numbered lines (Shakespeare 1.2.95) Include the act, scene, and line numbers separated by periods, instead of a page number
Audiovisual source (Wynn 10:23-45) Include the time range as displayed in the media player
Source with no numbered divisions (Rajaram) Include only the author's last name or, if no author, the shortened title
Multiple sources with same author

(Butler, Gender Trouble 27)

(Butler, "Performative Acts" 522)

If you cite more than one work by the same author, add a shortened title to signal which source you are referencing.
Different authors with the same last name

(A. Butler 19)

(J. Butler 27)

To distinguish between different authors with the same lat name, use the authors' initials or, if the initials are the same, use the full first names.