Creating a Works Cited page in MLA style
The Works Cited page lists all of the sources you used in your paper and is placed at the end of the paper on a new numbered page. The sources listed on that page and the ones you cite within the text must align exactly.
Placement. Place the Works Cited page at the end of the paper on a new numbered page. An easy way to do this is to add a page break at the end of the text on the last page of your essay. Place your cursor at the end of your last sentence and click CTRL + Enter.
Title. Label the page Works Cited, centered in plain text.
Spacing. Make sure to double space throughout.
Order. List the sources in alphabetical order by the authors' last names. Ignore "A," "And," and "The" when alphabetizing by title if an author is not listed.
Indentation. Do not indent the first line in the citation; however, you must indent any additional lines 1/2". One way to do this is with a hanging indent. Place your cursor in front of the line to be indented and under the Home Menu, click the arrow next to the word Paragraph. Under Special, choose Hanging, and make sure that it is By .5. A second method is to place your cursor at the end of the first line and press Enter. Then, place your cursor at the beginning of the second line and press Tab.
Click here to see a sample Works Cited page.
These guidelines will help you write the different elements of Works Cited entries correctly. Note that not all of these elements are necessary for all types of sources, and the elements will not necessarily appear in this order in different citations. Refer to the documents here for specific formulas: MLA Works Cited Formulas
If there is one author, write the name last name first, then a comma and first name and middle initials, as they appear on the source. Follow with a period.
Thompson, Hunter S.
If there are two or three authors, list the first person last name first, add a comma, and then list the next author(s) normally. Any name that appears after the first name is always written first name first.
Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar.
Opie, Iona, Peter Opie, and Maurice Sendak.
If there are more than three authors, you may list all of the authors, or you may list just the first author followed by a comma and the phrase "et al." (which means "and others).
Zipes, Jack, et al.
If no author is listed, there may be an organization or group to use as the author. If not, list the title first. Never use "Anonymous" as the author.
If you use an edition other than the first, indicate this by abbreviating the number followed by "ed."
Capitalize the first letter of all important words. Do not capitalize a conjunction (such as "and," "but," and "or") or article (such as "the," "a," or "an") unless it is the first word of the title or subtitle. Add a period to the end of an article or book title if it does not already have end punctuation.
Titles should be formatted in either italics or quotation marks, depending on the type of source. No titles get both quotation marks and italics. For more information, click here: Formatting Titles of Texts in MLA Style
If the editor or editors are listed on the title page in addition to an author, use the abbreviation "Ed." and then list them first name first, followed by a period.
Ed. Ann Charters.
If the editor or editors is to be listed first, with no author, list the names as you would for authors, followed by the abbreviation "ed." or "eds."
Stanford, Judith A., ed.
Volume and issue numbers
Volume and issue numbers are required for journal articles. List them with numerals only, no abbreviations. Volume 53, issue 7 would be
Dates are written Day Month Year, with no commas. Months may be abbreviated.
31 Jan. 2010.
Page numbers are written with numerals only, no abbreviations.
If you do not know the end page number, use a plus sign, as in 67+.
Names of databases are italicized with the first letter of every important word capitalized.
Academic Search Premier.
When citing a book, list the first place of publication given on the title page. No state is necessary.
Publishers of Books
Write the name of the publisher given on the title page. You may shorten the publisher, for example, using "Knopf" for Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Publishers of Websites
Publishers of Web sites may be clear from the information given on the individual Web page, or you may need to look at the home page, the "about us" link, or the holder of the copyright. Write the publisher normally, followed by a comma.
Salon Media Group,
Most publications will fall into one of two categories of media: Print or Web. Capitalize the medium.
A Web address, or URL, should be included only if it is requested by the instructor or is necessary to find the source. Therefore, URLs can be omitted most of the time. If you need to include one, place it in angle brackets, include the http://, and add a period after the final angle bracket. If you need to break the address to divide it between two lines, do so after a slash. Do not allow your word processing program to turn it into a hyperlink (blue underlined type). Right-click on the address to remove the link.
< http://www.emilydickinson.org/titanic/gilbert_bio.html >.