MLA Citation Guide

MLA style is published by the Modern Language Association and is currently in its 9th edition, released in 2021. It was created to standardize citation practices in the humanities and has become one of the most widely taught formats in academic writing courses.

MLA is the standard citation style in literature, languages, cultural studies, and other humanities disciplines. It is commonly required in undergraduate English composition courses and graduate-level literary research.

MLA uses an author-page in-text citation system (e.g., Smith 42) and organizes references in a Works Cited list. It emphasizes authorship and the container model, which provides a flexible framework for citing sources across different media.