MLA citation generator

Cite websites, books, articles, ...

mla citation generator

Cite websites, books, articles, ...

What is an MLA citation generator and how can it help you?

Getting citations and reference lists correctly done can be very confusing and time-consuming.

The MLA Handbook is already in its 8th edition, and every edition comes with many changes, which can lead to confusion when trying to cite correctly.

The good news is that our MLA citation generator can do it automatically for you and it is FREE to use! 🎉

Not convinced yet? Here are 5 reasons why you are going to love the BibGuru MLA citation maker:

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🎓 MLA, APA, Chicago and thousands of other citation styles

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With BibGuru we have made a citation tool that truly helps students to focus on the content of their work instead of worrying about how to get their reference list correctly done.

Those days of wasting time entering data manually or losing grades on incorrect bibliographies are finally gone!

If you need to know more about MLA citations check out our How do I cite in MLA style? section or our detailed MLA citation guides.

Why, when, and what do I have to cite?

Why
The broad scientific knowledge we have today is the accomplishment of many researchers over time. To put your own contribution in context, it is important to cite the work of the researchers who influenced you.

Cited sources can provide key background information, support or dispute your thesis, or offer important definitions and data. Citing also shows that you have personally read the work.


When
In addition to crediting the ideas of others that you used to build your own argument, you need to provide documentation for all facts and figures that are not common knowledge.

Common knowledge is knowledge that is known by everyone, or nearly everyone, and can basically concern any subject. An example for common knowledge would be "There are seven days in a week".


What
The number of sources you cite in your work depends on the intent of the paper. In most cases, you will need to cite one or two of the most representative sources for each key point.

However, if you are working on a review article, the aim is to present to the readers everything that has been written on a topic, so you will need to include a more exhaustive list of citations.

What is the MLA citation style?

mla book image

The MLA citation style was developed by the Modern Language Association of America, an association for scholars of language and literature. Founded in 1883, nowadays over 25,000 members internationally are working to strengthen the study and teaching of language and literature.

The MLA publishes several academic journals, and also the MLA Handbook, a citation guide for high school and undergrad students, providing guidelines for writing and documentation of literature, language, liberal arts, and other humanities subjects.

The MLA framework standardizes the way scholars document sources and format papers in a consistent and understandable way, allowing readers to explore the sources of the writer. The MLA style has been widely adopted by scholars across the world.

If you are not sure which citation style to use in your paper, ask your instructor. There are many different citation styles and using the style your institution has established for their research correctly can have a great impact on your grade.

The MLA Handbook (8th edition, which is the basis of this guide) provides guidelines for writing and documenting research and tips for the use of the English language in your writing. This guide focuses on how to cite with MLA.

How do I cite in MLA style?

The MLA Handbook provides guidelines for a large variety of sources and uses a two-part documentation system for citing sources:

  • parenthetical citations in-text (author, page) linked to a corresponding
  • works cited page with all literature used in text.

MLA in-text citation

In-text citations aim at directing the reader to the entry in your works cited list (see below) for the source, while creating the least possible interruption in the text.

An in-text citation usually contains the author's name (or other first element in the entry in the works cited list) and a page number.

The page number usually goes in a parenthesis, placed where there is a natural pause in the text. A parenthetical citation that directly follows a quotation is placed after the closing quotation mark.

In-text citation examples

“It's silly not to hope. It's a sin he thought.” (Hemingway, 96)

The author's name can appear in the text itself or before the page number in the parenthesis:

Cox names five strategies to implement Diversity Management in companies (50).

Formatting your Works Cited Page in MLA

Your "works cited" list identifies the sources you borrow from (cite) in the body of your research project. Works that you consult during your research but don't use and cite in your paper are not included.

Each entry in the list of works cited is made up of core elements given in a specific order, and there are optional elements that may be included. The core elements in your works cited list are the following, given in the order in which they should appear, followed by the punctuation mark shown unless it is the final element, which should end with a period:

  1. Author.
  2. Title of source.
  3. Title of container,
  4. Other contributors,
  5. Version,
  6. Number,
  7. Publisher,
  8. Publication date,
  9. Location.
Reference list examples

Here are two examples of how the entries in your works cited list could look like with one or multiple authors:

Cox, Taylor. Creating the Multicultural Organization: a Strategy for Capturing the Power of Diversity. Jossey-Bass, 2001.

Heidenreich, Stefan, et al. “Political Strategies, Entrepreneurial Overconfidence and Foreign Direct Investment in Developing Countries.” Journal of World Business, vol. 50, no. 4, 2015, pp. 793–803

Formatting your paper in MLA

The MLA Handbook also provides guidelines on how to present your paper in a clear and consistent way. These are the general guidelines to format your paper correctly according to MLA, for more details please refer to the MLA Handbook:

  • Use a legible font (e.g. Times New Roman), the font size should be 12 pt.
  • Set the margins of your document to 1 inch on all sides
  • Double-space the entire text of your paper
  • Leave only one space after periods or other punctuation marks
  • Indent every new paragraph one half-inch from the left margin - you can use your tab bar for this
  • Create a header that numbers all pages consecutively in the upper right-hand corner, one half-inch from the top and flush with the right margin
  • Use italics for the titles of longer works
  • Do not make a title page for your paper unless specifically required
  • On the first page, make sure that the text is left-aligned, list your name, the name of your teacher or professor, the course name and the date in separate lines
  • Center align your heading, do not italicize, bold or underline, or use a period after the title

The MLA Handbook gives guidance for a multitude of different sources, like websites, television series, songs, articles, comic books, etc., considering various types of contributors to these sources.

Use our MLA citation generator above to create the fastest and most accurate MLA citations possible.

If you want to know more about MLA citations check out our MLA citation guides to get detailed information on the various publication types.

BibGuru is the perfect alternative to these MLA citation generators

There are many online MLA citation generators, but BibGuru has the goal to be number 🥇 in speed, accuracy, and simplicity. Have you ever tried one of these citation makers? Give BibGuru a try now to see the difference it will make to your academic writing!

FAQ

📊 How do you cite in-text in MLA style?

In-text citations in MLA style follow the author-page system that consist of the author's last name and the page number in which the source can be found, e.g. A study conducted in California (Watson 135).

📽 How do you cite in-text an audio-visual source in MLA style?

In MLA style, audio-visual material uses the specific time of the audio/video for in-text citations. You need to cite the author's last name and the time or a short version of the title and the time within parentheses, e.g. The following scene exemplifies the performers physical abilities (Thurman 00:15:43-00:20:07).

🤓 Who uses MLA style?

Anyone can use MLA style given its versatility. However, this format is often used by writers and students working in the field of arts and humanities, such as linguistics, literature and history.

👨‍💻 Is there a free MLA citation machine?

Yes, the BibGuru MLA citation generator is completely free and ready to use by students and writers adopting the MLA guidelines.

🙇🏻‍♀️ What version of MLA style should I use?

The most recent version of the MLA guidelines is the 8th edition of the MLA Handbook, released on 2016. Currently, this is the version used by institutions and writers, and the one you should use to format your paper.

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