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Referencing styles - a Practical Guide

MLA

MLA referencing style

Used by: English (as well as Chicago), Philosophy (as well as Harvard)

Introduction to MLA referencing style

The Modern Languages Association of America (MLA) style used for acknowledging source materials in humanities subjects. This guide is based on the MLA 8th Edition. For the more recent 9th edition please follow the link below to access the guide via YorSearch.

In-text citations

Information from sources in the text is shown with in-text citations that include the author's surname and the page number(s), or line number for poetry.

Citations can appear after the information, or integrated into the sentence:

The conversation between a patient and their doctor can be an awkward interaction (Hall 7-10).

The awkwardness of conversations between a patient and doctor has been presented in Hall (7-10).

Hall’s The Coroner (7-10) describes an awkward consultation between a patient and doctor.

Where no page number can be given for a source (eg, webpage), include just the name of the author/ organisation, or add ‘n.pag.’ for ‘no pagination’ to indicate a lack of page numbering.

Reference list

A list of works cited/bibliography at the end of the document includes the full details of each source so the reader can find them themselves. The list is organised alphabetically by author surname. 

The information to include depends on the types of source - see the examples.

Useful Resources

Guidance for all source types

Questions about referencing?

Contact your Faculty Librarians if you have any questions about referencing.

Commonly used sources

Examples of in-text citations and reference list entries for key source types.

Use these examples alongside the information given in the 'Guidance for all source types' box.

Further sources

Examples of in-text citations and reference list entries for other source types.

Use these examples alongside the information given in the 'Guidance for all source types' box.