how to cite a quote from a website mla essay

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MLA Style (9th Edition) Citation Guide: Websites

• Introduction to MLA Style
• Journal Articles
• Magazine/Newspaper Articles
• Books & Ebooks
• Government & Legal Documents
• Biblical Sources
• Secondary Sources
• Videos/DVDs/TV Shows
• How to Cite: Other
• 9th Edition Updates
• Additional Help

Table of Contents

Entire website - no separate pages or sections, page or section from a website.

Note: For your Works Cited list, all citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

It can sometimes be difficult to find out who the author of a website is. Remember that an author can be a corporation or group, not only a specific person. Author information can sometimes be found under an "About" section on a website.

If there is no known author, start the citation with the title of the website instead.

The best date to use for a website is the date that the content was last updated. Otherwise look for a copyright or original publication date. Unfortunately this information may not be provided or may be hard to find. Often date information is put on the bottom of the pages of a website.

If you do not know the complete date, put as much information as you can find. For example you may have a year but no month or day. If the source does not include a copyright/last modified date, then omit the date and include an access date in your citation instead.

Access Date

Date of access is optional in MLA 8th/9th edition; it is recommended for pages that may change frequently or that do not have a copyright/publication date.

In your works cited list, abbreviate months as follows: 

January = Jan. February = Feb. March = Mar. April = Apr. May = May June = June July = July August = Aug. September = Sept. October = Oct. November = Nov. December = Dec.

Spell out months fully in the body of your paper. 

Author, or compiler name (if available).  Title of Website,  Name of Organization Affiliated with the Website, Date of copyright or date last modified/updated, URL. Accessed access date.

Works Cited List Example:

Mabillard, Amanda.  Shakespeare Online,  29 Dec. 2011, www.shakespeare-online.com. Accessed 6 July 2016.

In-Text Citation Example:

(Author's Last Name)

(Mabillard)

Note: In this example, the name of the organization affiliated with the website is omitted since it is the same as the website title.

Created by an Unknown Author, or the Author is the same as the Website Title/Publisher

 "Title of Section."  Title of Website,  Publisher or Sponsoring Organization, Date of publication or last modified date, URL. Accessed Date Month (abbreviated) Year.

Note: The publisher or sponsoring organization can often be found in a copyright notice at the bottom of the home page or on a page that gives information about the site . If the website publisher is the same as the author and title of the web site , then include only the title of the web site. 

“ Athlete's Foot - Topic Overview.”  WebMD, 25 Sept. 2014, www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/tc/athletes-foot-topic-overview.

("Title of Section")

(“Athlete's Foot - Topic Overview”)

Created by a Known Author

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Page or Document."  Title of Website,  Publisher or Sponsoring Organization, Date of copyright or date last modified/updated, URL. Accessed Date Month (abbreviated) Year.

Morin, Amy. "How to Prevent the Media From Damaging Your Teen's Body Image."  Verywell Family,  About Inc., 6 Oct. 2019, www.verywellfamily.com/media-and-teens-body-image-2611245. Accessed 1 Nov. 2019.

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Citations - MLA: In-Text Citations - Quotations & Paraphrasing

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On This Page

• About In-text Citations

Paraphrasing

• In-Text Citation for One, Two, or More Authors/Editors

Unknown Author

Repeated use of sources, long quotations.

• In-Text Citation for More Than One Source

Citing a Source that you Found in Another Source (Secondary Source)

Order of authors, physician credentials, about in-text citations.

In MLA, in-text citations are inserted in the body of your research paper to briefly document the source of your information. Brief in-text citations point the reader to the full citation on the works cited list at the end of the paper.

Create in-text citations for the following:

• Direct quotes

If you're using information from a single source more than once in succession (i.e., no other sources referred to in between), you can use a simplified in-text citation.

Cell biology is an area of science that focuses on the structure and function of cells (Smith 15). It revolves around the idea that the cell is a "fundamental unit of life" (17). Many important scientists have contributed to the evolution of cell biology. Mattias Jakob Schleiden and Theodor Schwann, for example, were scientists who formulated cell theory in 1838 (20). 

 Note: If using this simplified in-text citation creates ambiguity regarding the source being referred to, use the full in-text citation format.

What Is a Long Quotation?

If your quotation extends to more than four lines as you're typing your essay, it is a long quotation.

Rules for Long Quotations

There are 4 rules that apply to long quotations that are different from regular quotations:

• The line before your long quotation, when you're introducing the quote, usually ends with a colon.
• The long quotation is indented half an inch from the rest of the text, so it looks like a block of text.
• There are no quotation marks around the quotation.
• The period at the end of the quotation comes  before  your in-text citation as opposed to  after , as it does with regular quotations.

Example of a Long Quotation

At the end of  Lord of the Flies  the boys are struck with the realization of their behaviour:

The tears began to flow and sobs shook him. He gave himself up to them now for the first time on the island; great, shuddering spasms of grief that seemed to wrench his whole body. His voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island; and infected by that emotion, the other little boys began to shake and sob too . (Golding 186)

Direct Quote  - Add an in-text citation at the end of the quote with the author name and page number:

Mother-infant attachment has been a leading topic of developmental research since John Bowlby found that "children raised in institutions were deficient in emotional and personality development" (Hunt 358).

Authors Name in the Sentence & with a Direct Quote -  If you refer to the author's name in a sentence you do not have to include the name in the in-text citation, instead include the page number (if there is one) at the end of the quotation or paraphrased section. For example:

Hunt explains that mother-infant attachment has been a leading topic of developmental research since John Bowlby found that "children raised in institutions were deficient in emotional and personality development" (358).

No Page Numbers & with a Direct Quote -  When you quote from electronic sources that do not provide page numbers (like Web pages), cite the author name only.

"Three phases of the separation response: protest, despair, and detachment" (Garelli).

  Note: The period goes outside the brackets, at the end of your in-text citation.

In-Text Citation For One, Two, or More Authors/Editors

Author Known: 

• "Here's a direct quote" (Smith 8).

In-Text Citation For More Than One Source

If you would like to cite more than one source within the same in-text citation, simply record the in-text citations as normal and separate them with a semi-colon.

(Smith 42; Bennett 71). 

( It Takes Two ; Brock 43).

 Note: The sources within the in-text citation do not need to be in alphabetical order for MLA style.

When creating an in-text citation or full citation, the authors should be listed in the original order displayed on the item (book, article, ...). 

Do not include academic credentials (e.g., MD, MPH, PhD,. DDS) when citing doctors in the in-text or full citation. 

The writer may refer to the physician by Dr. (name), when writing a paraphrase or inserting a direct quotation, although, it is not required.

Using the medical credential in the sentence:

Dr. Higgins, said the reason behind the complication was "direct quote here" (257). 

Dr. Price realized that nutrition was tied to health outcomes and encountered this observation in various regions of the world during his travels (390). 

Omitting the medical credential from the sentence:

He sad the reason behind the complication was "direct quote here" (Higgins 257). 

Price observed that nutrition was tied to health outcomes and encountered this in various regions of the world during his travels (390). 

When you write information or ideas from a source in your own words, cite the source by adding an in-text citation at the end of the paraphrased portion.

Paraphrasing from One Page

Include a full in-text citation with the author name and page number (if there is one). For example:

Mother-infant attachment became a leading topic of developmental research following the publication of John Bowlby's studies (Hunt 65).

Hunt discussed mother-infant attachment becoming a leading topic of developmental research following the publication of John Bowlby's studies (65).

Paraphrasing from Multiple Pages

If the paraphrased information/idea is from several pages, include them. For example:

Mother-infant attachment became a leading topic of developmental research following the publication of John Bowlby's studies (Hunt 50, 55, 65-71).

Author Unknown:

• If the author's name is not given, then use the first word or words of the title. Follow the same formatting that was used in the works cited list, such as quotation marks. This is a paraphrase ("Trouble" 22).
• Where you'd normally put the author's last name, instead use the first one, two, or three words from the title. Don't count initial articles like "A", "An" or "The". You should provide enough words to make it clear which work you're referring to from your Works Cited list.
• If the title in the Works Cited list is in italics, italicize the words from the title in the in-text citation.
• If the title in the Works Cited list is in quotation marks, put quotation marks around the words from the title in the in-text citation.

( Cell Biology  12)

("Nursing" 12)

Sometimes an author of a book, article or website will mention another person’s work by using a quotation or paraphrased idea from that source. ( This may be called a secondary source.) 

For example, the Kirkey article you are reading includes a quotation by Smith that you would like to include in your essay.

• The basic rule: in your Works Cited and in-text citation you will still cite  Kirkey NOT Smith.
• A dd the words “qtd. in” to your in-text citation.  

Examples of in-text citations :

According to a study by Smith (qtd. in Kirkey) 42% of doctors would refuse to perform legal euthanasia.

Smith (qtd. in Kirkey) states that “even if euthanasia was legal, 42% of doctors would be against this method of assisted dying” (A.10).

Example of Works Cited list citation:

Kirkey, Susan. "Euthanasia."  The Montreal Gazette , 9 Feb. 2013, p. A.10.  Canadian Newsstand Major Dailies.

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MLA Citation Guide (9th Edition): Works Quoted in Another Source

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Works Cited in Anther Source (Indirect Sources)

Works Cited in Another Source (Indirect Sources)

Sometimes an author of a book, article or website will mention another person’s work by using a quotation or paraphrased idea from that source. The work that is mentioned in the article you are reading is called the primary (or original) source. The article you are reading is called the secondary source.

For example, the Kirkey article you are reading includes a quotation by Smith that you would like to include in your essay.  The basic rule is that in both your Works Cited list and in-text citation you will still cite Kirkey. Smith does not appear  in your Works Cited list.  For the in-text citation you cite Kirkey and add the words  “qtd. in” at the beginning of your in-text citation.  

Examples of in-text citations:

According to a study by Smith 42% of doctors would refuse to perform legal euthanasia (qtd. in Kirkey 10).

Smith states that “even if euthanasia was legal, 42% of doctors would be against this method of assisted dying” (qtd. in Kirkey 10).

Example of Works Cited citation:

Kirkey, Susan. "Euthanasia."   The Montreal Gazette , 9 Feb. 2013, p. 10. Canadian Newsstand Major Dailies.

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Writing Support

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• Writing in College
• MLA Citation Guide

In-text Citations

Sample papers, formatting tips, cc attribution.

• APA Citation Guide

This guide is a quick introduction to the Modern Language Association 9th edition citation style. Be sure to consult the  MLA Handbook  or the online  MLA Style Center  for detailed standards and procedures. 

When you reference another source use an  in-text citation  in the body of your paper. 

Basic Format: (Author's Last Name(s) or "Abbreviated Title" Page Number).

I'm using...

Summarizing or Paraphrasing

Always include the last name(s) of the author(s) and the page of the paraphrased source, so your reader can find the full citation in the reference list.

As conceived, American exceptionalism was based on the country's domestic identity, which foreign policy did not shape but merely guarded (McDougall 189).  

Direct quotes.

If you're quoting the exact words of someone else, introduce the quote with an in-text citation in parentheses. Any sentence punctuation goes after the closing parenthesis.

• According to Brown, "Direct quote" (1021).
• Brown found that "Direct quote" (1021).
• [Some other introduction] "Direct quote" (Brown 1021).

If you're directly quoting a long passage, use a  block quotation . Block quotations don't need quotation marks. Instead, indent the text as a visual cue that you are citing. The in-text citation in parentheses goes after the punctuation of the quote.

Shavers study found the following:

While research studies have established that socioeconomic status influences disease incidence, severity and access to healthcare, there has been relatively less study of the specific manner in which low SES influences receipt of quality care and consequent morbidity and mortality among patients with similar disease characteristics, particularly among those who have gained access to the healthcare system. (1021)

In-text citations differ depending on the number of authors listed for a work, and if there is a  group author .

I'm citing a work with...

You only need the author's last name and page number in parentheses.

(Abrams 256)

Connect both authors' last names with " and " and the page number.

(Wegener and Petty 199)

3 or More Authors

If there are 3 or more authors use et al. , which means " and others ," and the page number.

(Harris et al. 20)

Corporate Authors

If the corporate name is used in a parenthetical citation, shorten the name to the shortest noun phrase. For example, the National Academy of Sciences would be shortened to the following:

(National Academy 9)

Unknown Authors

If no author is given, use the title in your signal phrase or the first word or two of the title in parentheses

Book with no author (title in italics): ( Interpersonal Skills 19)

Article with no author (title in quotations): ("Prevalence of tooth loss" 201)

Include the complete citation at the end of your paper in a works cited section. Works cited are organized by the author's last name (or title in the case of no author) in alphabetic (A-Z) order. Use an hanging indent to separate each list item.

Basic Format: Author Last Name, First Name Middle Name or Initial.  Title of Longer Work  or "Title of Shorter Work." Publisher, Year. URL or DOI.

This Interactive Practice Template and Quick Guide can help with the basics of creating a works cited entry.

I'm citing a...

Journal Article

• Author(s).  Note: Use the format Last Name, First Name Middle Name or Initial. If there are multiple authors, use and before the last author's name.
• "Title of the Article."  Note: Include the title of a shorter work like an article in a journal in quotation marks and use  headline-style capitalization .
• Title of the Journal ,  Note: Use italics for the title of a longer work like a journal and use  headline-style capitalization .
• no. #,  Note: If there is no additional number after the volume, only include the volume number.
• Publication date,
• pp. xxx-xxx.

If accessed online or in a library database...

• Database ,  Note: Use italics for names of databases.
• URL or permalink.

Gosine, Kevin, and Emmanuel Tabi. "Disrupting Neoliberalism and Bridging the Multiple Worlds of Marginalized Youth via Hip-Hop Pedagogy: Contemplating Possibilities."  Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies , vol. 38, no. 5, 2016, pp. 445-467.  Research Gate ,  doi: 10.1080/10714413.2016.1221712 .  

Online news/magazine article.

• "Title of the Article."  Note: Include the title of a shorter work in quotation marks and use  headline-style capitalization .
• Title of the Newspaper or Publisher ,  Note: Use italics for the title of a longer work like a newspaper or online publication and use  headline-style capitalization .
• Publication date,  Note: Use the formate Date Abbreviated Month Year.

Robinson, Angela. "History Shows Why It's Time for a Black Woman to Sit on the Supreme Court ."  The Washington Post , 1 Feb. 2022,  https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/02/01/history-shows-why-its-time-black-woman-sit-supreme-court/ .

• Title of the Book .  Note: Use italics for the title of a longer work like a book and use  headline-style capitalization .
• Edition  Note: If there are multiple editions, use the format 1st/2nd/3rd ed.,
• Publication date.

Lee, Harper.  To Kill a Mockingbird . 1st ed., J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1960.

• Title of the Book,  Note: Use italics for the title of a longer work like a book and use  headline-style capitalization .
• Editors  Note: If there is one editor, use the format edited by Last Name, First Name. If there are multiple editors, use and before the last author's name.

Hughes, Langston.  Letters from Langston: From the Harlem Renaissance to the Red Scare and Beyond , edited by Evelyn Louise Crawford and Mary Louise Patterson. University of California Press, 2016.  EBSCOhost Academic eBook Collection ,  http://libproxy.csudh.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=1105577&site=ehost-live&scope=site&ebv=EB& .  

Book chapter with editor(s).

• Author(s) of the Chapter.  Note: Use the format Last Name, First Name Middle Name or Initial. If there are multiple authors, use and before the last author's name.
• "Title of the Chapter."  Note: Include the title of a shorter work like a chapter in quotation marks and use  headline-style capitalization .

Green, David. "Supporting the Academic Success of Hispanic Students."  College Libraries and Student Culture: What We Now Know , edited by Andrew D. Asher and Lynda M. Duke, ALA Editions, 2011.  EBSCOhost Academic eBook Collection ,  http://libproxy.csudh.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=390319 .

• Author.  Note: If there is no individual author, begin the citation with "Title of the Page."
• "Title of Page, Section, or Document."
• Publisher ,

"Citation Guide."  LaSalle College Vancouver Library ,  https://guides.lcvlibrary.com/citation .

Check out more  examples of citing online sources  from the MLA Style Center. 

Citing a letter, photograph, text document, graphic material, or ephemera? Consult the  Gerth Archives MLA Citation Guide for Archival Materials .

The following 2019 MLA Student Paper Contest winning essays provide examples of writing in the MLA format:

• “Disrupting White Normativity in Langston Hughes’s ‘I, Too’ and Toni Morrison’s ‘Recitatif’” Alyiah Gonzales, California Polytechnic State University
• “Prescriptions of (Living) Historical Happiness: Gendered Performance and Racial Comfort in Reenactment” Meg Matthias, Miami University, Ohio

How do I make a hanging indent in Word?

1.  Highlight  the citaiton with your cursor. 

2.  Right click. 

3. Select  Paragraph .

4. Under Indentation, select Special and  Hanging .

How can I save time formatting my paper? 

Microsoft Word and Google Docs have a Format Painter tool that will copy and apply basic formatting to any text! 

1.  Highlight  the formatting you want to apply. 

2. Select  Format Painter . 

3.  Highlight  the text you want to change. 

Note:  If using the Format Painter on the Reference List, you'll need to go back and add italics. 

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• Plagiarism and grammar
• Citation guides

Cite a Website in MLA

Don't let plagiarism errors spoil your paper, citing a website in mla, how to create an mla website citation:.

When citing a website, you’re often actually citing a specific page on a website. You’re not actually citing the entire website.

Here is the most common way to cite a page on a website:

• Start the citation with the name of the author who wrote the information on the page. If there isn’t an author listed, do not include this information in the citation. Start the citation with the title.
• The title of the individual page is placed in quotation marks, followed by a period.
• Next, place the name of the website in italics, followed by a comma.
• If the name of the publisher matches the name of the author or the name of the title, do not include the publisher’s information in the citation.
• The date the page or website was published comes next.
• End the citation with the URL or DOI. When including the URL, copy the URL directly from the address bar or link in your browser window.

Last name, First name of author. “Title of Web Page.” Title of Website , Publisher, Date published, URL.

Rothfeld, Lindsay. “Smarter Education: The Rise of Big Data in the Classroom.” Mashable, 3 Sept. 2014, mashable.com/2014/09/03/education-data-video/#hViqdPbFbgqH.

You can usually leave out http:// or https:// from URLs unless you want to hyperlink them. For DOIs, use http:// or https:// before the DOI: https://doi.org/xx.xxxx/xxx.xxxx.xxxx.

If you’re still confused and feeling the urge to type “How to cite a website MLA” into Google, try out our free generator at the top of this page. Our citation generator MLA site is easy to use!

Social media:

If the user’s handle and real name are similar, you may include the real name and leave out the handle as long as a URL is also included. If the user’s real name and handle are different, include the hand in brackets after the real name.

Gates, Melinda. “Today, Bill and I were deeply humbled to accept France’s Legion of Honour award on behalf of all our foundation’s partners and grantees.” Twitter, 21 Apr. 2017, twitter.com/melindagates/status/855535625713459200.

Sandler, Adam. “California Strong celebrity softball game this Sunday at Pepperdine. All proceeds go to the victims of the wildfires and shooting in Thousand Oaks.” Facebook, 11 Jan. 2019, www.facebook.com/Sandler/.

Mizuhara, Kiko [@I_am_kiko]. “@vivi_mag_official shot by my sis @ashley_yuka.” Instagram, 25 June 2020, www.instagram.com/p/CB27SYahBpo.

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MLA Style: In-text citation

• Works Cited: Books
• Works Cited: Articles
• Works Cited: Other web content
• In-text citation

Every in-text citation must correspond with a full citation on the Works Cited page, and vice versa. You can't include a source in your references list if you don't also cite it in your paper.

Parenthetical Citations

Place at the end of a sentence, before the ending punctuation mark.

• One author: Citations help readers follow your research... (Naess 25).
• Two authors: Researchers agree that citing is important... (Miller and Jones 63).
• Three or more authors: Discussions are ongoing on this topic... (Hamilton et al. 498).
• No author and no page number: Researchers discuss the importance... ("Sustainable Management").

Narrative Citations

If preferred, include the author or title of the cited work in the signal phrase by which you introduce the content. Then, the parentheses only contains the page number. 

• One author: Naess noted the importance of... (25). 
• Two authors: Miller and Jones found that... (63). 
• Three or more authors: Hamilton et al. argue that... (246). 
• No author and no page number: The article "Sustainable Management" discusses...

Short Quotes

For short quotations, which consist of four typed lines or fewer of prose and three lines of verse, add quotation marks around the words and incorporate the quote into your own text. Include the author and page number in the parenthetical citation.

• According to Johnson, citations are "breadcrumbs that all researchers can follow” (725).
• Researchers should "follow citation guidelines as closely as possible" to avoid plagiarism (Rivera 47). 

Block Quotes

For longer quotations of more than 4 typed lines of text or more than 3 lines of poetic verse, format the quote in its own paragraph, with the entire section indented 1/2". Do not use quotation marks around it, and include the standard citation information at the end. 

For example, if you wished to quote a longer section from  Alice's Adventures in Wonderland , that would be formatted as a block quote: 

When the rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat pocket, and looked at it and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat pocket or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge. (Carroll 10)

Multiple Sentences in a Paragraph from the Same Source 

When borrowing more than one time from the same source in a single paragraph, there are multiple options for citing. You can give a parenthetical citation at the end of each sentence. If the reader can easily determine that the same source is being cited, then use of the page number alone is sufficient.

Another option would be using a single parenthetical citation after the last borrowed source.

Keep in mind that you may need to reintroduce a source, either in prose or in parenthetical citation, for clarity, such as after citing a different source or including your own ideas.

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

MLA Formatting and Style Guide

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

The following overview should help you better understand how to cite sources using MLA  9 th edition, including how to format the Works Cited page and in-text citations.

Please use the example at the bottom of this page to cite the Purdue OWL in MLA. See also our MLA vidcast series on the Purdue OWL YouTube Channel .

Creating a Works Cited list using the ninth edition

MLA is a style of documentation that may be applied to many different types of writing. Since texts have become increasingly digital, and the same document may often be found in several different sources, following a set of rigid rules no longer suffices.

Thus, the current system is based on a few guiding principles, rather than an extensive list of specific rules. While the handbook still describes how to cite sources, it is organized according to the process of documentation, rather than by the sources themselves. This gives writers a flexible method that is near-universally applicable.

Once you are familiar with the method, you can use it to document any type of source, for any type of paper, in any field.

Here is an overview of the process:

When deciding how to cite your source, start by consulting the list of core elements. These are the general pieces of information that MLA suggests including in each Works Cited entry. In your citation, the elements should be listed in the following order:

• Title of source.
• Title of container,
• Other contributors,
• Publication date,

Each element should be followed by the corresponding punctuation mark shown above. Earlier editions of the handbook included the place of publication and required different punctuation (such as journal editions in parentheses and colons after issue numbers) depending on the type of source. In the current version, punctuation is simpler (only commas and periods separate the elements), and information about the source is kept to the basics.

Begin the entry with the author’s last name, followed by a comma and the rest of the name, as presented in the work. End this element with a period.

Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture. Routledge, 1994.

Title of source

The title of the source should follow the author’s name. Depending upon the type of source, it should be listed in italics or quotation marks.

A book should be in italics:

Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House . MacMurray, 1999.

An individual webpage should be in quotation marks. The name of the parent website, which MLA treats as a "container," should follow in italics:

Lundman, Susan. "How to Make Vegetarian Chili." eHow, www.ehow.com/how_10727_make-vegetarian-chili.html.*

A periodical (journal, magazine, newspaper) article should be in quotation marks:

Bagchi, Alaknanda. "Conflicting Nationalisms: The Voice of the Subaltern in Mahasweta Devi's Bashai Tudu." Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature , vol. 15, no. 1, 1996, pp. 41-50.

A song or piece of music on an album should be in quotation marks. The name of the album should then follow in italics:

Beyoncé. "Pray You Catch Me." Lemonade, Parkwood Entertainment, 2016, www.beyonce.com/album/lemonade-visual-album/.

*The MLA handbook recommends including URLs when citing online sources. For more information, see the “Optional Elements” section below.

Title of container

The eighth edition of the MLA handbook introduced what are referred to as "containers," which are the larger wholes in which the source is located. For example, if you want to cite a poem that is listed in a collection of poems, the individual poem is the source, while the larger collection is the container. The title of the container is usually italicized and followed by a comma, since the information that follows next describes the container.

Kincaid, Jamaica. "Girl." The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories, edited by Tobias Wolff, Vintage, 1994, pp. 306-07.

The container may also be a television series, which is made up of episodes.

“94 Meetings.” Parks and Recreation, created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, performance by Amy Poehler, season 2, episode 21, Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, 2010.

The container may also be a website, which contains articles, postings, and other works.

Wise, DeWanda. “Why TV Shows Make Me Feel Less Alone.”  NAMI,  31 May 2019,  www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/May-2019/How-TV-Shows-Make-Me-Feel-Less-Alone . Accessed 3 June 2019.

In some cases, a container might be within a larger container. You might have read a book of short stories on Google Books , or watched a television series on Netflix . You might have found the electronic version of a journal on JSTOR. It is important to cite these containers within containers so that your readers can find the exact source that you used.

“94 Meetings.” Parks and Recreation , season 2, episode 21, NBC , 29 Apr. 2010. Netflix, www.netflix.com/watch/70152031?trackId=200256157&tctx=0%2C20%2C0974d361-27cd-44de-9c2a-2d9d868b9f64-12120962.

Langhamer, Claire. “Love and Courtship in Mid-Twentieth-Century England.” Historical Journal , vol. 50, no. 1, 2007, pp. 173-96. ProQuest, doi:10.1017/S0018246X06005966. Accessed 27 May 2009.

Other contributors

In addition to the author, there may be other contributors to the source who should be credited, such as editors, illustrators, translators, etc. If their contributions are relevant to your research, or necessary to identify the source, include their names in your documentation.

Foucault, Michel. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason. Translated by Richard Howard , Vintage-Random House, 1988.

Woolf, Virginia. Jacob’s Room . Annotated and with an introduction by Vara Neverow, Harcourt, Inc., 2008.

If a source is listed as an edition or version of a work, include it in your citation.

The Bible . Authorized King James Version, Oxford UP, 1998.

Crowley, Sharon, and Debra Hawhee. Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. 3rd ed., Pearson, 2004.

If a source is part of a numbered sequence, such as a multi-volume book or journal with both volume and issue numbers, those numbers must be listed in your citation.

Dolby, Nadine. “Research in Youth Culture and Policy: Current Conditions and Future Directions.” Social Work and Society: The International Online-Only Journal, vol. 6, no. 2, 2008, www.socwork.net/sws/article/view/60/362. Accessed 20 May 2009.

Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria. Translated by H. E. Butler, vol. 2, Loeb-Harvard UP, 1980.

The publisher produces or distributes the source to the public. If there is more than one publisher, and they are all are relevant to your research, list them in your citation, separated by a forward slash (/).

Klee, Paul. Twittering Machine. 1922. Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Artchive, www.artchive.com/artchive/K/klee/twittering_machine.jpg.html. Accessed May 2006.

Women's Health: Problems of the Digestive System . American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2006.

Daniels, Greg and Michael Schur, creators. Parks and Recreation . Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, 2015.

Note : The publisher’s name need not be included in the following sources: periodicals, works published by their author or editor, websites whose titles are the same name as their publisher, websites that make works available but do not actually publish them (such as  YouTube ,  WordPress , or  JSTOR ).

Publication date

The same source may have been published on more than one date, such as an online version of an original source. For example, a television series might have aired on a broadcast network on one date, but released on  Netflix  on a different date. When the source has more than one date, it is sufficient to use the date that is most relevant to your writing. If you’re unsure about which date to use, go with the date of the source’s original publication.

In the following example, Mutant Enemy is the primary production company, and “Hush” was released in 1999. Below is a general citation for this television episode:

“Hush.” Buffy the Vampire Slayer , created by Joss Whedon, performance by Sarah Michelle Gellar, season 4, Mutant Enemy, 1999 .

However, if you are discussing, for example, the historical context in which the episode originally aired, you should cite the full date. Because you are specifying the date of airing, you would then use WB Television Network (rather than Mutant Enemy), because it was the network (rather than the production company) that aired the episode on the date you’re citing.

“Hush.” Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon, performance by Sarah Michelle Gellar, season 4, episode 10, WB Television Network, 14 Dec. 1999 .

You should be as specific as possible in identifying a work’s location.

An essay in a book or an article in a journal should include page numbers.

Adiche, Chimamanda Ngozi. “On Monday of Last Week.” The Thing around Your Neck, Alfred A. Knopf, 2009, pp. 74-94 .

The location of an online work should include a URL.  Remove any "http://" or "https://" tag from the beginning of the URL.

Wheelis, Mark. "Investigating Disease Outbreaks Under a Protocol to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention." Emerging Infectious Diseases , vol. 6, no. 6, 2000, pp. 595-600, wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/6/6/00-0607_article. Accessed 8 Feb. 2009.

When citing a physical object that you experienced firsthand, identify the place of location.

Matisse, Henri. The Swimming Pool. 1952, Museum of Modern Art, New York .

Optional elements

The ninth edition is designed to be as streamlined as possible. The author should include any information that helps readers easily identify the source, without including unnecessary information that may be distracting. The following is a list of optional elements that can be included in a documented source at the writer’s discretion.

Date of original publication:

If a source has been published on more than one date, the writer may want to include both dates if it will provide the reader with necessary or helpful information.

Erdrich, Louise. Love Medicine. 1984. Perennial-Harper, 1993.

City of publication:

The seventh edition handbook required the city in which a publisher is located, but the eighth edition states that this is only necessary in particular instances, such as in a work published before 1900. Since pre-1900 works were usually associated with the city in which they were published, your documentation may substitute the city name for the publisher’s name.

Thoreau, Henry David. Excursions . Boston, 1863.

Date of access:

When you cite an online source, the MLA Handbook recommends including a date of access on which you accessed the material, since an online work may change or move at any time.

Bernstein, Mark. "10 Tips on Writing the Living Web." A List Apart: For People Who Make Websites, 16 Aug. 2002, alistapart.com/article/writeliving. Accessed 4 May 2009.

As mentioned above, while the MLA handbook recommends including URLs when you cite online sources, you should always check with your instructor or editor and include URLs at their discretion.

A DOI, or digital object identifier, is a series of digits and letters that leads to the location of an online source. Articles in journals are often assigned DOIs to ensure that the source is locatable, even if the URL changes. If your source is listed with a DOI, use that instead of a URL.

Alonso, Alvaro, and Julio A. Camargo. "Toxicity of Nitrite to Three Species of Freshwater Invertebrates." Environmental Toxicology , vol. 21, no. 1, 3 Feb. 2006, pp. 90-94. Wiley Online Library, doi: 10.1002/tox.20155.

Creating in-text citations using the previous (eighth) edition

Although the MLA handbook is currently in its ninth edition, some information about citing in the text using the older (eighth) edition is being retained. The in-text citation is a brief reference within your text that indicates the source you consulted. It should properly attribute any ideas, paraphrases, or direct quotations to your source, and should direct readers to the entry in the Works Cited list. For the most part, an in-text citation is the  author’s name and the page number (or just the page number, if the author is named in the sentence) in parentheses :

When creating in-text citations for media that has a runtime, such as a movie or podcast, include the range of hours, minutes and seconds you plan to reference. For example: (00:02:15-00:02:35).

Again, your goal is to attribute your source and provide a reference without interrupting your text. Your readers should be able to follow the flow of your argument without becoming distracted by extra information.

How to Cite the Purdue OWL in MLA

Entire Website

The Purdue OWL . Purdue U Writing Lab, 2019.

Individual Resources

Contributors' names. "Title of Resource." The Purdue OWL , Purdue U Writing Lab, Last edited date.

The new OWL no longer lists most pages' authors or publication dates. Thus, in most cases, citations will begin with the title of the resource, rather than the developer's name.

"MLA Formatting and Style Guide." The Purdue OWL, Purdue U Writing Lab. Accessed 18 Jun. 2018.

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• MLA Style Manual

How to Format a Quote in MLA

Last Updated: April 11, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Annaliese Dunne and by wikiHow staff writer, Jennifer Mueller, JD . Annaliese Dunne is a Middle School English Teacher. With over 10 years of teaching experience, her areas of expertise include writing and grammar instruction, as well as teaching reading comprehension. She is also an experienced freelance writer. She received her Bachelor's degree in English. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 51,359 times.

When writing a research paper or other report, you may find that you want to quote directly from a source. The Modern Language Association (MLA) has specific formatting guidelines for including direct quotes in your work. These guidelines differ depending on the length of the quoted material. Additional rules apply if you want to change or omit words from the quoted material so it flows well with your own writing. [1] X Trustworthy Source Purdue Online Writing Lab Trusted resource for writing and citation guidelines Go to source

Including Short Quotations

• If the source text includes material in quotation marks, change those quotation marks to single quotation marks.
• For example, you might write: Freud considered a dream to be "the fulfillment of a wish."

Tip: The length of a quote refers to the length as typed in your paper, not the length as printed in the original source.

• For example, you might write: Freud considered a dream to be "the fulfillment of a wish" (154).
• Remember to include a complete citation to the source in your Works Cited at the end of your paper.

• For example, you might write: "Is it possible that dreams may express "profound aspects of personality?" (Foulkes 184).

• For example, you might write: In his poem, "Harlem," Langston Hughes questioned what happens to a dream deferred, wondering if it might "dry up / like a raisin in the sun" (24).

Creating Blockquotes

• The entire blockquote is indented .5 inches (1.3 cm) from the left margin.
• Maintain double spacing in your blockquote just as in the rest of your paper.

Tip: If you're using Microsoft Word, type the entire blockquote into your paper, starting on a new line. Then highlight the entire quote and press the tab key once to indent it correctly.

• The sentence immediately before a blockquote typically ends with a colon rather than a period.

• As with all blockquotes, indent the first line with the character's name .5 inches (1.3 cm) from the left margin.

• When quoting more than one paragraph, indent the first line of any new paragraph an additional .25 inches (0.64 cm) from the left margin.

• If you're quoting concrete poetry or another form where the spacing is integral to understanding the poem as a whole, it might be better to include a digital image of the poem, rather than trying to replicate it yourself.

• As with short quotations, if you included the author's name in your introduction to the blockquote, there's no need to include the author's name in the parenthetical citation. Just include the page number or page range where the quoted text can be found.
• When quoting poetry, place the parenthetical citation at the end of the last quoted line, regardless of the punctuation. If the line doesn't have any closing punctuation, there's no need to add any either before or after your parenthetical citation.

Editing Quotations to Fit Your Writing

• For example, suppose you want to quote a source that says "While they excelled at individual projects, they struggled with group projects." Previous sentences indicate that "they" refers to "introverted students. Your quote would read: "While they [introverted students] excelled at individual projects, they struggled with group projects."

• Grammatical errors are more likely to come up in quoted speech than in a written and edited text. If a source has very many errors in the text, this may be an indication that it isn't reliable and probably shouldn't be used as a source at all.
• Avoid using "sic" to make a political or editorial statement about the language the source is using. For example, if your source includes the word "mankind," you would be making a political or editorial statement to include a "sic" after the word. Even though in your view the word "humankind" may be more appropriate, "mankind" isn't grammatically incorrect.

• For example, you might write: "Students who described themselves as highly introverted liked group projects the least" (Briggs 24, emphasis added).

• If the material you omitted occurs at the end of the sentence, retain the period at the end of the sentence. It will look like 4 ellipsis points instead of 3.
• If there is other punctuation, such as a comma or a semi-colon, in the source text, retain that after your ellipsis. For example, a quote might read "Students enjoyed the individual projects . . . ; however, they did not like working in groups." Note that you include a space before the first ellipsis point, as well as a space after the last ellipsis point.
• If you're quoting a source that uses ellipsis points as "suspension points," meant to indicate a hesitation or pause in speech rather than omitted words, put your own ellipsis points in brackets to distinguish them from the original text.

• For example, suppose you wanted to use the beginning of a sentence in the middle of one of your sentences. To change the initial capital letter, you might write: Percy Bysshe Shelley argued that "[p]oets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world."

Tip: If you have to make too many changes to the source text, it may look cluttered and will negatively affect readability. Consider recasting your sentence or only quoting snippets of the source text, rather than using the full sentence.

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Thanks for reading our article! If you’d like to learn more about writing, check out our in-depth interview with Annaliese Dunne .

• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_quotations.html
• ↑ https://columbiacollege-ca.libguides.com/MLA9/in-text
• ↑ https://research.wou.edu/mla/mla-blockquote
• ↑ https://www.unr.edu/writing-speaking-center/student-resources/writing-speaking-resources/mla-quotation-punctuation
• ↑ https://style.mla.org/when-to-use-sic/
• ↑ https://style.mla.org/cite-altered-quotation/
• ↑ https://depts.washington.edu/engl/askbetty/changing_quotations.php

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How do I cite quotations from different pages of a work?

When citing quotations from different pages of a work, some writers are tempted to use a page range as a citation. For example:

Don Quixote’s intention to “do battle” with the “thirty or forty hulking giants” in the distance alarms Sancho Panza, who tells Don Quixote that they “are not giants but windmills” and that no one “could have mistaken them unless he had windmills in his brain” (Cervantes 98–99). Work Cited Cervantes, Miguel de.  Don Quixote of La Mancha . Translated by Walter Starkie, Signet Classic, 1964.

But this method is not preferable in MLA style. There are four quotations in this example, and it’s unclear which ones appear on page 98 and which on page 99, or perhaps on both pages. It’s best to tell readers exactly which page each quotation comes from. The following revision shows how to cite the quotations in MLA style:

Don Quixote’s intention to “do battle” with the “thirty or forty hulking giants” in the distance alarms Sancho Panza (Cervantes 98), who tells Don Quixote that they “are not giants but windmills” and that no one “could have mistaken them unless he had windmills in his brain” (98, 99). Work Cited Cervantes, Miguel de.  Don Quixote of La Mancha . Translated by Walter Starkie, Signet Classic, 1964.

In the revised example, the citation before the comma, (Cervantes 98), indicates that the first two quotations appear on page 98. The citation at the end of the sentence, (98, 99), indicates that the third and fourth quotations appear on pages 98 and 99, respectively.

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Generate accurate citations in MLA format automatically, with MyBib!

😕 What is an MLA Citation Generator?

An MLA citation generator is a software tool designed to automatically create academic citations in the Modern Language Association (MLA) citation format. The generator will take information such as document titles, author, and URLs as in input, and output fully formatted citations that can be inserted into the Works Cited page of an MLA-compliant academic paper.

The citations on a Works Cited page show the external sources that were used to write the main body of the academic paper, either directly as references and quotes, or indirectly as ideas.

👩‍🎓 Who uses an MLA Citation Generator?

MLA style is most often used by middle school and high school students in preparation for transition to college and further education. Ironically, MLA style is not actually used all that often beyond middle and high school, with APA (American Psychological Association) style being the favored style at colleges across the country.

It is also important at this level to learn why it's critical to cite sources, not just how to cite them.

🙌 Why should I use a Citation Generator?

Writing citations manually is time consuming and error prone. Automating this process with a citation generator is easy, straightforward, and gives accurate results. It's also easier to keep citations organized and in the correct order.

The Works Cited page contributes to the overall grade of a paper, so it is important to produce accurately formatted citations that follow the guidelines in the official MLA Handbook .

⚙️ How do I use MyBib's MLA Citation Generator?

It's super easy to create MLA style citations with our MLA Citation Generator. Scroll back up to the generator at the top of the page and select the type of source you're citing. Books, journal articles, and webpages are all examples of the types of sources our generator can cite automatically. Then either search for the source, or enter the details manually in the citation form.

The generator will produce a formatted MLA citation that can be copied and pasted directly into your document, or saved to MyBib as part of your overall Works Cited page (which can be downloaded fully later!).

MyBib supports the following for MLA style:

Daniel is a qualified librarian, former teacher, and citation expert. He has been contributing to MyBib since 2018.

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• The Basics of In-Text Citation | APA & MLA Examples

The Basics of In-Text Citation | APA & MLA Examples

Published on March 14, 2022 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on February 28, 2024.

An in-text citation is a short acknowledgement you include whenever you quote or take information from a source in academic writing. It points the reader to the source so they can see where you got your information.

In-text citations most commonly take the form of short parenthetical statements indicating the author and publication year of the source, as well as the page number if relevant.

We also offer a free citation generator and in-depth guides to the main citation styles.

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Table of contents

What are in-text citations for, when do you need an in-text citation, types of in-text citation, frequently asked questions about in-text citations.

The point of an in-text citation is to show your reader where your information comes from. Including citations:

• Avoids plagiarism by acknowledging the original author’s contribution
• Allows readers to verify your claims and do follow-up research
• Shows you are engaging with the literature of your field

Academic writing is seen as an ongoing conversation among scholars, both within and between fields of study. Showing exactly how your own research draws on and interacts with existing sources is essential to keeping this conversation going.

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An in-text citation should be included whenever you quote or paraphrase a source in your text.

Quoting means including the original author’s words directly in your text, usually introduced by a signal phrase . Quotes should always be cited (and indicated with quotation marks), and you should include a page number indicating where in the source the quote can be found.

Paraphrasing means putting information from a source into your own words. In-text citations are just as important here as with quotes, to avoid the impression you’re taking credit for someone else’s ideas. Include page numbers where possible, to show where the information can be found.

However, to avoid over-citation, bear in mind that some information is considered common knowledge and doesn’t need to be cited. For example, you don’t need a citation to prove that Paris is the capital city of France, and including one would be distracting.

Different types of in-text citation are used in different citation styles . They always direct the reader to a reference list giving more complete information on each source.

Author-date citations (used in APA , Harvard , and Chicago author-date ) include the author’s last name, the year of publication, and a page number when available. Author-page citations (used in MLA ) are the same except that the year is not included.

Both types are divided into parenthetical and narrative citations. In a parenthetical citation , the author’s name appears in parentheses along with the rest of the information. In a narrative citation , the author’s name appears as part of your sentence, not in parentheses.

Note: Footnote citations like those used in Chicago notes and bibliography are sometimes also referred to as in-text citations, but the citation itself appears in a note separate from the text.

An in-text citation is an acknowledgement you include in your text whenever you quote or paraphrase a source. It usually gives the author’s last name, the year of publication, and the page number of the relevant text. In-text citations allow the reader to look up the full source information in your reference list and see your sources for themselves.

At college level, you must properly cite your sources in all essays , research papers , and other academic texts (except exams and in-class exercises).

Add a citation whenever you quote , paraphrase , or summarize information or ideas from a source. You should also give full source details in a bibliography or reference list at the end of your text.

The exact format of your citations depends on which citation style you are instructed to use. The most common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago .

Check if your university or course guidelines specify which citation style to use. If the choice is left up to you, consider which style is most commonly used in your field.

• APA Style is the most popular citation style, widely used in the social and behavioral sciences.
• MLA style is the second most popular, used mainly in the humanities.
• Chicago notes and bibliography style is also popular in the humanities, especially history.
• Chicago author-date style tends to be used in the sciences.

Other more specialized styles exist for certain fields, such as Bluebook and OSCOLA for law.

The most important thing is to choose one style and use it consistently throughout your text.

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If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Caulfield, J. (2024, February 28). The Basics of In-Text Citation | APA & MLA Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved August 15, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/citing-sources/in-text-citation-styles/

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Home / Guides / Citation Guides / MLA Format / How to Cite an Essay in MLA

How to Cite an Essay in MLA

The guidelines for citing an essay in MLA format are similar to those for citing a chapter in a book. Include the author of the essay, the title of the essay, the name of the collection if the essay belongs to one, the editor of the collection or other contributors, the publication information, and the page number(s).

Citing an Essay

Mla essay citation structure.

Last, First M. “Essay Title.” Collection Title, edited by First M. Last, Publisher, year published, page numbers. Website Title , URL (if applicable).

MLA Essay Citation Example

Gupta, Sanjay. “Balancing and Checking.” Essays on Modern Democracy, edited by Bob Towsky, Brook Stone Publishers, 1996, pp. 36-48. Essay Database, www . databaseforessays.org/modern/modern-democracy.

MLA Essay In-text Citation Structure

(Last Name Page #)

MLA Essay In-text Citation Example

Click here to cite an essay via an EasyBib citation form.

MLA Formatting Guide

MLA Formatting

• Annotated Bibliography
• Bibliography
• Block Quotes
• et al Usage
• In-text Citations
• Paraphrasing
• Page Numbers
• Sample Paper
• Works Cited
• MLA 8 Updates
• MLA 9 Updates
• View MLA Guide

Citation Examples

• Book Chapter
• Journal Article
• Magazine Article
• Newspaper Article
• Website (no author)
• View all MLA Examples

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To cite your sources in an essay in MLA style, you need to have basic information including the author’s name(s), chapter title, book title, editor(s), publication year, publisher, and page numbers. The templates for in-text citations and a works-cited-list entry for essay sources and some examples are given below:

In-text citation template and example:

For citations in prose, use the first name and surname of the author on the first occurrence. For subsequent citations, use only the surname(s). In parenthetical citations, always use only the surname of the author(s).

Citation in prose:

First mention: Annette Wheeler Cafarelli

Subsequent occurrences: Wheeler Cafarelli

Parenthetical:

….(Wheeler Cafarelli).

Works-cited-list entry template and example:

The title of the chapter is enclosed in double quotation marks and uses title case. The book or collection title is given in italics and uses title case.

Surname, First Name. “Title of the Chapter.” Title of the Book , edited by Editor(s) Name, Publisher, Publication Year, page range.

Cafarelli, Annette Wheeler. “Rousseau and British Romanticism: Women and British Romanticism.” Cultural Interactions in the Romantic Age: Critical Essays in Comparative Literature , edited by Gregory Maertz. State U of New York P, 1998, pp. 125–56.

To cite an essay in MLA style, you need to have basic information including the author(s), the essay title, the book title, editor(s), publication year, publisher, and page numbers. The templates for citations in prose, parenthetical citations, and works-cited-list entries for an essay by multiple authors, and some examples, are given below:

For citations in prose, use the first name and surname of the author (e.g., Mary Strine).

For sources with two authors, use both full author names in prose (e.g., Mary Strine and Beth Radick).

For sources with three or more authors, use the first name and surname of the first author followed by “and others” or “and colleagues” (e.g., Mary Strine and others). In subsequent citations, use only the surname of the first author followed by “and others” or “and colleagues” (e.g., Strine and others).

In parenthetical citations, use only the author’s surname. For sources with two authors, use two surnames (e.g., Strine and Radick). For sources with three or more author names, use the first author’s surname followed by “et al.”

First mention: Mary Strine…

Subsequent mention: Strine…

First mention: Mary Strine and Beth Radick…

Subsequent mention: Strine and Radick…

First mention: Mary Strine and colleagues …. or Mary Strine and others

Subsequent occurrences: Strine and colleagues …. or Strine and others

…. (Strine).

….(Strine and Radick).

….(Strine et al.).

The title of the essay is enclosed in double quotation marks and uses title case. The book or collection title is given in italics and uses title case.

Surname, First Name, et al. “Title of the Essay.” Title of the Book , edited by Editor(s) Name, Publisher, Publication Year, page range.

Strine, Mary M., et al. “Research in Interpretation and Performance Studies: Trends, Issues, Priorities.” Speech Communication: Essays to Commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Speech Communication Association , edited by Gerald M. Phillips and Julia T. Wood, Southern Illinois UP, 1990, pp. 181–204.

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How to cite ChatGPT

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We, the APA Style team, are not robots. We can all pass a CAPTCHA test , and we know our roles in a Turing test . And, like so many nonrobot human beings this year, we’ve spent a fair amount of time reading, learning, and thinking about issues related to large language models, artificial intelligence (AI), AI-generated text, and specifically ChatGPT . We’ve also been gathering opinions and feedback about the use and citation of ChatGPT. Thank you to everyone who has contributed and shared ideas, opinions, research, and feedback.

In this post, I discuss situations where students and researchers use ChatGPT to create text and to facilitate their research, not to write the full text of their paper or manuscript. We know instructors have differing opinions about how or even whether students should use ChatGPT, and we’ll be continuing to collect feedback about instructor and student questions. As always, defer to instructor guidelines when writing student papers. For more about guidelines and policies about student and author use of ChatGPT, see the last section of this post.

Quoting or reproducing the text created by ChatGPT in your paper

If you’ve used ChatGPT or other AI tools in your research, describe how you used the tool in your Method section or in a comparable section of your paper. For literature reviews or other types of essays or response or reaction papers, you might describe how you used the tool in your introduction. In your text, provide the prompt you used and then any portion of the relevant text that was generated in response.

Unfortunately, the results of a ChatGPT “chat” are not retrievable by other readers, and although nonretrievable data or quotations in APA Style papers are usually cited as personal communications , with ChatGPT-generated text there is no person communicating. Quoting ChatGPT’s text from a chat session is therefore more like sharing an algorithm’s output; thus, credit the author of the algorithm with a reference list entry and the corresponding in-text citation.

When prompted with “Is the left brain right brain divide real or a metaphor?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that although the two brain hemispheres are somewhat specialized, “the notation that people can be characterized as ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’ is considered to be an oversimplification and a popular myth” (OpenAI, 2023).

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

You may also put the full text of long responses from ChatGPT in an appendix of your paper or in online supplemental materials, so readers have access to the exact text that was generated. It is particularly important to document the exact text created because ChatGPT will generate a unique response in each chat session, even if given the same prompt. If you create appendices or supplemental materials, remember that each should be called out at least once in the body of your APA Style paper.

When given a follow-up prompt of “What is a more accurate representation?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that “different brain regions work together to support various cognitive processes” and “the functional specialization of different regions can change in response to experience and environmental factors” (OpenAI, 2023; see Appendix A for the full transcript).

Creating a reference to ChatGPT or other AI models and software

The in-text citations and references above are adapted from the reference template for software in Section 10.10 of the Publication Manual (American Psychological Association, 2020, Chapter 10). Although here we focus on ChatGPT, because these guidelines are based on the software template, they can be adapted to note the use of other large language models (e.g., Bard), algorithms, and similar software.

The reference and in-text citations for ChatGPT are formatted as follows:

• Parenthetical citation: (OpenAI, 2023)
• Narrative citation: OpenAI (2023)

Let’s break that reference down and look at the four elements (author, date, title, and source):

Author: The author of the model is OpenAI.

Date: The date is the year of the version you used. Following the template in Section 10.10, you need to include only the year, not the exact date. The version number provides the specific date information a reader might need.

Title: The name of the model is “ChatGPT,” so that serves as the title and is italicized in your reference, as shown in the template. Although OpenAI labels unique iterations (i.e., ChatGPT-3, ChatGPT-4), they are using “ChatGPT” as the general name of the model, with updates identified with version numbers.

The version number is included after the title in parentheses. The format for the version number in ChatGPT references includes the date because that is how OpenAI is labeling the versions. Different large language models or software might use different version numbering; use the version number in the format the author or publisher provides, which may be a numbering system (e.g., Version 2.0) or other methods.

Bracketed text is used in references for additional descriptions when they are needed to help a reader understand what’s being cited. References for a number of common sources, such as journal articles and books, do not include bracketed descriptions, but things outside of the typical peer-reviewed system often do. In the case of a reference for ChatGPT, provide the descriptor “Large language model” in square brackets. OpenAI describes ChatGPT-4 as a “large multimodal model,” so that description may be provided instead if you are using ChatGPT-4. Later versions and software or models from other companies may need different descriptions, based on how the publishers describe the model. The goal of the bracketed text is to briefly describe the kind of model to your reader.

Source: When the publisher name and the author name are the same, do not repeat the publisher name in the source element of the reference, and move directly to the URL. This is the case for ChatGPT. The URL for ChatGPT is https://chat.openai.com/chat . For other models or products for which you may create a reference, use the URL that links as directly as possible to the source (i.e., the page where you can access the model, not the publisher’s homepage).

Other questions about citing ChatGPT

You may have noticed the confidence with which ChatGPT described the ideas of brain lateralization and how the brain operates, without citing any sources. I asked for a list of sources to support those claims and ChatGPT provided five references—four of which I was able to find online. The fifth does not seem to be a real article; the digital object identifier given for that reference belongs to a different article, and I was not able to find any article with the authors, date, title, and source details that ChatGPT provided. Authors using ChatGPT or similar AI tools for research should consider making this scrutiny of the primary sources a standard process. If the sources are real, accurate, and relevant, it may be better to read those original sources to learn from that research and paraphrase or quote from those articles, as applicable, than to use the model’s interpretation of them.

We’ve also received a number of other questions about ChatGPT. Should students be allowed to use it? What guidelines should instructors create for students using AI? Does using AI-generated text constitute plagiarism? Should authors who use ChatGPT credit ChatGPT or OpenAI in their byline? What are the copyright implications ?

On these questions, researchers, editors, instructors, and others are actively debating and creating parameters and guidelines. Many of you have sent us feedback, and we encourage you to continue to do so in the comments below. We will also study the policies and procedures being established by instructors, publishers, and academic institutions, with a goal of creating guidelines that reflect the many real-world applications of AI-generated text.

For questions about manuscript byline credit, plagiarism, and related ChatGPT and AI topics, the APA Style team is seeking the recommendations of APA Journals editors. APA Style guidelines based on those recommendations will be posted on this blog and on the APA Style site later this year.

Update: APA Journals has published policies on the use of generative AI in scholarly materials .

We, the APA Style team humans, appreciate your patience as we navigate these unique challenges and new ways of thinking about how authors, researchers, and students learn, write, and work with new technologies.

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

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