Shows how to reference in MLA style.

1. Koichi Inoue
Subject Librarian
MLA referencing

2. “Read the Handbook”
Modern Language Association of America. MLA
Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th ed.
New York: MLA, 2009. Print.
http://victoria.lconz.ac.nz/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=127
6912
There are some reliable online sources such as
Purdue Online Writing Lab: MLA Style
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/675/1/
Be aware there are confusing/conflicting messages on
the Web.

3. Print books (one author/editor)
Bevington, David M. Murder Most Foul. “Hamlet”
through the Ages. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2011. Print.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. G. R. Hibbard.
Corby: Oxford UP, 1987. Print. Oxford
Shakespeare.
Knowles, Ronald, ed. Shakespeare and Carnival:
After Bakhtin. Basingstoke: Macmillan P; New
York: St. Martin’s P, 1998. Print. Early Modern
Literature in History.
Kott, Jan. Shakespeare Our Contemporary. Trans.
Boleslaw Taborski. 2nd rev. ed. London:
Methuen, 1967. Print. University Paperbacks
198.

4. 5 min. exercise
 Using the information provided in the hand-out,
cite the title in MLA.

5. Answer
Wilkins, Damien. For Everyone Concerned and
Other Stories. Wellington: Victoria UP, 2007.
Print.

6. Print books (multiple authors/editors)
Barber, C. L., and Richard P. Wheeler. The Whole
Journey: Shakespeare’s Power of Development.
Berkeley: U of California P, 1986. Print.
Muir, Kenneth, and Stanley W. Wells, eds. Aspects
of Hamlet: Articles Reprinted from Shakespeare
Survey. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1979.
Print.
Inoue, Koichi, et al. Referencing for Beginners.
Wellington: Free P, 2014. Print.

7. A work in anthology/collection
McNaughton, Howard. “Drama.” The Oxford History
of New Zealand Literature in English. Ed. Terry
Sturm. Auckland: Oxford UP, 1991. 271–332.
Print.
Joyce, James. “Watching the Needleboats at San
Sabba.” The Essential James Joyce. Ed.
Harry Levin. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books,
1969. 341–342. Print.

8. Multi volume work
 When you use two or more volumes,
Dickens, Charles. The Letters of Charles Dickens.
Ed. Georgina Hogarth and Mamie Dickens. 3
vols. London: Chapman, 1880-1882. Print.
 When you use only one volume,
Dickens, Charles. The Letters of Charles Dickens.
Ed. Georgina Hogarth and Mamie Dickens.
Vol. 1. London: Chapman, 1880. Print.

9. 5 min. exercise
 Using the information provided in the hand-out,
cite the title in MLA.

10. Answer
Wilkins, Damien. “I Wrote the Book.” For Everyone
Concerned and Other Stories. Wellington:
Victoria UP, 2007. 23–35. Print.

11. Medium of publication?
 It basically means how you viewed your research
material.
 If you read a print book, a
journal/newspaper/magazine article, etc. note it as
“Print”.
 If you read a book, a journal/newspaper/magazine
article and watched films and TV episodes on the
Web, note it as “Web”.
 If you watched films and TV episodes on DVD, note it
as “DVD”.
 If you read a book, a journal/newspaper/magazine
article and watched films and TV episodes in a file,

12. “Download it if you can”
 It’s simpler to cite downloaded material than
material read, viewed and heard online. Once
downloaded, everything becomes a kind of digital
file.
 Digital files can exist independently from the Web
(section 5.7.18).
 Examples are PDF files, image files, music files
and video files on your computer.
 Determine the kind of work you are citing (e.g. a
book, a journal article, a film, a sound recording),
follow the guidelines in the Handbook and format
accordingly.

13. “Collect as much info”
If you cannot download the material you want to cite, try
to note the following:
 Creators (e.g. authors, editors, directors, bloggers).
 Titles (e.g. titles of books, journals, websites, articles,
postings).
 Publishers, service providers, or whoever responsible
for making the material available on the Web.
 Publication dates, or the date/month/year when the
material was posted on the Web.
 Access dates, meaning when you viewed the material
on the Web.
 MLA doesn’t required the URLs in the works-cited
(bibliography) any more (5.6.1), but it’s a good
practice to note it somewhere.

14. Downloaded ebook
Crowl, Samuel. Shakespeare’s Hamlet: The
Relationship between Text and Film. New York:
Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare, 2014. Digital
file. Screen Adaptations.
 Begin the entry in the works-cited list like the
entry for a comparable printed work.
 End it with the medium of publication. The
medium is the type of electronic file, such as
Kindle file, Nook file, EPUB file, or PDF file. If you
cannot identify the file type, use Digital file.

15. Ebook read online
Crowl, Samuel. Shakespeare’s Hamlet: The
Relationship between Text and Film. New York:
Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare, 2014. ebrary.
Web. 27 Feb. 2014. Screen Adaptations.
 Follow with the name of the website/database in
italics, the medium of publication and the date of
access (date/month/year).

16. ebook (In-text citation)
 If the work is a PDF file with fixed pages, cite the
page numbers.
 Most electronic readers include a numbering
system that tells users their location in the work.
Do not cite this numbering.
 If the work is divided into stable numbered
sections like chapters, the numbers of those
sections may be cited.
 Example:
Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt began their
honeymoon with a week’s stay at Hyde Park
(Rowley, ch. 2, par. 3).

17. 5 min. exercise
Using the information provided in this page, cite the
title in MLA.

18. Answers
Luckhurst, Mary. Dramaturgy: A Revolution in
Theatre. New York: Cambridge UP, 2006.
EBL. Web. 2 Apr. 2014. Cambridge Studies in
Modern Theatre.
Luckhurst, Mary. Dramaturgy: A Revolution in
Theatre. New York: Cambridge UP, 2006. PDF
file. Cambridge Studies in Modern Theatre.

19. Article from an online database
 Print journal article:
Hawkes, David. “Recent Studies in the English Renaissance.”
Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 53.1 (2013): 197–
253. Print.
 Downloaded electronic journal article:
Hawkes, David. “Recent Studies in the English Renaissance.”
Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 53.1 (2013): 197–
253. PDF file.
 Electronic journal article read online:
Hawkes, David. “Recent Studies in the English Renaissance.”
Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 53.1 (2013): 197–
253. JSTOR. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
 Cite articles from online databases (e.g. ProQuest, JSTOR) just
as you would print sources.
 And provide the title of the database italicized, the medium of
publication, and the date of access.

20. 5 min. exercise
Using the information provided in this page, cite the
title in MLA.

21. Answers
Cohen, Walter. “The Merchant of Venice and the
Possibilities of Historical Criticism.” ELH 49.4
(1982): 765–789. JSTOR. Web. 2 Apr. 2014.
Cohen, Walter. “The Merchant of Venice and the
Possibilities of Historical Criticism.” ELH 49.4
(1982): 765–789. PDF file.

22. Magazine/Newspaper articles
Hewison, Robert. "Behind the lines." Times Literary
Supplement 27 Aug. 1982: 923. Times
Literary Supplement Historical Archive. Web. 24
Mar. 2014.
"The Daughter of John Keats -An attempt." Times
11 June 1879: 4. The Times Digital Archive.
Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
 Follow the publication title with the publication
date (date/month/year): page number/s

23. 5 min. exercise
Using the information provided in this page, cite the
title in MLA.

24. Answer
Carpenter, Freddie. “Theatres on Broadway.” The
Stage 6 June 1946: 8. Entertainment Industry
Magazine Archive. Web. 3 Apr. 2014.

25. Reviews
Stead, C. K. Rev. of The Matriarch, by Witi
Ihimaera. London Review of Books 8.22 (1986):
20. Print.
Goodstein, Jack. Rev. of Culture of Desire, dir.
Anne Bogart. Theatre Journal 50.3 (1998):
377-378. PDF file.

26. Performances
The Merchant of Venice. By William Shakespeare.
Dir. Daniel Sullivan. Perf. Al Pacino. Public
Theater. Broadhurst Theater, New York. 15
Nov. 2010. Performance.

27. Recorded/downloaded films
Seven Samurai. Dir. Akira Kurosawa. Criterion Collection,
2006. DVD.
Mifune, Toshiro, perf. Seven Samurai. Dir. Akira Kurosawa.
Criterion Collection, 2006. DVD.
Seven Samurai. Dir. Akira Kurosawa. Toho International,
2006. iTunes file.
 List films by their title. Include the name of the director, the
distributor, and the release year.
 If relevant, list performer names after the director’s name.
 End the entry with the appropriate medium of publication
(e.g. DVD, VHS, Blu-ray).
 To emphasize specific performers (perf.) or directors (dir.),
begin the citation with the name of the desired performer
or director, followed by the appropriate abbreviation.

28. Recorded TV episodes
“Half Measures.” Breaking bad: The Complete Third Season.
Dir. Adam Bernstein. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment,
2012. DVD.
 Begin with the episode name in quotation marks. Follow
with the series name in italics. When the title of the
collection of recordings is different than the original series
(e.g., the show Friends is in DVD release under the title
Friends: The Complete Sixth Season), list the title that
would help researchers to locate the recording. Give the
distributor name followed by the date of distribution. End
with the medium of publication (e.g. DVD, Videocassette,
Blu-ray).
 The writer may choose to include information about
directors, writers, performers, producers between the title
and the distributor name. Use appropriate abbreviations for

29. Films/TV episodes on Amazon, Netflix, Hulu,
etc.
Seven Samurai. Dir. Akira Kurosawa. Toho International,
2006. Hulu. Web. 3 Mar. 2014.
“Infected.” The Walking Dead: Season 4. Sony Pictures
Television, 2010. Netflix. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.
 Cites as normal up to the date of distribution, then
follow with the name of service provider, the medium of
publication and the date of access (date/month/year).

30. Web page / blog posting
Killgallon, Steve. “Hokitika scoped by Hollywood.”
Stuff.co.nz. Fairfax New Zealand, 2 Feb. 2014. Web.
24 Feb. 2014.
Steams, Josh. “Where Did Press Freedom Suffer Most
in 2013? Online.” MediaShift. PBS, 26 Feb. 2014.
Web. 28 Feb. 2014.
 Provide the author of the work, the title of the
page/the posting in quotation marks, the Web site
name in italics, the publisher, and the posting date.
 Include screen names as author names when author
name is not known. If both names are known, place
the author’s name in brackets.
 Follow with the medium of publication and the date of
access.

31. Tweet
BFI. “We are deeply saddened to hear that Philip
Seymour Hoffman has passed away
telegraph.co.uk/news/celebrity…” 2 Feb. 2014,
10:59 a.m. Tweet.
 Begin with the user's name (Last Name, First Name)
followed by his/her Twitter username in parentheses.
Insert a period outside the parentheses.
 Place the tweet in its entirety in quotations, inserting a
period after the tweet within the quotations.
 Include the date and time of posting, using the
reader's time zone; separate the date and time with a
comma and end with a period. Include the word
"Tweet" afterwards and end with a period.

32. YouTube, Vimeo, etc.
The White House. “President Obama Delivers His
Second Inaugural Address.” Online video clip.
Vimeo. Vimeo, n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.
 The MLA does not specifically address how to
cite a YouTube video.
 Author’s Name or Poster’s Username. “Title of
Image or Video.” Media Type Text. Name of
Website. Name of Website’s Publisher, date
of posting. Medium. date retrieved.