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Citation Help

MLA STYLE

Use Purdue University's online citation guide
The Purdue Online Writing Lab is an excellent resource for writing MLA citations. It gives you information on how to do in-text citations, how to format your quotes, and how to cite different sources on your Works Cited page.

It is important to remember that the source type does not have to exactly match your own. We provide citations so that readers can find the sources and evidence that we use. Citation styles offer guidelines for you to provide the best possible information for someone to find your article, but they cannot account for all types of sources.

Online guides like Purdue's are often not as comprehensive as the print editions that we own of the official MLA manuals. Most of the time, you will be able to find what you need online, but we always keep copies of style guidelines behind the reference desk for very specific questions.

The library offers 3 copies of the MLA 8th Edition: 2 are available for checkout, and 1 is designated as Course Reserves for use only within the library.

Citing an Unusual or Uncommon Source
Sometimes you will use a source that does not match perfectly with any of the descriptions you find in citation guides. For example, you may want to cite a letter written by one historical figure to another, but you cannot find that source type in the guide for your citation style.

Write your citation with MLA's core elements. The most important thing to understand with citations is that you are trying to let your reader know where you found your sources so that they can look them up. Find the citation that most closely matches your source type and then use that citation as a guideline for how to craft your own. Make sure you put in enough information for someone to find your exact source in the exact place you found it.