MLA 9 Referencing

Build MLA 9th edition citations: a Works Cited list using the container system, parenthetical (Author Page) in-text citations with no comma or year, and headline capitalization.

Steps

1. Read references/mla-quickref.md, then match the source type:

   • Book: Author, A.A. Title of Book. Publisher, Year.
   • Journal (container system): Author, A.A. "Title of Article." Journal Name, vol. x, no. x, Year, pp. xx-xx.
   • Web page: Author, A.A. "Title of Page." Site Name, Day Month Year, URL.

2. In-text: parenthetical (Smith 12), no comma, no year, page number only when the source has pages. Narrative: Smith (12) argues ... Two authors: Smith, John, and Jane Doe in the list; (Smith and Doe 12) in text. Three or more: (Smith et al. 12) from the first citation.

3. Apply the MLA signatures:

   • Headline capitalization for titles (capitalize major words), not sentence case
   • Article/web titles in quotation marks; container titles (journals, sites, books) in italics
   • DOI/URL written without https:// (MLA 9 convention): doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx
   • Access dates discouraged; include only when the source has no publication date and the instructor requires it
   • Date format: Day Month Year (12 March 2024)

4. The container system: a source can live in a container (journal, edited volume, website, database). After the source title comes the container title, other contributors, version, number, publisher, publication date, location (pages/URL). Second containers (a chapter in an anthology republished on a database) repeat the pattern after the first container's location.

5. Works Cited: alphabetical by lead author surname, hanging indent. No separate bibliography; sources consulted but not cited stay out.

6. Verify: every in-text citation matches a Works Cited entry by author name, and every entry is cited at least once in the text.

Pitfalls

• MLA never uses a comma between author and page: (Smith 12), never (Smith, 12).
• No years in in-text citations; the year lives only in the Works Cited entry.
• URLs without https://; drop http://www. where it reads clean.
• Missing authors start the entry with the title; alphabetize by the first word ignoring articles.

Provenance

Clean-room summary of MLA Handbook 9th edition conventions for agent use, authored 2026-09-03. Part of the referencing skill family with apa-7-referencing, harvard-referencing, oxford-referencing, and ieee-referencing.