Cite Your Sources: MLA Style

This guide provides information on citation styles, how to read a citation and how to avoid plagiarism.

MLA Style

MLA style is used in writing courses as well as the humanities disciplines such as English and comparative literature. See the links below for more information on MLA style.

Online Resources:

Print Style Guide at PSU Library

MLA Basics

Each citation in your works cited page will be composed of some or all of the 9 core elements assembled in a specific order followed by specific punctuation, if one of these elements does not apply to or exist with your resource then you can leave it out of your citation.

  1. Author.
  2. Title source.
  3. Title of Container,  [example: journal title]
  4. Other Contributor,
  5. Version,
  6. Number,
  7. Publisher,
  8. Publication Date,
  9. Location.  [example: URL, DOI, database permalink]

Book format and example:

Last Name, First Name. Book Title. Publisher, publication date.

Jemisin, N.K. The Fifth Season. First edition, Orbit, 2016.

Journal Article format and example: 

Last Name, First Name. "Article Title." Journal Title, vol., issue, Date Month Year, page(s). Database name, URL or DOI.

Ananian, Priscilla, et al. "Transposing Tactical Urbanism to Urban Design: Key lessons in Building Legitimacy to Reconnect Waterfronts to Central Neighborhoods." Journal of Urbanism, May 2025, pp. 1-21. Academic Search Premier, https://doi.org/10.1080/17549175.2025.2504664.

Note: Citations should use a hanging indent and be double spaced. See the resources on this guide for more examples.

Citing Indigenous Traditional Knowledge

Oral Traditions and Traditional Knowledge of Indigenous can be cited as an interview, an oral presentation or a sound recording. 

  • If the information has been recorded (for example, as an audio file or an interview transcript), follow the ordinary directions for citing the appropriate for of media. 
  • If the information was not recorded, but was gained for a personal (unpublished) interview, list the interview by the name of the interviewee. Include the descriptor "Personal Interview" and the date of the interview. You may include the person's name, the name of the indigenous group or nation to which they belong, their location, and the date of the communication. 
  • For speeches, lectures, or other oral presentations (including conference presentations), start with the speaker's name. Then, the title of the speech (if any) in quotation marks. Follow with the title of the conference or meeting and then the name of the organization. Name the venue and the city (if the name of the city is not listed in the venue's name). Use the descriptor that appropriately expresses the type of presentation (e.g., Address, Lecture, Reading. Keynote Speech, Guest Lecture, Conference Presentation).  
  • In all cases, capitalize not only the name of the indigenous groups and nations (e.g., Crow, Seminole, Narragansett), but also most terms derived from indigenous culture (e.g., Oral Tradition, Elder, Traditional Knowledge, Vision Quest).

Links: