MLA core elements
MLA 9 builds every entry from the same list of core elements, in this order, each followed by the punctuation shown: Author. Title of source. Title of container, Other contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location. If a source sits inside a second container, such as a database, that container's elements follow.
Crowley, Sharon, and Debra Hawhee. Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. 3rd ed., Pearson, 2004.
In-text citation: (Crowley and Hawhee)
Journal articles and databases in MLA
A journal article has the journal as its first container (italic, with volume, issue, date and pages) and, if you read it in a database, the database as a second container. A DOI is the preferred location.
Bockelman, Brian. “Buenos Aires Bohème: Argentina and the Transatlantic Bohemian Renaissance, 1890–1910.” Modernism/Modernity, vol. 23, no. 1, Jan. 2016, pp. 37–63. Project Muse, https://doi.org/10.1353/mod.2016.0011.
In-text citation: (Bockelman)
Njus, Jesse. Performing the Passion: A Study on the Nature of Medieval Acting. 2010. Northwestern U, PhD dissertation.
In-text citation: (Njus)
MLA in-text citations
MLA uses the author's surname and the page number, with no comma: (Gleick 23). Two authors: (Crowley and Hawhee 112). Three or more: the first surname plus "et al." and the page. With no author, use a short form of the title in quotation marks or italics. If you name the author in your sentence, only the page goes in parentheses.
The generator shows the author part; you add the page. More examples are on the in-text citation generator page.
Citing websites and online videos in MLA
For a web page, the website is the container and the URL is the location (MLA leaves out "https://" in many guides, but keeping it is accepted; the CSL style prints it). Add an access date for pages that may change. For a YouTube video, the video title is the source, YouTube is the container, and the uploader is named when relevant.
Then format the list: "Works Cited" centred, double spacing, hanging indent, alphabetical order. The works cited generator walks through the page layout.
Official MLA guide and edition used
The generator uses the official modern-language-association.csl style for the 9th edition of the MLA Handbook. Examples on this page were recreated from the MLA Style Center and the Purdue OWL MLA pages, checked October 25, 2026. Rephrasa is not affiliated with the Modern Language Association.
Containers, explained with everyday sources
MLA calls the larger work that holds your source its container. A song sits on an album, an episode sits in a series, a chapter sits in an edited book, an article sits in a journal, and a page sits on a website. Each container adds its own title, contributors, version, number, publisher, date and location. That is why one MLA entry can look long: it describes a source inside a container inside another container.
You do not have to memorise the order. The generator places each element where MLA puts it; your job is to supply correct facts in the form.
MLA 9 versus MLA 8
MLA 9 kept the container model from MLA 8 and clarified many details: more guidance on inclusive language, on citing sources with many authors, and on when to add optional elements such as access dates. If an old template shows MLA 7 habits, such as the medium "Print." or "Web." at the end, drop them; MLA 8 and 9 do not use them.
Ask your instructor if they prefer page numbers in a particular format, for example "pp." in the Works Cited entry and plain numbers in parentheses in the text, which is what MLA 9 recommends.
Who uses MLA
MLA is common in English literature, modern languages, film and cultural studies, and in many high school and first-year writing courses. Disciplines that care about the exact wording of texts favour it, because the page number in the citation points straight to the passage you discuss.