Cite in MLA Style: Overview

Modern Language Association Style, 9th Edition

When to cite

Citations are a necessary component of a research paper. Scenarios that need a citation:

• Direct quotations
• Original ideas or arguments
• Statistics or original research
• Opinions or claims made by others
• Images or artwork
• Data/datasets

You do NOT need to cite:

• Common knowledge, which includes commonly accepted facts, common sense, myths, and historical events (but not historical documents)
• Your own words or ideas unless published in a previous work

MLA Editable Templates

Citation Tools

Look for a "Cite" button in library databases or Library Search. You can also export citations to a citation manager like Refworks or Zotero.

Citation generators are a time saver, but they are not always correct. If you use them, be sure to check for errors.

Common Errors of Citation Generators

Check that the following match the citation style you are using:

• Titles are correctly capitalized. Some styles capitalize all words and some only capitalize the first word.
• Names are properly formatted.
• Correct to make sure nothing is in all caps.
• Look for incomplete information.
• For citations generated from databases, remove database links. Leave DOI links.