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Citation Generator (MLA)

EducationCitations and Bibliographies
Source type

Write each author as Last, First and separate authors with a semicolon.

Used only for the parenthetical citation.

Works Cited entry —
Parenthetical citation
—
Authors entered
—

An MLA 9 Works Cited entry lists author, title, container, then publication details. Pick the source type, type the author as Last, First and fill the fields shown. For example, Patricia Henley's novel becomes: Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House. MacMurray, 1999. The parenthetical citation is (Henley), or (Henley 12) when you add a page.

About this tool

Students writing for English and humanities courses, and anyone submitting to a journal that follows the MLA Handbook, need each source formatted the same way. This generator assembles a ninth-edition Works Cited entry for the three sources people cite most: books, scholarly journal articles and web pages. It applies the author rules (one name inverted, two joined with "and", three or more shortened to et al.), puts article and page titles in quotation marks, writes web dates as day, abbreviated month and year, and strips https:// from addresses. Alongside the entry it gives the parenthetical citation, with a page number if you enter one. One limit: plain text cannot carry italics, so set book, journal and website titles in italics yourself once the entry is pasted into your document.

How to use it

  1. Choose the source type

    Book, journal article or web page; only the fields that type needs are shown.

  2. Enter the authors

    Write each as Last, First and separate them with semicolons, in the order printed on the source.

  3. Fill in the publication details

    Publisher and year for a book; journal, volume, issue, year, pages and DOI for an article; site, dates and URL for a web page.

  4. Add the cited page

    Type the page you quote to get the parenthetical citation, then copy the entry and italicise the container title.

Examples

Single-author book

Source type
Book
Authors
Henley, Patricia
Title
The Hummingbird House
Publisher
MacMurray
Year published
1999

Result Works Cited entry: Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House. MacMurray, 1999.
Parenthetical citation: (Henley)
Authors entered: 1

  1. Author: surname first, then given name.
  2. Book: title (italicise it in your paper), then publisher and year as the container details.
  3. In-text: (Henley) — author surname, no comma.

The Purdue OWL sample: surname first, the book title, then publisher and year as the container details.

Journal article with page cited

Source type
Journal article
Authors
Goldman, Anne
Title
Questions of Transport: Reading Primo Levi Reading Dante
Journal name
The Georgia Review
Volume
64
Issue number
1
Year published
2010
Page range
69-88
Page cited in your text
72

Result Works Cited entry: Goldman, Anne. "Questions of Transport: Reading Primo Levi Reading Dante." The Georgia Review, vol. 64, no. 1, 2010, pp. 69-88.
Parenthetical citation: (Goldman 72)
Authors entered: 1

  1. Author: surname first, then given name.
  2. Journal: article title in quotation marks, then the journal as container with vol., no., year and page range.
  3. In-text: (Goldman 72) — author surname and page number, no comma.

The article title sits in quotation marks; volume, issue, year and page range follow the journal name, and the in-text citation carries page 72.

Web page by two authors

Source type
Web page
Authors
Smith, Jane; Lee, Tom
Title
Measuring Page Speed
Website name
Web Notes
Date published
2023-09-05
URL
https://webnotes.example/page-speed
Date accessed
2024-03-12

Result Works Cited entry: Smith, Jane, and Tom Lee. "Measuring Page Speed." Web Notes, 5 Sept. 2023, webnotes.example/page-speed. Accessed 12 Mar. 2024.
Parenthetical citation: (Smith and Lee)
Authors entered: 2

  1. Author: first name inverted, second in normal order, joined by "and".
  2. Access date added because the page may change.
  3. Web page: title in quotation marks, then site, date (day month year, abbreviated month) and the URL without https://.
  4. In-text: (Smith and Lee) — author surname, no comma.

Only the first name is inverted, September shortens to Sept., and the address loses its https:// prefix.

How it is calculated

Author. Title of Source. Title of Container, Other contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location.

Author
first author inverted; a second in normal order after "and"; three or more become et al.
Title of Source
a whole book stands alone; an article or page goes in quotation marks
Container
the journal or website that holds the source
Number
vol. and no. for a periodical
Location
page range (pp.), DOI, or URL without the protocol

MLA 9 builds every entry from the same nine core elements in a fixed order, each followed by the punctuation shown, and skips any element that does not apply. A book is its own container, so its publisher and year follow the title directly. A journal article or web page sits inside a container, which takes the volume, issue, date and location. An access date is optional and is added at the end for pages that may change.

When not to use it

  • Your instructor or journal requires APA or Chicago style instead.
  • The source is a chapter in an edited book, a film or an interview, which need extra container elements.
  • You need a full bibliography sorted and formatted with hanging indents.

Common mistakes

  • Typing authors as First Last, which puts the given name in front of the surname.
  • Leaving the book or journal title in roman type after pasting instead of italicising it.
  • Writing a comma between the author and the page in the parenthetical citation.

Frequently asked questions

When does MLA 9 switch to et al.?

With three or more authors, the Works Cited entry gives only the first author, inverted, followed by "et al." The parenthetical citation does the same, for example (Park et al. 14). Two authors are both named: (Smith and Lee).

Do I keep https:// in a URL?

No. The MLA Handbook recommends dropping http:// and https:// from web addresses in the Works Cited list. A DOI is the exception: write it as https://doi.org/ followed by the identifier, which this generator does when you paste either form.

Is the access date required for a web page?

It is optional in MLA 9. It is recommended when the page has no publication date or is likely to change, and it goes at the end of the entry as Accessed 12 Mar. 2024.

How are months written in MLA dates?

Dates run day, month, year, and months longer than four letters are abbreviated, so January becomes Jan. and September becomes Sept. May, June and July are written in full.

What if the source has no author?

Leave the authors field empty. The entry then starts with the title, and the parenthetical citation uses a shortened form of the title in quotation marks instead of a surname.

Why is p. used for some page numbers and pp. for others?

MLA writes p. before a single page and pp. before a range. The generator picks pp. when the page field contains a hyphen or dash, such as 69-88.

Cite this tool

Using this tool in an assignment, article or report? Copy a citation, or a link for your website.

APA

Tools Directory Editorial Team. (2026, October 26). Citation Generator (MLA). Tools Directory. Retrieved October 27, 2026, from https://tools.milunir.com/education/citations-and-bibliographies/citation-generator-mla/

MLA

Tools Directory Editorial Team. “Citation Generator (MLA).” Tools Directory, 26 Oct. 2026, https://tools.milunir.com/education/citations-and-bibliographies/citation-generator-mla/. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Tools Directory Editorial Team. “Citation Generator (MLA).” Tools Directory. Last modified October 26, 2026. Accessed October 27, 2026. https://tools.milunir.com/education/citations-and-bibliographies/citation-generator-mla/.

Link<a href="https://tools.milunir.com/education/citations-and-bibliographies/citation-generator-mla/">Citation Generator (MLA) – Tools Directory</a>