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Referencing style - MLA: MLA Examples

A guide to using the MLA referencing system for in-text citations and reference lists.

References by Format

This guide divides references into different formats for ease of use.

The overarching principle in referencing is that readers should be able to follow your sources if they are interested in finding out more about a topic and that you should acknowledge other authors whose ideas or information you have used.

Multiple Authors in a Work

  In-Text Citation Example Works Cited Example
2 Authors (Beuving and de Vries 123-125)

Beuving, Joost, and Gert C. de Vries. Doing Qualitative Research: The Craft of Naturalistic Inquiry. Amsterdam University Press, 2015.

(When citing a work by two authors, cite the names in the order in which they appear on the title page.)
3 or More Authors (Quirk et al. 130) Quirk, Randolph, et al. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. Longman, 1985.

Two or More Works by the Same Author

In-text examples:
(Bond, Business Ethics 23) (Bond, Corporate Governance 50)

Work Cited example:    
Bond, Graeme. Business Ethics. McGraw-Hill, 1991.
---. Corporate Governance. Irwin, 1991.

(See MLA Handbook, section 6.8.)

Two or More Works Cited at One Point in the Text

If two or more works by different authors or authoring bodies are cited at one point in the text, use a semi-colon to separate them:

(Larsen 54; Malinowski 327-328)

The works should be listed in alphabetical order.

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