Creating Works Cited entries

Each source that is referred to in the text needs a corresponding entry in the Works Cited list. The entry should contain enough identifying information about the source to allow it to be located by someone else. The information is presented as parts in a set order to help the reader identify at a glance which piece of information relates to which part.

A basic MLA Works Cited entry is made up of the following parts: 

Author + Title + Publisher information + Year

All the details you need for each part will be found on the source itself. Instructions and examples of how to format each part are given over the page.

Author

  • This identifies the creator or principal contributor of the source.
  • It could be a person or it could be a group (organisation or government).
  • Some sources may have more than one author.

Title

  • This is the full title of the source in the words and spelling of the source.
  • If your source is part of a larger work (e.g., article from a journal; chapter from a book; post or page from a website), you need to include the title of the part and the title of the larger work.

Publisher information

  • Include the information for the form you used.
  • For sources published only online, give the publisher/sponsor of the website. Place of publication is not needed.
  • This information can usually be found with the copyright information.

Place of publication

  • For books, except in special situations (51), the city of publication should only be used if the book was published before 1900, if the publisher has offices in more than one country, or if the publisher is unknown outside North America.

Publisher names

  • Publishers’ names are now given in full, except that business words like Company (Co.) are dropped and, for academic presses, the abbreviations U, P, and UP are still used (97).
  • A forward slash (/) now separates the names of co-publishers (108).
  • The kinds of publications that don’t require a publisher’s name are defined (42).
  • When an organisation is both author and publisher of a work, the organisation’s name is now given only once, usually as the publisher (25). No author is stated.

Publication year/date

  • This identifies the year or specific date the source was made available in the version you accessed. Use the copyright year/date if this is shown.
  • For online sources, use the year or specific date the content was created (for a page or document) or the date of posting (for a post).

Below are instructions for formatting the parts of a Works Cited entry. Note that every part ends with a full stop, and there is a space after each punctuation mark.

Author

One author

Winton, Tim. Dirt Music. Picador, 2001.

  • Give the author’s family name plus the given name/s or initials as shown on the source.

Two authors

Hall, Jane. L., and Brian. T. Ashton. A Spoonful of Valour . . .

  • Name both authors. Give first author with family name first; other authors with given name first.
  • Separate by commas, join last author by ‘and’.

Three or more authors

Donat, Tao, et al.  “Cardiovascular Health of European . . .

  • Name first author followed by ‘et al.’ (a Latin abbreviation for ‘et alia’, Latin for ‘and others’.

Group author (Government or organisation)

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Rural Health . . .

Victoria. Dept. of Treasury and Finance. Output Specification . . .

  • Give name of group.
  • Give government name in front of agency name (where applicable).
  • Use common abbreviations (e.g., ‘Dept.’).

Title 

Basic

Harris, Miles. The Mighty Yarra: Rivers of Victoria. . . .

Taber, Nancy. “Detectives and Bail Bonds ‘Persons’ as Fairy Tale Heroines: A Feminist Antimilitarist Analysis of Grimm and Once Upon a Time.” Gender Forum, no. 44, 2013, www.genderforum.org/index.php?id=731.

  • Give the title in italics in the wording and spelling shown on the source.
  • Separate title and subtitle by a colon.
  • Use headline capitalisation, i.e., give initial capitals to the first, last and principal words of the title and the subtitle.
  • If source is part of a larger work, give title of part in quotation marks before title of larger work.

No title

Jensen, Paul. R. Wartime Navy Reminiscences. Liberty Press . . .

  • Give a brief descriptive title in your own words. No italics or quotation marks.

Publisher information

Gourley, Dianne. Action Man. Bellinger, 2002.

  • For books, except in special situations (51), the city of publication should only be used if the book was published before 1900, if the publisher has offices in more than one country, or if the publisher is unknown outside North America.

Taber, Nancy. “Detectives and Bail Bonds ‘Persons’ as Fairy Tale Hero/ines: A Feminist Antimilitarist Analysis of Grimm and Once Upon a Time.” Gender Forum, no. 44, 2013, www.genderforum.org/index.php?id=731.

  • If a source is published only online, give name of publisher/sponsor after the website name.

Year 

Basic

Winton, Tim. Dirt Music. Picador, 2001.

Normoyle, C. “Nurses’ Wellbeing.” Australian Nursing Journal, vol. 20, no. 10, 2013, pp. 30–33.

Greendale, Nilma. “Road Toll Rising.” Age [Melbourne] 4 May 2006. p. 13.

  • Add year after publisher details for books, or in round brackets after issue details for journals.
  • Add month (abbreviate if long) and day for sources with specific publication dates.

No year/date

Gardiner, Ian T. Life in Rural Australia. Phoenix, n.d.

  • Use ‘n.d.’ (stands for ‘no date’) if no year/date can be found on the source.