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Massey University > OWLL > Referencing > MLA style > MLA referencing elements

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MLA referencing elements

This page describes what to do when there are multiple or missing parts (elements) of an MLA list of works cited or in-text citation:

  • Reference within a source (secondary source)
  • 2+ authors
  • Group author
  • No author
  • City of publication
  • 2+ cities of publication
  • No city of publication
  • Publisher
  • No publisher
  • Year of publication before 1900
  • No year of publication
  • No page numbers

The general format of in-text citations and lists of works cited are covered on those pages.

New to referencing? See the introduction to referencing.

Reference within a source (secondary source)

Many academic books and journal articles quote earlier books or articles on the same topic. If you cannot access the original source (it is out of print, or unavailable through the library), you can cite the secondary source instead. See secondary sources for the correct method to cite this.

2+ authors

When there are 2 authors, they are  listed in the order they appear on the source's title page, and "and" is put before the final author's name. In-text citations look like this:

… in the play itself (Wallis and Shepherd 192).

As Wallis and Shepherd have noted (192), …

In the list of works cited,   the second author is  listed with the personal name (first name) before the surname (family name):

Wallis, Mick, and Simon Shepherd. Studying Plays. 2nd ed., Hodder Arnold, 2002.

If there are 3+ authors, all names beyond the first can optionally be replaced with "et al." in both the in-text citation and the list of works cited.

Group author

Sometimes a source may be written by a group or organisation. This is often true for collaborative or official works from corporations, organisations, and government departments.

In this case, use the group in the author position, both in the in-text citation and in the list of works cited:

…to support (Modern Language Association par. 2).

Modern Language Association. "Advice to Graduate Students: From Application to Career." Modern Language Association, 2012, www.mla.org/About-Us/Governance/Committees/Committee-Listings/Professional-Issues/Committee-on-Academic-Freedom-and-Professional-Rights-and-Responsibilities/Advice-to-Graduate-Students-From-Application-to-Career

Government publications should begin with the name of the government, and then the specific agency or department (in MLA this is referred to as the second container):

New Zealand, Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa. "Find Funding." Creative NZ, http://www.creativenz.govt.nz/find-funding. Accessed 28 June 2011.

News bureaus or wire services  (e.g. Associated Press, Reuters) should not be used as a group author.

EndNote fields: If you are using Endnote, insert a comma at the end of group/corporate authors in the Endnote library to ensure it is displayed correctly.

For information on and help with Endnote see:

  • Endnote
  • Endnote@Massey

No author

Any work (book, article, or website) that does not identify an author, corporate author, or government author is cited according to the title of the work:

The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki. Translated by Jesse L. Byock, Penguin, 1998.

"Tobacco Firms Targeting Weight-Conscious Girls." New Zealand Herald, 22 Oct. 2008, p. A10.

The source's title is used in place of the author. Write the source's title in full the first time you cite the source. You can shorten the title in subsequent citations.

If the title is in quotation marks in the list of works cited, it should also be in quotation marks in the in-text citation. If the title is italicised, it should also be italicised in-text:

First citation: (The Saga of King Hrolf Karki 22)

Subsequent citations: According to Saga (22)…..

First citation:  According to "Tobacco Firms Targeting Weight-Conscious Girls" (A10)….

Subsequent citations: …with respect to the change ("Tobacco Firms A10").

City of publication

Generally, the city of publication is an unnecessary detail and does not need to be given. There are, however, exceptions. You should include the city of publication if a book is published before 1900. You can give the city of publication in the place of the publisher's name, although if both details are known, then you can give both.

Also, give the city of publication if the publisher has offices in more than one place and there is likely to be a difference between books published in these places (e.g. American and British spelling and vocabulary). You give the city with a comma, before the publisher's name.

Finally, you can give the city of publication if the publisher is not well-known and the city may help the reader locate the source.

2+ cities of publication

If more than one city of publication is listed, use the first one mentioned.

No city of publication

Cities of publication are usually found on the copyright page of a book (one of the first pages inside the front cover). Massey Library's catalogue lists cities of publication for each book in its collection.

If no city of publication is indicated in the source, simply omit this detail.

Publisher

The publisher's name does not include legal or superfluous terms such as “inc.”, “co.”, “ltd.”, “press”, and “publishers”.

“University” is always shortened to “U”, and “University Press” is always shortened to “UP”:

Oxford UP

Co Publisher

If two independent publishers are given in a source and they seem equally responsible, cite both, separated with a forward slash:

Oxford UP/Random House.

Note: Do not include an imprint (a division with its own brand name of an existing publisher).

No publisher

Massey Library's catalogue lists publisher names for each book in its collection.

You do not need to list a publisher for books published before 1900. See year of publication before 1900 for details.

Year of publication before 1900

Because publisher details can be difficult to locate for books published before 1900, the publisher name does not need to be included in the list of works cited. If you can, include the city of original publication along with the publication date:

Darwin, Erasmus. The Botanic Garden. London, 1791.

No year of publication

Massey Library's catalogue lists publisher names for each book in its collection.

If no year of publication is indicated in the source, then you can either omit this detail or, if you can find the publication from another reliable source (such as the catalogue) then you can give the date in square brackets. Square brackets indicate the information does not come from the source.

If a publication date that you supply is only approximated, put it after "circa" (which means around):
[circa 2010]

If you are uncertain about the accuracy of the information, then add a question mark:
[2010?]

No page numbers

Some sources, particularly web pages, do not have page numbers indicated. In these cases, no page number is included in the in-text citation. You can, optionally, include a paragraph number in the in-text citation if the location is fixed and the same across all versions of the source (e.g. in an e-book):

(Bartleby par. 4)

If a source does not have page numbers, simply omit this detail.

References and further reading

MLA Handbook. 8th ed., Modern Language Association, 2016. [Massey Library link]

The MLA Style Centre. Modern Language Association, 2018, https://style.mla.org/.

Disclaimer

These pages are provided as a guide to proper referencing. Your course, department, school, or institute may prescribe specific conventions, and their recommendations supersede these instructions. If you have questions not covered here, check in the style guide listed above, ask your course coordinator, or ask at Academic Q+A.

Page authorised by Director - Centre for Learner Success
Last updated on 17 October, 2019

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