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Full Guide and MLA Citation Generator

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Make Everything Easy by Learning MLA Style With Our MLA Citation Generator

Before you start with MLA style guide and discover our MLA Citation Generator, remember that no writing style is challenging enough for a college student once you take a look through several examples and learn some rules. The only thing that it takes to achieve success is practice. Take your time to learn and improve your academic life.

Where Do We Use MLA?

MLA stands for Modern Language Association and is currently in its 8th edition. While it will not tell you much if you are new to college life and the written assignments, it would be enough to remember that it is one of the most popular academic writing formats. One of the reasons why it is inevitable for any serious assignment is an implementation of quotes and a Bibliography. MLA is most often used for Sociology, English Literature, Journalism, Psychology, Philosophy, and even Nursing. Since it only uses the last name of your reference’s author for every in-text quotation with a page number (if available), it is not too difficult to learn. Speaking of the “Works Cited” page, you can learn from the list of our examples or turn to our free MLA generator to get things done automatically. 

A much more important part to master when you learn how to cite MLA style is keeping your MS Word document flawless in terms of font size, indents, italics, MLA header with your course information, and so on. Our MLA guide will provide you with all those little things and examples. Most importantly, when you implement MLA format paper, you also learn how to write a serious assignment and avoid plagiarism by taking notes of every idea that is not yours. 

How Can MLA Format Be Defined in Writing

This aspect of MLA style format is easy to learn once you take a quick look at the text. Let us start with the paper’s layout before we proceed with some text or the last page with the references. Every MLA paper regardless of course will have the classical MLA header in the top left corner with your last name on top, followed by your professor’s last name, course name, and the due date. The top left corner will have your last name with a page number. For example: 

Smith 1. 

If you have encountered this header, it will be the MLA 8 paper. In most cases, there will be no title page, which means that your task will start right on the same page with the MLA header. 

Your text will include some author’s last name in brackets with a page number. For example: 

(Smith 12). 

If you cite differently by naming your book author in your text, specify the page number in brackets. 

Finally, if you see the “Works Cited” page, it is another sign of your reference part done in MLA style. For example, APA format can be identified by the “References” word at the top of your Bibliography page, which is quite easy to change even if all the rest belongs to MLA and you need to bring in major changes. 

Key MLA 8 Edition Style General Rules

Let us review the list of rules that you should apply to your MS Word document or check with some template that you already have. The thing is that when you downloaded a free template from some unknown place and not our MLA Citation generator, some mistakes may still be there, which is why you should check everything on your own. 

Here are the basic rules:

  • You should keep with the 8.5 x 11 inches document layout. 
  • Your text must be double-spaced with the same rule being applied to your bibliography or MLA header as well. 
  • You should choose Times New Roman or Arial for your font unless you have it specified otherwise. 
  • Our font size must be 12 points. 
  • Set your page margins to 1 inch on all sides. 
  • When you start with some paragraph, set your first-line indent to 0.5 inches from the left. It can be done with the TAB key. 
  • Your page numbering should be done in the upper right corner. 
  • When you have a title of your book or something of a great length, it must be done in Italics. Sometimes your main thesis is also placed in italics
  • As a rule, you do not have to use any footnotes for your MLA paper, yet if you use any additional information, it is added as the “Notes” page with the word being centered on top of the page. It comes after your Works Cited page(s). 
  • Speaking of your paper’s title, it must be aligned to the center as well. 
  • Remember to add your last name in the page numbering at the top right corner. 

Now it is high time to start with the basic examples of MLA citing! 

MLA Citation Guide

Regardless of your academic source that you would like to use, it is sufficient to start with this simple template: 

Last Name, First Name (Your Author’s Name). “Book Title or Journal Title.” (This is where your source’s title comes). Publisher or Website Title (this is where it came from), Publication Date (Day, Month, Year style), URL. 

Summing things up, we have: 

Last Name, First Name. “Book Title.” Publisher, Publication Date, URL. 
Smith, James. “Trial of The Harvester.” Saracen Publishing House, 30 June, 1916. 
  • In MLA 8 you must include journal publications with your volume and number. 
  • In MLA 7 you had to add the city or state where the book or magazine had been published. It is no longer necessary. 
  • If your source is digital, always add a full URL address. 

MLA in-text citation is  

(Last Name 1)
(Smith 1) 

This is what your basic template must follow. Any other sources will have minor additions with the journal title being in italics with your title being without italics. If you have a digital source, simply add your URL.

Where and How to Use MLA In-Text Citations

As we have already learned how to work with a single book author, you should not worry about working with your in-text citation. For example: 

Some parts that have been studied were ignored by the scientists because of “their inhibitory qualities that were toxic and had genetic issues” (Warren 13). 

Or like this: 

According to Warren, there were “small portions of another vaccine that did not pass the tests in Brazil and Argentina” (34). 

If you have more than one author, you would have this referencing: 

(Appeldorn and Brown 13) 

Now if you do not have any author, simply mention your book chapter or organization that stands behind your publication. For example: 

(“Governmental Tax Guide in Jacksonville, Fla”). 

Speaking of page numbers, you do not have to mention them if they are not specified in your scan or you cite from a source that does not mention it. 

Now if you have several sources in one quotation, it will look this way: 

according to the latest surveys on the subject (Jerry 7; Banks 221). 

Now electronic sources like Twitter or Encyclopedia would look like this: 

  •  (“Twitter”)
  •  (“Youtube video”) 
  • (“Browser Safety”)

Works Cited Page MLA Format Citation With Examples

Let us see some actual examples: 

Book Citing with a single author: 

Windsor, John. The Stoned Age. Psychology Oxford Press, 2001. 

Book Citing with two authors: 

Windsor, John and Nigel Pulsford. Indigo Children. Lewis Books, 2006. 

More than three authors: 

Andorri, Williams Naderg, et al. Indian Culture Principles. Oxford University Press, 1999. 

Now the articles and academic magazines will look differently:

Author’s Last and First Name. “Main Title: Subtitle.” Title of Journal (in italics), Volume, Issue, Year, pages. 
Ford, Lita. “Women and Violence: Rock Music Attitude.” Modern Culture Sciences, Vol. 12, no. 34, 1989, pp. 11-14. 

Webpage source: 

“9 Best Hawaii Drink Recipes.” Islands, August 27, 2019. https://www.islands.com/9-best-hawaii-drink-recipes/. Accessed: 10 Jan. 2021. 

Now if you want to cite a Facebook post, it will be this way: 

Last Name, First Name or use the account’s name. Description of Post. Facebook, Day Month Year of Post, Time of Post, URL. Accessed Day Month Year when some post was accessed.

These are the basic parts that you should use as the basic points. It will always take time, which is why our free MLA generator is a great solution! 

Use Our Free MLA Citation Online Generator

If you are still here and want to know more, we want to tell you about our free MLA generator that already keeps all the rules and will reply to your request with all the quotations. Some of your benefits include: 

  • It is free and requires no registration. 
  • Our MLA citation machine has no ads or limited features. 
  • You can enter your book’s ISBN or use some journal’s DOI to make your citation automatically right away. 
  • You can use some titles and find your book. 
  • You keep things accurate and avoid typos or any plagiarism risks. 
  • You can work with your Works Cited page both automatically or manually. 
  • Choose between books, an electronic resource, magazine, newspaper, Youtube, and more. 
  • Our MLA citation maker is a great time-saver. 

The most important part of our free MLA citation generator is that you can download a free MS Word template where all your citations will already be formatted exactly how it must be with all the spaces and font sizes. Just remember to replace your Last Name and all the required information for the MLA header.

Why MLA Citation is Good to Learn?

Even if you plan to use our free MLA citation generator, it is still important to keep your college paper flawless and avoid all the minor mistakes. It is safe to say that once you learn how to apply MLA style for your assignments, you will already know the basics required for other formats like Chicago or APA. While they are more complex and have some things up their sleeve, knowing MLA will make you feel better about having to deal with another style. 

It has to be reminded that when you cite every source in a correct way, your risks of falling into the plagiarism trap are diminished. Every course will require written work with citations. For example, nursing reflection journals with no quotations will still require the MLA (or any other) format template with the fonts and indents. Taking some time to learn will always pay off in the end.

Citation Generator FAQ

My sources are in APA format. Can you help me change them to MLA? 

You can use our free MLA citation tool converter by entering your information or ask one of our experts to help you. Either way is acceptable. 

Is MLA 7 the same as MLA 8 style format? 

MLA 7 required mentioning the publisher’s city and state. The same was related to journals. MLA citation style requires full URLs. 

Can you check my MLA 8 paper for accuracy? 

Of course! Just share your task and instructions with us and we shall make things perfect! 

Can you show me an example of MLA header? 

Contact us for the MLA template. In most cases it will have: 

Your Name

Supervisor’s Name

Course Name

Due Date

My citation problem is not listed in any MLA guide. Can you help me? 

Send us a message 24/7 within the lines of “cite this for me MLA” and we shall help you with your rare citation. 

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