The Works Cited page is where you give your reader the full details for every source you referenced in your paper. If an in-text citation is a pointer — "this idea came from there" — the Works Cited entry is the complete address that lets your reader find the source themselves.
Every source you cited in the body of your paper gets an entry here. Nothing more, nothing less. If you read something but didn't cite it, it doesn't go on the Works Cited page. (That would be a bibliography, which is a different thing.)
Works Cited vs. Bibliography — What's the Difference?
This is one of the most common points of confusion:
| Works Cited | Bibliography | |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Only sources you cited in your paper | Everything you consulted, whether cited or not |
| Required by MLA? | Yes | No (unless your instructor asks for one) |
| Heading used | "Works Cited" | "Bibliography" or "Works Consulted" |
MLA calls it "Works Cited" — not "References" (that's APA) and not "Bibliography" (unless your instructor specifically requests one). Use the right heading.
Page Formatting
The Works Cited page has a few specific formatting rules:
- Start on a new page after the last page of your essay
- Continue the running header — your last name and the page number should appear in the upper-right corner, continuing the numbering from the body of your paper
- Center the title "Works Cited" at the top of the page — same font and size as the rest of your paper. Don't make it bold, underlined, larger, or in quotation marks
- Double-space everything — within entries and between entries. No extra space between entries
- Use a hanging indent — the first line of each entry sits flush against the left margin. Every subsequent line is indented 0.5 inches (1.27 cm). This is the opposite of a regular paragraph indent, and it makes the list easy to scan
- Alphabetize entries by the first element — usually the author's last name. If there's no author, alphabetize by the first significant word of the title (skip "A," "An," "The")
Setting Up the Hanging Indent
In Microsoft Word:
- Select all your Works Cited entries
- Go to Format → Paragraph (or right-click → Paragraph)
- Under "Special," select Hanging and set the indent to 0.5 inches
- Click OK
In Google Docs:
- Select all your Works Cited entries
- Go to Format → Align & indent → Indentation options
- Under "Special indent," select Hanging and set it to 0.5 inches (1.27 cm)
- Click Apply
The Nine Core Elements
This is the heart of MLA's citation system. Every Works Cited entry is built from the same set of nine elements, always in the same order. Not every element will apply to every source — you simply skip the ones that don't.
1. Author. 2. Title of source. 3. Title of container, 4. Other contributors, 5. Version, 6. Number, 7. Publisher, 8. Publication date, 9. Location.
Let's break each one down.
1. Author
The person or organization primarily responsible for creating the source.
- One author: Last name, First name. → Morrison, Toni.
- Two authors: Last name, First name, and First name Last name. → Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar.
- Three or more authors: First author, et al. → Rabinowitz, Peter J., et al.
- Corporate author: Name of Organization. → United Nations.
- No author: Skip this element and begin with the title.
Notice the pattern:Only the first author's name is inverted (last name first). The second author is in normal order. For three or more authors, use "et al." after the first author.
2. Title of Source
The title of the specific work you're citing.
- Italicize titles of standalone works (books, films, websites, albums, journals): Beloved
- Use quotation marks for titles of works within a larger whole (articles, chapters, poems, episodes, web pages): "The Eating of the Soul"
- Use title case — capitalize the first word, the last word, and all principal words
3. Title of Container
The larger work that "contains" your source. A journal contains articles. A website contains web pages. A database contains journals.
- Always italicized: Representations, JSTOR, Netflix
- Followed by a comma
If a source has two containers (e.g., a journal article accessed through a database), you close the first container's elements and then start a new container sequence:
Greenblatt, Stephen. "The Eating of the Soul." Representations, vol. 48, 1994, pp. 97–116. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/2928699.
4. Other Contributors
People who played a role besides authoring — translators, editors, directors, performers, narrators, illustrators.
- Preceded by a description of the role: translated by, edited by, directed by, performance by
- Example: translated by Gregory Rabassa,
5. Version
If the source is one of multiple editions or versions:
- Examples: 2nd ed., revised ed., expanded ed., Kindle ed., director's cut
- Abbreviate "edition" as "ed."
6. Number
Volume and issue numbers for periodicals, or volume numbers for multivolume works:
- Abbreviate as vol. and no.: vol. 48, no. 3,
7. Publisher
The organization responsible for producing or distributing the source:
- Books: the publishing company → Vintage Books,
- Websites: the sponsoring organization (if different from the author/site name)
- Journals: skip the publisher if the journal title is sufficient
- Abbreviate "University Press" as "UP": Oxford UP, MIT P
8. Publication Date
When the work was published.
- Books: year only → 2004,
- Journal articles: year, or season + year → 2023, or Spring 2024,
- Web pages: day month year → 15 Jan. 2025,
- Abbreviate all months except May, June, and July → Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.
9. Location
Where to find the source within its container.
- Page numbers: pp. 97–116.
- URLs: https://www.example.com/article (no angle brackets, no "Accessed" unless content may change)
Note:MLA 9th edition omits "Accessed" dates for most sources. Include one only if the content is likely to change over time (e.g., a wiki article) or if your instructor requires it.
The Container System Explained
The container system is MLA's most powerful idea. Instead of memorizing a different citation format for every source type, you learn to identify two things:
- What is the source? (the article, the poem, the video)
- What contains it? (the journal, the anthology, the website, the database)
Then you apply the nine core elements to each container.
One Container
A print book has no container — it's a standalone work:
Morrison, Toni. Beloved. Vintage Books, 2004.
Two Containers
A journal article accessed through a database has two containers — the journal and the database:
Greenblatt, Stephen. "The Eating of the Soul." Representations, vol. 48, 1994, pp. 97–116. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/2928699.
- Container 1: Representations (the journal) — with volume, year, and page numbers
- Container 2: JSTOR (the database) — with a URL
How to Identify Containers
Ask yourself: "Where did I find this source?" If the answer is "inside something else," that something else is a container. Keep asking the question until you run out of containers.
| Source | Container 1 | Container 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Journal article (print) | Journal | — |
| Journal article (database) | Journal | Database |
| Chapter in edited book | Book | — |
| Poem in anthology | Anthology | — |
| Web page | Website | — |
| Article on website via database | Website | Database |
| TV episode (streaming) | TV series | Streaming platform |
Optional Elements
A few additional elements appear in MLA entries when relevant:
Date of Access
Include an access date only when the source content is likely to change (e.g., a wiki, a live-updated data dashboard). Format: Accessed 12 Mar. 2026.
City of Publication
Generally omitted in MLA 9th edition. Include only if the publisher might be confused with another or if it's relevant to the source (e.g., a local newspaper).
Original Publication Date
For reprinted or re-published works, you may include the original date at the end:
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Edited by J. Paul Hunter, 2nd ed., W. W. Norton, 2012. Originally published 1818.
Alphabetical Ordering Rules
Ordering your Works Cited entries is usually straightforward — alphabetize by the first word of each entry. But a few situations need special handling:
| Scenario | Rule | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Single author | Alphabetize by last name | Austen, Jane. |
| Multiple works, same author | Alphabetize by title (after the author's name) | Morrison, Toni. Beloved. … / Morrison, Toni. Song of Solomon. … |
| No author | Alphabetize by the first significant word of the title | "Endangered Species Act." … |
| Numbers in titles | Alphabetize as if spelled out | 1984 files under "N" (nineteen) |
| "A," "An," "The" at start | Skip the article, alphabetize by the next word | The Great Gatsby files under "G" |
Multiple Works by the Same Author
When your Works Cited page lists two or more works by the same author, replace the author's name with three em dashes (———) followed by a period in the second and subsequent entries:
Morrison, Toni. Beloved. Vintage Books, 2004.
———. Song of Solomon. Vintage International, 2004.
———. "Rootedness: The Ancestor as Foundation." Black Women Writers (1950–1980), edited by Mari Evans, Anchor Books, 1984, pp. 339–45.
Alphabetize these entries by title. Use the three-em-dash rule only when the authorship is exactly the same — if one entry has a co-author, spell out the full author list.
Examples for Common Source Types
Here's a quick-reference table showing what standard entries look like for the most common source types:
| Source Type | Works Cited Entry |
|---|---|
| Book | Morrison, Toni. Beloved. Vintage Books, 2004. |
| Journal article (print) | Greenblatt, Stephen. "The Eating of the Soul." Representations, vol. 48, 1994, pp. 97–116. |
| Journal article (database) | Greenblatt, Stephen. "The Eating of the Soul." Representations, vol. 48, 1994, pp. 97–116. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/2928699. |
| Website | Lundgren, Sarah. "The Rise of Autofiction." Literary Hub, 22 Sept. 2024, https://lithub.com/the-rise-of-autofiction. |
| Web page (organizational author) | World Health Organization. "Mental Health." WHO, 2024, https://www.who.int/health-topics/mental-health. |
For detailed guidance on citing specific source types, see:
Common Mistakes
These are the errors we see most often on Works Cited pages:
- Calling it "References" or "Bibliography." MLA uses "Works Cited" — not the APA heading.
- Forgetting the hanging indent. Each entry's first line should be flush left, with subsequent lines indented 0.5 inches.
- Adding extra space between entries. Double-space within and between entries — no extra blank lines.
- Using sentence case for titles. MLA uses title case in Works Cited entries. Capitalize all principal words. (Sentence case is APA's convention.)
- Listing the author's full first name inconsistently. MLA uses the author's full name as it appears on the source — not just initials (unlike APA).
- Putting a period after a URL. Don't — it could be mistaken as part of the URL. The URL is the last element, and the entry simply ends.
- Including sources you didn't cite. The Works Cited page is a direct mirror of your in-text citations. If you didn't cite it in the paper, it doesn't belong here.
- Confusing containers. Make sure you distinguish the source from its container. The article title goes in quotation marks; the journal title is italicized.
What's Next
Now that you know how to format your Works Cited page, explore:
- MLA In-Text Citations — make sure your in-text citations correctly point to these entries
- MLA General Format — ensure the rest of your paper's layout is right
Or dive into source-specific guides:
- How to Cite a Website in MLA Format — the most common source type students need to cite
- How to Cite a Book in MLA Format — the foundational source type for humanities research
- How to Cite a Journal Article in MLA Format — essential for academic research papers
If you're tired of assembling Works Cited entries by hand, Archivero can automatically generate properly formatted MLA entries for any source in your library — save the source and the citation is ready to copy.
