Sample Entry Formats - MLA
Five of the most used types of entries are these.
Note: The below examples have been typed on one line. Depending upon your screen resolution, you may see them on one line or on two. If you see these examples on two lines, then please note that the second and subsequent lines of each entry are supposed to be indented 5 spaces. For a more complete listing of citation examples from A Writer's Reference (2003, Fifth Edition) by Diana Hacker, please bookmark her Research and Documentation site: http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/
1. a book with one author
- author's last name, first name [separated by a comma & followed by a period]
- title of book [underlined and followed by a period]
- place of publication [followed by a colon and 2 spaces]
- publisher's name [followed by a comma]
- year of publication [followed by a period]
Baker, Houston A., Jr. Blues, Ideology, and Afro-American Literature: A Vernacular Theory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984.
2. a book with more than one author
- author's last name, first name [separated by a comma and followed by a comma and the word "and"]
- 2nd author's first name and last name [followed by a period]
- title of book [underlined and followed by a period]
- place of publication [followed by a colon and 2 spaces]
- publisher's name [followed by a comma]
- year of publication [followed by a period]
Raye, Louise, and Sandra Knight. Somebody's Watching, God: A Collection of Essays on Zora Neale Hurston. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1995.
3. a book with an editor
- editor's last name, first name [separated by a comma and followed by the abbreviation "ed."]
- title of book [underlined and followed by a period]
- place of publication [followed by a colon and 2 spaces]
- publisher's name [followed by a comma]
- year of publication [followed by a period]
Bloom, Harold, ed. Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: Chelsea House, 1987.
4. an article from a professional journal
- author's last name, first name [separated by a comma and followed by a period]
- title of the article [in quotations, with a period inside the end quote mark]
- title of the journal [underlined]
- volume of the journal [followed by a dot and the issue number, if appropriate]
- year of publication [in parentheses and followed by a colon and two spaces]
- span of pages [followed by a period]
Wolff, Maria Tai. "Listening and Living: Reading and Experience in Their Eyes." Black American Literature Forum 16.1 (1982): 29-33.
5. online material from the internet
- author's last name, first name [separated by a comma and followed by a period]
- titles, volumes, years, pages--all relevant information in in the appropriate format for a book or article citation [using punctuation, capitalization, and underlining as needed]
- the word Online. the location if available. the word "Internet," and the date you accessed the material [each followed by a period]
- the word "Available" and the electronic address, if your instructor asks for this information [separated by a colon and ending with a period]
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. 1937. Online. U of Minnesota Lib. Internet. 26 July 1995. Available: gopher.cic.net.
There are many other entry formats for the various types of sources:
- a work in an anthology
- an article in a journal paginated by issue
- an article in a newspaper
- a videotape
- a musical composition
- a lecture
- and many more types of sources
As you can see, there are too many to offer here. Consult any recent handbook for samples of all types of entry formats in MLA style. A handbook that we recommend is:
- Diana Hacker's A Writer's Reference (2003, Fifth Edition)
It is available from the ESC Distribution Center (518-587-2100). It includes both the MLA and APA formats.
Exercise 13: Documentation at End of Paper - MLA 
