United States History: Citations

What is MLA style?

The Modern Language Association (MLA) publishes a style guide used by authors who publish in the humanities. 

• MLA style refers to both the physical appearance of your paper (type size, margins, running headers, etc.) and to the way you cite your sources, both in text and in your bibliography
• Ensures consistency
• Includes elements such as:
  • selection of headings, tone, and length;
  • punctuation and abbreviations;
  • presentation of numbers and statistics;
  • construction of tables and figures,
  • citation of sources both in-text and in a Works Cited page;
  • and many other elements that are a part of a manuscript.
• You will collect the same information you would for an APA style bibliography (author, title, title of journal, date, etc.), but arrange it in a slightly different manner.
• Remember than many of the Library's databases will provide an MLA citation that you can cut and paste.

Get more help with MLA

Try these helpful sites that provide examples of citations for common sources, like books, e-books, and articles.

MLA is a citation style often used for history. However, there are other citation styles such as APA and Chicago. Use the link below to access the Citation guide where you can get more information on other citation styles.

MLA style handouts 

Here are some handouts (in both .docx and .pdf formats) featuring examples of citations for sources you might find through TCC's Library and the Web. This first handout is for the full works cited page. 

Works Cited

In-text citations

Citing social media

Watch this short video (3 mins, 38 seconds) to learn how to create both in-text and works-cited citations that adhere to the MLA Style (8th edition).