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Updated . Example details checked against the MLA Handbook (9th ed.) example for a talk.
The MLA format
Pattern
Last name, First name. “Title of Talk.” Event, Host, Day Month Year, Place. Description.
- Description at the end tells the reader what it was: Lecture, Address, Keynote address.
- Untitled talk: replace the title with the description, without quotation marks.
- A class lecture: your course and school as the event and place.
A real example
Works Cited entry
Stein, Bob. “Reading and Writing in the Digital Era.” Discussion Series, Digital Humanities Center, 3 May 2009, Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City. Keynote address.
In-text citation
(Stein)
When details are missing
- No title: use the description in its place.
- Recorded online: cite the recording as a video instead.
Common mistakes
- Leaving out the description. MLA ends with Lecture, Address or similar for a live talk.
Or let Format do it.
Choose Lecture or speech and fill in the speaker, title, kind of talk, event, host, place and date. Format writes the Works Cited entry and the in-text citation in MLA 9, exactly as shown above, and builds the Works Cited page when you export to Word or PDF. MLA and APA are free.
Questions
Can I cite my professor’s lecture?
Yes. Ask first whether your instructor wants class lectures cited at all.
Slides?
Cite slides posted online as a web page, with “PowerPoint presentation” at the end.
More citation guides
The same source in other styles
Similar sources in MLA
Every source kind is on the MLA page, and every style is on How to cite.