Make an MLA citation.

Search by title, paste a link, DOI or ISBN, or fill in a short form. You get the Works Cited entry and the in-text citation in MLA 9.

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Several at once? Paste one per line.

Check each citation against your instructor’s rules before you hand it in.

On this page
  1. What an MLA 9 entry is made of
  2. Real MLA citations from the generator
  3. MLA in-text citations
  4. The Works Cited page
  5. No ads
  6. Questions

Updated

What an MLA 9 entry is made of

MLA builds every entry from the same core elements, in this order, each followed by the punctuation shown. The generator fills each one it has and leaves out the ones your source does not have, which is what MLA asks.

Author.
Last name, first name. Two authors: the second in normal order after “and.” Three or more: the first, then et al.
Title of source.
In quotation marks if it is part of something larger (an article, a chapter, a web page); in italics if it stands alone (a book, a film, a website).
Title of container,
The larger work that holds the source: the journal, the website, the anthology. In italics.
Other contributors,
Editors, translators, directors, when they matter to your use of the source.
Version, Number,
An edition (2nd ed.), a volume and issue (vol. 6, no. 2), a season and episode.
Publisher,
Left out for journals, newspapers, magazines and websites named for their publisher.
Publication date,
Day month year, with the month shortened: 16 Aug. 2002.
Location.
Page numbers (pp. 73-84), a DOI, or a URL without https://.

Real MLA citations from the generator

Journal article, from its DOI

Hershner, Shelley D., and Ronald D. Chervin. “Causes and Consequences of Sleepiness among College Students.” Nature and Science of Sleep, vol. 6, 2014, pp. 73-84, https://doi.org/10.2147/NSS.S62907.

In-text

(Hershner and Chervin 76)

Book, from its ISBN

Walker, Matthew. Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams. Scribner, 2017.

In-text

(Walker 112)

Web page, from its link

Bernstein, Mark. “10 Tips on Writing the Living Web.” A List Apart, 16 Aug. 2002, alistapart.com/article/writeliving/.

The book entry gives no city: MLA 9 leaves the place of publication out. The web page’s URL starts at the site name, as MLA recommends.

MLA in-text citations

An MLA in-text citation is the first word of the Works Cited entry, usually the author’s last name, and the page: (Walker 112). No comma, and no “p.” or “pp.” before the number. Type the page in the box beside the in-text citation and the generator writes it that way.

  • Two authors: (Hershner and Chervin 76). Three or more: (Hershner et al. 76).
  • No author: a short form of the title, in quotation marks or italics to match the entry: (“About Sleep”).
  • No page numbers, as on most web pages and videos: the name alone, (Bernstein). For a video, a time stamp such as 00:02:15 can take the page’s place.
  • Name the author in your sentence and the parentheses keep only the page: Walker argues that sleep is not optional (112).

More cases, including two sources at once and works by the same author, are in MLA in-text citations.

The Works Cited page

Works Cited starts on a new page after your last paragraph. The title Works Cited is centered at the top, in plain text: not bold, not underlined, not in quotation marks. Entries are double-spaced, with a half-inch hanging indent, in alphabetical order by the first word of each entry.

Copy all under the tool gives the list in that order. A second work by the same author starts with three hyphens and a period instead of the name, which the generator does for you. The Works Cited guide shows a finished page.

No ads. No sign-up. Your list stays in your browser.

You are writing your own paper, and the tool that formats your sources should not compete with it for your attention. So there are no ads here, nothing to sign up for, and your lists are kept in this browser instead of on our server.

The generator is paid for by the Format app, which some students choose to pay for, not by ads.

Questions

Is this MLA 9 or MLA 8?

MLA 9, the edition of the MLA Handbook published in 2021. It kept MLA 8’s core elements and added guidance and examples, so most entries look the same in both.

Does MLA need the date I accessed a website?

Only when the page has no date of its own. The generator then adds the day you made the citation, as “Accessed 3 Nov. 2026.” Change it if you read the page on another day.

Should the URL in MLA include https://?

MLA recommends leaving it off, so the generator starts the URL at the site name. A DOI is written as a full link, https://doi.org/ and the number.

Is the citation generator free?

Yes, every style, with no account and no limit on citations you type in. Looking up a link, DOI or ISBN is free too; a network that looks up a lot in a short time is asked for a quick human check.

Where are my citations kept?

In this browser only, in as many named lists as you like, until you clear or delete them. What you search for or look up goes to Format’s server, which asks Crossref, Open Library or the page itself. Nothing about you goes with it.

Are there ads?

No. The generator shows no ads and needs no sign-up. Your lists are kept in this browser, not on our server, and what you look up is used only to find the source.