Build your Works Cited page.

Add every source you cited, by title, link, DOI or ISBN, or paste them all at once. The list sorts itself the MLA way and downloads as a finished page.

Free. No ads. No sign-up.

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 belongs on a Works Cited page
  2. Build it in three steps
  3. How MLA orders the list
  4. Laying out the page
  5. Before you hand it in
  6. No ads
  7. Questions

Updated

What belongs on a Works Cited page

Works Cited lists every source you quoted, paraphrased or summarized in the paper, and nothing else. A book you read for background but never cited stays off it. Some instructors ask for a Works Consulted page as well, for exactly those; it follows the same format.

Every entry must match a citation in your text, and every citation in your text must lead to an entry, by its first word: (Walker 112) sends the reader to the entry that starts with Walker.

Build it in three steps

  1. Start a list for this paper. The list under the tool can be renamed, such as English 101 essay, and you can keep one for each paper you are writing.
  2. Add each source as you use it. Search a title, or paste its link, DOI or ISBN. Already have a column of links in your notes? Paste them all at once, one per line, and each is looked up and added.
  3. Copy all or Download .docx. Copy all puts the page on your clipboard with its heading; the .docx is a Works Cited page on its own, to add to the end of your paper.

How MLA orders the list

Entries run in alphabetical order by their first word, which is usually the author’s last name. A source with no author starts with its title, and is alphabetized by the title’s first word after A, An or The. Here are four sources as the generator sorts them:

“About Sleep.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 15 May 2024, www.cdc.gov/sleep/about/index.html.

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

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.

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

Two works by the same author: the second starts with three hyphens and a period in place of the name, and the two are ordered by title. The generator does this for you.

Laying out the page

  • A new page after the last page of your essay, with the same running head: your last name and the page number, top right.
  • Works Cited centered at the top in plain text: no bold, no italics, no quotation marks. With only one source, the title is Work Cited.
  • Double-spaced throughout, with no extra space between entries.
  • A half-inch hanging indent: the first line of each entry starts at the margin and the lines under it are indented.

The .docx has no running head of its own, so the page takes your paper’s when you add it at the end. If your word processor drops the indent on paste, set a hanging indent in a few clicks. The Works Cited guide shows a finished page, and the MLA citation generator explains each part of an entry.

Before you hand it in

  • Read your paper once for citations and tick each entry off. An entry with no citation, or a citation with no entry, costs points.
  • Check names and titles against the sources themselves. A lookup copies the publisher’s record, typing errors included.
  • Look for an access date on dated pages: MLA wants one only when the page shows no date of its own.

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 a Works Cited page the same as a bibliography?

Works Cited is MLA’s name for the list of sources you cited. Bibliography is Chicago’s name for its list, which may also include works you consulted. If your instructor says bibliography in an MLA class, they almost always mean Works Cited; ask if unsure.

Does the Works Cited page have to be double-spaced?

Yes. MLA double-spaces the whole paper, Works Cited included, with no extra space between entries. Copy all and the .docx are both double-spaced.

How do I add a source with no link, DOI or ISBN?

Choose Fill in the form instead, pick the kind of source, and type the fields it asks for. It joins the same list and sorts into place.

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.