MLA Citation Generator

MLA 9th edition references and in-text citations for websites, books and journal articles.

Style

Source

Authors

TitleType it as it appears; the generator handles capitalisation for MLA and Chicago. Website name Journal name YearLeave blank if there is no date Month Day Volume Issue Pages EditionLeave blank for a first edition Publisher DOI URLBooks and articles: only if read online without a DOI Date accessedNeeded for undated pages Page(s) you are citingOptional — added to the in-text citation

Reference list entry ·

In-text citation

Parenthetical

Narrative

MLA 9th edition: the rules the generator follows

Authors: one author “Last, First”; two authors “Last, First, and First Last”; three or more “Last, First, et al.” — in the Works Cited list and in the text.
Titles in title case: italic for books, journals and websites; in quotation marks for articles and web pages.
Containers: journal, volume (vol.), issue (no.), date and page range (pp.), with the second number shortened (pp. 207–17).
DOIs are given as https://doi.org/ links. For URLs, MLA allows the http:// or https:// to be dropped, which the generator does.
Organisation authors: when the organisation also publishes the work, MLA starts the entry with the title instead — the generator does this automatically when the author and website name match.
In text: author and page, no comma (Yu 45). Without an author, a shortened title.

MLA citation examples

These examples are produced by the generator above, so what you see here is exactly what it gives you.

Book

Yu, Charles. Interior Chinatown. Pantheon Books, 2020.

In text: (Yu) or Yu

Journal article

Grady, Jamie S., et al. “Emotions in Storybooks: A Comparison of Storybooks That Represent Ethnic and Racial Groups in the United States.” Psychology of Popular Media Culture, vol. 8, no. 3, 2019, pp. 207–17. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185.

In text: (Grady et al.) or Grady et al.

Web page

“How to Write Your Personal Statement: 2026 Entry Onwards.” UCAS, www.ucas.com/applying/applying-to-university/writing-your-personal-statement/how-to-write-your-personal-statement-for-2026-entry-onwards. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

In text: (“How to Write”) or “How to Write”

Setting out your works cited

Start the list on a new page headed Works Cited.
Sort it alphabetically by the first word of each entry (the generator's saved list does this for you).
Use a hanging indent: the first line of each entry at the margin, later lines indented by 0.5 inch (1.27 cm).
Use the same font, size and line spacing as the rest of your essay.

Not sure your title capitalisation is right? Our title case converter has APA, MLA and Chicago modes.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an access date in MLA 9?

It is optional but recommended for web sources, especially when the page has no publication date.

Should I include https:// in MLA URLs?

MLA 9 allows you to drop http:// or https:// from URLs. DOIs are given in full as https://doi.org/ links.

Is the citation generator free and private?

Yes. It runs entirely in your browser, needs no account, and nothing you type is uploaded. Your saved list is stored in this browser only.

Will the formatting paste into Word or Google Docs?

Yes. Copy keeps italics when you paste into Word, Google Docs or Pages. Set a hanging indent of 0.5 inch (1.27 cm) on your reference list yourself.