Reading a reference or a bibliography in MLA Style

All references in a bibliography should be ordered alphabetically.

Here are general rules to present a reference according to the nature of the source you reference. Remember that in all cases, if some information is missing from your source, you simply omit it from your reference. You never invent pieces of information that are not given.

A book

Author's surname, Author's first name. Title of book. Place of publication: publisher, date of publication.

Please note that the latest MLA handbook no longer prescribes mentioning the place of publication. You can therefore also reference a book in the following way:

Author's surname, Author's first name. Title of book. Publisher, date of publication.

An article in a scholarly journal

Author's surname, Author's first name. "Title of article". Title of journal, volume number (presented as vol. ...), issue number (presented as no. ...), date of publication, pp. first page of article-last page of article.

Example: Stock, Carol D. and Philip A. Fisher. “Language Delays Among Foster Children: Implications for Policy and Practice.” Child Welfare, vol. 40, no. 3, 2006, pp. 445-462.

Please note that if there are two authors, as in the example above, the second author is presented as First Name, Surname. If there are more than two authors, only list the first author and then add “et al.” (For example: Probst, Jennifer C., et al.) The same rule applies to all types of sources (books, webpages, etc).

A Blog Post

Author's surname, Author's first name. "Title of blog post". Title of blog, date of publication, <URL>. Date on which you accessed the post (presented as Accessed ...)

Roncevic, Mirela. “What Are Open Educational Resources and How Do They Fit Into the Growing Landscape of Scholarly Materials?” No Shelf Required, 25 Jan. 2022, <www.noshelfrequired.com/what-are-open-educational-resources-and-how-do-they-fit-into-the-growing-landscape-of-open-access-scholarly-materials/>. Accessed 10 Oct. 2022.

Please note that the latest MLA handbook no longer requires the date on which the webpage was accessed if (and only if) the date of publication of the webpage can be found and is mentioned in your reference as in the example above.

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