The MLA reference citation format, recommended by the American Association of Modern Languages for academic writing, is a common form of academic writing. However, many students have limited knowledge of it and often misuse it.
To solve this problem, let’s learn how to use MLA reference citation format correctly together.
1MLA basic format
The basic citation format of MLA should indicate the author’s surname and page number in parentheses. For example, (Hawkins 201) indicates that the reference in the text is page 201 of a work by Hawkins.
When the author’s name is already mentioned in the text, simply indicate the page number in parentheses after the citation. In this case, there is no need to repeat the author’s name.
2-author citation format
If the same citation involves two authors, and can be connected in between. For example, (Hawkins and Schreiber 201) indicates that the cited content is from page 201 of a work jointly written by Hawkins and Schreiber. There is no need to mention two people repeatedly
If the citation involves more than two authors, simply indicate the first author and immediately follow “et al.”. “Et al.” means the author’s name is unknown.
Multiple author citation format with 3 identical surnames
If the surnames of several authors cited are the same, the first letter of each author should be indicated. For example, (Smith 32) and (Z. Smith 91). Throughout the cited chapter, each author must be fully labeled and cannot be abbreviated.
4 citation formats for multiple works
If multiple works of the same author are cited simultaneously, the original title should be used to distinguish them. At this point, the year of publication cannot be used as a basis for differentiation. For example, Hawkins’ two works “A History of Bad News” and “The Pace of News: A Comparative Study of Communicative Speed” should be labeled as follows: (Hawkins, A History of Bad News 201) and (Hawkins, “The Pace of News” 1023). Please note that book titles should be italicized, and short article titles should be in quotation marks.
Long titles can be appropriately reduced.
Multiple citation formats for the same paragraph of text
When there are multiple references in the same paragraph, a semicolon can be used to separate them. For example, (Smith 32; Hawkins 201) indicates that both Smith and Hawkins cited the same viewpoint in their articles.
The above is the analysis of MLA reference citation format. We look forward to everyone correctly citing references in English paper writing.
