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Citation Help

General Overview

This page covers some basic examples of MLA citations for articles (newspaper, journal, magazine).  

To the right, is a list of commonly cited items.  Click on the links to view what the item looks like, how to evaluate it, and how to find the citation information.  Below that is a list of the core elements needed create a citation in MLA.

Below is the formatting 'recipe' demonstrating how to put the elements in the proper format.  Last, are examples of periodical article citations in MLA format.

Citations in your "Works Cited" should be double spaced with a hanging indentation.

Formatting Recipe

Author, First A., & Second Author. "Title of Work." Title of Container One Italicized, other contributors, version, number, Publisher, publication date, location. Title of Container Two Italicized, other contributors, version, number, Publisher, publication date, location.

Examples for Periodical Articles

Newspaper Article, Print -

Ho, Vivian. "Ex-police Official Charged." San Francisco Chronicle, 28 April 2016, pp. A1+.

Magazine Article from Database* -

Reno, Jamie, and Dirk Johnson. "'These Guys Had To Be Taken Down'." Newsweek, vol. 151, no. 20, 19 May 2008, p. 40. Opposing Viewpoints,                 link.gale.com/apps/doc/A178961353/OVIC?u=live10669&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=95171c3 

Journal Article from Database - 

Dewulf, Bart, et al. "Dynamic Assessment of Exposure to Air Pollution Using Mobile Phone Data." International Journal of Health

Geographics, vol. 15, 21 April 2016, pp.1-14. Academic Search Complete, doi:10.1186/s12942-016-0042-z.

*MLA 9th edition recommends the inclusion of the URL (if no DOI); especially when it is the only way to locate the item.  However, since we have included a database name here, and database URL's are notoriously long and complex, we have omitted it.  This is a preference, so we recommend checking with your professor for their preference.