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The Folger Shakespeare

Below are examples of several citation styles that can be used in papers, publications, and other projects.

A special thanks to Abbie Weinberg, Research and Reference Librarian at the Folger Shakespeare Library, for her expertise in preparing these citation styles.

If you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, please contact us .

Citing a Specific Text

Modern language association (mla), in-text citation:.

(Shakespeare,  Romeo and Juliet from The Folger Shakespeare.)

Works Cited citation:

Shakespeare, William.  Romeo and Juliet from The Folger Shakespeare. Ed. Barbara Mowat, Paul Werstine, Michael Poston, and Rebecca Niles. Folger Shakespeare Library, [datetoday].  https://folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/romeo-and-juliet/

American Psychological Association (APA)

(Shakespeare, n.d.)

References citation:

Shakespeare, W. (n.d.)  Much Ado About Nothing (B. Mowat, P. Werstine, M. Poston, and R. Niles, eds.). The Folger Shakespeare. https://folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/much-ado-about-nothing/

Chicago/Turabian

Footnote/endnote citation:.

William Shakespeare.  A Midsummer Night’s Dream . Barbara Mowat, Paul Werstine, Michael Poston, Rebecca Niles, eds (Washington, DC: Folger Shakespeare Library, n.d.), accessed [datetoday]. https://folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/a-midsummer-nights-dream/

Bibliography citation:

Shakespeare, William.  A Midsummer Night’s Dream . Barbara Mowat, Paul Werstine, Michael Poston, and Rebecca Niles, eds. Folger Shakespeare Library. Accessed on [datetoday]. Washington, DC: Folger Shakespeare Library.  https://folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/a-midsummer-nights-dream/

Citing the Entire Collection

( Shakespeare’s Plays, Sonnets and Poems from The Folger Shakespeare.)

Shakespeare, William.  Shakespeare’s Plays, Sonnets and Poems  from The Folger Shakespeare. Ed. Barbara Mowat, Paul Werstine, Michael Poston, and Rebecca Niles. Folger Shakespeare Library, [datetoday].  https://folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/all-works

(The Folger Shakespeare. n.d.)

Folger Shakespeare Library. (n.d.)  Shakespeare’s Plays, Sonnets and Poems from The Folger Shakespeare. Retrieved from https://folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/all-works

Barbara Mowat, Paul Werstine, Michael Poston, Rebecca Niles, eds.,  Shakespeare’s Plays, Sonnets and Poems (Washington, DC: Folger Shakespeare Library, n.d.), accessed [datetoday]. https://folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/all-works .

Shakespeare’s Plays, Sonnets and Poems , from The Folger Shakespeare, ed. Barbara Mowat, Paul Werstine, Michael Poston, and Rebecca Niles. Washington, DC: Folger Shakespeare Library. Accessed on [datetoday]. https://folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/all-works .

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How to Cite Shakespeare in MLA

Last Updated: January 11, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff . Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 108,914 times. Learn more...

Citing Shakespeare in MLA style can be tricky, as you may not be sure how to cite the act, verse, and line numbers, rather than page numbers. To follow MLA style, you will need to properly format any quotes from Shakespeare in the text and use in-text citations accordingly. You should also cite Shakespeare in the bibliography at the end of your paper. Whether you are citing Shakespeare in MLA for a paper for class or an essay for a reading assignment, you can get the citations right with just a few steps.

Formatting Shakespeare Quotes in Text

Step 1 Put a single line of verse in quotation marks.

  • For example, you may write, “Prospero feels doomed by his decision, stating: ‘Hell is empty.’”

Step 2 Use slashes when quoting 2-3 lines of verse.

  • For example, you may write, “In the play, Prospero refers to the temporality of life, noting: ‘We are such stuff as dreams are made on/and our little life is rounded with a sleep.’”

Step 3 Set more than 3 lines of verse in block quotes.

Full fathom five thy father lies; Of his bones are coral made; Those are pearls that were his eyes: Nothing of him that doth fade, But doth suffer a sea-change Into something rich and strange. Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell: Ding-dong Hark! now I hear them,—Ding-dong, bell."

Step 4 Use block quotes to quote dialogue between characters.

ANTONIO. Let's all sink wi' th' king. SEBASTIAN. Let's take leave of him."

Creating an In-Text Citation

Step 1 Place parentheses at the end of the quotation.

  • For example, you may write, “Prospero feels doomed by his decision, stating: ‘Hell is empty/and all the devils are here.’ (1.2.15-16.)”
ANTONIO. Let's all sink wi' th' king. SEBASTIAN. Let's take leave of him. (1.1.4-5)"

Step 2 Abbreviate and italicize the title of the play.

  • You can find a complete list of abbreviations for the titles of Shakespeare’s plays on Internet Shakespeare Editions: http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Foyer/guidelines/abbreviations/ .
  • If you are only discussing one play by Shakespeare in your paper and you refer to the play once already in your paper, you do not need to include an abbreviation of the title in subsequent citations.
  • For example, you may write a citation from Macbeth as, “A good example of foreshadowing is spoken by the second witch, ‘By the pricking of my thumbs,/Something wicked this way comes.’ ( Mac . 4.1.57-58)”
  • Or, if you have already referred to the play once, you leave the “Mac” out of the citation, using just the numbers, “(4.1.57-58).”

Step 3 Note the act, scene, and line numbers, separated by periods.

  • For example, you may write, “A good example of foreshadowing is spoken by the second witch, ‘By the pricking of my thumbs,/Something wicked this way comes.’ (4.1.57-58.)” This means the quotation comes from Act 4, scene 1, lines 57-58.

Step 4 Include a numeral citation when referring to the play in a sentence.

  • For example, you may write, “In 4.1, the second witch provides a few lines of foreshadowing.”

Citing Shakespeare in a Bibliography

Step 1 Start with the author and the title.

  • For example, you may write, “Shakespeare, William. The Tempest .”

Step 2 Include the name of the editor.

  • For example, you may write, “Ed. Tucker Brooke” or “Ed. John Keene and Lawrence Mason.”

Step 3 List information about the publisher.

  • For example, you may write, “New Haven, Yale University Press, 1947.”

Step 4 Note the medium of the play.

  • For example, the complete citation would be: “Shakespeare, William. The Tempest . Ed. Tucker Brooke. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1947. Print.”

Step 5 Cite the editor’s name first if your citations are from the editor’s work.

  • For example, you may write, “Furness, Horace Howard, ed. The Tempest . By William Shakespeare. New York, Dover, 1964. Print.”

Step 6 Include additional information if you are citing an anthology.

  • For example, if you were citing an anthology with one volume, you would write, “Shakespeare, William. Macbeth . The Riverside Shakespeare. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1974. 1306-42. Print.”
  • For an anthology with more than one volume, you would note the volume number you accessed: “Shakespeare, William. As You Like It . The Annotated Shakespeare. Ed. A. L. Rowse. Vol. 1. New York, Clarkson N. Potter, 1978. 334-89. Print.”

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Cite the WHO in APA

  • ↑ https://www.southplainscollege.edu/exploreprograms/artsandsciences/english/HowtoCiteShakespeareinMLA.pdf
  • ↑ http://drmarkwomack.com/mla-style/how-to-quote/quote-shakespeare/
  • ↑ https://penandthepad.com/correct-way-cite-shakespearean-works-4219.html
  • ↑ https://www.lsue.edu/library/docs/MLA-PLAY.pdf

About This Article

wikiHow Staff

To cite Shakespeare in a bibliography using MLA format, list “Shakespeare, William” as the author and follow with the full title of the play in italics. Include the name of the editor by writing “Ed.” and then the editor’s full name. Write the city where the text was published, the name of the publisher, and the year of publication. Finally, list the medium of the play, such as “Print” or “Web,” depending on how you accessed the play. For more guidance, including how to create an in-text citation and format Shakespeare quotes, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Citing Sources: Shakespeare and MLA

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General information about MLA and Shakespeare

Italicize the titles of the plays – Macbeth (for the play), Macbeth (for the character)

You may abbreviate the title of the play in the parenthetical citation ( check with your teacher first )

  • Macbeth – Mac.
  • Hamlet – Ham.
  • Usually use Arabic numbers (1.5.4-5) or (2.1.110-13)
  • Some teachers still prefer Roman numerals (II.iv.4-6)
  • If author’s name mentioned in the text, only put the page number in parentheses, otherwise (author’s last name #).
  • If there are no different sources between quotes – can use  (#) 

In-text citations - short quotes

Quotes longer than three lines should begin on a new line.

  • if one line, put it in quotation marks within your text:

mla citation shakespeare

  • If two or three lines, include the quote within your text but use the forward slash to indicate the separate verses:

One Shakespearean protagonist seems resolute at first when he asserts, “Haste me to know’t, that I, with wings as swift / As meditation … / May sweep to my revenge” ( Hamlet 1.5.35-37).  

(notice the forward slash is separated from the text by spaces. the ellipsis ... is used to indicate that some of the text was not included)

In-text citations - long quotes or dialogue

Direct quotes (long quotes or dialogue) – Quotations four lines or more or dialogue are formatted with  a block quote. Set the quotation off from your text. Indent one inch (2.54 cm.) for left margin. Capitalize the character’s name, followed by a period. Indent all subsequent lines an addition ¼ inch (.64 cm):

POLONIUS. Well be with you, gentlemen!

HAMLET. Hark you, Guildenstern, and you too! At each ear a hearer. That great

baby you see there is not yet out of his swaddling-clouts. ( Ham. 2.2.383-386)

In-text Citation: Citing an Indirect Source (Quoting a Source in a Source)

If there are no page numbers on the electronic source, use only the author name or the first main word of the title. However, you can indicate where the material came from in your text.

There are occasions where you may find a source that quotes another source that you want to use in your paper. Ideally, you would find the original source to ensure you understand the context of the quote. If you do decide to use the quote from the source you are using, however, you must recognize both sources . For example, in the Critical Insights series, we have a popular book of critical analysis called Things for Apart. One of the chapters, written by Amy Sickels, is entitled "The Critical Reception of  Things Fall Apart."  In her essay, she quotes Keith M. Booker. This is the quote you decide you want to use:

Booker makes the point that the "African novel is always a complex hybrid cultural phenomenon that combines Western and African cultural perspectives" (qtd. in Sickels 43).

The citation in the Works Cited page (remember you need a hanging indent):

Sickels, Amy. “The Critical Reception of Things Fall Apar t." Things Fall Apart ,  edited by M. Keith Booker, Salem Press, 2011, pp.  33-52.

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How to Cite Shakespeare in MLA Referencing

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  • 14th September 2019

Is this a dagger I see before me ? No. It’s a blog post about citing Shakespeare in MLA referencing. And that’s even more useful than a dagger, especially if you’re currently writing an essay . But how do you cite a Shakespeare play when using MLA referencing ? Let us explain.

Citing Shakespeare in MLA Referencing

When citing Shakespeare, you will need to adapt the basic MLA citation format slightly. The biggest difference is that, rather than page numbers, you need to give act, scene and line numbers:

Macbeth’s soliloquy lays the ground for his later torment, betraying his mental fragility early on (Shakespeare 2.1.33–61).

Here, we’re citing act 2, scene 1, lines 33–61 of the play Macbeth . Most MLA citations of Shakespeare will use this citation format. Some editions of Shakespeare plays feature paragraph numbers instead of line numbers, but you can use these for pinpoint citations as well.

Citing Multiple Shakespeare Plays

We have cited “Shakespeare” in the example above because he is the author. However, if you are referencing more than one Shakespeare play in the same essay, you will need to use the play title in citations instead. For example, we could cite both Othello and Macbeth as follows:

Shakespeare’s characters often express regret immediately after a misdeed, such as when Othello describes Desdemona’s death as “horrible and grim” ( Othello 5.2.236) or when Macbeth admits to being “afraid to think” about what he has done ( Macbeth 2.2.64).

Here, we’re citing act 5, scene 2, line 236 of Othello and act 2, scene 2, line 64 of Macbeth . Using the play titles in the citations makes it absolutely clear which text we’re citing each time.

In addition, if you’re citing multiple plays repeatedly, you can abbreviate the title of each play in citations. Othello , for example, could be cited as just Oth. to minimise repetition:

Iago’s reaction speaks volumes at this point ( Oth . 3.3.234).

You will still need to give the full title in the Works Cited list, though.

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Shakespeare in the Works Cited List

In the Works Cited list , standalone Shakespeare plays are cited in the same way as any book:

Surname, First Name. Title . Editor/Translator (if applicable). Publisher, Year of Publication.

In practice, then, we could cite a print edition of Macbeth as follows:

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth . Edited by Keith Carabine. Wordsworth Editions, 2005.

The format differs slightly if the work cited is part of an anthology . In this case, treat the poem or play like a chapter from an edited book. For example:

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth . The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works , edited by Stanley Wells and Gary Taylor, Oxford University Press, 2005, pp. 969–994.

Here, we have the details of the container volume and the page range for the play as well. It is worth noting, though, that MLA referencing italicizes the titles of plays even when they are part of a larger anthology. This differs from a book chapter title, which would be in quote marks.

And if you’d like anyone to check the referencing in your writing, give our specialist proofreading services a try.

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The Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) offers additional guidelines on MLA style rules. There may be some inaccuracies on the PurdueOWL so check your course syllabus and the  MLA Manual  for more information.

View the PurdueOWL's resources on MLA  here .

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How To Cite Shakespeare In MLA – Format With Examples

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How-to-cite-Shakespeare-in-MLA-Definition

For those engaged in academic pursuits involving his timeless plays and sonnets, understanding how to cite Shakespeare in MLA is essential. The MLA style offers a meticulous and standardized approach to referencing Shakespearean works, ensuring precision and consistency in acknowledging his literary genius. This article provides thorough explanations of the format of citing Shakespeare and gives multiple examples to help you understand how to cite Shakespeare in MLA.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

  • 1 In a nutshell: How to cite Shakespeare in MLA
  • 2 Definition: How to cite Shakespeare in MLA
  • 3 How to cite Shakespeare in MLA: Collection
  • 4 How to cite Shakespeare in MLA: Multiple plays
  • 5 How to cite Shakespeare in MLA: Quotations

In a nutshell: How to cite Shakespeare in MLA

  • Cite Shakespeare in MLA using the act, verse, and line numbers instead of page numbers
  • Use slashes (/) when quoting three or fewer verse lines, and set them as a block quote for more than three lines of verse.
  • You must include the collection’s name, editor, and publisher if you are referencing the play from a collection or an anthology.

Definition: How to cite Shakespeare in MLA

Shakespeare’s works have numbered lines, scenes, and acts that you should use in your MLA citations instead of page numbers. The entries in the Works Cited section vary depending on the source you are citing. The table below shows how to cite Shakespeare in MLA.

How to cite Shakespeare in MLA: Collection

When referencing a collection of several or all of Shakespeare’s works but only citing one of them, you can specify the actual work in the Works Cited entry. You will need to provide the title of the specific work and information on the collection.

It is essential to note that since these works would usually be standalone, the titles are italicized . The table below shows how to cite Shakespeare in MLA for a play from a collection.

If you are citing numerous of Shakespeare’s works, arrange them by title, alphabetically. After the first “Shakespeare, William,” replace his name with s series of three em dashes .

How to cite Shakespeare in MLA: Multiple plays

If you are citing more than one of Shakespeare’s plays, MLA recommends starting every in-text citation with an italicized abbreviation of the play’s title.

The first time you use an abbreviation for a play’s title, introduce it thoroughly, and then you can use it in the following citations of the play.

Shakespeare’s Othello ( Oth. ) is a play about…( Oth. 2.6.49)

Below is an example of how to cite Shakespeare in MLA after the first mention when using a multi-word title.

Midsummer to replace A Midsummer Night’s Dream after you first mention it.

How to cite Shakespeare in MLA: Quotations

The guidelines on how to cite Shakespeare in MLA vary depending on the quotation type. i.e., a verse or a dialogue, as highlighted below.

Quoting a verse

Treat it like a typical quote if you are quoting up to three lines from a poem or play and use a forward slash to indicate a new line (/). Below is an example of how to cite Shakespeare in MLA for a verse of up to three lines.

Melun implores them to “Unthread the rude eye of rebellion, / And welcome home again discarded faith” ( Jn. 5.4.11–12).

Indicate a stanza break in the quotation using a double slash (//). Below is an example of how to cite Shakespeare in MLA when indicating a stanza break.

Shakespeare refers to a man who “desires to know / , in brief, the grounds and motives of her woe. // So slides he down upon his grainèd bat” ( LC  62–64).

If you are quoting a verse of four lines or more, you will need to format it as a block quote and indent the quotation. Below is an example of how to cite Shakespeare in MLA for a verse in four or more lines.

All the world’s a stage

And all the men and women merely players:

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages ( AYL 2.7.138-42) .

The example above demonstrates how to cite Shakespeare in MLA while maintaining the original spacing.

Quoting a dialogue

Present dialogue from two or more characters as a block quote. Here are some guidelines on how to cite Shakespeare in MLA when quoting a dialogue:

  • Start every part of the dialogue with the name of the character indented one inch from the left margin.
  • Write the name in all capital letters.
  • Write a period after the name, and then start the quotation
  • For all subsequent lines in the speech of the character, indent them an extra quarter inch.
  • Indent a new line an inch from the left margin whenever the dialogue has shifted to another character.
  • Keep the pattern throughout the entire quotation.

The example below shows how to cite Shakespeare in MLA when quoting a dialogue.

How-to-Cite-Shakespeare-in-MLA-Quoting-dialogue

How to cite multiple Shakespeare plays in MLA?

If you’re citing multiple Shakespeare plays, start the in-text citation with an abbreviation of the title and ensure that you give each play its entry in the Works Cited section.

How to cite Shakespeare in MLA for more than two lines?

Use a forward slash (/) if the lines are in verse. However, if they are lines of prose, you do not need to separate them with a slash.

How to cite Shakespeare in MLA when using abbreviations?

The MLA style guide demonstrates how to cite Shakespeare in MLA when abbreviating the play’s name instead of shortening the title yourself.

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  • TV Show Episode
  • TV show, Streaming Service
  • Webpage with an Author AND a pub date
  • Webpage with No Author, contains publication date
  • Webpage with NO Author, NO pub date
  • Webpage with an Author, no publication date
  • Webpage with a Group Author and a pub date

Works Cited

“Explain the green light in the book  The Great Gatsby  by F. Scott Fitzgerald” prompt.  ChatGPT , 13 Feb. version, OpenAI, 8 Mar. 2023, chat.openai.com/chat.

In-text citation

("Explain the green light")

Klee, Paul.  Twittering Machine.  1922. Museum of Modern Art, New York.  The Artchive,  www . artchive.com/artchive/K/Klee/twittering_machine.jpg.html. Accessed May 2006.

Intext would be (Klee).

"Ideology."  The American Heritage Dictionary.  3rd ed., 1997, pp 44-45.

To cite this source, page 44, for example: ("Ideology" 44)

The New Jerusalem Bible.  Henry Wansbrough, general editor, Doubleday, 1985.

In one of the most vivid prophetic visions in the Bible, Ezekial saw "what seems to be four living creatures" ( New Jerusalem Bible,  Ezek. 1.5). John of Patmos echoes this passage when describing his vision (Rev. 4.6-8).

**If you are only using one Bible, then you don't have to refer to the Bible's name except in the first intext citation. The rest of the intext citations can be the (Book, verse). 

***MLA Handbook, 2021, p. 247

Choi, Susan. Trust Exercise. Holt, 2019.

To cite entire book: (Choi)

To cite page 25, for example: (Choi 25)

Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring . Allyn and Bacon, 2000. 

If citing the entire book (Gillespie and Lerner)

If citing pages 210-225 (Gillespie and Lerner 210-225)

Wysocki, Anne Frances, et al.  Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of Composition . Utah State UP, 2004.

If citing page 167, for example: (Wysocki et al. 167)

Crowley, Sharon, and Debra Hawhee.  Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students . 3rd ed., Pearson, 2004.

If citing entire book: (Crowley and Hawhee)

If citing page 202, for example (Crowley and Hawkee 202)

Harris, Muriel. "Talk to Me: Engaging Reluctant Writers."  A Tutor's Guide: Helping Writers One to One,  edited by Ben Rafoth, Henemann, 2000, pp. 24-34.

If citing page 34 for example: (Harris 34)

If the original publication date is important for the reader to understand the context of the source, include it.

Franklin, Benjamin. "Emigration to America." 1782.  The Faber Book of America,  edited by Christopher Ricks and William L. Vance, Faber and Faber, 1992, pp. 24-26.

Intext would be (Franklin 24-26). 

Dickinson, Emily. “Because I Could Not Stop for Death.”  The Oxford Book of American Verse , edited by F. O. Matthiessen, Oxford UP, 1950, p. 439.  Questia .

This reading is located in the Questia/Cengage compilation but was published in  The Oxford Book of American Verse.  The publishing information  is all located in the copyright box at the bottom of the reading.

image of copyright info at bottom of questia document

The intext citation would still be 

(Dickinson 439)

Plott, Cassie. English 111. Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, April 2020, https://rccc.blackboard.com/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_51000_1&content_id=_4450030_1.

Washington, Durthy. CliffsNotes on Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl . Cliffs Notes, 2000. EBSCOhost , search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=67062&site=ehost-live.

In-text citation is (Washington)

or in-text citation for page 33 is

(Washington 33)

Author. Title of ebook . Publisher, date. Name of database where you found the book , URL.

Blade Runner.  1982. Directed by Ridley Scott, performance by Harrison Ford, director's cut, Warner Bros., 1992.

Scott, Ridley, director.  Blade Runner.  1982. Performance by Harrison Ford, director's cut, Warner Bros., 1992.

For films, citations begin with the title unless you want to highlight some other aspect, such as the direction. In the first example, Ridley Scott and Harrison Ford are considered "Other contributors". The second example treats Ridley Scott as an "author" with Harrison Ford as another contributor. The Publisher is Warner Bros.

Highlights from the Competition Bureau’s Workshop on Emerging Competition Issues.  Competition Bureau of Canada, 4 Mar. 2016, www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/vwapj/cb-Workshop-Summary-Report-e.pdf/$FILE/cb-Workshop-Summary-Report-e.pdf.  Accessed 6 July 2016

In-text citation is (name of document, can be shortened)

( HIghlights from the Competition Bureau's Workshop)

In-text citation if a direct quote from page 2, for example

( Highlights from the Competition Bureau's Workshop 2)

Doest, Jasper. "Japanese macaques take a hot bath during winter in Jigokudani."  National Geographic,  15 Sept. 2016, nationalgeographic.com/photography/proof/2016/09/snow-macaque-nice-shot. Accessed 17 Mar 2020.

Smith, Jane. Personal interview. 22 April 2020.

Intext citation is (Smith)

​ Zumla, Alimuddin, et al. "Vaccine Against Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus."  The Lancet Infectious Diseases,  vol. 19, no. 10, 2019, pp. 1054-1055.  ProQuest,  https://proxy154.nclive.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/2297096029? accountid=13601, doi:https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(19)30477-3.

To cite this article, page 1054, for example: (Zumla et al. 1054)

Chevelle. Wonder What's Next . Epic, 2002.

Intext would be (Chevelle)

Nirvana. "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Nevermind , Geffen, 1991.

Intext is (Nirvana)

Tavernise, Sabrina. "Disparity of Life Spans of the Rich and the Poor is Growing."  The New York Times,  12 Feb. 2016,  https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/13/health/disparity-in-life-spans-of-the-rich-and-the-poor-is-growing.html . 

(Tavernise)

Note that the URL is linked. This is an option in MLA 8th Edition. Your teacher may choose to allow this or not.

This format should be used for pdfs that you receive electronically but not via accessing a website. Even though you may have received this independently, you still need to find the URL that will lead your reader to the source.

Social, Humanitarian, & Cultural Committee (SOCHUM) Background Guide, 31st Annual Carolinas Conference, 2020, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/58d5280103596edcfc032057/t/5f5937c0642457206e8c3057/1599682499567/SOCHUM+Background+Guide.pdf.

In-text citation is

( Social, Humanitarian, & Cultural Committee)

If a direct quote or statistic is used, from page 3 for example

( Social, Humanitarian, & Cultural Committee 3)

To cite a pdf from a website, you first cite the pdf with author, title, publisher and date and then cite the website with the URL.

For example, the following report doesn't have an author so you start with title, the publisher and date. Then you cite the website Duke Energy and that site's date.End with the URL.

Duke Energy 2019 Annual Report and Form 10-K, Duke Energy, 2019. Duke Energy, 2020, https://www.duke-energy.com/annual-report/_/media/pdfs/our-company/investors/de-annual-reports/2019/2019-duke-energy-annual-report.pdf?la=en.

( Duke Energy 2019 Annual Report)

If direct quote or statistic used, for example from page 4

( Duke Energy 2019 Annual Report 4)

Adams, John. "John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 3 February 1812." 1812.  Founders Online,  National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-04-02-036. Accessed 1 February 2023

___________

*This website didn't have a publication date. Accessed dates are recommended for websites especially when there is no publication date.

Recomended formatting for primary sources on webpages.

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Primary Source Document: Subtitle." Year of creation. Title of Website,  Publisher of Website, Publication Date, URL. Accessed Day Month Year site was visited.

Jackson, Andrew. "First Inaugural Address." 1829. Out of Many: A History of the American People . John Faragher et al., Pearson, 2020, p. 56. 

Intext is (author's last name page#)

(Jackson 56)

The Bible.  Authorized King James Version, Oxford UP, 1998.

Intext citation is ( The Bible,  John 3:16)

Kincaid, Jamaica. "Girl."  The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories , edited by Tobias Wolff, Vintage, 1994, pp. 306-07.

(Kincaid 306)

If all poems or stories are by the same author, there is typically not an editor-

Carter, Angela. "The Tiger's Bride."  Burning Your Boats: The Collected Stories,  Penguin, 1995, pp. 154-69.

(Carter 157)

"Hush." 1999.  Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Fourth Season,  created by Joss Whedon, performance by Sarah Michelle Gellar, episode 10, Twentieth Century Fox, 2003, disc 3. 

"Chapter Six: The Monster."  Stranger Things,  season 1, episode 6, Netflix, 15 July 2016.  Netflix,  netflix.com/watch/80077373?trackld=13752289@tctx=0%2C%2Ca7112b65-16b2-46a38b1c-310fcb259da1-8921805

Chappelow, James. "Conflict Theory." Investopedia , 19 May 2019, www.investopedia.com/terms/c/conflict-theory.asp

(Chappelow) is the intext citation

Webpage with Access date

Wise, DeWanda. "Why TV Shows Make me Feel less Alone."  NAMI,  31 May 2019, https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/May-2019/How-TV-Shows-Make-Me-Feel-Less-Alone . Accessed 10 June 2020. 

"Athlete's Foot - Topic Overview."  WebMD,  25 Sept. 2014, www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/tc/athletes-foot-topic-overview.

("Athlete's")

September 25, 2014 is the publication date. There are no page numbers. The access date is optional. It is ok to shorten the title of the website; keep it in quotation marks.

"The Impact of Global Warming in North America."  Global Warming: Early Signs.  1999. www.climatehotmap.org/. Accessed 23 Mar. 2009.

Intext citation is ("Impact of Global Warming")

*The access date is optional. You can shorten the title of long sources. Keep the webpage title in quotation marks.

"Majors and Concentrations." UNC Greensboro, https://admissions.uncg.edu/academics/majors-concentrations/. Accessed 22 April 2020.

* Access date is recommended for sites with no publication date.

("Majors and Concentrations")

Lundman, Susan. "How to Make Vegetarian Chili."   eHow,  www.ehow.com/how_10727_make-vegetarian-chili.html.

To cite the webpage (Lundman)

There are no page numbers. Access date is optional but recommended if the webpage is one that updates regularly.

U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Statistics. "Librarians." Occupational Outlook Handbook , 20 Dec 2019, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/librarians.htm. Accessed 10 June 2020.  

To intext cite

(U.S. Dept of Labor)

*Group authors can be abbreviated. The access date is recommended for webpages that update regularly.

If author is different from uploader

McGonigal, Jane. "Gaming and Productivity." YouTube, uploaded by Big Think, 3 July 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKdzy9bWW3E.

Intext is (McGonigal)

If uploader is same as author

"8 Hot Dog Gadgets put to the Test." YouTube, uploaded by Crazy Russian Hacker, 6 June 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBlpjSEtELs.

Intext is ("8 Hot Dog Gadgets")

MLA Tutorial

Order of core elements.

These are the elements or pieces of information for MLA citations.

  •  Author. 
  • Title of source. (Books are italicized, Webpages are in quotes, Article names are in quotes, Songs are in quotes)
  • Title of container, (Journal names are in italics, websites are in italics, album names are in italics)
  • Other contributors, (sometimes used for movies, books with translators, books with introductions, etc.)
  • Version, (usually for items that have been updated or in different versions)
  • Number,  (usually for items in a numbered series, ie Journal articles, multi-volume book series, TV series, etc.)
  • Publisher, (publisher produces the items so is commonly available on books, webpages unless title is same as publisher, production companies for movies, etc. Websites that make things available but don't publish aren't included here, ie Youtube, Wordpress, Proquest .)
  • Publication date, (if more than one, go with date that is more relevant)
  • Location. (page numbers, URL, doi is recommended if available, physical location of art)
  • Date of access. (Recommended for online sources especially if they can change. Your instructor may ask you not to do this however.) I ​​​ f you include an access date it is in this format: Accessed 10 June 2020.

What elements do you see here?

Wise, dewanda. "why tv shows make me feel less alone." nami ,  31 may 2019, http://www.nami.org/blogs/nami-blog/may-2019/how-tv-shows-make-me-feel-less-alone. accessed 10 june 2020. , author - dewanda wise, title of source - "why tv shows make me feel less alone", title of container - nami, publication date - 31 may 2019, location -  http://www.nami.org/blogs/nami-blog/may-2019/how-tv-shows-make-me-feel-less-alone., access date - 10 june 2020, direct quotes.

  • APA Block, Long Direct Quotes
  • MLA Block, Long Direct Quotes

Guidelines for Direct Quotes

A direct quote uses the exact words of a source. .

Think of the quote as a rare and precious jewel. 

mla citation shakespeare

Quotes can be super-effective in getting your point across to the reader. Just be sure you’re not stringing a bunch of quotes together – you want your voice to be stronger than the voice of your sources. You always need to interpret, analyze, add to and explain more about the quote to your reader.  

Here are some guidelines to help you decide when to use quotes:

  • Wording that is so memorable, unforgettable or powerful, or expresses a point so perfectly, that you cannot change it without weakening the meaning.
  • An important passage is so dense or rich that it requires you to analyze it closely. This requires that the passage be quoted so the reader can follow your analysis.
  • A claim you are making is such that the doubting reader will want to hear exactly what the source said. This is mostly when you criticize or disagree with a source. You want your reader to know you aren't misrepresenting the source.
  • Your attempts to paraphrase or summarize are awkward or much longer than the source material.

You may choose to quote an entire passage from a source or just words or phrases. Make sure to use signal words (see below) to move between your ideas and the words of your source. Also, always cite your work. 

Direct Quotes (MLA format):

As one of Obama's deputy assistants Yohannes Abraham explains, "It's really important to remember to just be a good person" (Scherer, Miller, and Elliott 36). 

As William Kneale suggests, some humans have a "moral deafness" which is never punctured no matter what the moral treatment (93).

For Charles Dickens, the eighteenth century was both "the best of times" and "the worst of times" (35). 

Direct Quotes (APA format)

As Ali Akbar Hamemi remarked, "There is no doubt that America is a super-power in the world and we cannot ignore them" (Vick, 2017, p. 13). 

Sometimes it may be necessary to include long direct quotes (of over 40 words) in your work if you are unable to paraphrase or summarize. A long quote is treated differently as a block quotation with a .5 inch margin from the left but still double-spaced.  Notice that there are no quotation marks around the block quotations even though these are direct quotes.  Here are two examples:

Block quotation with parenthetical citation:

Researchers found when studying gray wolves that coloring around eyes may change over the lifespan:

Facial color patterns change with growth in many American  canid  species, although no studies have directly examined such developmental changes. For example, all newborn gray wolves observed in the present study had dark-colored bodies and C-type faces with dark-colored irises. (Ueda et al., 2014, p. 4)

Ueda, S., Kumagai, G., Otaki, Y., Yamaguchi, S., & Kohshima, S. (2014). A comparison of facial color pattern and gazing behavior in canid species suggests gaze communication in gray wolves (canis lupus).  PLoS One,  9 (6) doi:https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0098217

Block quotation with narrative citation:

Manning and Kaler (2011) describe the difficulties of using survey methods when observing owls:

Survey  methods with observers outside the vehicle were 3 times more likely to displace an owl than a single vehicle stop where observers remained inside the vehicle. Owls were displaced farther distances by all survey methods compared to control trials, but distances and time displaced did not differ among survey methods.

Manning, J. A., & Kaler, R. S. A. (2011). Effects of survey methods on burrowing owl behaviors.  Journal of Wildlife Management,  75 (3), 525-530. Retrieved from https://proxy154.nclive.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/925615280?accountid=13601

For more information, see page 272 of the   Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association , 7 th  ed.

If a quote runs more than four lines long, you must block the quote with a .5 margin on the left. Do not use quotation marks even though it's a direct quote.

At the conclusion of  Lord of the Flies,  Ralph, realizing the horror of his actions, is overcome by

great, shuddering spasms of grief that seemed to wrench his whole body. his voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island; and infected by that emotion, the other little boys began to shake and sob too. (Golding 186)

So, when using quotes:

  • Always have a good reason  for using a direct quote. Otherwise, paraphrase or summarize.
  • Do not allow quotes to speak for themselves . Your research paper is about communicating YOUR IDEAS.  Your research simply helps prove or support those ideas.
  • Always make sure you  provide an analysis of the quote .  Show your readers that you understand how the quote relates to your ideas by analyzing its significance.
  • Do not use quotes as padding . If quotes do not have adequate analysis, readers will feel that you don’t have a grasp on what that quote means, and they also might feel that you are using quotes as “filler” to take up space.
  • Use no more than 2 direct quotes per paragraph .
  • Carefully integrate quotations into your text so that they flow smoothly and clearly into the surrounding sentences. Use a signal phrase or signal verb, such as those in the following example:

As Thompson (2020) makes clear, Youtube's  algorithms "can’t distinguish between true and false data, except in the most crude way" (para. 5).  

Peas and Carrots

picture of peas and carrots

Whenever you have a reference at the end of your paper, you need at least one intext citation to go with it. Every intext citation should point to a reference at the end of your paper.

References and Intext Citations Go Together Like Peas and Carrots.

Your intext citation contains the first word(s) of your reference so the reader can find it easily.

For optimal decomposition, experts believe you should aim for a carbon to nitrogen ratio of 30:1 ( Johnson  29).

Johnson , Lorraine. "Compost Happens: The Secret to Making Quick Gardener's Gold Instead of a Slow, Stinking Mess Requires, Like Everything Else, Balance." Canadian Gardening, vol. 12, no. 1, Feb, 2001, pp. 28-33. ProQuest, https://proxy154.nclive.org/login?

How to Use Titles of Your Sources in the Text (Prose) of Your Paper

If you use the title of a book, play, article, song, or other source in your paper, use the same formatting that you use in the works cited page (list of references)., here are some examples of when to italicize..

​​​​​​ Here are some examples of when to use quotes.

Some sources get no special formatting. 

Examples from MLA Handbook, 9th Edition, 2021. pages 68-73.

Source within a Source, Indirect Source, Secondary Source

I am reading about John Reith in the  Humanities, Society and Technology  textbook by Satterwhite and other authors.

I paraphrased what I read and I wrote this.

John Reith lead the BBC as its first General Manager and wanted to keep the BBC "free from political interference and commercial pleasure" (qtd. in Satterwhite et al. 145). 

Here's what goes in the Works Cited because this is the source I read.

Satterwhite, Robin, et al.  Humanities, Society and Technology . Kendall Hunt, 2015.

*The qtd. in the intext citation shows that the information in the Humanities book was originally somewhere else. 

Maybe this will make it more clear for you.

You are reading about Smith in an article by Kirkey.

Examples of in-text citations:

According to a study by Smith (qtd. in Kirkey) 42% of doctors would refuse to perform legal euthanasia.

Smith (qtd. in Kirkey) states that “even if euthanasia was legal, 42% of doctors would be against this method of assisted dying” (A.10).

Example of Reference list citation:

Kirkey, Susan. "Euthanasia."   The Montreal Gazette , 9 Feb. 2013, p. A.10.  Canadian Newsstand Major Dailies.

MLA Sample Paper and Citation Guides (Updated June 2021, MLA 9)

  • MLA Sample Paper - STUDENT USE
  • MLA9 Citation Guide
  • Social Media Citations MLA

MLA Papers have a uniform style. Here are some of the elements:

  • Running Header, right aligned, Student's Last Name and page number.
  • 1" margins for the paper - on all sides
  • Left aligned for paragraphs
  • Paragraph indentions are .5"
  • Most teachers require Times New Roman 12 pt
  • No title page
  • No bold print in text
  • Student's Name
  • Instructor's Name
  • Class name and number
  • Date in format date Month year (ie 11 June 2020) 

Intext Citations

MLA uses Author-page Style for parenthetical intext citations (at the end of the sentence) or the page number goes in the parenthesis at the end of the sentence for narrative intext citations (where the author's name is in the sentence).

  • Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Wordsworth 263).
  • Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263).
  • Wordsworth extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (263).
  • Wordsworth, William.  Lyrical Ballads. O xford UP, 1967.

Other things to know:

  • For sources like webpages with no page numbers, do NOT include page numbers or paragraph numbers , even for direct quotes  (MLA Handbook, Ninth Edition, page 248) . 
  • It's recommended to abbreviate long names of corporate or group authors in the intext. For example, Centers for Disease Control can be CDC in the intext citation.
  • Page numbers are required for all citations; not just direct quotes.
  • Purdue Owl says not to number paragraphs on webpages for the intext citations. 

Personal Interview MLA Style

References for personal interview in mla style follow this format:,      last, first name of interviewed. personal interview. date of interview.,      smith, jane. personal interview. 19 may 2014., intext citations follow this format:,      (last name),      (smith), long block quotes (mla).

great, shuddering spasms of grief that seemed to wrench his whole body. his voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island; and infected by that emotion, the other little boys began to shake and sob too. (186)

Paraphrasing/Summarizing

  • APA Long Paraphrase
  • MLA Long Paraphrase

Guidelines for Paraphrasing and Summarizing

Think of Paraphrases and Summaries as your foundations

mla citation shakespeare

Paraphrase and summarize long passages where the main point is important to the point you are making, but the details are not . You should use paraphrasing and summarizing much more often than direct quotes. A good balance would be 75% paraphrasing and summarizing and 25% direct quotes.

Paraphrase:  You are paraphrasing when you take someone else’s words and rewrite them in your own words without altering the meaning or providing interpretation. Paraphrases are about the same length as the original. Always cite your paraphrase. Summarize: You are summarizing  when you condense the author's words or ideas without altering the meaning or providing interpretation using your own words -- basically, you’re presenting the original information in a nutshell. Always cite it.

Examples of Paraphrases

Introduce paraphrases clearly in your text, usually with a signal phrase that includes the author of the source. Here is original text and paraphrased text.

Volunteers feel more socially connected, they're less lonely, and suffer from depression less, studies show. Volunteering creates physical benefits too: Regular volunteers are less likely to develop  high blood pressure  and live longer, some studies show. (text is from "Dalai Lama: 5 Things to Keep in Mind for the Next Four Years" from CNN.com, written by Jen Christensen)

Paraphrased text in APA style:

Volunteering has psychological and physical benefits, according to studies. Along with being less depressed and lonely, volunteers also live longer and are less likely to have high blood pressure (Christensen, 2017).

Paraphrased text in MLA style:

Volunteering has psychological and physical benefits, according to studies. Along with being less depressed and lonely, volunteers also live longer and are less likely to have high blood pressure (Christensen).

Examples of Summaries

Summaries, too, need to be carefully integrated into your text.   Make sure to signal the reader that you are summarizing and include the correct citation.

Here is an example of a summary in APA format:

In Christensen's article, she explores Dalai Lama's advice to people who want to find happiness in an uncertain world. His Holiness believes that people should focus on developing compassion, letting go of anger, self-reflecting, helping others, and being playful like children (Christensen, 2017). 

Here's the summary in MLA format:

In Christensen's article, she explores Dalai Lama's advice to people who want to find happiness in an uncertain world. His Holiness believes that people should focus on developing compassion, letting go of anger, self-reflecting, helping others, and being playful like children (Christensen). 

Whenever you include summaries, paraphrases, or quotations in your own writing, it is important that you identify the sources of the material; even unintentional failure to cite material is plagiarism. Be especially careful with paraphrases and summaries, where there are no quotation marks to remind you that the material is not your own.

Often, long paraphrases continue for multiple sentences. Usually you'll intext cite the source in the first sentence. It is not necessary to cite every single sentence IF you've made it clear in the narrative that the information discussed is from the before-mentioned source.

*Note that the bold words show where the information is coming from . Students should NOT bold the words.

Here's an example:

Tucker and Maddey (2020) found that predatory behavior in dogs is due to many different factors. One of the factors is the physical territory of the alleged threat. The research found that "dogs are more willing to attack or defend territory that is considered to be their own" (Tucker & Maddey, 2020, p. 81) . Another factor they discovered is that dogs are more willing to prey on a threat if their human owners are nearby. In an experiment conducted over multiple days using cameras, Tucker and Maddey  discovered that dogs were shown to be much more protective with predatory behavior when their owners were in the vicinity they when the owners were away. In conclusion, the research shows that dogs have innate predatory behavior traits which are enhanced by the dogs' desires to protect their human owners (Tucker & Maddey, 2020) .   

If you're using information from a source more than once in a row (with no other sources referred to in between), you can use a simplified in-text citation. The first time you use information from the source, use a full in-text citation. The second time, you only need to give the page number.

Cell biology is an area of science that focuses on the structure and function of cells (Smith 15). It revolves around the idea that the cell is a "fundamental unit of life" (17). Many important scientists have contributed to the evolution of cell biology. Mattias Jakob Schleiden and Theodor Schwann, for example, were scientists who formulated cell theory in 1838 (20). 

*Thank you to the Library at Columbia College for this example.

Reasons why you would want to paraphrase from a source:

  • To change the organization of ideas for emphasis.  You may have to change the organization of ideas in the passages you pull from your sources so that you can emphasize the points  most related to your paper.  Be sure to restate in your own words, but don’t change the meaning.
  • To simplify the material.  You may have to simplify complex arguments, sentences, or vocabulary.
  • To clarify the material.  You may have rewrite to clarify technical passages or put specialized information into language your audience will be better able to understand.

Paraphrasing is a valuable skill because:

  • It is better than quoting information from a passage that doesn't have memorable or important words or phrases
  • It helps you control the temptation to quote too much
  • It allows the writer to put the idea of a source into their own voice (but always cite it to show it is someone else's idea).

Tips on Summarizing:

A summary is a  condensed  version of someone else’s writing. Like paraphrasing, summarizing involves using your own words and writing style to express another author’s ideas. Unlike the paraphrase, which presents important details, the summary presents only the most important ideas of the passage. For example, you could summarize a book in a sentence, or in several paragraphs, depending on your writing situation and audience. You may use the summary often for the following reasons:

  • To condense the material. You may have to condense or reduce the source material to pull out the  points that relate to your paper.
  • To omit extras from the material. You may have to leave out extra information from the source material so you can focus on the author’s main points.
  • To simplify the material.  You may have to simply the most important complex arguments, sentences or vocabulary in the source material.

When you decide to  summarize or paraphrase, avoid the following:

  • keeping the same structure of ideas and/or sentence structure
  • just changing some of the words
  • adding your ideas into the summary - be faithful to the meaning of the source material.
  • forgetting to cite your sources and use signal words.

Abbreviations for Months for Works Cited List

Citing more than one source by same author.

If you have more than one work by the same author, use the title or beginning of the title in the intext citation and a page number if available . The sources are both by Maddey Tucker. 

For some dogs, food is a motivator but for other dogs, this isn't true ("Art of a Dog"). Having multiple dogs living together domestically is also a factor in feeding and food motivation ("Food and Your Dog" 45). 

Notice in the Works Cited page, you don't repeat the name of the author but instead use three hyphens (---) to indicate the same author on all the sources after the first one . Both of these sources are by Maddey Tucker.

Tucker, Maddey. "Art of a Dog."  Dog's Life, 4 Aug 2019,    www.dogslife.com/tuck/art

---. "Food and Your Dog." Animals Monthly,  2 Mar 2018, pp. 44-47. 

Citing an Illustration, Figure, or Drawing

To be young: coming of age and contemporary

Fig. 1. Bill Bamberger.  Deandry , 2001; printed 2005, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC.

Bamberger, Bill.  Deandry , 2001; printed 2005, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC.

Other Resources

MLA style center logo

Dealing with Numbers in MLA

When there are few numbers in your text, spell out numbers that can be written in a word or two.

Use numerals when the number requires more than two words

Use numerals when using numbers in text with units behind the numbers. For example, 60 inches or 8 kilograms would be in numerals. 

Abbreviations for Bible Verses

Bible abbreviations for mla

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Potomac State College

ENGL 263 - Shakespeare

  • Sources for Your Papers

Formatting a Paper for MLA Style in Word or Google Docs

Citing shakespeare's plays in mla.

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Want to go more in-depth? Check out these guides

Cover Art

  • Guide to MLA In-text Citations (Scribbr) A guide to using in-text citations in MLA style. This will be helpful for other sources you will cite beyond Shakespeare's work.
  • Guide to MLA Works Cited Pages (Scribbr) A comprehensive guide to preparing the works cited page for an MLA paper (also known as a reference list or bibliography).
  • MLA Style (Purdue Online Writing Lab) An extensive guide to MLA style covering both formatting and citations.
  • ZoteroBib (aka zbib) A fast, free bibliography generator, powered by the same parser used for Zotero. This tool is more reliable than other bibliography generators. Remember to change the bibliography style from 'American Psychological Association 7th edition' (the default) to 'Modern Language Association 9th edition'. You are responsible however for double-checking the accuracy of citation outputs. You can always ask a librarian for assistance with citations!

The works of Shakespeare, like many plays, have consistently numbered acts, scenes, and lines. These numbers should be used in your  MLA  in-text citations, separated by periods, instead of page numbers.

The Works Cited entry follows the format for a book, but varies depending on whether you cite from a standalone edition or a collection. The example below is for a standalone edition of  Hamlet .

If you cite multiple Shakespeare plays in your paper, replace the author’s name with an abbreviation of the play title in your in-text citation.

Citing a play from a collection

If you use a collection of all or several of Shakespeare’s works, include a Works Cited entry for each work you cite from it, providing the title of the individual work, followed by information about the collection.

Note that play titles remain italicized here, since these are works that would usually stand alone.

If you cite several works by Shakespeare, order them alphabetically by title, and replace “Shakespeare, William” with a series of three em dashes after the first one.

Citing multiple Shakespeare plays

If you cite more than one Shakespeare play in your paper, MLA recommends starting each in-text citation with an abbreviated version of the play title, in italics. A list of the standard abbreviations can be found  here ; don’t make up your own abbreviations.

Introduce each abbreviation the first time you mention the play’s title, then use it in all subsequent citations of that play.

Don’t use these abbreviations outside of parentheses. If you frequently mention a multi-word title in your text, you can instead shorten it to a recognizable keyword (e.g.  Midsummer  for  A Midsummer Night’s Dream ) after the first mention.

Quoting Shakespeare in MLA

Shakespeare quotations generally take the form of verse or dialogue.

Quoting verse

To quote up to three lines of verse from a play or poem, just treat it like a normal quotation. Use a forward slash (/) with spaces around it to indicate a new line.

If there’s a stanza break within the quotation, indicate it with a double forward slash (//).

If you are quoting more than three lines of verse, format it as a block quote (indented on a new line with no quotation marks).

Quoting dialogue

Dialogue from two or more characters should be presented as a block quote.

Include the characters’ names in block capitals, followed by a period, and use a hanging indent for subsequent lines in a single character’s speech. Place the citation after the closing punctuation.

Oberon berates Robin Goodfellow for his mistake:

Frequently asked questions about MLA citations

No, do not use page numbers in your MLA in-text citations of Shakespeare plays. Instead, specify the act, scene, and line numbers of the quoted material, separated by periods, e.g. (Shakespeare 3.2.20–25).

This makes it easier for the reader to find the relevant passage in any edition of the text.

How do I cite multiple Shakespeare plays in an MLA paper?

If you cite multiple Shakespeare plays throughout your paper, the MLA in-text citation begins with an abbreviated version of the title (as shown here), e.g. ( Oth.  1.2.4). Each play should have its own Works Cited entry (even if they all come from the same collection).

If you cite only one Shakespeare play in your paper, you should include a Works Cited entry for that play, and your in-text citations should start with the author’s name, e.g. (Shakespeare 1.1.4).

Adapted from:

Caulfield, Jack. “How to Cite Shakespeare in MLA.”  Scribbr , June 2022, www.scribbr.com/mla/shakespeare-citation.

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Citing Shakespeare

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There is perhaps no better-known writer in history than William Shakespeare, the English playwright whose works have been acted and reenacted perhaps millions of times throughout their storied history. So how can you create a reference to one of Shakespeare’s works in your next research paper? Here are some tips for making your citation as accurate as possible.

To cite a play by Shakespeare, you’ll want to locate the following pieces of information:

  • The play’s title
  • Where and when the play was published (a book, anthology, etc.)
  • Where and when the play was performed (if you are citing it as a performance)
  • Any other contributors’ names (the director, actors, editors, authors, etc.)

As an example, let’s take a look at one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, Romeo and Juliet, and how you would go about citing it in some of the most popular citation formats.

We have included examples for citing the play as both a published work in an anthology or book, and as a performance.

Cite as an Anthology

Citing shakespeare in in mla format (in an anthology).

Shakespeare, William.  Play Title .  Book/Anthology Title , edited by Editor First Name Last Name, Publisher, Year Published, pp. #-#.

Shakespeare, William.  Romeo and Juliet.   The Riverside Shakespeare , edited by G. Blakemore Evans, Houghton Mifflin, 1974, pp. 1307-42.

Citing Shakespeare in APA format (in an anthology)

Author’s last name, first initial. (Year published).  Title . In First Initial. Editor Last Name (Ed.),  Title of larger work/collection.  Publisher city, state/country: Publisher.

Shakespeare, W. (1974).  Romeo and Juliet.  In G. Evans (Ed.),  The riverside Shakespeare.  New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin.

Citing Shakespeare in Harvard* format (in an anthology)

Author’s last name, first initial. (Year published).  Title . In Editor Last Name, First Initial (ed.) Title of book/anthology.  Publisher city, state/country: Publisher, pp. #-#

Shakespeare, W. (1974) Romeo and Juliet. In Evans, G. (ed.) The riverside Shakespeare. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin, pp. 1307-42.

Are you citing several sources in this citation style? Try the Cite This For Me Harvard referencing generator for help!

Cite as a Performance

Citing shakespeare in mla format (as a performance).

Author Last Name, First Name. Play Title. Directed by Director First Name Last Name, Name of Play Production Company, Date of Performance, Name of Theater, Theater Location.

Shakespeare, William.  Romeo and Juliet . Directed by Jonathan Munby, Shakespeare Globe Trust Performers, 1 Oct. 2017, American Airlines Theatre, New York City.

Is your teacher asking for annotations? Read this guide about what is an annotated bibliography .

Citing Shakespeare in APA format (as a performance)

Playwright Last Name, First Initial (Writer), & Director Last Name, First Initial (Director). (Date Seen). Performance title . Live performance at Theater Name, City, State.

Shakespeare, W. (Writer), & Munby, J. (Director). (2017, October 1).  Romeo and Juliet. Live performance at the American Airlines Theatre, New York, NY.

For those who need it, here is page on how to do in-text citations . An APA example is included.

Citing Shakespeare in Harvard* format (as a performance)

Play title by Playwright First Name Last Name (Year of Performance) Directed by Director First Name Last Name [Name of Theater, Location of Theater. Day Month of performance].

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (2017) Directed by Jonathan Munby [American Airlines Theatre, New York. 1 October].

*These examples adhere to style rules in Harvard Cite Them Right 10 th edition

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

MLA Formatting and Style Guide

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Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities. This resource, updated to reflect the MLA Handbook (9 th ed.), offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page.

The following overview should help you better understand how to cite sources using MLA  9 th edition, including how to format the Works Cited page and in-text citations.

Please use the example at the bottom of this page to cite the Purdue OWL in MLA. See also our MLA vidcast series on the Purdue OWL YouTube Channel .

Creating a Works Cited list using the ninth edition

MLA is a style of documentation that may be applied to many different types of writing. Since texts have become increasingly digital, and the same document may often be found in several different sources, following a set of rigid rules no longer suffices.

Thus, the current system is based on a few guiding principles, rather than an extensive list of specific rules. While the handbook still describes how to cite sources, it is organized according to the process of documentation, rather than by the sources themselves. This gives writers a flexible method that is near-universally applicable.

Once you are familiar with the method, you can use it to document any type of source, for any type of paper, in any field.

Here is an overview of the process:

When deciding how to cite your source, start by consulting the list of core elements. These are the general pieces of information that MLA suggests including in each Works Cited entry. In your citation, the elements should be listed in the following order:

  • Title of source.
  • Title of container,
  • Other contributors,
  • Publication date,

Each element should be followed by the corresponding punctuation mark shown above. Earlier editions of the handbook included the place of publication and required different punctuation (such as journal editions in parentheses and colons after issue numbers) depending on the type of source. In the current version, punctuation is simpler (only commas and periods separate the elements), and information about the source is kept to the basics.

Begin the entry with the author’s last name, followed by a comma and the rest of the name, as presented in the work. End this element with a period.

Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture. Routledge, 1994.

Title of source

The title of the source should follow the author’s name. Depending upon the type of source, it should be listed in italics or quotation marks.

A book should be in italics:

Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House . MacMurray, 1999.

An individual webpage should be in quotation marks. The name of the parent website, which MLA treats as a "container," should follow in italics:

Lundman, Susan. "How to Make Vegetarian Chili." eHow, www.ehow.com/how_10727_make-vegetarian-chili.html.*

A periodical (journal, magazine, newspaper) article should be in quotation marks:

Bagchi, Alaknanda. "Conflicting Nationalisms: The Voice of the Subaltern in Mahasweta Devi's Bashai Tudu." Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature , vol. 15, no. 1, 1996, pp. 41-50.

A song or piece of music on an album should be in quotation marks. The name of the album should then follow in italics:

Beyoncé. "Pray You Catch Me." Lemonade, Parkwood Entertainment, 2016, www.beyonce.com/album/lemonade-visual-album/.

*The MLA handbook recommends including URLs when citing online sources. For more information, see the “Optional Elements” section below.

Title of container

The eighth edition of the MLA handbook introduced what are referred to as "containers," which are the larger wholes in which the source is located. For example, if you want to cite a poem that is listed in a collection of poems, the individual poem is the source, while the larger collection is the container. The title of the container is usually italicized and followed by a comma, since the information that follows next describes the container.

Kincaid, Jamaica. "Girl." The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories, edited by Tobias Wolff, Vintage, 1994, pp. 306-07.

The container may also be a television series, which is made up of episodes.

“94 Meetings.” Parks and Recreation, created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, performance by Amy Poehler, season 2, episode 21, Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, 2010.

The container may also be a website, which contains articles, postings, and other works.

Wise, DeWanda. “Why TV Shows Make Me Feel Less Alone.”  NAMI,  31 May 2019,  www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/May-2019/How-TV-Shows-Make-Me-Feel-Less-Alone . Accessed 3 June 2019.

In some cases, a container might be within a larger container. You might have read a book of short stories on Google Books , or watched a television series on Netflix . You might have found the electronic version of a journal on JSTOR. It is important to cite these containers within containers so that your readers can find the exact source that you used.

“94 Meetings.” Parks and Recreation , season 2, episode 21, NBC , 29 Apr. 2010. Netflix, www.netflix.com/watch/70152031?trackId=200256157&tctx=0%2C20%2C0974d361-27cd-44de-9c2a-2d9d868b9f64-12120962.

Langhamer, Claire. “Love and Courtship in Mid-Twentieth-Century England.” Historical Journal , vol. 50, no. 1, 2007, pp. 173-96. ProQuest, doi:10.1017/S0018246X06005966. Accessed 27 May 2009.

Other contributors

In addition to the author, there may be other contributors to the source who should be credited, such as editors, illustrators, translators, etc. If their contributions are relevant to your research, or necessary to identify the source, include their names in your documentation.

Foucault, Michel. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason. Translated by Richard Howard , Vintage-Random House, 1988.

Woolf, Virginia. Jacob’s Room . Annotated and with an introduction by Vara Neverow, Harcourt, Inc., 2008.

If a source is listed as an edition or version of a work, include it in your citation.

The Bible . Authorized King James Version, Oxford UP, 1998.

Crowley, Sharon, and Debra Hawhee. Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. 3rd ed., Pearson, 2004.

If a source is part of a numbered sequence, such as a multi-volume book or journal with both volume and issue numbers, those numbers must be listed in your citation.

Dolby, Nadine. “Research in Youth Culture and Policy: Current Conditions and Future Directions.” Social Work and Society: The International Online-Only Journal, vol. 6, no. 2, 2008, www.socwork.net/sws/article/view/60/362. Accessed 20 May 2009.

Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria. Translated by H. E. Butler, vol. 2, Loeb-Harvard UP, 1980.

The publisher produces or distributes the source to the public. If there is more than one publisher, and they are all are relevant to your research, list them in your citation, separated by a forward slash (/).

Klee, Paul. Twittering Machine. 1922. Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Artchive, www.artchive.com/artchive/K/klee/twittering_machine.jpg.html. Accessed May 2006.

Women's Health: Problems of the Digestive System . American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2006.

Daniels, Greg and Michael Schur, creators. Parks and Recreation . Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, 2015.

Note : The publisher’s name need not be included in the following sources: periodicals, works published by their author or editor, websites whose titles are the same name as their publisher, websites that make works available but do not actually publish them (such as  YouTube ,  WordPress , or  JSTOR ).

Publication date

The same source may have been published on more than one date, such as an online version of an original source. For example, a television series might have aired on a broadcast network on one date, but released on  Netflix  on a different date. When the source has more than one date, it is sufficient to use the date that is most relevant to your writing. If you’re unsure about which date to use, go with the date of the source’s original publication.

In the following example, Mutant Enemy is the primary production company, and “Hush” was released in 1999. Below is a general citation for this television episode:

“Hush.” Buffy the Vampire Slayer , created by Joss Whedon, performance by Sarah Michelle Gellar, season 4, Mutant Enemy, 1999 .

However, if you are discussing, for example, the historical context in which the episode originally aired, you should cite the full date. Because you are specifying the date of airing, you would then use WB Television Network (rather than Mutant Enemy), because it was the network (rather than the production company) that aired the episode on the date you’re citing.

“Hush.” Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon, performance by Sarah Michelle Gellar, season 4, episode 10, WB Television Network, 14 Dec. 1999 .

You should be as specific as possible in identifying a work’s location.

An essay in a book or an article in a journal should include page numbers.

Adiche, Chimamanda Ngozi. “On Monday of Last Week.” The Thing around Your Neck, Alfred A. Knopf, 2009, pp. 74-94 .

The location of an online work should include a URL.  Remove any "http://" or "https://" tag from the beginning of the URL.

Wheelis, Mark. "Investigating Disease Outbreaks Under a Protocol to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention." Emerging Infectious Diseases , vol. 6, no. 6, 2000, pp. 595-600, wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/6/6/00-0607_article. Accessed 8 Feb. 2009.

When citing a physical object that you experienced firsthand, identify the place of location.

Matisse, Henri. The Swimming Pool. 1952, Museum of Modern Art, New York .

Optional elements

The ninth edition is designed to be as streamlined as possible. The author should include any information that helps readers easily identify the source, without including unnecessary information that may be distracting. The following is a list of optional elements that can be included in a documented source at the writer’s discretion.

Date of original publication:

If a source has been published on more than one date, the writer may want to include both dates if it will provide the reader with necessary or helpful information.

Erdrich, Louise. Love Medicine. 1984. Perennial-Harper, 1993.

City of publication:

The seventh edition handbook required the city in which a publisher is located, but the eighth edition states that this is only necessary in particular instances, such as in a work published before 1900. Since pre-1900 works were usually associated with the city in which they were published, your documentation may substitute the city name for the publisher’s name.

Thoreau, Henry David. Excursions . Boston, 1863.

Date of access:

When you cite an online source, the MLA Handbook recommends including a date of access on which you accessed the material, since an online work may change or move at any time.

Bernstein, Mark. "10 Tips on Writing the Living Web." A List Apart: For People Who Make Websites, 16 Aug. 2002, alistapart.com/article/writeliving. Accessed 4 May 2009.

As mentioned above, while the MLA handbook recommends including URLs when you cite online sources, you should always check with your instructor or editor and include URLs at their discretion.

A DOI, or digital object identifier, is a series of digits and letters that leads to the location of an online source. Articles in journals are often assigned DOIs to ensure that the source is locatable, even if the URL changes. If your source is listed with a DOI, use that instead of a URL.

Alonso, Alvaro, and Julio A. Camargo. "Toxicity of Nitrite to Three Species of Freshwater Invertebrates." Environmental Toxicology , vol. 21, no. 1, 3 Feb. 2006, pp. 90-94. Wiley Online Library, doi: 10.1002/tox.20155.

Creating in-text citations using the previous (eighth) edition

Although the MLA handbook is currently in its ninth edition, some information about citing in the text using the older (eighth) edition is being retained. The in-text citation is a brief reference within your text that indicates the source you consulted. It should properly attribute any ideas, paraphrases, or direct quotations to your source, and should direct readers to the entry in the Works Cited list. For the most part, an in-text citation is the  author’s name and the page number (or just the page number, if the author is named in the sentence) in parentheses :

When creating in-text citations for media that has a runtime, such as a movie or podcast, include the range of hours, minutes and seconds you plan to reference. For example: (00:02:15-00:02:35).

Again, your goal is to attribute your source and provide a reference without interrupting your text. Your readers should be able to follow the flow of your argument without becoming distracted by extra information.

How to Cite the Purdue OWL in MLA

Entire Website

The Purdue OWL . Purdue U Writing Lab, 2019.

Individual Resources

Contributors' names. "Title of Resource." The Purdue OWL , Purdue U Writing Lab, Last edited date.

The new OWL no longer lists most pages' authors or publication dates. Thus, in most cases, citations will begin with the title of the resource, rather than the developer's name.

"MLA Formatting and Style Guide." The Purdue OWL, Purdue U Writing Lab. Accessed 18 Jun. 2018.

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mla citation shakespeare

Introduction:

Citing sources is a fundamental part of academic research, ensuring proper credit is given to authors and maintaining intellectual integrity. When it comes to citing the works of the legendary playwright William Shakespeare, there might be some confusion about the right way to approach it. In this article, we will explore three different ways to cite Shakespeare’s works using the Modern Language Association (MLA) style, a commonly used citation method in humanities research.

1. Citing Shakespeare’s Plays

When citing a play by Shakespeare, you should provide the title of the play in italics, followed by the act, scene, and line numbers, separated by periods. Consider this basic format:

Shakespeare, William. Title of Play. Act.Scene.Line(s).

For example:

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. 1.3.15-18.

2. In-Text Citations for Shakespeare

When quoting or paraphrasing from Shakespeare’s plays within your writing, you should include an in-text citation that directs readers to the corresponding entry in your Works Cited list. The in-text citation consists of the author’s last name (Shakespeare) and the act-scene-line reference.

According to Shakespeare, Macbeth laments that “life…is a tale / Told by an idiot” (5.5.26-27).

3. Citing Shakespeare’s Sonnets or Poems

When citing Shakespeare’s sonnets or other poems, use this general format:

Shakespeare, William. “Title of Sonnet/Poem.” The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, edited by John Doe, Publisher Name, Year of Publication, page number(s).

Shakespeare, William. “Sonnet 18.” The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: All 213 Plays, Poems, and Sonnets!, edited by Jane Smith, The Free Press, 1999, pp. 601-602.

Conclusion:

Citing Shakespeare’s works can be a daunting task due to the unique formatting and structure of his writing. However, by utilizing these three methods to cite Shakespeare’s plays, sonnets, and poems in your academic writing, you ensure your research is properly accredited and respected. Remember that the key to proper citation is consistency in both your in-text citations and the corresponding Works Cited list entries.

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Frequently asked questions

How do i cite multiple shakespeare plays in an mla paper.

If you cite multiple Shakespeare plays throughout your paper, the MLA in-text citation begins with an abbreviated version of the title (as shown here ), e.g. ( Oth. 1.2.4). Each play should have its own  Works Cited entry (even if they all come from the same collection).

If you cite only one Shakespeare play in your paper, you should include a Works Cited entry for that play, and your in-text citations should start with the author’s name , e.g. (Shakespeare 1.1.4).

Frequently asked questions: MLA Style

In MLA style , footnotes or endnotes can be used to provide additional information that would interrupt the flow of your text.

This can be further examples or developments of ideas you only briefly discuss in the text. You can also use notes to provide additional sources or explain your citation practice.

You don’t have to use any notes at all; only use them to provide relevant information that complements your arguments or helps the reader to understand them.

No, you should use parenthetical MLA in-text citations to cite sources. Footnotes or endnotes can be used to add extra information that doesn’t fit into your main text, but they’re not needed for citations.

If you need to cite a lot of sources at the same point in the text, though, placing these citations in a note can be a good way to avoid cluttering your text.

According to MLA format guidelines, the Works Cited page(s) should look like this:

  • Running head containing your surname and the page number.
  • The title, Works Cited, centered and in plain text.
  • List of sources alphabetized by the author’s surname.
  • Left-aligned.
  • Double-spaced.
  • 1-inch margins.
  • Hanging indent applied to all entries.

The MLA Works Cited lists every source that you cited in your paper. Each entry contains the author , title , and publication details of the source.

No, in an MLA annotated bibliography , you can write short phrases instead of full sentences to keep your annotations concise. You can still choose to use full sentences instead, though.

Use full sentences in your annotations if your instructor requires you to, and always use full sentences in the main text of your paper .

If you’re working on a group project and therefore need to list multiple authors for your paper , MLA recommends against including a normal header . Instead, create a separate title page .

On the title page, list each author on a separate line, followed by the other usual information from the header: Instructor, course name and number, and submission date. Then write the title halfway down the page, centered, and start the text of the paper itself on the next page.

Usually, no title page is needed in an MLA paper . A header is generally included at the top of the first page instead. The exceptions are when:

  • Your instructor requires one, or
  • Your paper is a group project

In those cases, you should use a title page instead of a header, listing the same information but on a separate page.

When an online source (e.g. web page , blog post) doesn’t list a publication date , you should instead list an access date .

Unlike a publication date, this appears at the end of your MLA Works Cited entry, after the URL, e.g. “A Complete Guide to MLA Style.” Scribbr , www.scribbr.com/category/mla/. Accessed 28 Mar. 2021 .

For offline sources with no publication date shown, don’t use an access date—just leave out the date.

The level of detail you provide in a publication date in your Works Cited list depends on the type of source and the information available. Generally, follow the lead of the source—if it gives the full date, give the full date; if it gives just the year, so should you.

Books usually list the year, whereas web pages tend to give a full date. For journal articles , give the year, month and year, or season and year, depending on what information is available. Check our citation examples if you’re unsure about a particular source type.

In an MLA Works Cited list , the names of months with five or more letters are abbreviated to the first three letters, followed by a period. For example, abbreviate Feb., Mar., Apr., but not June, July.

In the main text, month names should never be abbreviated.

In your MLA Works Cited list , dates are always written in day-month-year order, with the month abbreviated if it’s five or more letters long, e.g. 5 Mar. 2018.

In the main text, you’re free to use either day-month-year or month-day-year order, as long as you use one or the other consistently. Don’t abbreviate months in the main text, and use numerals for dates, e.g. 5 March 2018 or March 5, 2018.

In most standard dictionaries , no author is given for either the overall dictionary or the individual entries, so no author should be listed in your MLA citations.

Instead, start your Works Cited entry and your MLA in-text citation with the title of the entry you’re citing (i.e. the word that’s being defined), in quotation marks.

If you cite a specialist dictionary that does list an author and/or overall editor, these should be listed in the same way as they would for other citations of books or book chapters .

Some source types, such as books and journal articles , may contain footnotes (or endnotes) with additional information. The following rules apply when citing information from a note in an MLA in-text citation :

  • To cite information from a single numbered note, write “n” after the page number, and then write the note number, e.g. (Smith 105n2)
  • To cite information from multiple numbered notes, write “nn” and include a range, e.g. (Smith 77nn1–2)
  • To cite information from an unnumbered note, write “un” after the page number, with a space in between, e.g. (Jones 250 un)

No, do not use page numbers in your MLA in-text citations of Shakespeare plays . Instead, specify the act, scene, and line numbers of the quoted material, separated by periods, e.g. (Shakespeare 3.2.20–25).

This makes it easier for the reader to find the relevant passage in any edition of the text.

When an article (e.g. in a newspaper ) appears on non-consecutive pages (e.g. starting on page 1 and continuing on page 6), you should use “pp.” in your Works Cited entry, since it’s on multiple pages, but MLA recommends just listing the first page followed by a plus sign, e.g. pp. 1+.

In an MLA style Works Cited entry for a newspaper , you can cite a local newspaper in the same way as you would a national one, except that you may have to add the name of the city in square brackets to clarify what newspaper you mean, e.g. The Gazette [Montreal].

Do not add the city name in brackets if it’s already part of the newspaper’s name, e.g. Dallas Observer .

MLA doesn’t require you to list an author for a TV show . If your citation doesn’t focus on a particular contributor, just start your Works Cited entry with the title of the episode or series, and use this (shortened if necessary) in your MLA in-text citation .

If you focus on a particular contributor (e.g. the writer or director, a particular actor), you can list them in the author position , along with a label identifying their role.

It’s standard to list the podcast’s host in the author position , accompanied by the label “host,” in an MLA Works Cited entry. It’s sometimes more appropriate to use the label “narrator,” when the podcast just tells a story without any guests.

If your citation of the podcast focuses more on the contribution of someone else (e.g. a guest, the producer), they can be listed in the author position instead, with an appropriate label.

MLA recommends citing the original source wherever possible, rather than the source in which it is quoted or reproduced.

If this isn’t possible, cite the secondary source and use “qtd. in” (quoted in) in your MLA in-text citation . For example: (qtd. in Smith 233)

If a source is reproduced in full within another source (e.g. an image within a PowerPoint  or a poem in an article ), give details of the original source first, then include details of the secondary source as a container. For example:

When you want to cite a PowerPoint or lecture notes from a lecture you viewed in person in MLA , check whether they can also be accessed online ; if so, this is the best version to cite, as it allows the reader to access the source.

If the material is not available online, use the details of where and when the presentation took place.

In an MLA song citation , you need to give some sort of container to indicate how you accessed the song. If this is a physical or downloaded album, the Works Cited entry should list the album name, distributor, year, and format.

However, if you listened to the song on a streaming service, you can just list the site as a container, including a URL. In this case, including the album details is optional; you may add this information if it is relevant to your discussion or if it will help the reader access the song.

When citing a song in MLA style , the author is usually the main artist or group that released the song.

However, if your discussion focuses on the contributions of a specific performer, e.g. a guitarist or singer, you may list them as author, even if they are not the main artist. If you’re discussing the lyrics or composition, you may cite the songwriter or composer rather than a performer.

When a source has no title , this part of your MLA reference is replaced with a description of the source, in plain text (no italics or quotation marks, sentence-case capitalization).

Whenever you refer to an image created by someone else in your text, you should include a citation leading the reader to the image you’re discussing.

If you include the image directly in your text as a figure , the details of the source appear in the figure’s caption. If you don’t, just include an MLA in-text citation wherever you mention the image, and an entry in the Works Cited list giving full details.

In MLA Style , you should cite a specific chapter or work within a book in two situations:

  • When each of the book’s chapters is written by a different author.
  • When the book is a collection of self-contained works (such as poems , plays , or short stories ), even if they are all written by the same author.

If you cite multiple chapters or works from the same book, include a separate Works Cited entry for each chapter.

If a source has no author, start the MLA Works Cited entry with the source title . Use a shortened version of the title in your MLA in-text citation .

If a source has no page numbers, you can use an alternative locator (e.g. a chapter number, or a timestamp for a video or audio source) to identify the relevant passage in your in-text citation. If the source has no numbered divisions, cite only the author’s name (or the title).

If you already named the author or title in your sentence, and there is no locator available, you don’t need a parenthetical citation:

  • Rajaram  argues that representations of migration are shaped by “cultural, political, and ideological interests.”
  • The homepage of The Correspondent describes it as “a movement for radically different news.”

If a source has two authors, name both authors in your MLA in-text citation and Works Cited entry. If there are three or more authors, name only the first author, followed by et al.

You must include an MLA in-text citation every time you quote or paraphrase from a source (e.g. a book , movie , website , or article ).

MLA Style  is the second most used citation style (after APA ). It is mainly used by students and researchers in humanities fields such as literature, languages, and philosophy.

If information about your source is not available, you can either leave it out of the MLA citation or replace it with something else, depending on the type of information.

  • No author : Start with the source title.
  • No title : Provide a description of the source.
  • No date : Provide an access date for online sources; omit for other sources.

A standard MLA Works Cited entry  is structured as follows:

Only include information that is available for and relevant to your source.

Yes. MLA style uses title case, which means that all principal words (nouns, pronouns , verbs, adjectives , adverbs , and some conjunctions ) are capitalized.

This applies to titles of sources as well as the title of, and subheadings in, your paper. Use MLA capitalization style even when the original source title uses different capitalization .

The title of an article is not italicized in MLA style , but placed in quotation marks. This applies to articles from journals , newspapers , websites , or any other publication. Use italics for the title of the source where the article was published. For example:

Use the same formatting in the Works Cited entry and when referring to the article in the text itself.

In MLA style , book titles appear in italics, with all major words capitalized. If there is a subtitle, separate it from the main title with a colon and a space (even if no colon appears in the source). For example:

The format is the same in the Works Cited list and in the text itself. However, when you mention the book title in the text, you don’t have to include the subtitle.

The title of a part of a book—such as a chapter, or a short story or poem in a collection—is not italicized, but instead placed in quotation marks.

In MLA style citations , format a DOI as a link, including “https://doi.org/” at the start and then the unique numerical code of the article.

DOIs are used mainly when citing journal articles in MLA .

The MLA Handbook is currently in its 9th edition , published in 2021.

This quick guide to MLA style  explains the latest guidelines for citing sources and formatting papers according to MLA.

The fastest and most accurate way to create MLA citations is by using Scribbr’s MLA Citation Generator .

Search by book title, page URL, or journal DOI to automatically generate flawless citations, or cite manually using the simple citation forms.

MLA recommends using 12-point Times New Roman , since it’s easy to read and installed on every computer. Other standard fonts such as Arial or Georgia are also acceptable. If in doubt, check with your supervisor which font you should be using.

To create a correctly formatted block quote in Microsoft Word, follow these steps:

  • Hit Enter at the beginning and end of the quote.
  • Highlight the quote and select the Layout menu.
  • On the Indent tab, change the left indent to 0.5″.

Do not put quotation marks around the quote, and make sure to include an MLA in-text citation after the period at the end.

To format a block quote in MLA:

  • Introduce the quote with a colon and set it on a new line.
  • Indent the whole quote 0.5 inches from the left margin.
  • Place the MLA in-text citation after the period at the end of the block quote.

Then continue your text on a new line (not indented).

In MLA style , if you quote more than four lines from a source, use MLA block quote formatting .

If you are quoting poetry , use block quote formatting for any quote longer than three lines.

An MLA in-text citation should always include the author’s last name, either in the introductory text or in parentheses after a quote .

If line numbers or page numbers are included in the original source, add these to the citation.

If you are discussing multiple poems by the same author, make sure to also mention the title of the poem (shortened if necessary). The title goes in quotation marks .

In the list of Works Cited , start with the poet’s name and the poem’s title in quotation marks. The rest of the citation depends on where the poem was published.

If you read the poem in a book or anthology, follow the format of an MLA book chapter citation . If you accessed the poem online, follow the format of an MLA website citation .

Only use line numbers in an MLA in-text citation if the lines are numbered in the original source. If so, write “lines” in the first citation of the poem , and only the numbers in subsequent citations.

If there are no line numbers in the source, you can use page numbers instead. If the poem appears on only one page of a book (or on a website ), don’t include a number in the citation.

To quote poetry in MLA style , introduce the quote and use quotation marks as you would for any other source quotation .

If the quote includes line breaks, mark these using a forward slash with a space on either side. Use two slashes to indicate a stanza break.

If the quote is longer than three lines, set them off from the main text as an MLA block quote . Reproduce the line breaks, punctuation, and formatting of the original.

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Consider your source's credibility. ask these questions:, contributor/author.

  • Has the author written several articles on the topic, and do they have the credentials to be an expert in their field?
  • Can you contact them? Do they have social media profiles?
  • Have other credible individuals referenced this source or author?
  • Book: What have reviews said about it?
  • What do you know about the publisher/sponsor? Are they well-respected?
  • Do they take responsibility for the content? Are they selective about what they publish?
  • Take a look at their other content. Do these other articles generally appear credible?
  • Does the author or the organization have a bias? Does bias make sense in relation to your argument?
  • Is the purpose of the content to inform, entertain, or to spread an agenda? Is there commercial intent?
  • Are there ads?
  • When was the source published or updated? Is there a date shown?
  • Does the publication date make sense in relation to the information presented to your argument?
  • Does the source even have a date?
  • Was it reproduced? If so, from where?
  • If it was reproduced, was it done so with permission? Copyright/disclaimer included?

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“Roe v. Wade to La marea verde in Speculative Fiction” (NWSA, Nov 14-17, 2024, Detroit MI)

We invite abstracts for a proposed panel session for the upcoming National Women’s Studies Annual Conference, taking place in Detroit, MI, November 14-17, 2024. Following the theme, “The Journey Not Only the Arrival, Critical Connections Not Only Critical Mass: (Re)Thinking Feminist Movements,” we solicit submissions that consider the critical connections between reproductive justice movements in the Americas, with a specific focus how these movements are represented in the ever-fruitful field of speculative fiction.

Roe v. Wade to La marea verde: Reproductive Legislation and Activism in Speculative Fiction

Making Citation Visible: Merging and Emerging Visions of MLA Style

MLA 2024 Convention Roundtable CFP

This roundtable invites discussion on re-envisioning MLA style in the digital world, including adaptive strategies, hybrid/hyperlink models, AI challenges, pedagogical innovations, and using citation to counter the tyranny of digital anonymity.  250-word Abstract/100-word Bio

Please send 250-word Abstract and 100-word Bio by March 22, 2024.   

Contact Beth Kramer, Boston University ( [email protected] ) and Rick Cole, Boston University ( [email protected] )

Foucault and Postcolonial Governmentalities in South Asia

Call for Papers https://foucault40.info/ Seminar: Foucault and Postcolonial Governmentalities in South Asia 24-25 May, 2024 https://foucault40.info/kolkata/ Organised by Postcolonial Studies Association of the Global South (PSAGS) & Institute of Language Studies and Research (ILSR) Kolkata Venue: Institute of Language Studies and Research (ILSR) Kolkata, New Town Campus This seminar hinges on South Asian governmentalities (Legg and Heath, 2018), as experienced in postcolonial South Asian nation states. They were erstwhile colonies, liberated through intense anti-colonial struggles

SCMLA - Professional Writing Panel

We are excited to invite submissions for our upcoming panel on Professional Writing at the South Central Modern Language Association (SCMLA) conference. This panel seeks to explore the evolving landscape of professional writing, including but not limited to technical writing, business communication, digital rhetoric, and writing pedagogy. We welcome a broad range of submissions that address theoretical, practical, pedagogical, or technological aspects of professional writing.

Wooden O Symposium

The 2024 Wooden O Symposium will be held in conjunction with the Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association’s annual conference in Cedar City, UT.

We are also pleased to announce our keynote speaker is Vanessa I. Corredera (Andrews University), author of Reanimating Shakespeare's Othello in Post-Racial America (Edinburgh University Press, 2022).

 The Wooden O Symposium invites panel and paper proposals on any topic relating to Shakespeare and his plays:

●      Literary Analysis & Theoretical Approaches

●      Shakespeare and Adaptation

●      Shakespeare on Screen

●      Shakespeare in Performance

●      Shakespeare and History, Culture, and Society

Cambridge Companion to Global Cold War Literature

I am currently in need of two more contributors to the Cambridge Companion to Global Cold War Literature. This volume is under contract with Cambridge University Press, and includes many of the world's leading scholars in Global Cold War literatures. Two slots remain open, and I am now seeking chapters on Chinese literature and the Cold War, and African literatures of the Cold War. If you are interested in contributing, please send me a CV, chapter title, and short (200-300 word) abstract of your proposed chapter by March 25, 2024 , and I will get back to you as soon as possible. Completed chapter drafts of 6000 words are due by December 15, 2024 . Feel free to contact me with any questions.

IMAGES

  1. 3 Ways to Cite Shakespeare in MLA

    mla citation shakespeare

  2. How to Cite Shakespeare MLA.doc

    mla citation shakespeare

  3. 3 Ways to Cite Shakespeare in MLA

    mla citation shakespeare

  4. In Text Citation Shakespeare / Play Mla Style Research Citation Class

    mla citation shakespeare

  5. Citing Shakespeare in MLA

    mla citation shakespeare

  6. How To Cite Shakespeare In Mla

    mla citation shakespeare

COMMENTS

  1. How to Cite Shakespeare in MLA

    How to Cite Shakespeare in MLA | Format & Examples Published on January 22, 2021 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on June 16, 2022. The works of Shakespeare, like many plays, have consistently numbered acts, scenes, and lines. These numbers should be used in your MLA in-text citations, separated by periods, instead of page numbers.

  2. Citations

    Citing a Specific Text Modern Language Association (MLA) In-text citation: (Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet from The Folger Shakespeare.) Works Cited citation: Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet from The Folger Shakespeare. Ed. Barbara Mowat, Paul Werstine, Michael Poston, and Rebecca Niles.

  3. How to Cite Shakespeare in MLA Works Cited

    5 Min read Acts, scenes and lines, oh my! You must be figuring out how to cite Shakespeare in your MLA paper. When it comes to Shakespeare in your MLA citation, creating quotes, in-text citations and formatting works cited entries is all about style.

  4. PDF How to Cite Shakespeare in MLA

    How to Cite Shakespeare in MLA Clive James South Plains College Author Note: Presentation prepared for the English Department In-text Citations When citing Shakespeare plays, list the ACT, SCENE, and LINES in parenthetical citations: Page numbers are NOT included, separated by periods Enclose the citation in parentheses Example:

  5. 3 Ways to Cite Shakespeare in MLA

    1 Put a single line of verse in quotation marks. If you are only citing 1 line of verse from a work by Shakespeare, use quotation marks around the line of verse. Make sure you include all punctuation in the quotation marks. For example, you may write, "Prospero feels doomed by his decision, stating: 'Hell is empty.'" 2

  6. How to Cite Shakespeare in MLA

    Citing Shakespeare in MLA follows the format for citing a book. Use our free citation generator below to build your citation accordingly, filling out as many fields as you have information for. Citation Information Citation Style APA MLA Chicago Source Contributor First Name Middle Initial Last Name Title * Publisher * Year * Edition DOI Page (s)

  7. How to cite Shakespeare in MLA: Guidelines and Examples

    How to cite Shakespeare in MLA: Guidelines and Examples Updated 22 Sep 2023 If you're working on an MLA paper and need to cite Shakespeare, you may wonder how to include lines, scenes, and acts in your citations properly. It requires attention to style, including in-text citations, creating quotes, and formatting Works Cited entries.

  8. Shakespeare and MLA

    ( Ham. 2.2.383-386) In-text Citation: Citing an Indirect Source (Quoting a Source in a Source) If there are no page numbers on the electronic source, use only the author name or the first main word of the title. However, you can indicate where the material came from in your text.

  9. How to Cite Shakespeare in MLA Referencing

    Citing Shakespeare in MLA Referencing When citing Shakespeare, you will need to adapt the basic MLA citation format slightly. The biggest difference is that, rather than page numbers, you need to give act, scene and line numbers:

  10. MLA Citation Help

    Shakespeare PurdueOWL The Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) offers additional guidelines on MLA style rules. There may be some inaccuracies on the PurdueOWL so check your course syllabus and the MLA Manual for more information. View the PurdueOWL's resources on MLA here. MLA Citation Manual MLA Handbook

  11. How To Cite Shakespeare In MLA ~ Format With Examples

    Shakespeare 1.2.322-326 or ( Tem. 5.2.201-204) Avoid point deductions in your final paper Citing sources or paraphrasing passages incorrectly are common causes for point deductions. Take just 10 minutes out of your schedule to run your paper through our online plagiarism checker and submit your paper with confidence. To the plagiarism checker

  12. Shakespeare and the Renaissance: MLA Citation Help

    Works Cited. The New Jerusalem Bible. Henry Wansbrough, general editor, Doubleday, 1985. In-text citation. In one of the most vivid prophetic visions in the Bible, Ezekial saw "what seems to be four living creatures" (New Jerusalem Bible, Ezek. 1.5).John of Patmos echoes this passage when describing his vision (Rev. 4.6-8).

  13. Research Guides: ENGL 263

    Citing Shakespeare's plays in MLA The works of Shakespeare, like many plays, have consistently numbered acts, scenes, and lines. These numbers should be used in your MLA in-text citations, separated by periods, instead of page numbers.

  14. MLA Citations for Shakespeare Examples

    Examples of MLA Citations for Shakespeare As mentioned above, the way that you format an MLA citation for Shakespeare depends on what you are using as your source. Anthology If, for example, you are citing an anthology that contains some of Shakespeare's works, you should follow this example.

  15. Citing Shakespeare

    Citing Shakespeare in in MLA format (in an anthology) Formula: Shakespeare, William. Play Title . Book/Anthology Title, edited by Editor First Name Last Name, Publisher, Year Published, pp. #-#. Example: Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. The Riverside Shakespeare, edited by G. Blakemore Evans, Houghton Mifflin, 1974, pp. 1307-42.

  16. PDF Mla Citation

    MLA CITATION - SHAKESPEARE The Modern Language Association (MLA) citation style is used for writing in the arts and humanities. The handbook containing the citation style also discusses research and writing style. There are many copies at LeDoux library: in the Reference Room and at the Front Desk, among others.

  17. MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics

    Wordsworth, William. Lyrical Ballads. Oxford UP, 1967. In-text citations for print sources with known author For print sources like books, magazines, scholarly journal articles, and newspapers, provide a signal word or phrase (usually the author's last name) and a page number.

  18. MLA Formatting and Style Guide

    MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities. This resource, updated to reflect the MLA Handbook (9 th ed.), offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page.

  19. 3 Ways to Cite Shakespeare in MLA

    The in-text citation consists of the author's last name (Shakespeare) and the act-scene-line reference. For example: According to Shakespeare, Macbeth laments that "life…is a tale / Told by an idiot" (5.5.26-27). 3. Citing Shakespeare's Sonnets or Poems. When citing Shakespeare's sonnets or other poems, use this general format:

  20. How to Cite a Play in MLA Style

    If the play is published in an anthology or collection, place a period after the play's title, followed by full details of the book in which it appears. MLA format. Author last name, First name. Play Title. Collection/Anthology Title, edited by Editor first name Last name, Publisher, Year, Page range. MLA Works Cited entry. Shakespeare, William.

  21. How do I cite multiple Shakespeare plays in an MLA paper?

    If you cite multiple Shakespeare plays throughout your paper, the MLA in-text citation begins with an abbreviated version of the title (as shown here ), e.g. ( Oth. 1.2.4). Each play should have its own Works Cited entry (even if they all come from the same collection). If you cite only one Shakespeare play in your paper, you should include a ...

  22. How to Cite

    An APA citation follows the below format: Author Last Name, First Name. (Year, Month Date of publication). Title of webpage/article. Retrieved from URL. An APA citation for a SparkNote will be in the below format. (Please consult your APA guide when creating citations for other sources.) SparkNotes Editors. (2005).

  23. SHAKESPEARE Citation Generator

    MLA Format: Everything You Need to Know and More. Filled with a wide variety of examples and visuals, our Citation Machine® MLA guide will help you master the citation process. Learn how to cite websites, books, journal articles, magazines, newspapers, films, social media, and more!

  24. cfp

    MLA 2024 Convention Roundtable CFP. ... including adaptive strategies, hybrid/hyperlink models, AI challenges, pedagogical innovations, and using citation to counter the tyranny of digital anonymity. 250-word Abstract/100-word Bio. ... Shakespeare and History, Culture, and Society. Cambridge Companion to Global Cold War Literature.