MLA Citation Generator (9th Edition)
MLA 9 Works Cited entries and in-text citations, built from the core elements.
Autofill from a DOI, ISBN or web address
Source details
Your citation
Fill in the details or use autofill — the citation appears here as you type.
Works Cited
This list lasts until you reload or leave the page — copy it or download it before you go.
In the text:
About the MLA Citation Generator (9th Edition)
Make MLA Handbook (9th edition) Works Cited entries and matching in-text citations for journal articles, books, chapters in anthologies, web pages, newspaper, magazine and blog articles, reports, dissertations, YouTube videos and films, data sets and software. Paste a DOI, an ISBN or a web address to fill in the details, or type them yourself; the entry updates as you type and pastes into Word or Google Docs with its italics.
Entries are assembled from the MLA core elements in their fixed order — author, title of source, title of container, other contributors, version, number, publisher, publication date and location — with a second container for a database or platform such as JSTOR. The generator applies the ninth edition’s details: “et al.” for three or more authors, abbreviated months, “vol.”, “no.” and “pp.”, “UP” for university presses, DOIs as https://doi.org/ links and URLs without “https://”.
How to use it
- Paste a DOI, an ISBN or the web address into Autofill, or choose the type of source and fill in the form.
- Check the fields against the source. MLA capitalises the principal words of titles for you; turn this off under Style settings for titles in other languages.
- Add the authors in the order shown on the work. For an organisation that is also the publisher, MLA starts the entry with the title — the generator does this automatically.
- Type the page you are quoting into Page or location to get the in-text citation, e.g. (Burdick et al. 42).
- Copy the entry, or Add to list to build your Works Cited list, then copy it or download it as an .rtf file for Word.
Examples
Journal article · Russell A. Berman · ADFL Bulletin, vol. 43, no. 2, 2015, pages 11–14 · DOI 10.1632/adfl.43.2.11
Berman, Russell A. “The Necessity of Second-Language Learning.” ADFL Bulletin, vol. 43, no. 2, 2015, pp. 11–14, https://doi.org/10.1632/adfl.43.2.11. (Berman 12)
The journal name is italic in the tool. MLA puts no comma between the author and the page in the in-text citation.
Video or film · no author · uploaded by Alex Smith · 12 January 2021 · YouTube
“Capybara Eat Huge Pumpkin.” YouTube, uploaded by Alex Smith, 12 Jan. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YNwxZnABzA. (“Capybara Eat Huge Pumpkin”)
When the creator is unclear, the entry starts with the title and the uploader goes in the contributor slot.
Book · American Association of University Professors (author and publisher) · 2021
Academic Freedom and Tenure: University System of Georgia. American Association of University Professors, 2021.
MLA 9 lists the organisation once, as publisher. These examples come from the MLA Style Center.
Common uses
- Works Cited lists for English, literature, languages, history and other humanities essays.
- Citing web pages, videos and online articles correctly, including the optional access date for undated pages.
- Turning a database DOI into an entry with the database as second container (for example JSTOR or Cambridge Core).
- Building a whole Works Cited list in one sitting and pasting it into Word or Google Docs with italics and hanging indents.
The MLA core elements
Every MLA 9 entry follows one template: Author. Title of source. Title of container, Other contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location. A part of a larger work (an article, chapter, web page or video) is the source, in quotation marks; the larger work — journal, book, website, YouTube — is the container, in italics. When you read the source through a database or platform, that becomes a second container followed by its own location. Elements that do not apply are simply left out, and MLA does not use placeholders such as “n.d.”.
Ninth-edition details this generator applies
- Authors: one — Last, First; two — Last, First, and First Last; three or more — Last, First, et al.
- Titles in title case: principal words capitalised; articles, prepositions and coordinating conjunctions lowercase unless first or last.
- Dates: day, month, year with abbreviated months (Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.; May, June and July in full) and lowercase seasons (fall 2009).
- Publishers: “University Press” becomes UP and other academic-press names use U and P (Oxford UP, U of Chicago P); “&” becomes “and”; business words such as Inc. and Ltd. are dropped; two publishers are separated by a slash (Iberoamericana/Vervuert). An organisation that is author and publisher appears once, as publisher.
- Numbers and pages: vol., no., p. and pp.; page ranges with the second number shortened (pp. 633–56).
- Location: DOIs as https://doi.org/… ; URLs without http:// or https:// (switch this under Style settings); the date of access is optional and added for undated online sources by default.
Sources: MLA Style Center (style.mla.org) — “A Closer Look at MLA Style” (ninth-edition sections 5.19, 5.61, 5.65, 5.66, 5.79, 5.92, 5.93 and 5.126), “How do I cite YouTube videos?”, and posts on dissertations, reports, access dates and website publishers.
Your Works Cited list
Press Add to list to collect sources; the list is sorted alphabetically by the first element, ignoring “A”, “An” and “The”. When it holds two or more works by the same author, the later entries start with three em dashes (———.) in place of the name (MLA 5.126), and their in-text citations add a short title, for example (Morrison, Beloved 3); each entry shows the citation to use. Copy list pastes it with italics and hanging indents, and Word (.rtf) downloads a double-spaced list headed Works Cited. The list is not uploaded anywhere; it lasts until you reload or leave the page, so copy or download it before you go.
Limitations
- Autofill copies publisher and catalogue records, which can be incomplete; check every field against the source, including how names were split into family and given names (compound surnames such as García Márquez).
- Automatic title case cannot tell when a short word is part of a name or a phrasal verb (“Look Up”); check titles after converting.
- The generator covers common source types. MLA’s template handles many more — performances, artworks, interviews, social-media posts, legal and religious works — which need adjusting by hand.
- Only one publication date is collected, so a film re-uploaded to YouTube shows the film’s date, not the upload date.
- Some DOI agencies (for example Japan Link Center) refuse lookups from a web page, and many news sites block automated requests; enter those details yourself.
Privacy
Everything you type stays in your browser except the autofill box: a DOI goes to doi.org (and the agency it forwards to), an ISBN to Open Library, and a web address to MySmartCoPilot’s server, which reads that page and returns only its citation details — neither the page nor the web address is stored. Your reference list is kept only in this page, never uploaded, and is gone when you reload or leave it.
Frequently asked questions
When does MLA use et al.?
For three or more authors: give the first author, inverted, then “et al.” — Burdick, Anne, et al. — and in the text (Burdick et al. 42). With two authors, name both.
Do I need the date I accessed a website?
It is optional in MLA 9. It is most useful when the page has no publication date or may change, so by default the generator adds “Accessed 3 Oct. 2026.” only to undated online sources. Change this under Style settings.
Should I include https:// in the URL?
MLA prints URLs without http:// or https://. Keep it (Style settings) if your document will be read on screen with clickable links. DOIs are always written as https://doi.org/… links.
What if the source has no date?
Leave the date out — MLA does not use “n.d.”. For online sources, add the date you accessed it instead.
Why does the entry start with the title instead of the organisation?
When an organisation is both the author and the publisher (or the website has the same name), MLA 9 gives its name only once, as publisher, and starts the entry with the title. The in-text citation then uses a short form of the title.
Is this an official MLA tool?
No. MySmartCoPilot is not affiliated with the Modern Language Association. The rules come from the MLA Handbook (9th ed.) as explained on the MLA Style Center; follow your instructor where their requirements differ.