MLA format: the small rules that cost marks

Most MLA mistakes are details: a missing period, a month written out, a URL with https://. This checklist covers the rules teachers check most.

Open the tool: MLA Citation Generator

Title capitalisation

Capitalise the first and last word and all principal words. Keep articles (a, an, the), prepositions (of, in, to, with…) and coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or) lowercase unless they come first, last or after a colon. Example: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing.

Author names

One author: Last, First.
Two authors: Last, First, and First Last.
Three or more: Last, First, et al.
Keep middle initials as written: Richter, David H.
An organisation that is also the publisher is not listed as author; start with the title.

Dates

Write dates as day month year: 4 Mar. 2021. Abbreviate months longer than four letters: Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec. May, June and July are written in full.

Page numbers

Use p. for one page and pp. for a range. For numbers above 99, give only the last two digits of the second number unless more are needed: pp. 436-44, pp. 1608-774. Use a hyphen, not a dash.

URLs and DOIs

Remove http:// and https:// from URLs. A DOI is more stable than a URL, so use it when there is one, written as https://doi.org/ followed by the DOI. End the entry with a period.