The Modern Language Association (MLA) regulates the citation rules for most scientific works in the humanities. You can ensure that you are following proper citation rules in MLA format by gathering as much information as possible from the magazines and web pages you cite. Essays in MLA format should be accompanied by a Works Cited section indicating the sources you used. Learn how to cite articles in MLA format.
Step
Part 1 of 6: Author
![Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 1 Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 1](https://i.how-what-advice.com/images/001/image-469-1-j.webp)
Step 1. Begin the citation by including the names of the authors
Write the last name first followed by the first name, separating the two with a comma. This rule applies to citations of online and print magazines, newspapers, reviews, editorials and scientific articles.
- If there are two authors, put the word and between them. Include a comma and the word and (without the preceding comma) if there are three authors. You must include up to three names of authors associated with the work.
- If an article has more than 3 authors, then you need to include the first author's name and then put "et al" after it.
![Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 2 Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 2](https://i.how-what-advice.com/images/001/image-469-2-j.webp)
Step 2. Put a period after the names of the authors
![Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 3 Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 3](https://i.how-what-advice.com/images/001/image-469-3-j.webp)
Step 3. Ignore the author's name if the article is unknown
Do not include the word anonymous at the beginning of the quote.
Part 2 of 6: Title
![Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 4 Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 4](https://i.how-what-advice.com/images/001/image-469-4-j.webp)
Step 1. Put the title of the article in quotation marks
Put a colon between the title and subtitle.
![Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 5 Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 5](https://i.how-what-advice.com/images/001/image-469-5-j.webp)
Step 2. Write every word in the title in capital letters, except for article words like a and the.
![Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 6 Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 6](https://i.how-what-advice.com/images/001/image-469-6-j.webp)
Step 3. Put a period after the title, before the quotation marks at the end of the title
Part 3 of 6: Publication Name
![Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 7 Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 7](https://i.how-what-advice.com/images/001/image-469-7-j.webp)
Step 1. Enter the name of the publication or journal
![Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 8 Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 8](https://i.how-what-advice.com/images/001/image-469-8-j.webp)
Step 2. Include the name of the publication in italics
![Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 9 Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 9](https://i.how-what-advice.com/images/001/image-469-9-j.webp)
Step 3. If you are citing a scientific journal, list the volume of the journal after the publication title
Do not include journal volumes in italics. Do not put a full stop before the journal name and volume.
![Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 10 Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 10](https://i.how-what-advice.com/images/001/image-469-10-j.webp)
Step 4. Don't put a period before the issue date section
Part 4 of 6: Issue Date
![Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 11 Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 11](https://i.how-what-advice.com/images/001/image-469-11-j.webp)
Step 1. Enter the date of issue
Include the day, month and year format without being separated by commas from each other.
![Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 12 Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 12](https://i.how-what-advice.com/images/001/image-469-12-j.webp)
Step 2. Include the year of publication in parentheses
Enter the year in 4-digit format.
![Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 13 Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 13](https://i.how-what-advice.com/images/001/image-469-13-j.webp)
Step 3. Include a colon after the date of issue
Part 5 of 6: Pages and Medium
![Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 14 Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 14](https://i.how-what-advice.com/images/001/image-469-14-j.webp)
Step 1. Include the page number of the cited article
Include single page numbers for short articles. For longer articles, list the pages from start to finish and separate them with a line between the two
![Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 15 Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 15](https://i.how-what-advice.com/images/001/image-469-15-j.webp)
Step 2. Put a period after the page number
![Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 16 Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 16](https://i.how-what-advice.com/images/001/image-469-16-j.webp)
Step 3. Determine the medium of the cited article
Usually listed with the words Print or Online.
![Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 17 Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 17](https://i.how-what-advice.com/images/001/image-469-17-j.webp)
Step 4. Put a period after listing the medium
Part 6 of 6: Quote Insert
![Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 18 Cite an Article in MLA Style Step 18](https://i.how-what-advice.com/images/001/image-469-18-j.webp)
Step 1. Include the author's name and page number when you quote or paraphrase a sentence in your research paper
Include this information in parentheses.