Free Online Citation Generator (MLA) Tool

1. Pick the source type that matches your reference.
2. Enter the author(s), title and the container (journal, website or publication) plus year.
3. Add volume, issue and pages for journals, or the URL and access date for web sources.
4. Copy the Works Cited entry and the (Author Page) in-text citation from the result panel.

MLA style, from the Modern Language Association, is the standard in English, literature and the humanities. The current 9th edition (2021) keeps the 'core elements' framework introduced in the 8th edition: instead of memorising a separate template per source type, you describe every source with the same ordered elements — author, title of source, title of container, contributors, version, number, publisher, publication date and location.

This container model is what lets one set of rules cover a poem in an anthology, an article in a journal, or a video on a streaming site. A Works Cited entry begins with the author's surname for alphabetising, puts the work's own title in quotation marks (or italics if it is a standalone work like a book), and italicises the container — the larger whole it sits in, such as a journal or website. In-text citations use author-page style, for example (Smith 42), with no comma and no 'p.'

MLA 9 added fuller guidance on inclusive language, annotated bibliographies and citing newer media, but the mechanics are unchanged from the 8th edition. This tool applies the multiple-author rules automatically — two authors are both named, three or more become 'et al.' — and renders the italics for you. Verify unusual sources against the MLA Handbook. Formatting runs entirely in your browser.