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Not sure what to paste? See how to cite a website, book, or journal article.
Example · MLA 9th Edition
Tian, Jiaqiang, et al. "An Improved Single Particle Model for Lithium-Ion Batteries Based on Main Stress Factor Compensation." Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 278, 2021, pp. 123456, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123456.
In-text: (Tian et al.)
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How MLA citations work
MLA style, from the Modern Language Association, is the standard in literature, languages, cultural studies, and much of the humanities. The current version is the MLA Handbook, 9th edition (2021).
- In-text citations give the author's surname and, when there is one, a page number with no comma: (Tian et al. 45). There is no year in the brackets.
- The list is titled Works Cited and sorted alphabetically. The first author is inverted (Tian, Jiaqiang); with three or more authors, only the first is named, followed by “et al.”
- Every entry follows MLA's core elements in a fixed order: author, title of the source, title of the container, then contributors, version, number, publisher, date, and location.
- Article titles go in quotation marks; the journal, website, or book that contains them is italic.
Instant DOI to Citation
Don't waste time typing. Just paste the DOI, ISBN, or URL, and our system will fetch the exact metadata to build a flawless reference.
In-Text Citation Generator
Every reference you create comes with a perfectly formatted in-text citation, ready to be copied and pasted directly into your academic paper.
Batch Citation Style Converter
Have a messy list of sources? Paste your entire bibliography and let our AI automatically correct punctuation, italicize journal names, and format your references in seconds. Every entry is checked against Crossref, and anything we can't confirm is clearly flagged, not silently guessed.
Frequently asked questions
Still stuck? See how to cite a website, a book, or a journal article, or write to support@makecitation.org.
Does MLA 9 need an access date?
It's optional. MLA suggests adding one when a web source has no publication date, because the content may have changed since you read it.
What is a “container” in MLA?
The larger work a source sits inside: the journal that published an article, the website that hosts a page, or the edited book that contains a chapter. A source can have two containers, such as a journal article read through a database.
Can I generate a citation directly from a DOI or ISBN?
Yes. Paste a DOI or ISBN and MakeCitation fetches the metadata automatically from Crossref and OpenLibrary, so you don't have to type out authors, titles, or publication details by hand.
Does this tool make up sources like some AI chatbots do?
No. For single-source lookups, every detail comes from verified academic databases, never from the AI's memory. The AI only handles formatting — it never invents authors, dates, or DOIs.
Can I convert a whole reference list to a different citation style?
Yes. Paste your existing list into the batch tool, choose a new style, and MakeCitation normalizes every entry — punctuation, italics, and order — to match it.
Can I remove duplicate references and sort my bibliography alphabetically?
Yes. Batch formatting can remove duplicate entries and sort your list alphabetically by author with one click, for the styles where alphabetical order applies.
Can I export my citations to Word with correct formatting?
Premium accounts can download a .docx file with hanging indents and italics already applied, ready to drop into your paper.
Is there a citation generator for legal (OSCOLA) or medical (Vancouver, CSE) sources?
Yes. Alongside APA, MLA, Chicago, and IEEE, MakeCitation supports Harvard, Vancouver, OSCOLA, ASA, Turabian, and CSE — covering law, medicine, and the social sciences.
What happens if a source's metadata is missing or incomplete?
MakeCitation only fills in details it can verify from Crossref or OpenLibrary. If a field like the publication date is missing from the source itself, we won't guess — you'll be prompted to add it manually, so your citation stays accurate.