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MLA 9th

MLA (Modern Language Association) 9th edition is an author-page number referencing style requiring an in-text citation within the text of your document and a related entry in a works cited at the end of your document.

Author variations

This section covers things to be aware of in terms of author variations.

Works cited

Different works by the same author are listed in alphabetical order of the title.

Example

Whitworth, Michael H. "Logan Pearsall Smith and Orlando." The Review of English Studies, vol. 55, no. 221, 2004, pp. 598-604, https://doi.org/10.1093/res/55.221.598.

---. Reading Modernist Poetry. Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Wiley Online Library, https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444320756.

---. "Rhythm, Form, and Diction in Modernist Poetry." A Companion to Modernist Poetry, edited by David E. Chinitz and Gail McDonald, Wiley Blackwell, 2014, pp. 4-19.

---. "'Sweet Thames' and 'the Waste Land's Allusions." Essays in Criticism, vol. 48, 1998, pp. 35-60, Gale Academic OneFile. link.gale.com/apps/doc/A20426257/LitRC?u=learn&sid=summon&xid=124205c6.

In-text citations

If you are using references by the same author/s, add a title to your in-text citation so that the reader knows which work you're citing.

Parenthetical citation

Note: add a comma after the author.

... was found to be the case (Whitmore, Reading Modernist Poetry 23).

Citations in prose

Michael Whitmore, in Reading Modernist Poetry, discusses understanding the poet's views on poetry and their purpose in creating it in a cost-effective way (19).

Works cited

Different works by the same surname (last name) and different first names are listed in alphabetical order of the first name.

Example

Darwin, Alexander. The Combat Codes. Orbit, 2015.

Darwin, Amber. Born of Blood and Flames. Independent, 2021.

Darwin, Charles. The Principal Works of Charles Darwin: The Origin of Species; The Descent of Man. John B. Alden, 1886. Nineteenth Century Collections Online: Science, Technology, and Medicine, Part I. link.gale.com/apps/doc/BHDRYN311245338/NCCO?u=learn&sid=bookmark-NCCO&xid=1105975c&pg=1.

In-text citations

Parenthetical citation

When the first author has the same surname (last name) but has different first names, include the first initial. If they have the same first initial, include the full first name.

... evolution of man (C. Darwin 59).

... in the martial arts (Alexander Darwin 30).

... rocks with serpents (Amber Darwin 66). 

Citation in prose

When the first author has the same surname (last name) but has different first names, include the first author's first name in all in-text citations.

Charles Darwin described the evolution of man as being the same as that of other animals by the same natural laws (68).

Alexander Darwin trains people to use Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as a way of self-defence (35).

Amber Darwin's books explore the deepest and most shadowy aspects of the human mind (46).

Works cited

References with the same first author and a different second or third author are listed alphabetically by author, e.g. Jimpei Hitsuwari, Hirohito Okano, and Michio Nomura, would go before, Jimpei Hitsuwari, Yoshiyuki Ueda, Woojin Yun, and Michio Nomura.

Example

Casanovas, Pompeu, et al. The Rise of Catalan Identity: Social Commitment and Political Engagement in the Twentieth Century. Springer, 2019.

Hitsuwari, Jimpei, et al. "Predicting Attitudes toward Ambiguity Using Natural Language Processing on Free Descriptions for Open-Ended Question Measurements." Scientific Reports, vol. 14, no. 1, 2024, p. 8276, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-59118-z.

Hitsuwari, Jimpei, et al. "Does Human–AI Collaboration Lead to More Creative Art? Aesthetic Evaluation of Human-Made and AI-Generated Haiku Poetry." Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 139, 2023, p. 107502, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2022.107502.

In-text citations

When a work with several authors shortens to the same in-text form, e.g. (Bloomfield et al.). To avoid ambiguity, include part of the title. The book title is in italics. The article or chapter title is in quotation marks and normal font.

Parenthetical citation

Note: add a comma after the author.

...  AI's effect on poetry (Hitsuwari et al., "Does Human–AI"  9).

... regarding social commitment (Casanovas et al., Rise of Catalan, 23).

Citation in prose

In "Does Human-AI," Hitsuwari and colleagues discussed the effect of AI-generated poetry on the haiku (9).

According to Casanovas and others, in the book Rise of Catalan, since the Middle Ages, the Catalan identity has been evolving (23).