How To Do A Mla Work Cited Page | Step-By-Step Layout

Once you know how an MLA work cited page works, the rest of the paper format feels far less intimidating. This final page of your essay tells your reader exactly where every quote, summary, and data point came from. It also shows instructors that you followed the same rules scholars use in published work.

This guide walks you through how to do a mla work cited page from a blank document to a neat list of sources that matches MLA ninth edition expectations. You will see how to set up the page, how to shape entries for common source types, and how to run a quick checklist before you turn in your work.

How To Do A Mla Work Cited Page Step By Step

Before you worry about commas and italics, set up the whole page correctly. A clean layout makes every individual entry easier to build and easier to read.

Formatting Setting	What You Do	Quick Tip
Location In Paper	Place the works cited list on its own page at the end of the document.	Hit Ctrl+Enter or Command+Enter to insert a page break.
Page Margins	Set all margins to one inch on every side.	Check the layout or page setup menu in your word processor.
Font And Size	Use a readable font such as Times New Roman at 12 point.	Keep the same font you used in the rest of the paper.
Line Spacing	Use double spacing with no extra space between entries.	Turn off “add space after paragraph” so spacing stays even.
Header	Add your last name and page number in the upper right corner.	Use the automatic page number feature so numbering stays consistent.
Title	Center the words “Works Cited” at the top of the page.	Do not bold, underline, or italicize the title.
Indentation	Apply a half-inch hanging indent to every entry.	Use the paragraph dialog to set “hanging” under indentation.
Order Of Entries	List entries in alphabetical order by the first element, usually the author.	Sort alphabetically once you finish every entry.

These settings match the layout described in the Purdue OWL works cited format, which many instructors use as a model.

Mla Works Cited Page Layout And Formatting Details

Next, type the title Works Cited and center it on the first line of the new page. Use regular font style. Avoid quotation marks or special styling. Press Enter and set alignment back to left so the entries begin at the left margin.

Double spacing on the works cited page should match the rest of your paper. Turn on double spacing for the whole document first. Then open the paragraph settings and remove extra spacing before or after paragraphs. This keeps entries evenly spaced without random gaps in the list.

For indentation, select all your entries once they are typed. In the paragraph settings, choose hanging indent at 0.5 inches. This setting keeps the first line of each entry at the margin and moves any wrapped lines under it. The hanging indent makes it easy to scan the list by author name.

When you have more than one work by the same author, group those entries together. Keep them in alphabetical order by title. For entries with no author, move them to the correct place in the list based on the first word of the title, ignoring opening articles such as “A,” “An,” and “The.”

Using The Mla Core Elements Template

The ninth edition of the MLA Handbook describes a flexible template with nine core elements that you can apply to nearly any source. The official handbook from the Modern Language Association and many campus college MLA style guides show the same pattern. Each element appears in a specific order, and punctuation separates those elements.

The nine core elements are:

• Author.
• Title of source.
• Title of container.
• Other contributors.
• Version.
• Number.
• Publisher.
• Publication date.
• Location.

Not every source uses every element. A simple print book entry may only need the author, title, publisher, publication date, and location as page numbers. A journal article on a database will add a container title, volume and issue number, and a stable URL or DOI.

Write each element that you have, in order, with the correct punctuation after it. Place a period after the author and after the title of the source. Place commas between later elements that belong to the same container. End every works cited entry with a period.

Common Mla Work Cited Page Entries

Once you understand the core elements, you can shape entries for different source types. The patterns below follow MLA ninth edition practice for many student papers. Replace each placeholder with details from your own sources.

Books With One Author

Basic form:

Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Year.

Chapters Or Works In Edited Collections

Basic form:

Last Name, First Name. “Title of Chapter.” Title of Collection, edited by Editor First Name Last Name, Publisher, Year, pp. page range.

Articles In Print Journals Or Magazines

Basic form for a journal article:

Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Title of Journal, vol. number, no. number, Year, pp. page range.

Basic form for a magazine article:

Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Title of Magazine, Day Month Year, pp. page range.

For a newspaper article, use the magazine pattern and include the section name if the paper uses lettered sections, such as A1 or B2.

Web Articles And Other Online Sources

Many student papers rely on sources from websites and library databases. The MLA template still applies. You only need to adjust the container and location parts of the entry.

If the site lists no author, begin the entry with the title of the article. When no publication date appears, leave that element out and move to the next one. Use a stable URL or DOI when possible.

Using Your Notes To Build Entries

Start with the author or group author. Copy the name exactly as it appears on the source, then switch it to Last Name, First Name order. If the source lists an organization instead of a person, use the organization’s name as the author element.

Next, move to the title of the source. Titles of longer works such as books and journals use italics. Titles of shorter works such as articles and chapters use quotation marks. Keep capitalization consistent with MLA style, which capitalizes all major words in English titles.

Then fill in the container. For a journal article, this is the title of the journal. For a chapter in an edited book, the container is the book title. Online sources may have more than one container, such as a page on a site that belongs to a larger database.

Finally, add the publisher, publication date, and location. In print sources, the location usually appears as page numbers. In online sources, the location appears as a DOI or URL. When a source gives both, MLA practice prefers the DOI.

Source Type	Template	Sample Entry
Print Book	Author. Title. Publisher, Year.	Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House. MacMurray, 1999.
Book Chapter	Author. “Title.” Collection, edited by Editor, Publisher, Year, pp. pages.	Harris, Muriel. “Talk to Me: Engaging Reluctant Writers.” A Tutor’s Guide, edited by Ben Rafoth, Heinemann, 2000, pp. 24–34.
Journal Article	Author. “Title.” Journal, vol. number, no. number, Year, pp. pages.	Bagchi, Alaknanda. “Conflicting Nationalisms: The Voice of the Subaltern in Mahasweta Devi’s Bashai Tudu.” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature, vol. 15, no. 1, 1996, pp. 41–50.
Magazine Article	Author. “Title.” Magazine, Day Month Year, pp. pages.	Poniewozik, James. “TV Makes a Too-Close Call.” Time, 20 Nov. 2000, pp. 70–71.
Web Article	Author. “Title.” Website, Publisher, Date, URL.	“MLA General Format.” Purdue Online Writing Lab, Purdue University, 2024, owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_general_format.html.
Video	“Title of Video.” Website, uploaded by Name, Date, URL.	“MLA Formatting: List of Works Cited.” YouTube, uploaded by OWLPurdue, 26 Mar. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaFcJ3f4fJk.
Personal Interview	Interviewee Last Name, First Name. Personal interview. Day Month Year.	Smith, Jane. Personal interview. 19 May 2024.

Common Mla Works Cited Problems And Fixes

Even careful writers miss small details on the works cited page. Before you turn in your essay, scan the list for these frequent issues and correct them.

Inconsistent Formatting

Mixing fonts, sizes, or spacing makes the page look uneven. Select the whole works cited page and set a single font and size, then set double spacing. Reset the hanging indent for every entry in one step through the paragraph dialog box.

Missing Elements

Some entries in a works cited list drop the publication date or the publisher even when that information appears on the source. Compare each entry against the source one more time. Add any missing details in the right place in the template.

Alphabetizing Errors

Entries by the same author should appear together. If you spot a later entry by an author who already appears in the list, move that entry into the correct location. For titles that begin with numbers, alphabetize as if the number were spelled out.

Url Formatting Problems

Long URLs can wrap across multiple lines. Let them wrap naturally instead of inserting line breaks yourself. Do not add angle brackets around URLs, and do not include the protocol label such as “https://” unless your instructor requests it.

Final Checklist For Your Mla Work Cited Page

At the end of your draft, pause and read across the full works cited page once more. Use this brief checklist during that last pass:

• Every source in the body of the paper appears on the works cited page.
• Every entry on the works cited page appears at least once in the body of the paper.
• The page uses one-inch margins, double spacing, and a readable 12 point font.
• The title Works Cited appears at the top, centered, with no extra styling.
• Entries appear in alphabetical order by author or by title when no author exists.
• Each entry uses a hanging indent set to half an inch.
• Punctuation and capitalization follow MLA patterns for the source type.

Once this checklist matches your page, you can feel confident that you know how to do a mla work cited page that meets current MLA expectations. Along with clear in-text citations, a neat works cited page gives your readers a smooth path back to every source you used.