The MLA 9th ed. does not provide rules for citing specific types of resources. Instead, they provide a universal set of guidelines for any type of material based on the core elements. The examples provided in this citation guide were created by Douglas College librarians and follow this format.
Last Name, First Name of the person interviewed. Personal Interview. Interview Date.
Rewniak, Christopher. Personal Interview. 4 June 2021.
In-Text
(Rewniak)
"Personal interviews refer to those interviews that you conduct yourself. List the interview by the name of the interviewee. Include the descriptor "Personal interview" and the date of the interview." (Purdue Online Writing Lab).
Last Name of sender, First Name of sender. "Subject Line of Email." Received by Name of Person Who Received Email, Day Month Year sent. Email.
Kinney, James. "Re: Botany in history." Received by Jana Smith, 24 November 2021. Email.
In-Text
(Kinney)
"In some cases, using text from the work itself is the clearest way to identify an untitled work...(like digital messages that lack formal titles)" (MLA Handbook, 9th ed., p.124). For example, for emails, the title can be the subject of the email.
"The final supplemental element can be used to indicate the medium of publication for a work whose format would otherwise be ambiguous" (MLA Handbook, 9th ed., p. 213).
Author's Last Name, First Name or Username if real name not given. "Title of Post." Name of Platform, Publication Date, URL.
@persiankiwi. "We have report of large street battles in east & west of Tehran now - #Iranelection." X (formerly known as Twitter), 23 June 2009, 11:15 a.m., twitter.com/persiankiwi/status/2298106072.
In-Text
(@persiankiwi)
“Include pseudonyms, stage names, online usernames, and the like in the Author element, especially if the person is well known by that form of the name” (MLA Handbook, 9th ed., p. 107).
"Very long titles can be shortened in the list of works cited. Be sure to include enough of the title to make identification of the work unambiguous, and use ellipses to indicate that a title has been shortened" (MLA Handbook, 9th ed., p. 130).
Gaiman, Neil [@neilhimself]. "Crediting the publisher and not the artist contributes to the fiction that these comics were created by companies and not by people, and that nobody drew the original images." X (formerly known as Twitter), 13 November 2021, 8:23 a.m., https://twitter.com/neilhimself/status/1459557490757185536.
In-Text
(Gaiman)
“If an author's handle differs from the author's account name, it may be helpful to supply the handle in square brackets after the name...when the handle and account name are similar [...], you can usually omit the handle if you include the URL in your entry” MLA Handbook, 9th ed., p. 118).
Name of Organization/Author. Title of Pamphlet. Publisher, Publication Date. Pamphlet.
Not Everyone Has a Home. National Coalition for the Homeless. Pamphlet.
In-Text
(Not Everyone)
"When a nongovernment organization is both the author and the publisher, you may skip the author element and begin the entry with the work's title. List the organization only as publisher" (MLA Handbook, 9th ed., p. 119)
MLA states "The final supplemental element can be used to indicate the medium of publication for a work whose format would otherwise be ambiguous." (MLA Handbook, 9th ed., p. 213). In the example above Pamphlet is used to indicate the publication type.
Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies. Library Standards for Adult Correctional Institutions. American Library Association. Pamphlet.
In-Text
(Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies)
"When the author of the work is a division or committee of the organization, list the division or committee as the author and list the organization as the publisher" (MLA Handbook, 9th ed., p. 119)
The recommended adaptations below allow for Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers to be cited not only in-text but in the reference list as well. Your instructor will expect MLA which does not cite personal communications in the reference list so check with your instructor first when following these examples.
MLA Works cited template
Last name, First name. Elder/Knowledge Keeper. Nation/Community. Treaty Territory if applicable. City/Community they live in if applicable. Topic/subject of communication. Date Month Year. Territory Acknowledgement of where information was shared/collected.
Example 1
Larrabee, Rhonda. Knowledge Keeper. Qayqayt First Nation. Lives in New Westminster. Oral Teachings and Memories. 21 November 2023. Shared on the traditional unceded territory and ancestral lands of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the territories of the Katzie, Kwantlen, Kwikwetlem, Musqueam, and Qayqayt First Nations.
In-text example
Qayqayt history of the area was ... (Larrabee).
Example 2
Lekeyten, Elder, Kwantlen First Nation. Community Justice. Personal communication, 4 April, 2019. Shared on the traditional unceded territory of the Kwantlen, Musqueam, Katzie, Semiahmoo, Tsawwassen, Qayqayt, and Kwikwetlem Peoples.
In-text example
The traditional unceded territory of Kwantlen First Nation ... (Lekeyten).
More information on efforts to decolonize citation can be found here.
Many instructors will not allow the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools (i.e. ChatGPT, et cetera) in assignments. If you do use tools like this, it is important that you check with your instructors first and then that you include citations in your assignment.
The MLA Style Center website has some information about AI and chat tools and includes examples on paraphrasing and quoting text generated by AI, quoting creative textual works created by AI (like poems), citing creative visual works created by AI, and citing secondary sources used by an AI tool. MLA recommends that AI tools are not treated as Authors and emphasize that "all functional uses of the tools (like editing your prose or translating words)" are acknowledged.
Below are ways to approach citation using the MLA template.
Author Do not cite the tool as an author
Title of Source Describe what was generated by the AI tool (see below).
Title of Container Name the AI tool (e.g., ChatGPT)
Version Name the version of the AI tool as specifically as possible (e.g., ChatGPT 3.5).
Publisher Name the company that made the tool.
Date Give the date the content was generated.
Location If a unique URL is generated for the text or images generated by the AI tool, include that link. If not, give the general URL for the tool.
Example
“Describe the symbolism of the green light in the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald” prompt. ChatGPT, Feb. 13 version, OpenAI, 8 Mar. 2023, chat.openai.com/chat.
To see more detailed descriptions and the examples listed above, please visit Ask the MLA's page on How do cite generative AI in MLA style?