MLA Style Guide 9th Edition

When a resource has 2 authors, cite both names in your text. Use 'and' to combine the names. List the authors in the order they appear in on the work. If you are mentioning the authors for the first time in your prose, include both first names and last names, but not any middle initials. In a parenthetical citation use last names only connected with "and".

Examples:

1. According to the authors, "If you can write a well-constructed, well-developed essay, you can write almost any type of academic discourse" (Harris and Moseley 55).
2. Robert Harris and Jacob Moseley state, "If you can write a well-constructed, well-developed essay, you can write almost any type of academic discourse" (55). Harris and Moseley recommend paying close attention to the structure of your argument (60).

If you are referring to a resource with 3 or more authors, include the first author's name, and replace all other author's names with 'et al.' if using a parenthetic citation. If you are referring to the authors in your sentence, you may list all the names or provide the name of the first author followed by the phrase 'and others' or 'and colleagues'. If you are mentioning the authors for the first time in your prose include both first names and last names for the first mention only, and last names after that.

Examples:

1. A recent study showed that "Participants who more frequently reported playing games, using social media, or texting after bed were more likely to report sleep interruptions by their devices" (Whipps et al. 53).
2. In a recent study, Stanley Whipps and others found that "Participants who more frequently reported playing games, using social media, or texting after bed were more likely to report sleep interruptions by their devices" (53). Whipps and colleagues go on to argue that avoiding the use of electronic devices half an hour before bed could lead to healthier sleep habits (54).
3. In a recent study Stanley Whipps, Martin Smith, and Margaret Chan found that "Participants who more frequently reported playing games, using social media, or texting after bed were more likely to report sleep interruptions by their devices" (53). Whipps and colleagues go on to argue that avoiding the use of electronic devices half an hour before bed could lead to healthier sleep habits (54).

If you are referring to a source that has no author, the in-text citation will refer to the first element in the works cited entry, often the title. Treat the title as it is treated in the works cited list (eg. titles of books should be in italics, while titles of articles should be in quotations). Lengthy titles can be shortened to the shortest noun phrase in parenthetical citations. If a group or organization responsible for the content, follow the instructions found under the "Group, Organization, or Corporate Author(s)" tab.

Examples:

1. "Massive clouds of choking smoke from the wildfires has prompted air quality advisories for much of Western Canada and also forced the cancelations of two triathlons in B.C.'s Okanagan region on Sunday" ("Wildfire" par. 3).
2. According to "Wildfire smoke blanketing Western Canada," poor conditions mandated the cancelation of multiple triathlons (par. 3).

If you are referring to a resource with a group, organization, or corporate author, spell out the whole name of the organization when referring to it in prose. When citing the organization in parentheses, shorten the name of the organization to the shortest noun phrase. From the MLA Handbook, section 6.6:

For concision, when a corporate author (i.e., an organization) is named in a parenthetical citation, shorten the name to the shortest noun phrase. For example, the American Historical Association consists entirely of a noun phrase (a noun, association, preceded by two modifiers) and would not be shortened. By contrast, the Modern Language Association of America can be shortened to its initial noun phrase, Modern Language Association. If possible, give the first noun and any preceding adjectives, while excluding any initial article: a, an, the.

Examples:

1. According to a study by the National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society, the “speed of warming is more than ten times that at the end of an ice age, the fastest known natural sustained change on a global scale” (9).
2. According to one study of climate change, the “speed of warming is more than ten times than at the end of an ice age, the fastest known natural sustained change on a global scale” (National Academy 9).