MLA Citation Generator (9th Edition)
Build MLA 9th edition works-cited entries and in-text citations — title-case titles, container italics, accessed dates and et al. handled for you.
Results
The 7ESL MLA Citation Generator follows the 9th edition of the MLA Handbook, the standard style for literature, languages and much of the humanities. It builds works-cited entries using MLA's container system — the source's title in quotation marks, the container (website, journal, newspaper) in italics — with dates in day-month-year form ("5 Mar. 2024"), "et al." from three authors, and the simple in-text form MLA is known for: the author's last name plus the page number, like (Nguyen 23).
MLA rules the tool applies for you
The first author is inverted ("Nguyen, Thanh"), a second author stays in normal order, and three or more become "et al." in both the entry and the in-text citation. Titles take headline-style title case — principal words capitalized, small words like "of" and "the" left lowercase unless they begin or end the title. Volume and issue are written as "vol. 12, no. 3", pages as "pp. 45-67", and months longer than four letters are abbreviated in dates. For web sources, MLA recommends an accessed date when the page has no publication date or may change — fill in the "accessed" field and the tool appends "Accessed 5 Mar. 2024." correctly.
In-text citations in MLA
MLA cites by author and page with no comma: (Nguyen 23). If you name the author in your sentence, only the page number goes in brackets. When a source has no page numbers — most web pages — the author's name alone is enough. The generator shows you both the bare form and the form with a placeholder page number so you remember to add one when quoting.
Frequently asked questions
Is this MLA 8 or MLA 9?
MLA 9th edition (2021). It keeps the container system introduced in MLA 8 and the same core order of elements, so entries built here are also valid MLA 8 in almost all cases.
How do I cite a source with no page numbers in-text?
Use the author's last name alone, e.g. (Nguyen). Page numbers are only included when the source has them — most web pages do not.
When do I need an "Accessed" date?
MLA recommends one for online sources with no publication date, or whose content may change. Fill in the accessed-date field and the tool appends it in the correct "Accessed 5 Mar. 2024." form.
How does MLA handle three or more authors?
Both in the works-cited entry and in-text, list the first author followed by "et al." — for example Nguyen, Thanh, et al. in the entry and (Nguyen et al.) in-text.
Why are some words in my title capitalized?
MLA uses headline-style title case: principal words are capitalized while short function words stay lowercase unless they start or end the title. The generator applies this automatically.