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Modern Language Association (MLA) Guide: General Guidelilnes for Author Listings

A guide to the Modern Language Association of America or the Modern Language Association (MLA), which is the true professional association in the U.S. for scholars of language and literature.

General Guidelines for Listing Authors

The formatting of author's names in the following items apply to all sources -- books, articles, websites -- in print, on the web, or in other media.

Single Author

Two Authors

Three or More Authors

Name the first author followed by "et al." (Latin for "and others").

Organization or Company as Author

No Author Listed

 

Tip: In web sources, often the author's name is available but is not easy to find. It may appear at the end of a webpage, in tiny print, or on another page of the site, such as the home page. Also, an organization or a government may be the author. (See Organization or Company as Author or See Government Document)

Two or More Works by the Same Author or Group of Authors

First alphabetize the works by title, (ignoring the article A, An, or The at the beginning of a title). Use the author's name or authors' names for the first entry; for subsequent entries, use three hyphens (---) and a period. The three hyphens must stand for the same name or names that appear in the first entry.

Editor or Translator

Begin with the editor's or translator's name. After the name, add "editor" or "translator." Use "editors" or "translators" for more than two (see also Two Authors or Three or More Authors for how to handle multiple contributors).

Author with Editor or Translator

Begin with the name of the author. Place the editor's or translator's name after the title.

Graphic Narrative or Other Illustrated Work

If a work has both an author and an illustrator, the order in your citation will depend on which of those persons you emphasize in your paper.

Author Using a Pseudonym (Pen Name) or Screen Name

Give the author's name as it appears in the source (the pseudonym), followed by the author's real name, if available, in parentheses.

Author Quoted by Another Author (Indirect Source)

If one of your sources uses a quotation from another source and you'd like to use the quotation, provide a works cited entry for the source in which you found the quotation. In the in-text citation, indicate that the quoted words appear in the source. See item 22 (Indirect Source [source quoted in another source]) of MLA-4a on page 167 of your Writer's Reference, 10th edition.

Work Cited

Hacker, Diana. A Writer's Reference. Tenth edition. Boston ; New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2021. Print.