LibGuides: MLA Style 9th Edition: Home

Why Citations?

Academic scholarship is built on presenting factual information. Facts help distinguish between what is "opinion" and what is "credible." Your professors will often require you to present an essay with citations that will anchor your burgeoning academic work.

Citations will allow you to:

Demonstrate a trail of evidence that supports your thesis/claim/argument.
Show your professor how to find the evidence quickly and efficiently.
Protect intellectual property rights.

When should you cite?:

Direct Quotations: When you use the author’s exact words
Paraphrasing: When you summarize someone else’s words or ideas
Facts: When you mention something that is not common knowledge
Images: When you use pictures, charts, and graphics that someone else created in a presentation

Adapted from City College of San Francisco "Citing Sources" Libguide

MLA Handbook

MLA Handbook 9th Edition by The Modern Language Association of America
Publication Date: 2021
The MLA Handbook, published by the Modern Language Association, is currently in its ninth edition. The library has two copies on reserve that can be borrowed and used in the library in 2-hour increments. To use, inquire at the circulation desk.

Get Help with Citations

If you need help with MLA format or citations, we recommend you use, in addition to this guide, the following:

NVC Writing Success Center
The Writing Success Center is available to help with writing and citing. You can get assistance both online and in-person either by making an appointment or dropping by during their hours.
NoodleTools
NoodleTools is a citation manager and generator that you can use for free as an NVC student. Save all your citations, takes notes, and generate MLA, APA, and Chicago citations.
MLA Style Center
The official online style guide from the Modern Languages Association.
Purdue OWL MLA Formatting and Style Guide
The most detailed guide to MLA Style available. From Purdue University's Online Writing Center (OWL).

CC License

This guide was created by Tessa Withorn and Jillian Holt Eslami and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.