FAQs about citation

When do you abbreviate months in MLA format?

Abbreviate months in MLA format for publication dates or access dates in Works Cited entries. MLA requires abbreviations for all months except May, June, and July.

The abbreviations for MLA date format are Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec.

Don’t abbreviate months in the heading or main text of an MLA document (e.g., “Harry Potter was born on July 31, 1980.”)

QuillBot’s free Citation Generator can help you format months and dates correctly in MLA Works Cited entries.

Read this FAQ: When do you abbreviate months in MLA format?

What’s the MLA format for a poem title?

The MLA format for a poem title is to use quotation marks around the title and to capitalize all of the principal words. Capitalize nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and subordinating conjunctions.

Minor words, such as prepositions (e.g., “behind” or “with”) and coordinating conjunctions (e.g., “and” or “but”) should not be capitalized unless they’re the first or last word of the title or the first word after a colon.

The guidelines apply to MLA poetry citations on the Works Cited page and any titles that you mention in the main text.

You can also use QuillBot’s free Citation Generator to format poem titles correctly in MLA writing and Works Cited entries.

Read this FAQ: What’s the MLA format for a poem title?

When should I include a DOI or URL in an APA citation?

The following guidelines will help you correctly include a DOI or URL in APA style journal article citations or APA book citations. 

DOIs and URLs are sometimes necessary in reference entries but never in in-text citations.

For all sources that have DOIs, put the DOI at the end of the reference entry. The DOI should be a hyperlink that readers can follow for more details about the publication.

If a DOI isn’t listed on the source, you can usually search for the DOI online. If you confirm that a source doesn’t have a DOI, you can omit it from the references entry.

Only include a URL (in place of a DOI) for journal articles that don’t have DOIs and that you accessed on the journal’s homepage.

QuillBot’s free Citation Generator can help you use DOIs and URLs correctly in your APA reference entries.

Read this FAQ: When should I include a DOI or URL in an APA citation?

What is a journal article?

A journal article is a type of scholarly source that is common in academic writing. Journals are periodicals, which means that they are published multiple times per year (like magazines).

Each journal is focused on a specific aspect of a larger academic field. For example, within the broader field of nursing, there are scholarly journals about nursing education, intensive care nursing, cardiovascular nursing, and many other subcategories.

Each issue of a journal includes multiple articles by different authors. Journal articles often focus on original research experiments.

If you quote, paraphrase, or summarize journal articles in your writing, follow the format for APA style journal article citations, MLA citations, or whichever citation format you’re using.

You can also use QuillBot’s free Citation Generator to create journal article citations.

Read this FAQ: What is a journal article?

When should I cite a book chapter in MLA?

Cite a book chapter in MLA when each chapter has a different author listed in the table of contents and/or on the first page of each chapter.

In MLA book citations for chapters in edited books, include the chapter author and a page range in each in-text citation (Smith 234). In the Works Cited entry, include the following details.

(An edition or volume number before the page range is only necessary if the book has multiple editions/volumes.)

How do you write a book title in MLA?

When you write a book title in MLA, use italics and capitalize all of the principal words—nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and subordinating conjunctions.

Also capitalize the first and last words and the first word after a colon. Minor words, such as prepositions (e.g., “over” or “under”) and coordinating conjunctions (e.g., “and” or “but”) should not be capitalized.

The following MLA book citation example shows how to format a title.

You can also use QuillBot’s free Citation Generator to format titles correctly in MLA writing and Works Cited entries.

Read this FAQ: How do you write a book title in MLA?

How do you cite a government website in MLA?

To cite a government website in MLA, begin the Works Cited entry with the name of the country, the department name, and then the committee or division name if applicable. Separate each part of the government with a comma.

The rest of the Works Cited entry should have the title of the page/article/report in quotation marks, the website name in italics, the publication date, and the URL.

The in-text MLA website citation should include the name of the government department and a page number if there are numbered pages to cite. If there aren’t numbered pages, only cite the department name, which you can also abbreviate.

QuillBot’s free Citation Generator can help you create correct citations for government websites.

Read this FAQ: How do you cite a government website in MLA?

How do you write a website title in MLA?

To write a website title in MLA, use quotation marks for the page or article title and italics for the website name.

For both titles, capitalize all of the principal words (e.g., nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and subordinating conjunctions).

Don’t capitalize minor words, which include prepositions (e.g., “above” or “between”), coordinating conjunctions, or “to” when it’s part of an infinitive unless any of these words are the first or last word of the website name or the first word after a colon.

Website titles in MLA website citations don’t need “.com” or other details from the URL.

QuillBot’s free Citation Generator can help you use correct capitalization and formatting in MLA website citations.

Read this FAQ: How do you write a website title in MLA?

When do you need a page number in an MLA website citation?

You only need a page number in an MLA website citation when the source has numbered pages.

Most MLA website citations don’t have page numbers because websites don’t usually have numbered pages. MLA in-text citations for sources without numbered pages only include the author.

You can cite the author in the narrative of the sentence or in parentheses at the end of the sentence, like this example (Currin).

If you’re citing a PDF version of a report from a website, include the author and the page number of the information you’re quoting or paraphrasing, like this example (Carr 5).

Works Cited entries for websites, whether they’re paginated or not, don’t need page numbers.

QuillBot’s free Citation Generator can help you write correct MLA website citations.

Read this FAQ: When do you need a page number in an MLA website citation?

Do you italicize article titles in MLA?

Do not italicize article titles in MLA writing. Instead, place article titles in quotation marks (e.g., “Quincy Jones’s Legacy in 14 Essential Songs”).

Do italicize the titles of journals, magazines, and newspapers that contain individual articles (e.g., The New York Times).

These guidelines apply to MLA journal article citations and MLA style prose (e.g., a sentence in an essay that mentions an article title).

QuillBot’s free Citation Generator can help you format journal article titles correctly on a Works Cited page.

Read this FAQ: Do you italicize article titles in MLA?