MLA 9th edition uses the same structure for citing all types of resources. There are 9 core elements to generating a citation. Most citations include all of these details:
* Note the punctuation at the end: Author, Title of Source and Location are followed by periods. All of the others are separated by commas.
If you do not have each detail, you can skip and continue from the next detail on the list.
This is the basic format for a citation (courtesy of Purdue Owl):
Author. "Title." Title of container (self contained if book), Other contributors (translators or editors), Version (edition), Number (vol. and/or no.), Publisher, Publication Date, Location (pages, paragraphs URL or DOI). 2nd container’s title, Other contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location, Date of Access (if applicable).
More information may be found at the MLA Style Center Website.
Containers are now an essential citation element. When a resource being cited is a part of a larger whole that larger whole is the container for the source. For example, when citing a book chapter, the book is the container; when citing the series Stranger Things, Netflix is the container since that is the platform the show is hosted on.
Some sources might have multiple containers. If this is the case, fill in the information from the first container first, then fill in the information for the secondary container.
Example:
"Under the Gun." Pretty Little Liars, season 4, episode 6, ABC Family, 16 July 2013. Hulu, www.hulu.com/watch/511318.
The first container is the name of the series Pretty Little Liars and ABC family is the publisher. The second container is the content provider, Hulu, and the episode's location on that platform (the url).
The 9th edition of the MLA handbook did not introduce major structural changes, but instead focused on clarification, expansion, and added guidance. According to PurdueOWL, there were some major additions regarding guidance on newer types of source citations and format.
Here are the main changes from the previous edition:
More detailed explanations of the 9 core elements in the Works Cited (e.g., how to interpret "location" or "contributor" across different media).
Practical examples for diverse sources like websites, YouTube videos, and interviews.
Clarified how to format citations, especially when an author has multiple works or when basic info (author/title) isn't enough.
Addressed how to cite repeated passages, symbols, and subheads.
Brought back paper formatting instructions (absent in MLA 8), including guidance on tables, figures, and lists.
Introduced principles to promote audience-aware language (e.g., gender-neutral terms and people-first language).
More rules and examples on punctuation, capitalization, italics, spelling consistency, and formatting names/titles/numbers.
Added clarity on quoting, paraphrasing, common knowledge, passing mentions, allusions, and epigraphs.
Guidance on using footnotes or endnotes for additional commentary or information.
How to write and format annotations properly, including examples and indentation standards.