What does an MLA citation look like?

A basic MLA 9 works-cited entry: Author Last, First. “Title of the Work.” Container, Publisher, Date, Location (pages or URL). The in-text form is (Author page), e.g. (Nguyen 27). The generator applies the right pattern for your source type.

What is the MLA container system?

MLA 8 and 9 build every citation from nine core elements, where a “container” is whatever holds the work — the journal an article appears in, the website a page belongs to, the anthology a story is printed in. The generator identifies containers from your details and nests them correctly.

How do I cite a website in MLA?

Author (if known), “Page Title.” Website Name, Publisher (if different), publication date, URL. If there's no date, MLA recommends an access date — the generator handles both cases; just paste what the page shows.

Is this MLA citation generator free?

Yes — unlimited MLA citations, both editions, no sign-up.

Free MLA Citation Generator (9th Edition)

Correct MLA 9 works-cited entries and in-text citations from whatever source details you have — built on the MLA container system.

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The result will appear here.

Why use this MLA citation generator?

MLA 9 container logic

The generator applies MLA's core-elements system correctly — author, title, container, contributors, version, number, publisher, date, location.

Works cited + in-text

Every result includes the works-cited entry and the matching (Author page) in-text citation.

Web sources done right

Websites, online articles and videos — with italics, quotation marks and access dates where MLA wants them.

Never invents details

Missing details are flagged for you to look up, never fabricated.

How to use the mla citation generator

Paste the source details
Author, title, container (journal, website, book), publisher, date, URL or pages.
Pick the edition
MLA 9 (current) or MLA 8 for older requirements.
Copy both citations
Works-cited entry and in-text form, ready to paste.

About this MLA citation generator

MLA is the standard citation style of the humanities — literature, languages, cultural studies — and its container system is elegant once you get it and maddening until then. This free MLA citation generator applies the 9th-edition core-elements logic to whatever details you paste, returning a correct works-cited entry and the matching in-text citation.

Web sources are where MLA trips people up most: what gets italics, what gets quotation marks, when to include an access date, what to do with a missing author. The generator handles those rules automatically and flags genuinely missing information instead of guessing.

Writing in APA or Chicago instead? The APA citation generator and Chicago citation generator are one click away, and the general citation generator adds Harvard style.

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