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Cite Your Sources

Learn why and how to cite books, articles, and other sources in your research paper..

MLA Style Guide

Formatting Your Paper

Key Ideas for Formatting Your MLA Paper

The Entire Document

  • Use a standard font and size, such as 12-point Times New Roman (for print) or Aptos (for digital).
  • Double-space your paper, including your Works Cited page.
  • Set 1-inch margins.
  • Indent the first line of each paragraph.
  • Insert a running header in the upper-right-hand corner with your last name and the page number.
 

Works Cited Page

  • Start your list of Works Cited on a separate page at the end of your paper.
  • All text should be double-spaced.
  • Continue page numbering from the body of your paper.
  • Center the title Works Cited at the top of the page.
  • Alphabetize by the first word in each entry, typically the last name of the first author.
  • Create a hanging indent, where the first line of each entry is all the way to the left, and each subsequent line is indented.

MLA Research Paper Template

MLA: In-Text Citations

Key Points: In-text Citations

Cite with a Signal Phrase

When you introduce a source by name in your sentence, you do not need to include their name in your parenthetical citation.

Lott argues that the standard explanation of Plato's views is no longer satisfactory (218).

Cite Parenthetically

If you don't introduce a source in the text, include the author's name in your parenthetical citation.

Contemporary readers understand Whitman as a queer American poet, even going so far as to say that the "Calamus" poems represented "the poetic province of the first gay American" (Killingsworth 131).

Long Quotations

Use quotations sparingly, primarily when you want to convey an important phrase, scene, or description. If you'd like to quote a passage of four or more lines, remove quotation marks and indent.  (See "Long Quotations" on Purdue's MLA Formatting Quotations page for more.)

MLA: Citing AI Usage

Always check with your instructor before using generative AI for any portion of a course assignment. Some courses may allow limited uses of generative AI; in others, the use of AI may be considered a violation of the honor code. No matter what, any time you use generative AI for an assignment, you need to acknowledge and cite it.  

According to MLA style, you must: 

  • Cite a generative AI tool whenever you paraphrase, quote, or incorporate into your own work any content (whether text, image, data, or other) that was created by it; 
  • Acknowledge all functional uses of the tool (like editing your prose or translating words) in a note, your text, or another suitable location; 
  • Vet the secondary sources it cites.  

 

Examples

In-Text Citation

When prompted to respond as Isaac Asimov, ChatGPT identified lack of oversight, the amplification of bias, and the outsourcing of thinking as areas for concern in the modern deployment of generative AI ("What would Isaac Asimov").

Works Cited Page

"What would Isaac Asimov think of the state of AI today?" ChatGPT, 4.1, OpenAI, 2 July 2025. https://chatgpt.com/share/68659b06-81cc-800a-9226-eb8a58e450db.

 

Acknowledgment Statements

For functional uses of AI that are not so easily cited (like brainstorming, outlining, or proofreading text), use an acknowledgment statement that shares the way you used a particular tool. Insert this statement in a secton after your Works Cited page.

When it's possible, you should always include a link to any prompts or conversations. But if the tool doesn't provide a link, you'll need to show your work in other ways. Unlike an article, book, film, or other traditional source, generative AI changes based on the prompt, time, and other contextual elements, and your reader may not be able to replicate the ways in which you've used a particular tool. Your professor may ask you to include the entire conversation, with prompts, in the text or a note or you can include an "acknowledgement statement" that demonstrates how you've used generative AI. 

 
A sample acknowledgement statement might look like this:

I acknowledge the use of [insert AI system(s) and link] to [specific use of generative artificial intelligence]. The prompts used include [list of prompts]. The output of these prompts was used to [explain use]. 

 
Or this:

I acknowledge the use of ChatGPT (https://chat.openai.com) to generate an outline for the assigned essay. The prompts used included:

  • create an outline for a college level paper on the Cold War
  • include sections on foreign and domestic policy
  • write in an academic style. The output from these prompts was used to create an outline that was modified then used to write the final paper.

Generative AI is quickly developing, and different ways of using these tools will be allowed for different instructors and assignments. Always check with your professor to make sure your specific use of ChatGPT or other generative AI is permitted.