If you have been unable to determine an element (author, publication date, publisher, etc.) you may need to adjust the citation format. Below are several different examples of how to handle missing information. In many cases, MLA formatting calls for skipping over the information that is missing.
|
Missing Element |
Solution | Work Cited Entry | In-text Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Author | Begin the citation with the title of the work when there is no known author. For the in-text citation, provide the first two or three main words of the title. |
Book: Title. City of Pub, Publisher, Year of Pub. Academic Article: "Title." Title of Periodical, Volume, Issue, Year of Pub, Page Numbers. |
(Shortened Title Page Numbers) ("Shortened Title" Page Numbers) |
| Title | Provide a short description of the resource. |
Book: Author. Description of Source. City of Pub, Publisher, Year of Pub. Academic Article: "Title." Title of Periodical, Volume, Issue, Year of Pub, Page Numbers. |
(Author Page Numbers) (Author Page Numbers) |
| Title of Container |
A stand alone book will not have a container. Proceed as usual. All published academic articles will have a journal title which must be included. For unpublished articles, see the MLA 9 handbook. |
Book: Author. Title. City of Pub, Publisher, Year of Pub. Academic Article: Author. "Title." Title of Periodical, Volume, Issue, Year of Pub, Page Numbers. |
(Author Page Numbers) (Author Page Numbers) |
| Contributor | Not all items will have a contributor (illustrator, narrator, translator, editor, etc.). In this case, continue with your citation as normal. |
Book: Author. Title. City of Pub, Publisher, Year of Pub. Academic Article: Author. "Title." Title of Periodical, Volume, Issue, Year of Pub, Page Numbers. |
(Author Page Numbers) (Author Page Numbers) |
| Version/Edition Volume |
Not all items will have a version or edition number. In this case, continue with your citation as normal. Published academic articles will almost always have a volume number. |
Book: Author. Title. City of Pub, Publisher, Year of Pub. Academic Article: Author. "Title." Title of Periodical, Issue, Year of Pub, Page Numbers. |
(Author Page Numbers) (Author Page Numbers) |
| Number/Issue |
Not all items will have a version or edition number. In this case, continue with your citation as normal. Published academic articles may or may not have an issue number. |
Book: Author. Title. City of Pub, Publisher, Year of Pub. Academic Article: Author. "Title." Title of Periodical, Volume, Year of Pub, Page Numbers. |
(Author Page Numbers) (Author Page Numbers) |
| City of Publication |
City of publication is only required when the book has been published before 1900 or if the Publisher operates in more than one country. If unknown or if the condition does not apply, this can be skipped. |
Book: Author. Title. Publisher, Year of Pub. Academic Article: Author. "Title." Title of Periodical, Volume, Issue, Year of Pub, Page Numbers. |
(Author Page Numbers) (Author Page Numbers) |
| Publisher | If publisher is unknown continue with your citation as normal. |
Book: Author. Title. City of Pub, Year of Pub. Academic Article: Author. "Title." Title of Periodical, Volume, Issue, Year of Pub, Page Numbers. |
(Author Page Numbers) (Author Page Numbers) |
| Publication Date |
If there is no publication date, list the date you accessed the item at the end of the citation. |
Book: Author. Title. City of Pub, Publisher. Accessed Day, Month, Year. Academic Article: Author. "Title." Title of Periodical, Volume, Issue, Page Numbers. Accessed Day, Month, Year. |
(Author Page Numbers) (Author Page Numbers) |
| Location/ Page Numbers |
In most cases, if there are no given page numbers, continue with your citation as normal. For websites, this will instead be the URL from the page. |
Book: Author. Title. City of Pub, Publisher, Year of Pub. Academic Article: Author. "Title." Title of Periodical, Volume, Issue, Year of Pub. |
(Author) (Author) |