When citing an article in MLA style, your citation should follow one of the basic formats below.
Article with a DOI
A DOI, or digital object identifier, is a unique string of numbers and letters associated with an online publication. You can use DOIs to easily find a journal article. You can learn more in our guide to finding a DOI.
Author Last Name, First Name. “Title of the Article.” Journal/Magazine/Newspaper Title, vol., issue no., Year, pages # - #, Name of Database, DOI.
Richardson, Janice. "Spinoza, Feminism and Privacy: Exploring an Immanent Ethics of Privacy." Feminist Legal Studies, vol. 22, no. 3, 2014, pp. 225-241. Genderwatch, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10691-014-9271-3.
Article without a DOI, from an academic research database or print version
If you have found an article in a database but it does not have a DOI, you can use a permalink or shortened database URL. Permalinks are usually found in the “Share” options of an article in a database, and stand for “Permanent Link” – use these instead of just copy-pasting from the browser, as they are more stable and less likely to break over time.
Author Last Name, First Name. "Title of the Article." Journal/Magazine/Newspaper Title, vol., no., Year, page # - #, Name of Database, Permalink.
Russell, Bertrand. “The Expanding Mental Universe.” Saturday Evening Post, vol. 232, no. 3, pp. 24-93. Academic Search Premier, https://unr.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=17824382&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Article without a DOI, with a non-database URL
You do not need to include https://www in your shortened URL.
Author Last Name, First Name. “Title of the Article.” Journal/Magazine/Newspaper Title, vol., no., Day Month Year OR Season, Permalink or shortened URL. Accessed Day Month Year.
Ramanan, Mohan. "The Classical Music Culture of South India." Indialogs: Spanish Journal of India Studies, vol. 1, 01 July 2014, pp. 134-45, revistes.uab.cat/indialogs/article/view/v1-ramanan/pdf. Accessed 10 Aug. 2017.
More information
To see more examples and other situations of citing books in MLA style, see the library's online MLA Citation Guide. You can also find the MLA Handbook (9th edition) in the Knowledge Center’s reference collection and in the Book Stacks. Purdue’s Online Writing Lab also has a comprehensive guide to MLA style.