Citing A Lecture, Speech, Reading, Or Address: MLA (8th Ed.) Citation ...

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Citing lectures, speeches, or conference proceedings: MLA (9th ed.) citation guide

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This guide is based on the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 9th ed. and provides selected citation examples for common types of sources. For more detailed information, please consult the full manual: available in print and online.

Lecture, speech, reading or address

When citing a live presentation like a speech or lecture from a conference or an event, include the name of the sponsoring/presenting organization (after the title), and the venue (after date and before the wider location) in your works cited.

Parenthetical (in-text)

The presenter went to great lengths to prove his point regarding how your brain has been shaped by evolution (Crespi).

Works cited

A live lecture

Crespi, Bernie. "Darwin and Your Brain." Vancouver Evolution Festival. Simon Fraser University and University of British Columbia, 12 Feb. 2009, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver.

An online recording of a live presentation

Parker, Pardis. “Why Being a Billionaire is a Joke.” TED, Oct. 2022, www.ted.com/talks/pardis_parker_why_being_a_billionaire_is_a_joke.

Conference proceedings

A conference proceeding is the published record of a conference, congress, symposium, or other meeting sponsored by a society or association. The document will look similar to an article or book chapter (and it may in fact be a chapter in a book). To cite a conference proceeding, provide the same information as when citing a book or article, but also include additional information such as the title and date of the conference.

You may be citing an edited book of proceedings (see Edited print books) or a single presentation, in which you would cite the author(s)/presenter(s), the title of the presentation, and the conference proceeding details similar to a book chapter or journal article.

Parenthetical (in-text)

Social media provides a platform for more minority groups to speak out (Fu).

Works cited

Whole proceedings

Chang, Steve S., et al., editors. Proceedings of the Twenty-Fifth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, February 12–15, 1999: General Session and Parasession on Loan Word Phenomena. Berkeley Linguistics Society, 2000.

A single presentation

Fu, Yige, et al. “Research on the Influences of Social Media to Gender Equality.” SHS Web of Conferences, vol. 148, EDP Sciences, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/202214803026.