MLA Style Guide For Citations (9th Edition): Title Of Container

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The "title of container" applies only if the source you are citing is a part of a larger work. Examples of sources that have containers are articles or information from websites.

For example, if you are citing an article from The New York Times titled "The Hunt for an Alaskan Bumblebee" the title of the source is "The Hunt for an Alaskan Bumblebee," while The New York Times is the title of the container.

In the case of a website, you may find a webpage that has information specific to your research. You would cite the title of the page as the title of source, and the title of the whole website would be the title of container.

Some sources that have containers

• An article published in a newspaper
• An article published in a scholarly journal
• A song on an album
• A poem in a collection of poems
• A short story in a collection of short stories
• An essay in a collection of essays
• An episode of a television series
• Information published on a website
• An encyclopedia entry

Quotes or Italics?

Whether a title is in quotes or italics depends on whether the title is part of a larger work.

A source that is contained within a larger work, such as an article from a magazine, appears in quotes and is followed by a period. "Containers," that is self-contained sources, such as a printed book, will be listed in italics and followed by a comma.

Title in "Quotes"	Title in Italics
Article	Magazine
Chapter of a book	Book
Poem	Book of poetry
Video	Website
Song	Album
Image of a work of art	Art museum website
PDF of an online document	Website

Example citations

Essay published in a book

Baron, Naomi. “Digital Revolution and the Future of American Reading.” A Companion to American Literature, edited by Susan Belasco, Wiley-Blackwell, 2020, pp. 480-495. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=2436424&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Online video

RegisteredNurseRN. “Heart Layers Anatomy Nursing: Pericardium, Epicardium, Endocardium.” YouTube, 27 May 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APJzmA4kDxE.

Poem published in a book

Gorman, Amanda. "Life." Call Us What We Carry, Viking, 2021.

Article published on a website

Elezaj, Rilind. “Autonomous Cars: Safety Opportunity or Cybersecurity Threat?” MachineDesign, 16 July 2019, https://www.machinedesign.com/ mechanical-motion-systems/article/21837958/autonomous-carssafety-opportunity-or-cybersecurity-threat.

Article published in a scholarly journal

Repova, Kristina, et al. “Melatonin as a Potential Approach to Anxiety Treatment.” International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vol. 23, no. 24, Dec. 2022, pp. 161-187. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms232416187.

Information published on a website

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Psychologists.” Occupational Outlook Handbook, U.S. Department of Labor, 16 Feb. 2024, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/psychologists.htm

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