You've finished your essay. The argument is tight, the evidence is solid — and then you hit the last page and realize your Works Cited is a mess. Missing periods, wrong indentation, authors out of order. Sound familiar?
A Works Cited page might feel like a formality, but instructors take it seriously. Done right, it shows academic integrity and makes your paper look polished and professional. Done wrong, it can cost you points — even when your actual writing is great.
This guide walks you through exactly what a Works Cited page is, how to format one correctly in MLA style, and provides real works cited page examples you can follow right now.
What Is a Works Cited Page?
A Works Cited page is a list of every source you directly referenced in your paper. It appears at the very end of your document, on its own separate page. Every in-text citation in your essay must correspond to an entry on this page — and every entry on this page must match a citation in your essay.
It's important to distinguish a Works Cited page from a general bibliography. A bibliography may include sources you consulted but didn't cite. A Works Cited page includes only the sources you actually used. This is a common point of confusion, so keep it in mind.
Works Cited pages are primarily associated with MLA (Modern Language Association) format, which is widely used in the humanities — literature, language, film, and cultural studies. APA format uses a "References" page instead, which follows different rules.
MLA Works Cited Page: Core Formatting Rules
Before looking at a full works cited example, you need to understand the formatting requirements. MLA 9th edition (the current standard) specifies the following:
- Title: Center the words "Works Cited" at the top of the page — no bold, no italics, no quotation marks.
- Spacing: The entire page is double-spaced, including between entries.
- Indentation: Use a hanging indent — the first line of each entry is flush left, and all subsequent lines are indented 0.5 inches.
- Alphabetical order: Entries are listed alphabetically by the author's last name. If there is no author, alphabetize by the first significant word of the title.
- Page numbering: Continue your essay's page numbering (e.g., if your essay ends on page 5, the Works Cited is page 6).
- Margins: Standard 1-inch margins on all sides.
- Font: Times New Roman 12pt is the classic choice, though MLA 9 is flexible on font as long as it's readable and consistent.
Works Cited Page Example (MLA Format)
Below is a full works cited page example showing how entries for different source types should appear. Notice the consistent structure, punctuation, and hanging indent logic.
Works Cited
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Scribner, 1925.
Gladwell, Malcolm. "The Tipping Point." The New Yorker, 3 June 1996, pp. 32–39.
Morrison, Toni. Beloved. Alfred A. Knopf, 1987.
National Institutes of Health. "Understanding Sleep." NIH MedlinePlus, 15 Jan. 2023, medlineplus.gov/sleep.html.
Orwell, George. "Politics and the English Language." Horizon, vol. 13, no. 76, 1946, pp. 252–265.
Each entry follows the same core MLA pattern: Author. "Title of Source." Title of Container, Other Contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication Date, Location. Not every element applies to every source — you simply omit what isn't relevant.
How to Do a Works Cited Page: Entry Formats by Source Type
Different sources follow slightly different patterns. Here's a quick-reference breakdown of the most common ones.
Book (Single Author)
Format: Last, First. Title of Book. Publisher, Year.
Example: Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. McClelland and Stewart, 1985.
Book (Two Authors)
Format: Last, First, and First Last. Title of Book. Publisher, Year.
Example: Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic. Yale UP, 1979.
Journal Article
Format: Last, First. "Article Title." Journal Name, vol. #, no. #, Year, pp. #–#.
Example: Nguyen, Linh. "Climate Narratives in Young Adult Fiction." Journal of Children's Literature, vol. 48, no. 2, 2022, pp. 14–29.
Website or Online Article
Format: Last, First. "Page Title." Website Name, Day Month Year, URL.
Example: Bakshi, Priya. "How to Reduce Screen Fatigue." Healthline, 10 Mar. 2023, www.healthline.com/screen-fatigue.
No Author Listed
When no author is named, begin the entry with the title and alphabetize accordingly.
Example: "The History of Jazz Music." Encyclopedia Britannica, 2023, www.britannica.com/art/jazz.
If you find yourself unsure about formatting a tricky source — a podcast, a government report, a translated novel — the WriteGenius Citation Generator can build accurate MLA citations for you in seconds, eliminating the guesswork entirely.
MLA Cited Page Example: What the Full Page Looks Like
One of the most common student mistakes is understanding the individual entry rules but still getting the overall page layout wrong. Here's what to double-check when you're assembling your full MLA cited page:
- The heading is centered and reads exactly "Works Cited" — not "Bibliography," "References," or "Sources."
- There is no extra space between the heading and the first entry.
- All text is double-spaced — within entries and between them. No extra blank lines between entries.
- Hanging indent is applied to every entry (use the ruler or paragraph settings in your word processor — don't manually tab).
- Entries are in strict alphabetical order by the first word of the entry (usually the author's last name).
- Titles of long works (books, films, journals) are italicized; titles of short works (articles, poems, episodes) go in "quotation marks."
Annotated Works Cited Example
Some instructors assign an annotated Works Cited page, which includes a brief annotation (summary and/or evaluation) beneath each source entry. Annotations are typically 2–5 sentences and are not double-spaced from the entry — they begin on the next line, indented to match the hanging indent.
Here's an annotated works cited example:
Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The Story of Success. Little, Brown, 2008.
Gladwell examines the environmental and cultural factors behind exceptional achievement, arguing that success is less about individual talent than opportunity and practice. This source is useful for understanding the sociological dimensions of educational access and inequality.
The annotation goes directly beneath the citation, indented at the same 0.5-inch level. The entire annotation is still double-spaced. If you're writing annotations for many sources and struggling to summarize them concisely, the WriteGenius Summarizer can help you distill a source's key argument quickly before you write your annotation in your own words.
Common Works Cited Mistakes to Avoid
Even careful students make these errors. Watch out for:
- Wrong punctuation: MLA uses periods after the author name, title, and at the end of the entry. Commas separate elements within a container (e.g., journal name, volume, issue).
- Listing sources you didn't cite: Every entry must appear as an in-text citation in your paper.
- Forgetting the URL or DOI for online sources — MLA 9 generally requires a URL unless your instructor says otherwise.
- Capitalizing incorrectly: Capitalize all major words in a title (title case), but follow the source's original capitalization for proper nouns.
- Using "p." for page ranges in articles: MLA uses "pp." for a range of pages.
- Misidentifying the container: The "container" is the larger work a source lives in — a journal, a website, an anthology. Getting this wrong throws off the whole entry.
Once your Works Cited page is assembled, it's worth doing a final pass for punctuation and spelling errors. Running it through the WriteGenius Grammar Checker takes just a moment and catches the small typos that are easy to miss after hours of writing.
Quick Checklist Before You Submit
Use this final checklist every time:
- ☐ Page title reads "Works Cited" — centered, not bold or italicized
- ☐ Entire page is double-spaced
- ☐ Hanging indent applied to all entries
- ☐ Entries listed in alphabetical order by first word
- ☐ Long work titles italicized; short work titles in quotation marks
- ☐ Every in-text citation has a matching Works Cited entry (and vice versa)
- ☐ URLs included for all online sources
- ☐ Correct punctuation throughout (periods, commas, colons in right places)
Final Thoughts
A well-formatted Works Cited page is one of the clearest signals that a student takes their work seriously. It doesn't take long to get right once you understand the rules — and with the examples and checklist above, you have everything you need to format it confidently.
When in doubt, build your citations one at a time, check each against the format guide, and always verify that your in-text citations and Works Cited entries match. Your future self (and your instructor) will thank you.