Georgia State University Library

  • Georgia State University Library
  • Help and Answers

Q. How do I cite the United States Constitution in MLA?

  • 23 About the Library
  • 19 Borrowing Services
  • 22 Business
  • 17 Catalog (GIL-Find)
  • 12 Citations
  • 16 Computers, Wi-Fi & Software
  • 27 Databases & GALILEO
  • 15 Faculty & Graduate Students
  • 6 iCollege & Online Students
  • 7 Interlibrary Loan & GIL Express
  • 6 Logging In & Passwords
  • 8 Policies, Fines & Fees
  • 9 Print, Copy & Scan
  • 36 Research Help & Services
  • 7 Reserves, Textbooks & OER
  • 25 Spaces and Locations
  • 15 Video & Film

Answered By: Jason Puckett Last Updated: Aug 10, 2021     Views: 20853

According to the  MLA Style Center page on Document Legal Works in MLA Style :   

The section of the United States Constitution is represented in the Works Cited list as follows:

United States Constitution . Art./Amend. XII, Sec. 3.

The intext citation would follow this pattern:

(US Const. amend. XII, sec. 3)

If a constitution is published in a named edition, treat it like the title of a book:  

The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription .  National Archives , United States National Archives and Records Administration, 28 Feb. 2017,  www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript#toc-article-iv- .  

The Constitution of the United States, with Case Summaries . Edited by Edward Conrad Smith, 9th ed., Barnes and Noble Books, 1972.  

References to the United States Constitution in your prose should follow the usual styling of titles of laws:  

the Constitution  

But  your in-text reference should key readers to the appropriate entry: 

( Constitution of the United States, with Case Summaries )

For more information, also  take a look  at  Purdue Owl’s Writing Lab page on MLA FAQ’s  which also includes a passage on the how to cite the US constitution.

updated 8/10/21 mac

  • Share on Facebook

Was this helpful? Yes 8 No 18

Comments (0)

Related topics.

Walsh University: LibAnswers banner

  • Walsh University

Q. how do i cite the Constitution in MLA?

  • 104 About the Library
  • 59 About Walsh University
  • 12 Archives
  • 30 Business Resources
  • 25 Checking out Items
  • 204 Citing Sources
  • 49 Copyright
  • 53 Finding articles
  • 34 Microsoft Office
  • 10 Miscellaneous
  • 3 Nurse Theorists
  • 3 Nursing Theory
  • 3 Practice Tests
  • 184 Research
  • 42 Tech Questions
  • 32 Technology Tools
  • 10 Textbooks
  • 93 Using Databases
  • Share on Facebook

Was this helpful? Yes 783 No 97

Answered By: Katie Hutchison Last Updated: Aug 08, 2016     Views: 227982

The 7 th edition of the MLA handbook has this to say about citing the U.S. Constitution: "In general, do not italicize or enclose in quotation marks the title of laws, acts, and similar documents in either the text or the list of works cited (Declaration of Independence, Constitution of the United States, Taft-Hartley Act). Such titles are usually abbreviated, and the works are cited by sections. The years are added if relevant" (205). Because these directives aren’t very specific, you can use the following example as a guide for the Works Cited entry: U.S. Constitution . Art./Amend. XII, Sec. 3. You need only provide either the article number or the amendment number as appropriate. The complementary parenthetical citation is written as (US Const. amend. XII, sec. 3). You might also reference the U.S. Constitution in the sentence itself and only provide the amendment and section number in the parentheses at the end of the sentence.

Links & Files

  • Writing and Citing

Comments (2)

  • How would I cite the Constitution if I'm only using the part explaining our unalienable rights? by M on Apr 18, 2017
  • @M - follow the directions to include the amendment and section by Katie Hutchison on Apr 18, 2017

Contact Us!

Like Us!

Questions? Ask Us!

Related topics.

  • Citing Sources

Legal Citation Guide: U.S. Constitution

  • U.S. Constitution
  • Law Review Articles

Anatomy of a U.S. Constitution Citation

mla format citation us constitution

More examples:

The preamble to the U.S. Constitution: 

U.S. Const.  pmbl.

U.S. Bill of Rights

U.S. Const. amend. I–X.

Article I, Section 9, clause 2, of the U.S. Constitution:

U.S. Const. art. I, § 9, cl. 2.

Article III, sections 1 through 2 of the U.S. Constitution:

U.S. Const. art. III, §§ 1–2.

Tips and FAQs

Q: How do I cite the U.S. Constitution as a whole?

A: Generally, you don't. When citing the Constitution, cite the specific pieces you are using, instead of the whole document. APA style explains that when referring to a whole constitution, indicating the constitution in the narrative is sufficient:

"The U.S. Constitution has 26 amendments."

Article and amendment numbers are given in Roman numerals (I, II, III); section and clause numbers are given in Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3).

For state constitutions, use the abbreviated name of the state:

N.C. Const.    Ariz. Const.    etc.

When citing a provision that has been amended, add the date it was amended in parentheses.

For APA and MLA style, this would be the reference entry, and for Chicago style this would be the footnote:

U.S. Const. amend. XVIII (repealed 1933)

APA / MLA in-text: ( U.S. Const. amend. XVIII, repealed 1933)

On the treatment of reference list / bibliography entries:

APA and MLA style both require reference list entries and in-text citations for specific pieces of constitutions. The formatting is generally the same for both reference list entries and in-text citations.

When using only a handful of legal citations in Chicago style, the recommendation is to limit legal citations to the text itself, using narrative to include information that would have gone in the footnotes. However, when using several legal documents in Chicago style, supplement with footnotes.

Chicago style requires only footnote citations for legal documents. The documents do not need to be listed in the bibliography.

Common Abbreviations

CONST. = Constitution

§ = section

§§ = sections

art. = article

amend. = amendment

pmbl. = preamble

cl. = clause

  • << Previous: Overview
  • Next: Case Law >>
  • Last Updated: Oct 23, 2023 1:28 PM
  • URL: https://guides.highpoint.edu/legal_citation

University of Portland Clark Library

Thursday, February 23: The Clark Library is closed today.

MLA Style (9th Edition) Citation Guide: Government & Legal Documents

  • Introduction to MLA Style
  • Journal Articles
  • Magazine/Newspaper Articles
  • Books & Ebooks
  • Government & Legal Documents
  • Biblical Sources
  • Secondary Sources
  • Videos/DVDs/TV Shows
  • How to Cite: Other
  • 9th Edition Updates
  • Additional Help

Table of Contents

Government document from a website.

Government Document In Print

Court Decision

Statute (legislation), unenacted bill or resolution.

Note: All citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent in a Reference List.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

In your works cited list, abbreviate months as follows: 

January = Jan. February = Feb. March = Mar. April = Apr. May = May June = June July = July August = Aug. September = Sept. October = Oct. November = Nov. December = Dec.

Spell out months fully in the body of your paper. 

Capitalize the first letter of every important word in the title. You do not need to capitalize words such as: in, of, or an.

If there is a colon (:) in the title, include what comes after the colon (also known as the subtitle).

The format of dates is: Day Month (shortened) Year. E.g. 5 Sept. 2012.

Whether to give the year alone or include a month and day depends on your source: write the full date as you find it there.

If no date is listed, omit it unless you can find that information available in a reliable source.

Access Date

Date of access is optional in MLA 8th/9th edition; it is recommended for pages that may change frequently or that do not have a copyright/publication date.

Legal Citations

From the MLA Style website: "Following one of the fundamental principles of MLA style, writers citing legal works should document the version of the work they consult—not the canonical version of the law, as in legal style. As with any source in MLA style, how you document it will generally depend on the information provided by the version of the source you consulted." See " Documenting Legal Works in MLA Style " on the MLA website.

Known Author

Cite the author of the publication if the author is identified. Otherwise, start with the name of the national government, followed by the agency (including any subdivisions or agencies) that serves as the organizational author. For congressional documents, be sure to include the number of the Congress and the session when the hearing was held or resolution passed as well as the report number. US government documents are typically published by the Government Printing Office.

Name of National Government, Agency, Subdivision. Title of Document: Subtitle if Given . Edition if given and is not first edition, Name of Government Department, Agency or Committee, Publication Date, URL. Accessed Access Date.

Works Cited List Example:

United States, Congress, House, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act. Government Publishing Office, 17 Apr. 2012, www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-111hhrg50208/html/CHRG-111hhrg50208.htm. 112th Congress, 2nd Session, House Report 112-445. Accessed 22 Oct. 2019.

In-Text Citation Example:

(Shortened Title of Document)

Unknown Author

If a personal author or a corporate author (e.g. government agency or organization) cannot be identified, start the citation with the title of the document.

Title of Document: Subtitle if Given . Edition if given and is not first edition, Name of Government Department, Agency or Committee, Publication Date, URL. Accessed Access Date.

  Healthy People 2020.  Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. 2011, www.healthypeople.gov/. Accessed 6 July 2016 .

 (Title of Document)

  Example : (Healthy People 2020)

Government Document in Print

Title of Document : Subtitle if Given . Edition if given and is not first edition, Name of Government Department, Agency or Committee, Publication Date.

Dictionary of Occupational Titles . Dept. of Labor. Employment and Training Administration, 1977.

( Title of Document )

Government Entity as Author. Name of the Case . Date of the Decision. Title of Container, Publisher, URL (if online).

United States, Supreme Court. Brown v. Board of Education . 17 May 1954. Legal Information Institute , Cornell U Law School, www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/347/483.

In-Text Paraphrase:

(United States Supreme Court).

In-Text Quote:

(United States Supreme Court Syllabus (d)).

Italicize the case name in the text of your paper also.

Government Entity as Author. Name of the Public Law. Title of Container , Date, Pages. Publisher , URL (if online).

United States, Congress. Public Law 104-191, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. govinfo.gov, 1996. U.S. Government Printing Office , https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/PLAW-104publ191.

(United States Congress)

(United States Congress Section 264)

Government Entity as Author. Name of the Bill or Resolution. Title of Container , URL. Congressional session, Bill/Resolution number, last status.

Example (Senate):

United States, Congress, Senate. Anti-Phishing Act of 2005. Congress.gov, https://www.congress.gov/bill/109th-congress/senate-bill/472. 109th Congress, Senate Bill 472, Introduced 28 Feb. 2005.

Example: (House):

United States, Congress, House. Anti-Phishing Act of 2005. Congress.gov, https://www.congress.gov/bill/109th-congress/house-bill/1099. 109th Congress, House Resolution 1099, Introduced 03 Mar. 2005.

(United States Congress, House)

(United States Congress, House Section 1351 "Internet Fraud")

  • << Previous: Books & Ebooks
  • Next: Websites >>
  • Last Updated: Dec 6, 2023 4:35 PM
  • URL: https://libguides.up.edu/mla

mla format citation us constitution

The Plagiarism Checker Online For Your Academic Work

Start Plagiarism Check

Editing & Proofreading for Your Research Paper

Get it proofread now

Online Printing & Binding with Free Express Delivery

Configure binding now

  • Academic essay overview
  • The writing process
  • Structuring academic essays
  • Types of academic essays
  • Academic writing overview
  • Sentence structure
  • Academic writing process
  • Improving your academic writing
  • Titles and headings
  • APA style overview
  • APA citation & referencing
  • APA structure & sections
  • Citation & referencing
  • Structure and sections
  • APA examples overview
  • Commonly used citations
  • Other examples
  • British English vs. American English
  • Chicago style overview
  • Chicago citation & referencing
  • Chicago structure & sections
  • Chicago style examples
  • Citing sources overview
  • Citation format
  • Citation examples
  • College essay overview
  • Application
  • How to write a college essay
  • Types of college essays
  • Commonly confused words
  • Definitions
  • Dissertation overview
  • Dissertation structure & sections
  • Dissertation writing process
  • Graduate school overview
  • Application & admission
  • Study abroad
  • Master degree
  • Harvard referencing overview
  • Language rules overview
  • Grammatical rules & structures
  • Parts of speech
  • Punctuation
  • Methodology overview
  • Analyzing data
  • Experiments
  • Observations
  • Inductive vs. Deductive
  • Qualitative vs. Quantitative
  • Types of validity
  • Types of reliability
  • Sampling methods
  • Theories & Concepts
  • Types of research studies
  • Types of variables
  • MLA style overview
  • MLA examples
  • MLA citation & referencing
  • MLA structure & sections
  • Plagiarism overview
  • Plagiarism checker
  • Types of plagiarism
  • Printing production overview
  • Research bias overview
  • Types of research bias
  • Example sections
  • Types of research papers
  • Research process overview
  • Problem statement
  • Research proposal
  • Research topic
  • Statistics overview
  • Levels of measurment
  • Frequency distribution
  • Measures of central tendency
  • Measures of variability
  • Hypothesis testing
  • Parameters & test statistics
  • Types of distributions
  • Correlation
  • Effect size
  • Hypothesis testing assumptions
  • Types of ANOVAs
  • Types of chi-square
  • Statistical data
  • Statistical models
  • Spelling mistakes
  • Tips overview
  • Academic writing tips
  • Dissertation tips
  • Sources tips
  • Working with sources overview
  • Evaluating sources
  • Finding sources
  • Including sources
  • Types of sources

Your Step to Success

Plagiarism Check within 10min

Printing & Binding with 3D Live Preview

How to Cite the Constitution in MLA – A Guide

How do you like this article cancel reply.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

How-to-Cite-the-Constitution-in-MLA-01

Knowing how to cite the Constitution properly in MLA format is crucial for students and academics studying humanities, particularly in languages and literature. This guide offers a detailed, step-by-step approach and provides examples for citing this important document. Additionally, the article introduces the AOA (Alphabetical Order of Appearance) reference order as an alternative method for citation.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

  • 1 In a nutshell: How to cite the constitution in MLA
  • 2 Definition: How to cite the Constitution in MLA
  • 3 How to cite the Constitution in MLA: General format
  • 4 How to cite the Constitution in MLA: Printed version
  • 5 How to cite the Constitution in MLA: References in your text

In a nutshell: How to cite the constitution in MLA

  • This article highlights the importance of citing the Constitution in academic writing .
  • The MLA citation style is being introduced and how to properly apply it.
  • Additionally, the correct usage of the AOA reference order will be explained.

Definition: How to cite the Constitution in MLA

When it comes to referencing the United States Constitution in academic writing, citing it in MLA format follows the guidelines set by the Modern Language Association.

How to cite the Constitution in MLA: General format

Work cited entry.

For the works cited entry, the citation should include the title of the document (the Constitution), the article and section being referenced, and the publication details. If citing a print version, the name of the publisher, the publication date, and the medium should also be included.

In-text citation

The in-text citation is fairly straightforward. It should include the title of the document (the Constitution) and the article and section being referenced.

How to cite the Constitution in MLA: Printed version

To cite a print version of the Constitution, use the following format:

How to cite the Constitution in MLA: References in your text

When referring to the Constitution in the body of your text, you should always capitalize the “C” in Constitution.

As noted in the Constitution (Art. 1, Sec. 8), Congress has the power to regulate commerce.

What's the difference between MLA and other citation styles?

MLA is generally used for humanities subjects and places a lot of emphasis on the authorship of the work. Other citation styles have different areas of emphasis. For example, APA style is often used in the social sciences and emphasizes the date a work was published.

Do I need to include the AOA reference order in my MLA citations?

The AOA reference order isn’t typically used in MLA citations. However, understanding it can offer you another perspective on citation order.

What happens if I forget to cite the Constitution in my academic work?

Failure to properly cite any sources, including the Constitution, can result in accusations of plagiarism, which is a serious academic offense.

We use cookies on our website. Some of them are essential, while others help us to improve this website and your experience.

  • External Media

Individual Privacy Preferences

Cookie Details Privacy Policy Imprint

Here you will find an overview of all cookies used. You can give your consent to whole categories or display further information and select certain cookies.

Accept all Save

Essential cookies enable basic functions and are necessary for the proper function of the website.

Show Cookie Information Hide Cookie Information

Statistics cookies collect information anonymously. This information helps us to understand how our visitors use our website.

Content from video platforms and social media platforms is blocked by default. If External Media cookies are accepted, access to those contents no longer requires manual consent.

Privacy Policy Imprint

Banner

POLS 105G: American Constitutional Law: Citing Sources in MLA Format

  • Reference Books
  • U.S. Constitution
  • First Amendment
  • Second Amendment
  • Fifth & Sixth Amendments
  • Fourteenth Amendment
  • Amendments Related to Voting Rights
  • Databases & Periodicals
  • Understanding Primary Sources
  • Evaluating the Quality of Information
  • Just for Fun
  • Understanding Legal Citations
  • Citing Sources in APA Format

Citing Sources in MLA Format

  • Citing Sources in Chicago Style
  • Citing AI-Generated Content
  • Classified Documents
  • Impeachment
  • 25th Amendment

mla format citation us constitution

The NCC Librarians and Learning Center staff have collaborated to bring you a concise guide to using MLA format, which contains examples based on the databases you will find at the NCC Libraries.

To view this guide as a PDF file, click the link below .

  • NCC Library MLA Handout

Need more help with citations?

1) The  MLA Handbook  has its own  website , which includes a quick citation guide, list of frequently asked questions, and an interactive citation template.

2) Purdue University's  Online Writing Lab  (OWL) has lots of helpful information about using MLA style, including sample citations, video tutorials, and a tool that will automatically convert publication information into the correct format.

3) This YouTube video produced by Hayden Memorial Library at Citrus College explains how to cite an  article from a  scholarly journal  found in a database, using the 9th edition of MLA format.

  • << Previous: Citing Sources in APA Format
  • Next: Citing Sources in Chicago Style >>
  • Last Updated: Feb 12, 2024 2:27 PM
  • URL: https://libguides.northampton.edu/Constitution

Home / How to Cite the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution

How to Cite the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution

In honor of the Fourth of July and the most patriotic month of the year in America, let’s look at some tips on how to cite the Declaration of Independence and similar important historical documents in MLA format and APA format . USA!

  • If you are citing a website with information about the Declaration or the Constitution (even if you can read the document on the site), you should follow the format for the source type “website” to make the citation in your works cited or reference list. 
  • If you are citing the Declaration or Constitution itself as a whole (not specific parts), do not cite it in your APA 7 bibliography or Chicago-style bibliography . This is because both are considered well-known, or common knowledge, documents. They should only be referenced in narrative or parenthetical citations. For additional specifics on style requirements, see the sections below for each particular style manual.
  • In your text, do not underline or use quotation marks for the words Declaration of Independence or Constitution of the United States. Simply use a parenthetical citation like the examples below. Try to be as specific as possible, and use the section, clause, or amendment numbers. For example:

…in the Declaration of Independence (1776).

…In the Constitution of the United States, Article III refers to the …. (sec. 1, cl. 3).

…in the U.S. Constitution (art. II, sec. 1, cl. 3.).

…slavery was finally abolished in December 1865 (US Const., amend. XIII).

  • The most important tip is to be consistent with your citations throughout your paper. Try to maintain some sort of uniformity throughout your references to the Declaration or Constitution, and be sure to include as much information as possible.

Creating bibliography entries 

Though you’re not always required to cite a whole federal or state constitution in APA or Chicago styles, you must include in-text citations and reference entries when you refer to specific articles, amendments, and/or sections of a federal constitution or state charter. If you’re following MLA 9 style, you can include a works-cited list entry and in-text citation both for the entire constitution or for specific parts (see examples below).

Create a reference following the correct format for the specific source type. For example, a printed copy of the Constitution found in a book or a digital transcription of the Declaration of Independence found on a website.

APA 7 format: U.S. Constitution

Again, if you’re citing the U.S. Constitution as a whole, not a certain part, a citation isn’t required in APA 7 style. Instead, refer to the Constitution in the text.

However, if you’re citing a specific part, follow the format below, depending on the part you’re citing.

For narrative citations of specific parts of the Constitution, capitalize the specific parts and use the roman numeral or Arabic numeral. For example, Article II, Amendment V, or Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution.

APA 7 format: Declaration of Independence

As with the U.S. Constitution, APA 7 doesn’t require including a reference entry when you’re citing the Declaration of Independence as a whole. Generally, when citing the Declaration of Independence, you would do so in the text. For example, the U.S. Declaration of Independence, Paragraph 4 (1776) states…

However, if you’re referencing a website that contains a copy of the Declaration, follow the webpage on a website format of APA 7.

MLA 9 format: U.S. Constitution

Mla 9 format: declaration of independence.

In MLA 9 style, follow the usual styling of titles of laws when writing them in your prose or the body of your essay (the Constitution not The Constitution ).

Chicago-style format: U.S. Constitution

Do not include a bibliography entry for a constitution when using The Chicago Manual of Style . Instead, include the information in the text or in a footnote or endnote, using note-bibliography style.

If you’re citing a specific part, follow the format below, depending on the part you’re citing. The format below follows Chicago’s note-bibliography style.

Chicago-style format: Declaration of Independence

As with the Constitution, if you’re citing the Declaration of Independence as a whole when using Chicago style, you don’t typically include a bibliography entry. You would include the information in the text or in a footnote or endnote. However, if you find a copy of the Declaration of Independence in a format that requires a bibliography entry, a book or a transcript found on a website, for example, you would follow the format for that particular source. The examples and templates below follow the format for website content.

*Note: If the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution is a standalone publication (not published as a published book or an article online), it should be cited in the text, not italicized or in quotation marks.

Updated July 14, 2022.

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

We are sorry that this post was not useful for you!

Let us improve this post!

Tell us how we can improve this post?

If you want to cite the Declaration, do not cite it in the reference list or works cited list, as it is a popular document. Include it only in in-text citations. However, do not italicize the Declaration of Independence or enclose it in quotes.

APA in-text citations

(Name of Government Agency, Publication Year)

. . . as stated In the Declaration of Independence (US 1772)

MLA in-text citations

Shorten the title of the government agency in parenthetical citations.

(Name of Government Agency)

(Declaration)

If you want to cite the Declaration of Independence, do not cite it in the reference list or works cited list, as it is a well-known document. Include it only in in-text citations. Do not italicize Declaration of Independence in your citation or enclose the words in quotes.

. . . as stated In the Declaration of Independence (US, 1776)

Shorten the title of the document (or the article, if the Declaration was accessed through a website) in parenthetical citations.

(Shortened title)

Citation Basics

Harvard Referencing

Plagiarism Basics

Plagiarism Checker

Upload a paper to check for plagiarism against billions of sources and get advanced writing suggestions for clarity and style.

Get Started

Documenting Legal Works in MLA Style

Gaining familiarity with the legal-citation practices used to document legal works may be impractical for student writers and sometimes even for scholars working in nonlegal fields. Nonspecialists can use MLA style to cite legal sources in one of two ways: strict adherence to the MLA format template or a hybrid method incorporating the standard legal citation into the works-cited-list entry. In either case, titles of legal works should be standardized in your prose and list of works cited according to the guidelines below.

Legal Style

Legal publications have traditionally followed the style set forth in the Harvard Law Review Association’s Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation , although some law reviews, such as the University of Chicago Law Review , have published their own style manuals. A more streamlined version of the Bluebook ’s legal-citation method, the ALWD Guide to Legal Citation , was introduced in 2000. The Legal Information Institute, a nonprofit associated with Cornell Law School, publishes an online guide to legal citation geared toward practitioners and nonspecialists instead of academics.

Those working in law are introduced to the conventions of legal citation during their professional training. Legal style is a highly complex shorthand code with specialized terminology that helps legal scholars and lawyers cite legal sources succinctly. It points specialists to the authoritative publication containing the legal opinion or law, regardless of the version the writer consulted.

Students and scholars working outside the legal profession and using MLA style should follow the MLA format template to cite laws, public documents, court cases, and other related material. Familiarize yourself with the guidelines in the MLA Handbook , sections 5.17–22, for corporate authors and government authors.

Following one of the fundamental principles of MLA style, writers citing legal works should document the version of the work they consult—not the canonical version of the law, as in legal style. As with any source in MLA style, how you document it will generally depend on the information provided by the version of the source you consulted.

Titles pose the greatest challenge to citing legal works in MLA style. Since MLA style keys references in the text to a list of works cited (unlike court filings, which cite works in the text of the brief, or academic legal writings, which cite works in footnotes ), writers should, with a few exceptions (noted below), standardize titles of legal sources in their prose and list of works cited. Following the MLA Handbook , italicize the names of court cases (70):

Marbury v. Madison

When you cite laws, acts, and political documents, capitalize their names like titles and set them in roman font (69):

Law of the Sea Treaty
Civil Rights Act
Code of Federal Regulations

When a legal source is contained within another work—for example, when the United States Code appears on a website that has a separate title—follow the MLA Handbook and treat the source as an independent publication (27). That is, style the title just as you would in prose—in italics if it is the name of a court case, in roman if it is a law or similar document; even though the legal source appears within a larger work, do not insert quotation marks around the title:

United States Code. Legal Information Institute , Cornell Law School, www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text.

For more on titles in legal citations in MLA style, see “Tips on Titles,” below.

Commonly Cited Sources

A few examples of using MLA style for commonly cited legal sources follow.

United States Supreme Court Decisions

United states supreme court dissenting opinions, federal statutes (united states code), public laws, federal appeals court decisions, federal bills, executive orders, state court of appeals, unpublished decisions, state senate bills, constitutions, international governing bodies.

Where you read the opinion of a United States Supreme Court decision will dictate how you cite it in MLA style. Legal-citation style, in contrast, points to the opinion published in the United States Reports , the authoritative legal source for the United States Supreme Court’s decisions, and cites the elements of that publication.

For example, the case Brown v. Board of Education is commonly abbreviated “347 U.S. 483” in legal citations: 347 is the volume number of United States Reports ; “U.S.” indicates that the opinion is found in United States Reports , which is the official reporter of the Supreme Court and indicates the opinion’s provenance; and the first page number of the decision is 483. (The American Bar Association has published a useful and concise overview of the components of a Supreme Court opinion .)

Regardless of the version you consult, you must understand a few basic things about the source: that it was written by a member of the United States Supreme Court on behalf of the majority and that, when you cite the opinion, the date on which the case was decided is the only date necessary to provide.

Following are examples of works-cited-list entries in MLA style for Brown v. Board of Education . The entries differ depending on whether the information was found on the Legal Information Institute website, published by Cornell University Law School, or on the Library of Congress website.

Legal Information Institute

mla format citation us constitution

The works-cited-list entry includes

  • the government entity as author
  • the name of the case (“Title of source” element)
  • the year of the decision; it would also not be incorrect to include the day and month if it appears in your source
  • the title of the website containing the case (“Title of container” element)
  • the publisher of the website
  • the website’s URL (“Location” element)
United States, Supreme Court. Brown v. Board of Education . 17 May 1954. Legal Information Institute , Cornell Law School, www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/347/483.

Library of Congress

mla format citation us constitution

The Library of Congress site allows researchers to link to or download a PDF of the opinion from the United States Reports . To locate the case, the researcher must know the volume number of the United States Reports in which Brown v. Board of Education was published. A works-cited-list entry in MLA style would include the author (the government entity) and the title of the case, as well as the following information for container 1:

  • United States Reports (“Title of container” element)
  • vol. 347 (“Number” element)
  • the date of the decision (“Publication date” element)
  • page range (“Location” element)

Container 2 includes the name of the website publishing the case and its location, the URL. The publisher of the site is omitted since its name is the same as that of the site.

United States, Supreme Court. Brown v. Board of Education . United States Reports , vol. 347, 17 May 1954, pp. 483-97. Library of Congress , tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/usrep/usrep347/usrep347483/usrep347483.pdf.

Sometimes, Supreme Court justices write dissenting opinions that accompany the published majority opinion. They are part of the legal record but not part of the holding—that is, the court’s ruling. If you cite only the dissent, you can treat it as the work you are citing:

Ginsburg, Ruth Bader. Dissenting opinion. Lilly Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. United States Reports , vol. 550, 29 May 2007, pp. 643-61. Supreme Court of the United States , www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/boundvolumes/550bv.pdf.

In MLA style, it will generally be clearest to create an entry for the United States Code in its entirety and cite the title and section number in the text, especially if you are referring to more than one section of the code.

If an online search directs you to the web page for a specific section of the United States Code, it would not be incorrect to cite the page for that section alone. For example, if you want to use MLA style to document title 17, section 304, of the United States Code—commonly abbreviated 17 U.S.C. § 304 in legal citations—title 17 can be treated as the work and thus placed in the “Title of source” slot on the MLA template, or if you cite the United States Code in its entirety, title 17 can be placed in the “Number” slot.

Your entry will once again depend on the version you consult. Below are examples from various websites.

website for the United States Code

mla format citation us constitution

On the website for the United States Code, you would likely determine that the United States House of Representatives is the author of the code. The United States Code is the title of the source, and since the source constitutes the entire website, no container needs to be specified: the source is self-contained, like a book (see p. 34 of the MLA Handbook ). The site lists the Office of the Law Revision Counsel as publisher, so you would include that name in the “Publisher” slot, followed by the date on which the code was last updated, and the URL as the location:

United States, Congress, House. United States Code. Office of the Law Revision Counsel, 14 Jan. 2017, uscode.house.gov.

The body of your text or your in-text reference must mention title 17 and section 304 so the reader can locate the information you cite. It would not be wrong to include chapter 3 as well (title 17, ch. 3, sec. 304), although a discerning researcher will note that section numbers (304) incorporate chapter numbers (3), making “chapter 3” unnecessary to include.

mla format citation us constitution

If you do not include title 17 and section 304 in the text, you must include that information in the works-cited-list entry:

United States, Congress, House. United States Code. Title 17, section 304, Office of the Law Revision Counsel, 14 Jan. 2017, uscode.house.gov.

A nonspecialist would not be able to determine from the Legal Information Institute site that the United States House of Representatives is the author of the United States Code. A basic citation would include the title of the code as displayed on the site, the title of the website as the title of the container, the publisher of the website, and the location:

Government Publishing Office website

The website of the Government Publishing Office (variously referred to as the Government Printing Office) displays each statute heading (or “title”) as a web page:

mla format citation us constitution

You can treat title 17 as the work and the United States Code as the title of the container, as follows:

Title 17. United States Code, U.S. Government Publishing Office, 2011, www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2011-title17/html/USCODE-2011-title17.htm.

Or you can treat the United States Code as the title of the source and title 17 as a numbered section within the code, by placing title 17 in the “Number” slot on the MLA template:

United States Code. Title 17, U.S. Government Publishing Office, 2011, www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2011-title17/html/USCODE-2011-title17.htm.

Below are examples of how to cite other common legal sources in MLA style.

United States, Congress. Public Law 111-122. United States Statutes at Large , vol. 123, 2009, pp. 3480-82. U.S. Government Publishing Office , www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-123/pdf/STATUTE-123.pdf.

mla format citation us constitution

United States, Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Moss v. Colvin . Docket no. 15-2272, 9 Jan. 2017. United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit , www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions.html. PDF download.

It is customary to title court cases by using the last name of the first party on each side of the v . You may also wish to shorten a long URL, as we have done here .

United States, Congress, House. Improving Broadband Access for Veterans Act of 2016. Congress.gov , www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/6394/text. 114th Congress, 2nd session, House Resolution 6394, passed 6 Dec. 2016.
United States, Congress, House, Committee on Education and Labor. The Future of Learning: How Technology Is Transforming Public Schools . U.S. Government Publishing Office, 16 June 2009, www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-111hhrg50208/html/CHRG-111hhrg50208.htm. Text transcription of hearing.

After a president signs an executive order, the Office of the Federal Register gives it a number. It is then printed in the Federal Register and compiled in the Code of Federal Regulations. Executive orders usually also appear as press releases on the White House website upon signing.

United States, Executive Office of the President [Barack Obama]. Executive order 13717: Establishing a Federal Earthquake Risk Management Standard. 2 Feb. 2016. Federal Register , vol. 81, no. 24, 5 Feb. 2016, pp. 6405-10, www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-02-05/pdf/2016-02475.pdf.
Minnesota State, Court of Appeals. Minnesota v. McArthur . 28 Sept. 1999, mn.gov/law-library-stat/archive//ctapun/9909/502.htm. Unpublished opinion.
Wisconsin State, Legislature. Senate Bill 5. Wisconsin State Legislature , 20 Jan. 2017, docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2017/related/proposals/sb5.

If a constitution is published in a named edition, treat it like the title of a book:

The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription . National Archives , U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, 28 Feb. 2017, www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript.
The Constitution of the United States, with Case Summaries . Edited by Edward Conrad Smith, 9th ed., Barnes and Noble Books, 1972.

References to the United States Constitution in your prose should follow the usual styling of titles of laws:

the Constitution

But your in-text reference should key readers to the appropriate entry:

( Constitution of the United States, with Case Summaries )

If the title does not indicate the country of origin, specify it in the entry:

France. Le constitution. 4 Oct. 1958. Legifrance , www.legifrance.gouv.fr/Droit-francais/Constitution/Constitution-du-4-octobre-1958.
Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. United Nations, 1998, nfccc.int/resource/docs/convkp/kpeng.pdf. Multilateral treaty.
United States, Senate. Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances. Congress.gov , www.congress.gov/114/cdoc/tdoc8/CDOC-114tdoc8.pdf. Treaty between the United States and the People’s Republic of China.
Swiss Confederation. Bundesverfassung der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft. 18 Apr. 1999. Der Bundesrat , 1 Jan. 2016, www.admin.ch/opc/de/classified-compilation/19995395/index.html.
United Nations, General Assembly. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Resolution 217 A, 10 Dec. 1948. United Nations , www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/. PDF download.

Writing for Specialists: A Hybrid Method

A writer using MLA style to document a legal work for a specialized readership that is likely to be familiar with the conventions of legal documentation may wish to adopt a hybrid method: in place of the author and title elements on the MLA format template, identify the work by using the Bluebook citation. Then, follow the MLA format template to list publication information for the version of the source you consulted.

For example, to cite the United States Code using the hybrid method, treat the section cited as the work. As above, you can omit the title of the website, United States Code , since the code constitutes the entire website and is thus a self-contained work.

17 U.S.C. § 304. Office of Law Revision Counsel, 14 Jan. 2017, uscode.house.gov.

If you are citing a court case, begin the entry with the title of the case before listing the Bluebook citation. In the hybrid style, cite Brown v. Board of Education as found on the Legal Information Institute website thus:

Brown v. Board of Education . 347 U.S. 483. Legal Information Institute , Cornell Law School, www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/347/483.

Other sources (public laws, federal appeals court decisions, etc.) can be handled similarly.

If using the hybrid method, do not follow the handbook’s recommendation to alphabetize works that start with a number as if the number is spelled out. Instead, list works beginning with numbers before the first lettered entry and order numbered works numerically.

TIPS ON TITLES Styling titles when you document legal sources in MLA style may be challenging. Below are some guidelines. Standardize titles of legal sources in your prose unless you refer to the published version: as the MLA Handbook indicates, italicize the names of court cases, but capitalize the names of laws, acts, and political documents like titles and set them in roman font. When a legal source is contained within another work—for example, when the United States Code appears on a website with another title—follow the MLA Handbook , page 27, and treat the work as an independent publication. That is, style the title just as you would in prose—in italics if it is the name of a court case, in roman if it is a law or similar document; even though the legal source appears in a larger work, do not insert quotation marks around the title. In the names of court cases, use the abbreviation v. consistently, regardless of which abbreviation is used in the version of the work you are citing. To determine the name of a court case, use only the name of the first party that appears on either side of “v.” or “vs.” in your source; if the name is a personal name, use only the surname. To shorten the name of a court case in your prose after introducing it in full or in parenthetical references, use the name of the first-listed nongovernmental party. Thus, the case NLRB v. Yeshiva University becomes Yeshiva . If your list of works cited includes more than one case beginning with the same governmental party, list entries under the governmental party but alphabetize them by the first nongovernmental party: NLRB v. Brown University
NLRB v. Yeshiva University

Refer to the nongovernmental party in your prose and parenthetical reference, alerting readers to this system of ordering in a note .

Special thanks to Noah Kupferberg, of Brooklyn Law School, for assistance with these guidelines.

30 Comments

Laurie nebeker 08 august 2017 at 02:08 pm.

My eleventh-grade English students write research papers about Supreme Court cases. In the MLA 7th edition (5.7.14) there was a note about italicizing case titles in the text but not in the list of works cited or in parenthetical references. Has this changed for the 8th edition? Also, you've given examples about formatting SCOTUS rulings, but most of the resources my students use are articles about the cases from news sources, specialty encyclopedias, etc. Should case titles be italicized when they appear within article titles? Thanks!

Your e-mail address will not be published

Angela Gibson 09 August 2017 AT 07:08 AM

You are correct to note this change. To make legal works a bit easier to cite, we now recommend that writers italicize the names of court cases both in the text and the list of works cited. When the name of a court case is contained within another work, style the title just as you would anywhere else. Thus, a SCOTUS ruling in the title of a news article would appear in italics. Thanks for reading; I hope this helps!

Nia Alexander 31 January 2018 AT 06:01 PM

How would I cite the 2015 National Content Report? It contains information similar to that of a census.

Angela Gibson 01 February 2018 AT 07:02 AM

There is an example here: https://style.mla.org/citing-tables/.

Nathan Hoepner 12 February 2018 AT 01:02 AM

One of my students wants to use the Versailles Treaty (officially, "Treaty of Peace with Germany"). The Library of Congress has a pdf copy posted. Should he list the treaty in his sources with the URL, or, since is just a copy of the official treaty, just list title, date, and "multilateral treaty"?

ben zuk 17 March 2018 AT 06:03 PM

how would I cite Supreme Court case from Justia?

Patricia Morris 27 March 2018 AT 10:03 AM

Can you give an example for citing the Occupational Outlook Handbook, published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics?

Michael Park 03 May 2018 AT 12:05 PM

How do i cite a introduced bill into congress

ML Chilson 04 November 2018 AT 05:11 PM

How do I cite a pending case that is still at the trial court level, including citation to the briefs that have been filed by the various parties?

Blah 08 November 2018 AT 11:11 AM

how do you cite a complaint in mla format

Marlow Chapman 10 December 2018 AT 08:12 PM

How would one cite a Title (specifically Title VII) from the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

Angela Gibson 11 December 2018 AT 05:12 PM

How you cite it will depend on where you access it. Some points: following the MLA format template, your entry will start with the title of the law. This will either be Civil Rights Act or Title 7 (see the discussion of Federal Statutes above for considerations about which title to begin your entry with). Your in-text citation (whether in prose or parentheses) should direct the reader to the first element in your works-cited list (in other words, the title).

Jeff Jeskie 04 February 2019 AT 08:02 AM

How do my students properly list the Supreme Court cases that are linked on the Exploring Constitutional Law site by Doug LInder at UMKC Law School site?

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/home.html?

Patricia Moseley 14 February 2019 AT 10:02 AM

I need help. My 8th grade history class is answering questions on the US Constitution and citing their answer.

There are five rights in the First Amendment, which include freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to peaceably assemble, and the right to petition the government for a redress of their grievances (U.S. Constitution).

Is this in-text citation done correctly? Also, are the amendments spell out or does one use the Roman numeral in text?

Thank You!!!

Angela Gibson 15 February 2019 AT 10:02 AM

If U.S. Constitution is the first element in the works-cited-list entry, the in-text citation is correct. Spell out ordinal numbers (First Amendment), but use numerals for numbers of count (Amendment V) and, by convention, use Roman numerals for divisions of legal works that use them.

Ella 05 December 2019 AT 08:12 PM

How would you cite a state supreme court case?

Ana 06 December 2019 AT 09:12 AM

How would I cite an Act? More precisely, I want to cite The New York State Dignity for All Students Act. How would I do it on in-text citations and on the work cited page? Thanks!

Amanda 17 April 2020 AT 05:04 PM

How would I cite a tribal constitution? Do I use the date of the original publication or the most recent amendment or resolution?

most are found on their tribal government websites so would i treat it like this:

(italicized) Title of Document: Subtitle if Given (italicized) . Edition if given and is not first edition, Name of Government Department, Agency or Committee, Publication Date, URL. Accessed Day Month Year site was visited.

yet, I still do not know what date to use. Or should i just cite it from a print publication or Nat. Archives so I can use the example given in your list above?

Angela Gibson 20 April 2020 AT 09:04 AM

Cite the version you're looking at and use the date of access if it's the only date you can provide.

Marissa 25 October 2020 AT 05:10 PM

How would you cite The Declaration of Independence?

Jennifer A. Rappaport 26 October 2020 AT 08:10 PM

Thanks for your question. Please consult Ask the MLA: https://style.mla.org/category/ask-the-mla/

Carol Holyoke 19 January 2021 AT 10:01 PM

Could you please tell me how to cite the Declaration of Independence? Do I put it in the Works Cited List?

Angela Gibson 20 January 2021 AT 09:01 AM

It is generally a good idea to create a works-cited-list entry for the version of the document you are transcribing a quotation from (e.g., see our example for the Constitution). Create your entry just as you would for any other source--follow the template of core elements and list any relevant elements that apply.

Diane 23 February 2021 AT 07:02 PM

How do I correctly cite a Congressional public law In Text? I can only find how to cite in works cited pages. Thank you!

Rowena 28 April 2021 AT 09:04 AM

If I quote sections from a piece of legislation does it need to be italicised as well as quotation marks?

Charlotte Norcross 15 November 2021 AT 11:11 AM

How do I correctly cite the congressional record from a specific session? Thanks!

Carl Sandler 02 February 2022 AT 02:02 PM

I am submitting a report to an attorney consisting of investigative findings related to an automobile accident. Some of the information in my report will be technical in nature and other information will be in the form of my opinion(s) based on conclusions drawn from deposition testimony of witnesses and persons knowledgeable of the event. Considering the report will be read by both legal professionals and others not of the legal profession, what approach and format (with examples, please) should be used to cite deposition testimony and also Exhibits presented during the taking of the deposition? I am familiar with Bluebook style of legal citations, however not all persons reading my report would have this same understanding.

Lev 18 April 2022 AT 11:04 AM

Dear MLA Editor: When citing court cases in another language (French), should I keep the title of the case in the original language, translate it, or provide a translation in brackets? The same question goes for the name of the docket number, court, date of publication, and other elements. The MLA manual does not offer any guidance on this! Thanks in advance for any help.

Heidi 27 April 2023 AT 10:04 AM

What is the proper way to reference a recently filed lawsuit (a pending case) in legal writing (letters and memos)? Thanks!

Jennifer Washington 13 February 2024 AT 11:02 PM

How are state educational codes shaping standards for textbooks and materials cited in-text and on works cited?

Join the Conversation

We invite you to comment on this post and exchange ideas with other site visitors. Comments are moderated and subject to terms of service.

If you have a question for the MLA's editors, submit it to Ask the MLA!

  • How to Cite
  • Language & Lit
  • Rhyme & Rhythm
  • The Rewrite
  • Search Glass

How to Cite the U.S. Constitution

The Modern Language Association, the American Psychological Association and the Chicago Manual of Style have adapted their citation formats for legal document citations from "The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation," published by the Harvard Law Review Association. As a legal document, the U.S. Constitution is cited according to the adapted guidelines.

Chicago and APA Styles

According to the guidelines in the "Chicago Manual of Style" (16th ed.) and the APA Style website, Chicago and APA use the same reference format for the U.S. Constitution. First write the name the document, abbreviated "U.S. Const.," and then the article or amendment number. Abbreviate "article" as "art." and "amendment" as "amend." and then write the number. Next, to cite a specific section, add a comma and the symbol "§" before the number.

For example: "U.S. Const. art. II, § 1."

If the article or amendment has been amended or repealed, add that information in parentheses.

For example: "U.S. Const. amend. XVIII (repealed 1933)."

The citation in MLA differs slightly from APA and Chicago. Based on the guidelines in the 7th ed. of the MLA handbook, start the reference with "U.S. Const." Then, write the article or amendment number, preceded by "art." or "amend.," respectively.

For the section, use "sec." instead of the symbol "§" and add "Print" or "Web" to show whether you are citing a print or an online source. For example:

"U.S. Const. art. II, sec. 1. Web."

Need help with a citation? Try our citation generator .

  • American Psychological Association: APA Style: How to Cite the U.S. Constitution in APA Style
  • The Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed.); University of Chicago Press
  • MLA Handbook (7th ed.); Modern Language Association
  • The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration: Constitution of the United States

Melissa McDonald has been writing about education since 2006. Her work has appeared in “AdjunctNation,” “JCW” and “Honor Cord” e-zine. She holds a Master of Arts in English from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and currently works in higher education as a writing consultant. Beyond her work as educator and writer, McDonald volunteers as a judge in both local and national writing competitions for high school and college students.

  • The Constitution
  • US Constitution (Full Text)
  • Constitution Summary
  • Preamble of the Constitution
  • Constitution Pictures
  • Constitution Timeline
  • us constitución (spanish)
  • Constitution for Kids
  • Constitution - Kindergarten - 3rd Grade
  • Constitution - 4th - 7th Grade
  • Constition - 8th - 12th Grade
  • Teaching the Constitution
  • The Amendment Process
  • Failed Amendments
  • Bill of Rights (Amendments 1 - 10)
  • 11th Amendment
  • 12th Amendment
  • 13th Amendment
  • 14th Amendment
  • 15th Amendment
  • 16th Amendment
  • 17th Amendment
  • 18th Amendment
  • 19th Amendment
  • 20th Amendment
  • 21st Amendment
  • 22nd Amendment
  • 23rd Amendment
  • 24th Amendment
  • 25th Amendment
  • 26th Amendment
  • 27th Amendment
  • Bill of Rights
  • First Amendment
  • Second Amendment
  • Third Amendment
  • Fourth Amendment
  • Fifth Amendment
  • Sixth Amendment
  • 7th Amendment
  • 8th Amendment
  • 9th Amendment
  • 10th Amendment
  • Founding Fathers
  • Demographics
  • The Constitutional Convention
  • Constitutional Convention Timeline
  • Constitutional Topics
  • The Second Ammendment (Firearms)
  • Citizenship
  • Separation of Powers
  • Checks and Balances
  • How a Bill Becomes a Law
  • Miranda Rights
  • * More Constitutional Topics

usconstitution.net

U.S. Constitution

How to Cite This Site

Jump to: Citing the Constitution

It is very important when writing a paper for a school project (at any level, from elementary school to graduate school) to properly cite your sources. Where did you find your information? Citations are placed in the text as footnotes or endnotes, and/or placed at the end of your work in a bibliography. This page will handle a few different possibilities. The first is to answer the question "How do I cite a page on this site?" or, as I like to say, "How to cite the site."

There are two main areas that someone might wish to cite on this site. The first is one of the pages found on the site. Several are simply electronic copies of historical documents, while others are research pages or opinion pages. You should be able to discern which is which pretty easily. Unless the information is a copy of a historical document, and unless otherwise noted, everything here is written by the Webmaster, Steve Mount.

Here is a standard way to cite an HTML page published on the Internet, according to the Columbia Guide to Online Style :

  • Mount, Steve. "Constitutional Topic: Martial Law." USConstitution.net. 30 Nov 2001. //www.usconstitution.net/consttop_mlaw.html (3 Dec 2001)

Specifically, the data is as follows: Author, Title, Site, Modification Date (found at the bottom of every page), URL, and the date the page was accessed. The two dates are critical because of the changeable nature of the Web.

The next citation uses the APA format. This standard comes from the American Psychological Association, and is often used in psychology and other social sciences:

  • Mount, S. (2010). Constitutional topic: due process. Retrieved February 23, 2011 from //www.usconstitution.net/consttop_duep.html

Specifically, the data is as follows: Author, Modification Year (found at the bottom of every page), page title, the date the page was accessed, and the URL.

Finally, the MLA style is often used. This style comes from The Modern Language Association. With this style, citations are noted in the text and full references are given in a Works Cited list at the end of the paper.

  • Inline: (Mount)
  • Works Cited: Mount, Steve. "Constitutional Topic: The Census." USConstitution.net . 3 Jan. 2011. 27 Feb. 2011 .

Specifically, the data is as follows: Author, Title, Site, Modification Date, thee date the page was accessed, and URL.

The second source of information is this site's Message Boards. The primary information available in the Message Boards is opinion. Because the opinions are those of the posters, the citation of a message needs to include the name or handle of the poster. Here is an example, in the Columbia Style, for a posting from the Classic Boards on this site:

  • Ian. "Re: Question regarding Law." 2 Dec 2001. USConstitution.net Q&A Board. //www.usconstitution.net/cgi-bin/wwwbmsg.cgi?const&001280.wwb (3 Dec 2001)

The data is as follows: Poster, Subject, Date Posted, Board Name, URL, and date accessed.

All posts created after November 2003 used the new messaging software. Here is an example for a posting using the new software:

  • Andy. "Re: Impeach Scalia?" 5 Feb 2004. Debate Archives. //www.usconstitution.net/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=debarch;action=display;num=1077548457 (25 Feb 2004)

Citing the U.S. Constitution

Another common question involves how to cite the Constitution itself. There are two forms, a long form and a short form. In a legal document, the short form will suffice in all instances, whereas in a non-legal paper, the long form should be used once, and the short form can be used thereafter.

  • "The Constitution of the United States," Article 1, Section 8, Clause 5.
  • "The Constitution of the United States," Amendment 5.

Short Form:

  • U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 5.
  • U.S. Const. am. 5.

In place of the "§" symbol, the abbreviation "sect." can be used. In a paper dealing primarily with the Constitution, there is no need to mention "U.S. Const."

Web site designed and maintained by Steve Mount . © 1995-2012 by us constitution.net. All rights reserved. Contact the Webmaster. Site Bibliography. How to cite this site. Please review our privacy policy . Last Modified: 27 Feb 2011 Valid HTML 4.0

Popular Pages

  • The United States Constitution - The U.S. Constitution Online
  • Ratification of Constitutional Amendments - The U.S. Constitution Online
  • Bibliography - The U.S. Constitution Online
  • U.S. Constitution - Amendment 1 - The U.S. Constitution Online
  • U.S. Constitution - Table of Contents - The U.S. Constitution Online

mla format citation us constitution

  • Home | Site Map
  • Constitution Facts
  • Privacy Policy

Generate accurate MLA citations for free

  • Knowledge Base
  • A complete guide to MLA in-text citations

MLA In-text Citations | A Complete Guide (9th Edition)

Published on July 9, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on May 19, 2022.

An MLA in-text citation provides the author’s last name and a page number in parentheses.

If a source has two authors, name both. If a source has more than two authors, name only the first author, followed by “ et al. ”

If the part you’re citing spans multiple pages, include the full page range. If you want to cite multiple non-consecutive pages at the same time, separate the page numbers with commas.

Generate accurate MLA citations with Scribbr

Instantly correct all language mistakes in your text.

Be assured that you'll submit flawless writing. Upload your document to correct all your mistakes.

upload-your-document-ai-proofreader

Table of contents

Where to include an mla in-text citation, citing sources with no author, citing sources with no page numbers, citing different sources with the same author name, citing sources indirectly, frequently asked questions about mla in-text citations.

Place the parenthetical citation directly after the relevant quote or paraphrase , and before the period or other punctuation mark (except with  block quotes , where the citation comes after the period).

If you have already named the author in the sentence, add only the page number in parentheses. When mentioning a source with three or more authors outside of parentheses, use “and others” or “and colleagues” in place of “et al.”

  • MLA is the second most popular citation style (Smith and Morrison 17–19) .
  • According to Smith and Morrison , MLA is the second most popular citation style (17–19) .
  • APA is by far “the most used citation style in the US” (Moore et al. 74) , but it is less dominant in the UK (Smith 16) .
  • Moore and colleagues state that APA is more popular in the US than elsewhere (74) .

Combining citations

If a sentence is supported by more than one source, you can combine the citations in a single set of parentheses. Separate the two sources with a semicolon .

Livestock farming is one of the biggest global contributors to climate change (Garcia 64; Davies 14) .

Consecutive citations of the same source

If you cite the same source repeatedly within a paragraph, you can include the full citation the first time you cite it, then just the page number for subsequent citations.

MLA is the second most popular citation style (Smith and Morrison 17–19) . It is more popular than Chicago style, but less popular than APA (21) .

You can do this as long as it remains clear what source you’re citing. If you cite something else in between or start a new paragraph, reintroduce the full citation again to avoid ambiguity.

The only proofreading tool specialized in correcting academic writing - try for free!

The academic proofreading tool has been trained on 1000s of academic texts and by native English editors. Making it the most accurate and reliable proofreading tool for students.

mla format citation us constitution

Try for free

For sources with no named author , the in-text citation must match the first element of the Works Cited entry. This may be the name of an organization, or the title of the source.

If the source title or organization name is longer than four words, shorten it to the first word or phrase in the in-text citation, excluding any articles ( a, an, and the ). The shortened title or organization name should begin with the word the source is alphabetized by in the Works Cited.

Follow the general MLA rules for formatting titles : If the source is a self-contained work (e.g. a whole website or an entire book ), put the title in italics; if the source is contained within a larger whole (e.g. a page on a website or a chapter of a book), put the title in quotation marks.

If a source does not have page numbers but is divided into numbered parts (e.g. chapters, sections, scenes, Bible books and verses, Articles of the Constitution , or timestamps), use these numbers to locate the relevant passage.

If the source does not use any numbering system, include only the author’s name in the in-text citation. Don’t include paragraph numbers unless they are explicitly numbered in the source.

Note that if there are no numbered divisions and you have already named the author in your sentence, then no parenthetical citation is necessary.

If your Works Cited page includes more than one entry under the same last name, you need to distinguish between these sources in your in-text citations.

Multiple sources by the same author

If you cite more than one work by the same author, add a shortened title to signal which source you are referring to.

In this example, the first source is a whole book, so the title appears in italics; the second is an article published in a journal, so the title appears in quotation marks.

Different authors with the same last name

To distinguish between different authors with the same last name, use the authors’ initials (or, if the initials are the same, full first names) in your in-text citations:

Receive feedback on language, structure, and formatting

Professional editors proofread and edit your paper by focusing on:

  • Academic style
  • Vague sentences
  • Style consistency

See an example

mla format citation us constitution

Sometimes you might want to cite something that you found quoted in a secondary source . If possible, always seek out the original source and cite it directly.

If you can’t access the original source, make sure to name both the original author and the author of the source that you accessed . Use the abbreviation “qtd. in” (short for “quoted in”) to indicate where you found the quotation.

In these cases, only the source you accessed directly is included in the Works Cited list.

You must include an MLA in-text citation every time you quote or paraphrase from a source (e.g. a book , movie , website , or article ).

Some source types, such as books and journal articles , may contain footnotes (or endnotes) with additional information. The following rules apply when citing information from a note in an MLA in-text citation :

  • To cite information from a single numbered note, write “n” after the page number, and then write the note number, e.g. (Smith 105n2)
  • To cite information from multiple numbered notes, write “nn” and include a range, e.g. (Smith 77nn1–2)
  • To cite information from an unnumbered note, write “un” after the page number, with a space in between, e.g. (Jones 250 un)

If a source has two authors, name both authors in your MLA in-text citation and Works Cited entry. If there are three or more authors, name only the first author, followed by et al.

If a source has no author, start the MLA Works Cited entry with the source title . Use a shortened version of the title in your MLA in-text citation .

If a source has no page numbers, you can use an alternative locator (e.g. a chapter number, or a timestamp for a video or audio source) to identify the relevant passage in your in-text citation. If the source has no numbered divisions, cite only the author’s name (or the title).

If you already named the author or title in your sentence, and there is no locator available, you don’t need a parenthetical citation:

  • Rajaram  argues that representations of migration are shaped by “cultural, political, and ideological interests.”
  • The homepage of The Correspondent describes it as “a movement for radically different news.”

Yes. MLA style uses title case, which means that all principal words (nouns, pronouns , verbs, adjectives , adverbs , and some conjunctions ) are capitalized.

This applies to titles of sources as well as the title of, and subheadings in, your paper. Use MLA capitalization style even when the original source title uses different capitalization .

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

McCombes, S. (2022, May 19). MLA In-text Citations | A Complete Guide (9th Edition). Scribbr. Retrieved February 16, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/mla/in-text-citations/

Is this article helpful?

Shona McCombes

Shona McCombes

Other students also liked, how to format your mla works cited page, block quoting in mla style, how to cite a book in mla, what is your plagiarism score.

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics

OWL logo

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities. This resource, updated to reflect the MLA Handbook (9 th ed.), offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page.

Guidelines for referring to the works of others in your text using MLA style are covered throughout the  MLA Handbook  and in chapter 7 of the  MLA Style Manual . Both books provide extensive examples, so it's a good idea to consult them if you want to become even more familiar with MLA guidelines or if you have a particular reference question.

Basic in-text citation rules

In MLA Style, referring to the works of others in your text is done using parenthetical citations . This method involves providing relevant source information in parentheses whenever a sentence uses a quotation or paraphrase. Usually, the simplest way to do this is to put all of the source information in parentheses at the end of the sentence (i.e., just before the period). However, as the examples below will illustrate, there are situations where it makes sense to put the parenthetical elsewhere in the sentence, or even to leave information out.

General Guidelines

  • The source information required in a parenthetical citation depends (1) upon the source medium (e.g. print, web, DVD) and (2) upon the source’s entry on the Works Cited page.
  • Any source information that you provide in-text must correspond to the source information on the Works Cited page. More specifically, whatever signal word or phrase you provide to your readers in the text must be the first thing that appears on the left-hand margin of the corresponding entry on the Works Cited page.

In-text citations: Author-page style

MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the page number(s) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear in the text, and a complete reference should appear on your Works Cited page. The author's name may appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation or paraphrase, but the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your sentence. For example:

Both citations in the examples above, (263) and (Wordsworth 263), tell readers that the information in the sentence can be located on page 263 of a work by an author named Wordsworth. If readers want more information about this source, they can turn to the Works Cited page, where, under the name of Wordsworth, they would find the following information:

Wordsworth, William. Lyrical Ballads . Oxford UP, 1967.

In-text citations for print sources with known author

For print sources like books, magazines, scholarly journal articles, and newspapers, provide a signal word or phrase (usually the author’s last name) and a page number. If you provide the signal word/phrase in the sentence, you do not need to include it in the parenthetical citation.

These examples must correspond to an entry that begins with Burke, which will be the first thing that appears on the left-hand margin of an entry on the Works Cited page:

Burke, Kenneth. Language as Symbolic Action: Essays on Life, Literature, and Method . University of California Press, 1966.

In-text citations for print sources by a corporate author

When a source has a corporate author, it is acceptable to use the name of the corporation followed by the page number for the in-text citation. You should also use abbreviations (e.g., nat'l for national) where appropriate, so as to avoid interrupting the flow of reading with overly long parenthetical citations.

In-text citations for sources with non-standard labeling systems

If a source uses a labeling or numbering system other than page numbers, such as a script or poetry, precede the citation with said label. When citing a poem, for instance, the parenthetical would begin with the word “line”, and then the line number or range. For example, the examination of William Blake’s poem “The Tyger” would be cited as such:

The speaker makes an ardent call for the exploration of the connection between the violence of nature and the divinity of creation. “In what distant deeps or skies. / Burnt the fire of thine eyes," they ask in reference to the tiger as they attempt to reconcile their intimidation with their relationship to creationism (lines 5-6).

Longer labels, such as chapters (ch.) and scenes (sc.), should be abbreviated.

In-text citations for print sources with no known author

When a source has no known author, use a shortened title of the work instead of an author name, following these guidelines.

Place the title in quotation marks if it's a short work (such as an article) or italicize it if it's a longer work (e.g. plays, books, television shows, entire Web sites) and provide a page number if it is available.

Titles longer than a standard noun phrase should be shortened into a noun phrase by excluding articles. For example, To the Lighthouse would be shortened to Lighthouse .

If the title cannot be easily shortened into a noun phrase, the title should be cut after the first clause, phrase, or punctuation:

In this example, since the reader does not know the author of the article, an abbreviated title appears in the parenthetical citation, and the full title of the article appears first at the left-hand margin of its respective entry on the Works Cited page. Thus, the writer includes the title in quotation marks as the signal phrase in the parenthetical citation in order to lead the reader directly to the source on the Works Cited page. The Works Cited entry appears as follows:

"The Impact of Global Warming in North America." Global Warming: Early Signs . 1999. www.climatehotmap.org/. Accessed 23 Mar. 2009.

If the title of the work begins with a quotation mark, such as a title that refers to another work, that quote or quoted title can be used as the shortened title. The single quotation marks must be included in the parenthetical, rather than the double quotation.

Parenthetical citations and Works Cited pages, used in conjunction, allow readers to know which sources you consulted in writing your essay, so that they can either verify your interpretation of the sources or use them in their own scholarly work.

Author-page citation for classic and literary works with multiple editions

Page numbers are always required, but additional citation information can help literary scholars, who may have a different edition of a classic work, like Marx and Engels's  The Communist Manifesto . In such cases, give the page number of your edition (making sure the edition is listed in your Works Cited page, of course) followed by a semicolon, and then the appropriate abbreviations for volume (vol.), book (bk.), part (pt.), chapter (ch.), section (sec.), or paragraph (par.). For example:

Author-page citation for works in an anthology, periodical, or collection

When you cite a work that appears inside a larger source (for instance, an article in a periodical or an essay in a collection), cite the author of the  internal source (i.e., the article or essay). For example, to cite Albert Einstein's article "A Brief Outline of the Theory of Relativity," which was published in  Nature  in 1921, you might write something like this:

See also our page on documenting periodicals in the Works Cited .

Citing authors with same last names

Sometimes more information is necessary to identify the source from which a quotation is taken. For instance, if two or more authors have the same last name, provide both authors' first initials (or even the authors' full name if different authors share initials) in your citation. For example:

Citing a work by multiple authors

For a source with two authors, list the authors’ last names in the text or in the parenthetical citation:

Corresponding Works Cited entry:

Best, David, and Sharon Marcus. “Surface Reading: An Introduction.” Representations , vol. 108, no. 1, Fall 2009, pp. 1-21. JSTOR, doi:10.1525/rep.2009.108.1.1

For a source with three or more authors, list only the first author’s last name, and replace the additional names with et al.

Franck, Caroline, et al. “Agricultural Subsidies and the American Obesity Epidemic.” American Journal of Preventative Medicine , vol. 45, no. 3, Sept. 2013, pp. 327-333.

Citing multiple works by the same author

If you cite more than one work by an author, include a shortened title for the particular work from which you are quoting to distinguish it from the others. Put short titles of books in italics and short titles of articles in quotation marks.

Citing two articles by the same author :

Citing two books by the same author :

Additionally, if the author's name is not mentioned in the sentence, format your citation with the author's name followed by a comma, followed by a shortened title of the work, and, when appropriate, the page number(s):

Citing multivolume works

If you cite from different volumes of a multivolume work, always include the volume number followed by a colon. Put a space after the colon, then provide the page number(s). (If you only cite from one volume, provide only the page number in parentheses.)

Citing the Bible

In your first parenthetical citation, you want to make clear which Bible you're using (and underline or italicize the title), as each version varies in its translation, followed by book (do not italicize or underline), chapter, and verse. For example:

If future references employ the same edition of the Bible you’re using, list only the book, chapter, and verse in the parenthetical citation:

John of Patmos echoes this passage when describing his vision (Rev. 4.6-8).

Citing indirect sources

Sometimes you may have to use an indirect source. An indirect source is a source cited within another source. For such indirect quotations, use "qtd. in" to indicate the source you actually consulted. For example:

Note that, in most cases, a responsible researcher will attempt to find the original source, rather than citing an indirect source.

Citing transcripts, plays, or screenplays

Sources that take the form of a dialogue involving two or more participants have special guidelines for their quotation and citation. Each line of dialogue should begin with the speaker's name written in all capitals and indented half an inch. A period follows the name (e.g., JAMES.) . After the period, write the dialogue. Each successive line after the first should receive an additional indentation. When another person begins speaking, start a new line with that person's name indented only half an inch. Repeat this pattern each time the speaker changes. You can include stage directions in the quote if they appear in the original source.

Conclude with a parenthetical that explains where to find the excerpt in the source. Usually, the author and title of the source can be given in a signal phrase before quoting the excerpt, so the concluding parenthetical will often just contain location information like page numbers or act/scene indicators.

Here is an example from O'Neill's  The Iceman Cometh.

WILLIE. (Pleadingly) Give me a drink, Rocky. Harry said it was all right. God, I need a drink.

ROCKY. Den grab it. It's right under your nose.

WILLIE. (Avidly) Thanks. (He takes the bottle with both twitching hands and tilts it to his lips and gulps down the whiskey in big swallows.) (1.1)

Citing non-print or sources from the Internet

With more and more scholarly work published on the Internet, you may have to cite sources you found in digital environments. While many sources on the Internet should not be used for scholarly work (reference the OWL's  Evaluating Sources of Information  resource), some Web sources are perfectly acceptable for research. When creating in-text citations for electronic, film, or Internet sources, remember that your citation must reference the source on your Works Cited page.

Sometimes writers are confused with how to craft parenthetical citations for electronic sources because of the absence of page numbers. However, these sorts of entries often do not require a page number in the parenthetical citation. For electronic and Internet sources, follow the following guidelines:

  • Include in the text the first item that appears in the Work Cited entry that corresponds to the citation (e.g. author name, article name, website name, film name).
  • Do not provide paragraph numbers or page numbers based on your Web browser’s print preview function.
  • Unless you must list the Web site name in the signal phrase in order to get the reader to the appropriate entry, do not include URLs in-text. Only provide partial URLs such as when the name of the site includes, for example, a domain name, like  CNN.com  or  Forbes.com,  as opposed to writing out http://www.cnn.com or http://www.forbes.com.

Miscellaneous non-print sources

Two types of non-print sources you may encounter are films and lectures/presentations:

In the two examples above “Herzog” (a film’s director) and “Yates” (a presentor) lead the reader to the first item in each citation’s respective entry on the Works Cited page:

Herzog, Werner, dir. Fitzcarraldo . Perf. Klaus Kinski. Filmverlag der Autoren, 1982.

Yates, Jane. "Invention in Rhetoric and Composition." Gaps Addressed: Future Work in Rhetoric and Composition, CCCC, Palmer House Hilton, 2002. Address.

Electronic sources

Electronic sources may include web pages and online news or magazine articles:

In the first example (an online magazine article), the writer has chosen not to include the author name in-text; however, two entries from the same author appear in the Works Cited. Thus, the writer includes both the author’s last name and the article title in the parenthetical citation in order to lead the reader to the appropriate entry on the Works Cited page (see below).

In the second example (a web page), a parenthetical citation is not necessary because the page does not list an author, and the title of the article, “MLA Formatting and Style Guide,” is used as a signal phrase within the sentence. If the title of the article was not named in the sentence, an abbreviated version would appear in a parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence. Both corresponding Works Cited entries are as follows:

Taylor, Rumsey. "Fitzcarraldo." Slant , 13 Jun. 2003, www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/fitzcarraldo/. Accessed 29 Sep. 2009. 

"MLA Formatting and Style Guide." The Purdue OWL , 2 Aug. 2016, owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/. Accessed 2 April 2018.

Multiple citations

To cite multiple sources in the same parenthetical reference, separate the citations by a semi-colon:

Time-based media sources

When creating in-text citations for media that has a runtime, such as a movie or podcast, include the range of hours, minutes and seconds you plan to reference. For example: (00:02:15-00:02:35).

When a citation is not needed

Common sense and ethics should determine your need for documenting sources. You do not need to give sources for familiar proverbs, well-known quotations, or common knowledge (For example, it is expected that U.S. citizens know that George Washington was the first President.). Remember that citing sources is a rhetorical task, and, as such, can vary based on your audience. If you’re writing for an expert audience of a scholarly journal, for example, you may need to deal with expectations of what constitutes “common knowledge” that differ from common norms.

Other Sources

The MLA Handbook describes how to cite many different kinds of authors and content creators. However, you may occasionally encounter a source or author category that the handbook does not describe, making the best way to proceed can be unclear.

In these cases, it's typically acceptable to apply the general principles of MLA citation to the new kind of source in a way that's consistent and sensible. A good way to do this is to simply use the standard MLA directions for a type of source that resembles the source you want to cite.

You may also want to investigate whether a third-party organization has provided directions for how to cite this kind of source. For example, Norquest College provides guidelines for citing Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers⁠ —an author category that does not appear in the MLA Handbook . In cases like this, however, it's a good idea to ask your instructor or supervisor whether using third-party citation guidelines might present problems.

In-text citation

  • Works Cited
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Audiovisual
  • Encyclopaedias and dictionaries
  • Government and organisation publications
  • Interviews / speeches
  • Journals / periodicals
  • Live performances
  • Music scores / recordings
  • Online communication / social media
  • Other sources
  • Print this page
  • Other styles AGLC4 APA 7th Chicago 17th (A) Notes Chicago 17th (B) Author-Date Harvard MLA 9th Vancouver
  • Referencing home

The MLA 9th style uses author-date in-text citations, used when quoting or paraphrasing people’s work. 

Two types of in-text citations

1. author prominent format .

Use this format if you want to emphasise the author. Their name becomes part of your sentence.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," wrote Charles Dickens of the eighteenth century (5).

2. Information prominent format

Use this format if you want to emphasise the information. It cites the author’s name, typically at the end of a sentence.

as demonstrated in the opening line, "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times" (Dickens 5).

Examples of in-text citations

Less than three lines of text.

If a prose quotation is no more than four lines and does not require special emphasis, put it in quotation marks and incorporate it into the text. Include the page number(s) in brackets.

"It was the best of times it was the worst of times" wrote Charles Dickens of the eighteenth century (5).

  • See Plays and Poetry sections below for how to cite these in-text.

More than three lines of text

If a quotation is longer than three lines, set it off from your text by beginning a new line, indenting half an inch from the left margin. Quotation marks around the text are not required. Introduce the quotation with a colon. Place the parenthetical reference after the last line. For example, the above discusses John Corner in his book, The Art of Record: A Critical Introduction to Documentary , which refers to Brian Winston's revaluation of the documentary tradition in the writings of John Grierson.

Winston's reassessment of Grierson finds the play-off between creativity and realness unconvincing: Grierson's taxonomic triumph was to make his particular species of non-fiction film, the non-fiction genre while at the same time allowing the films to use the significant fictionalising technique of dramatisation. (Winston 103)

This is a usefully provocative point, though agreement with it will largely rest on certain, contestable ideas about 'fictionalisation' and 'dramatisation'. The issue is dealt with directly in Chapter Two, as part of considering the debate around drama-documentary forms, and it occurs in relation to specific works throughout this book.

Two authors

In prose, the first time the two authors are mentioned, use both first and second names. In a parenthetical citation use 'and', not '&' to connect the two surnames.

Others, like Cheryl Brown and Laura Czerniewicz argue that the idea of a generation of ‘digital natives’ is flawed (359). The Brown and Czerniewicz article focuses on…

(Brown and Czerniewicz 359)

Three or more authors

When citing a source with three or more authors in prose you only refer to the first coauthor and can follow the additional authors by “and others“ or “and colleagues.” A parenthetical citation requires the first author's surname, followed by et al.

Laura Czerniewicz and colleagues argue…

(Czerniewicz et al. 53)

Different authors, same surname

If you use works from more than one author with the same last name, eliminate any ambiguity by including the author's first initial as well (or if the initial is also the same, the full first name).

(N. Palmer 45)

(N. Palmer 45; M. Palmer 102)

Citing more than one author

If you are citing more than one source at the same point, place them in the same parentheses, separated by a semi-colon.

(Jackson 41; Smith 150)

Same author, two or more works

If you cite multiple works by the same author, include a shortened title in each in-text citation to establish which work you are referring to. To avoid overly lengthy in-text citations, shorten the title to a simple noun phrase, or a few words.

The first example references Said's book, so the title is italicised. The second example references Said's journal article, so it is in quotation marks.

For more tips on how to abbreviate titles of sources, see 6.10 of the MLA Handbook .

..."the Orient was a scholar's word, signifying what modern Europe had recently made of the still peculiar East" (Said, Orientalism 92).

..."there is something basically unworkable or at least drastically changed about the traditional frameworks in which we study literature" (Said, "Globalizing Literary Study" 64).

Anonymous or no author

For works that are anonymously authored, or have no author, include a shortened version of the title in the in-text citation (do not list the author as "anonymous", nor as "anon.").

It has been argued that the hat symbolised freedom (Wandering Merchant 157).

Corporate author

Abbreviate terms that are commonly abbreviated (e.g. Department becomes Dept.), so as to not disrupt the flow of your text with overly long in-text citations.

If the corporate author is identified in the works-cited list by the names of administrative units separated by commas, give all the names in the parenthetical citation.

The Australian Research Council found that there are limited policies and procedures in place to manage foreign interference (4).

(Monash University 176)

Citing an author within another source

An indirect source is a source that is cited in another source. To quote this second-hand source, use “qtd. in” (quoted in), and then include the information of the source you actually consulted. Similarly, for the reference list use the source that you actually consulted (i.e. the indirect source). Keep in mind that it is good academic practice to seek out and use the original source, rather than the second-hand one, however this is not always possible.

For the below example, the student is using Petrarch's quote which is found in Hui. The page number refers to the source actually consulted (Hui), and the reference list would only list Hui, as shown below:

Hui, Andrew. The Poetics of Ruins in Renaissance Literature. Fordham UP, 2016.

For more information, see section 6.77 of the MLA Handbook .

Petrarch laments that Cicero’s manuscripts are “in such fragmentary and mutilated condition that it would perhaps have been better for them to have perished” (qtd. in Hui 4).

Author in a translation

If you think your audience would require a translation for your quoted material, then provide one. Give the source of the translation, as well as the source of the quote.

If you did the translation yourself, then insert my trans. where you would usually put the translation source, as shown in the example above.

If you're quoting in a language that does not use the Latin alphabet (Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, etc.), then consistently use the original writing system for your quotes or romanisation. Note that proper nouns are usually romanised.

For more information, see 6.75 Translations of Quotations in the MLA Style Guide .

Mme d'Aulnoy's heroine is "la chatte blanche" ("the white cat"; my trans.; 56)

Poetry - Short quotations

Quotations from poetry from part of a line up to three lines in length, which do not need particular emphasis, may be added, placed in quotation marks, within your text as part of a sentence. Use a slash with a space on either side ( / ) to indicate a new line of poetry.

If the poem you are referencing has line numbers, then omit page numbers all-together and cite by line number instead. Do not use the abbreviation l. or ll. , but instead in your first citation, use the word line, or lines as shown in the example below. After the first citation, it can be assumed that the numbers refer to lines, so you can include the numbers alone.

More's distress that she had not written about the problems of the slave trade earlier are expressed in the poem: "Whene'er to Afric's shores I turn my eyes, / Horrors of deepest, deadliest guilt arise" (line 5).

Poetry - Block quotations

When quoting a block of poetry, introduce it in the same manner as a prose block quotation, i.e. begin the quote on a new line and indent each line as below. There is no need to add quotation marks. A reference to the page or line number should be included in parenthesis at the end of the last line. If the original text is creatively spaced or indented, then try to replicate the original as best you can.

Judith Wright 's poetry explores the Australian environment:

And have we eaten in the heart of the yellow wheat the sullen unforgetting seed of fire? And now, set free by the climate of man's hate, that seed sets time ablaze (14)

If you quote the lines of more than one actor or if the piece you are quoting is long, the quotation should not be integrated into your text. The rules in MLA for presenting this text are:

  • Leave a line between your text and the quotation
  • Begin each part of the dialogue with the character's name, indented half an inch from the margin, in upper case and with a full-stop, e.g. BODYGUARDS.
  • Start dialogue after full-stop or match spacing shown in original source
  • Indent all dialogue an additional amount, as shown below
  • End each piece of dialogue with a full-stop
  • End the last line of the quotation with a full-stop and then add the section and line numbers in parentheses.

For more information, see section 6.40 of the MLA 9th Handbook .

TARTUFFE. Yes, my brother, I am a sinner, a guilty man. An unhappy sinner full of iniquity. (III. vi.)

In-text citation general checklist

  • << Previous: Getting started
  • Next: Works Cited >>
  • Last Updated: Feb 15, 2024 11:03 AM
  • URL: https://guides.lib.monash.edu/mla9

Contact: ✉️ [email protected] ☎️ (803) 302-3545

How to cite an amendment using apa or mla, how to cite an amendment using apa.

One way you can cite an amendment is by using APA style formatting. APA stands for the American Psychological Association and is used when citing references for academic journals and reports.

Below are the items and abbreviations you should use for APA citations when referring to constitutions. These standards must be met for them to read correctly:

  • First, add the name of the U.S. Constitution as  U.S. Const.  While a comma isn’t required to follow here, it will be needed in later sections of the citation.
  • Next, include the article in the following format:  Art.  Always cite the article using Roman numerals as opposed to numbers.
  • Follow with the amendment:  Amend.  You should always ensure this is written using Roman numerals .
  • Your section is next, and here you’ll use the sign  §.  This numeral is Arabic and relates to a section of the amendment. To include the sign, simply use Alt-21.
  • After this, you’ll add the clause with  cl.  You’ll also be required to use Arabic numerals here too.
  • Lastly comes your preamble. The preamble will be written as  pmbl.  and will be used when you’re making a citation for cases that involve a preamble. An example is when a President and Vice President end their terms.

When using APA style, you’ll not have to include a reference to a site for sourcing, such as ConsitutionUS.com . 

How To Cite Articles That Have Been Repealed or Amended Using APA

The year must be included when you’re referring to a constitution that has been repealed or amended. Your year will be added to the end of the citation and will relate to the particular year in which the event took place.

For example, take Article 1 , Section 3, and Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution as amended by Section 1 of the Seventeenth Amendment. In APA style, it reads as follows: U.S. Const. Art. I, §3, cl. 1, amended 1919.

The citation includes the section of the United States Constitution, which is used to begin with, while also including that the change was made in the year 1919 under the Seventeenth Amendment .

How To Cite an Amendment Using MLA Format

MLA stands for Modern Language Association. When citing amendments, a particular format must be followed. However, it’s a fairly simple process to write using the MLA format. This is what you should include:

  • Start with the name of the document you’re citing using italics.
  • Next, you’ll want to write either article or amendment in abbreviation, depending on which relates to the document. These will be written as  Art.  or  Amend.
  • After, you should cite the article or amendment number. Write this in Roman Numerals.
  • Follow it up with a comma.
  • Add in  Sec.  This will indicate the section that you’re citation refers to. This should be written with Arabic numerals.
  • Finish with a period at the end. An example here would be  U.S. Constitution . Art. III, Sec. 3  (with only the document name written in italics).

When writing your in text citation, you should include a section of the United States Constitution . Turn the document’s name into an abbreviation, such as U.S. Const. 

Then shorten either article or amendment to art. or amend, adding the number in Roman numerals and following with a comma. Finish with sec. and the number of the section for the citation.

Online Citations of Amendments Using MLA

When citing online references for amendments , there are some key MLA style formatting principles that you must follow. You need to add relevant information about the source.

In the in text citation, you should include either the article or amendment it relates along with the section numbers. In the print version, you would be using a page number, so this is one key difference here.

Get Smarter on US News, History, and the Constitution

Join the thousands of fellow patriots who rely on our 5-minute newsletter to stay informed on the key events and trends that shaped our nation's past and continue to shape its present.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

The format should follow to include all of the information in this order:

  • Title of the page
  • Name of the website
  • The publisher
  • Date of publication (including the day, month, and year)
  • Website URL

When writing the in text citation, less information is required. Here, it should include the title of the page, article number, and section number. For example, it would look something like this: Constitution of the United States, art. 3, sec. 5.

Alicia Reynolds

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

What Article Is the Executive Branch Addressed in?

What is a constitution, what is the executive branch, what is the judicial branch, please enter your email address to be updated of new content:.

© 2023 US Constitution All rights reserved

IMAGES

  1. How To Cite the Constitution

    mla format citation us constitution

  2. How to Cite the Amendments in the U.S. Constitution (MLA, APA, Bluebook)

    mla format citation us constitution

  3. 3 Ways to Cite the Constitution

    mla format citation us constitution

  4. 3 Ways to Cite the Constitution

    mla format citation us constitution

  5. 3 Ways to Cite the Constitution

    mla format citation us constitution

  6. 3 Ways to Cite the Constitution

    mla format citation us constitution

COMMENTS

  1. How to Cite the Constitution in MLA

    To cite the Constitution of the United States in MLA style, include information about where you accessed it in the Works Cited entry. In the in-text citation, use article/amendment and section numbers instead of page numbers. The example below shows how to cite an online version of the constitution.

  2. Q. How do I cite the United States Constitution in MLA?

    Aug 10, 2021 20567 According to the MLA Style Center page on Document Legal Works in MLA Style: The section of the United States Constitution is represented in the Works Cited list as follows: United States Constitution. Art./Amend. XII, Sec. 3. The intext citation would follow this pattern: (US Const. amend. XII, sec. 3)

  3. MLA FAQs

    Cite Using citation machines responsibly Powered by How do I use MLA citations and list of works cited in a PowerPoint presentation? To cite sources in a slide presentation, MLA suggests including brief citations on each slide that includes material from your sources, including quotations, summaries and paraphrases, images, or data.

  4. how do i cite the Constitution in MLA?

    The 7 th edition of the MLA handbook has this to say about citing the U.S. Constitution: "In general, do not italicize or enclose in quotation marks the title of laws, acts, and similar documents in either the text or the list of works cited (Declaration of Independence, Constitution of the United States, Taft-Hartley Act).

  5. How To Cite the Constitution

    The method for citing the Constitution will vary based on whether you use the APA or MLA formats, but both are easy to use and are described fully below. An Introduction to Citing the Constitution ConstitutionUS.com provides a full-text copy of the United States Constitution.

  6. Legal Citation Guide: U.S. Constitution

    APA / MLA in-text: (U.S. Const. amend. XVIII, repealed 1933) On the treatment of reference list / bibliography entries: APA and MLA style both require reference list entries and in-text citations for specific pieces of constitutions. The formatting is generally the same for both reference list entries and in-text citations.

  7. Government & Legal Documents

    Legal Citations From the MLA Style website: "Following one of the fundamental principles of MLA style, writers citing legal works should document the version of the work they consult—not the canonical version of the law, as in legal style.

  8. How to Cite Constitution in the MLA Style with Examples

    Here is how to cite the US Constitution in MLA in practice: MLA Template Book Title. Edited by Editor's First Name Last Name, edition, Publisher, Year. MLA Works Cited Page Constitution of the United States (Book of American Wisdom). Annotated by Founding Fathers, Applewood Books, 1995. In-text (U.S. Constitution, amend. 11, sec. 1)

  9. How to Cite the Constitution in MLA

    When it comes to referencing the United States Constitution in academic writing, citing it in MLA format follows the guidelines set by the Modern Language Association. Avoid point deductions in your final paper Citing sources or paraphrasing passages incorrectly are common causes for point deductions.

  10. Citing Sources in MLA Format

    The MLA citation format was developed by the Modern Language Association, and is often used by students taking courses in the humanities. If your instructor has asked that you use MLA format, and you need help constructing citations, go to the Library's "Citing Sources" page for assistance.The NCC Librarians and Learning Center staff have collaborated to bring you a concise guide to using MLA ...

  11. How to Cite the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution

    ( 212) Citation Generator Source Type Search Create manual citation In honor of the Fourth of July and the most patriotic month of the year in America, let's look at some tips on how to cite the Declaration of Independence and similar important historical documents in MLA format and APA format. USA!

  12. Documenting Legal Works in MLA Style

    For example, if you want to use MLA style to document title 17, section 304, of the United States Code—commonly abbreviated 17 U.S.C. § 304 in legal citations—title 17 can be treated as the work and thus placed in the "Title of source" slot on the MLA template, or if you cite the United States Code in its entirety, title 17 can be ...

  13. How to Cite the U.S. Constitution

    MLA Style The citation in MLA differs slightly from APA and Chicago. Based on the guidelines in the 7th ed. of the MLA handbook, start the reference with "U.S. Const." Then, write the article or amendment number, preceded by "art." or "amend.," respectively.

  14. Citations: MLA Style (9th ed.)

    Students and scholars working outside the legal profession and using MLA style should follow the MLA format template to cite laws, public documents, court cases, and other related material. MLA Style Center: Documenting Legal Works in MLA Style ... The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription. National Archives, U.S. National Archives ...

  15. How to Cite the Amendments in the U.S. Constitution (MLA ...

    1. In place of the "§" symbol, the abbreviation "sect." can be used. In a paper dealing primarily with the Constitution, there is no need to mention "U.S. Const." However, if you are referring to an electronic form of the document, the citation is as follows: Electronic form: "Constitutional Topic: The First Amendment."

  16. How to Cite This Site

    "Constitutional Topic: Martial Law." USConstitution.net. 30 Nov 2001. //www.usconstitution.net/consttop_mlaw.html (3 Dec 2001) Specifically, the data is as follows: Author, Title, Site, Modification Date (found at the bottom of every page), URL, and the date the page was accessed.

  17. MLA Formatting and Style Guide

    Cite Using citation machines responsibly Powered by Creating a Works Cited list using the ninth edition MLA is a style of documentation that may be applied to many different types of writing.

  18. How to Cite the US Constitution

    To create a reference or citation for the U. S. Constitution, you will need to know the article, the amendment, and the section number. The templates and examples below will show you how to cite the U. S. Constitution in MLA, APA, Chicago style, and Harvard referencing.

  19. MLA Format

    Knowledge Base MLA Style MLA format for academic papers and essays MLA Format | Complete Guidelines & Free Template Published on December 11, 2019 by Raimo Streefkerk . Revised on January 17, 2024 by Jack Caulfield. The MLA Handbook provides guidelines for creating MLA citations and formatting academic papers.

  20. MLA In-text Citations

    Revised on May 19, 2022. An MLA in-text citation provides the author's last name and a page number in parentheses. If a source has two authors, name both. If a source has more than two authors, name only the first author, followed by " et al. ". If the part you're citing spans multiple pages, include the full page range.

  21. MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics

    MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the page number (s) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear in the text, and a complete reference should appear on your Works Cited page.

  22. In-text citation

    In-text citation. The MLA 9th style uses author-date in-text citations, used when quoting or paraphrasing people's work. Two types of in-text citations 1. Author prominent format . Use this format if you want to emphasise the author. Their name becomes part of your sentence. ... Format. If you cite multiple works by the same author, include a ...

  23. How To Cite an Amendment Using APA or MLA

    APA and MLA are two formatting styles for citing amendments. How To Cite an Amendment Using APA One way you can cite an amendment is by using APA style formatting. APA stands for the American Psychological Association and is used when citing references for academic journals and reports. Items and abbreviations you should use for APA citations.

  24. How to Cite the U.S. Constitution in APA Style

    response papers. However, if you are using some part of the U.S. Constitution as evidence to support a point you are making in your paper, you should construct the citation using Bluebook Rule 11, which covers federal and state constitutions. All citations of the U.S. Constitution begin with U.S. Const., followed by the article, amendment ...