All sources on the works cited page have been cited in the paper at least once. (Cross-reference this list carefully and remove any sources that you did not use.)

The entire page is double-spaced. (MLA Handbook style calls for all pages of the paper to be double-spaced.)

All entries are alphabetized by the first word of each entry. There is an exception: The articles “A,” “An,” and “The” at the beginning of a title are excluded from this rule; instead, the next word in the title is used to alphabetize the entry. For example, The Bedford Research Center (a website with an unknown author) is alphabetized under “B”.

All entries are indented correctly (hanging indent).

There are no numbers, bullets, or dashes at the beginning of entries.

Names and titles in all entries are properly capitalized.

If there is more than one author, the first author’s name is inverted (last, first), but the names of additional authors are listed in order (first last).

Book titles and other information that would normally be italicized in print are italicized, not underlined. (If, however, you are writing your paper by hand, you should underline what would be italicized in print.)

Article titles and other information in this category are in quotation marks.

All entries include the medium, sometimes called format, of the source (for example, print, DVD, Web, CD, letter, e-mail, etc.).

All entries end with a period.

All entries for Web sources include the date the information was accessed online.

All dates in entries follow a consistent format: either the international/universal method (26 July 2010) or American method (July 26, 2010). (MLA prefers the international method, but the seventh edition of the handbook states that either method is acceptable as long as it is used consistently throughout the works cited.)

All months except May, June, and July are abbreviated in dates.