How to Cite Short Stories in MLA

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Short stories can be great resources for a literary essay or a paper for an English class. To cite a short story, you have to include an in-text citation, which will take the form of "(O'Connor 10)" and then create a citation in the Works Cited page, which will look like this: "O’Connor, Flannery. ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find.’ The Collected Stories of Flannery O’Connor. New York: FSG, 2000. 255-356. Print."

Sample Citations

Method 1
Method 1 of 2:

Writing In-Text Citations

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  1. If you are using content from the short story that is 3 lines or shorter, you can place it in text in quotes. This will let the reader know you are quoting directly from the short story. [1]
    • For example, you may write, “In the short story 'A Good Man is Hard to Find', the Misfit character notes, ‘I found out the crime don’t matter. You can do one thing or you can do another, kill a man or take a tire off his car, because sooner or later you’re going to forget what it was you done and just be punished for it.’”
  2. If you are taking lines word for word out of the story that are very long, indent them to the left in block quotes so they stand out on the page. When you use block quotes, you do not need to use quotation marks as well. [2]
    • For example, you may write, “The aftermath of the shooting is described with brutality and plainness by O’Connor:

      ‘She was a talker, wasn't she?’ Bobby Lee said, sliding down the ditch with a yodel.
      ’She would of been a good woman,’ The Misfit said, ‘if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.’‘Some fun!’ Bobby Lee said.
      ‘Shut up, Bobby Lee,’ The Misfit said. ‘It's no real pleasure in life.’

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  3. The in-text citation should always appear at the end of the quoted text in parentheses. Place periods or commas after the citation, not before it. [3]
    • For example, you may write, “In the short story 'A Good Man is Hard to Find,' the Misfit character notes, ‘I found out the crime don’t matter. You can do one thing or you can do another, kill a man or take a tire off his car, because sooner or later you’re going to forget what it was you done and just be punished for it’ (O’Connor 10).”
    • Or you may write, “The aftermath of the shooting is described with brutality and plainness by O’Connor:

      ‘She was a talker, wasn't she?’ Bobby Lee said, sliding down the ditch with a yodel.
      ’She would of been a good woman,’ The Misfit said, ‘if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.’‘Some fun!’ Bobby Lee said.
      ‘Shut up, Bobby Lee,’ The Misfit said. ‘It's no real pleasure in life’(O'Connor 23)."

  4. Put a space, rather than a comma, between the author’s name and the page number. If there are multiple authors, separate their last names with a comma. [4]
    • For example, you may write a citation such as: “(O’Connor 23)” or “(Gaitskill 12).”
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Method 2
Method 2 of 2:

Creating a Citation for the Works Cited Page

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  1. Note the author of the short story in the citation, placing a comma between their last and first name. If there are multiple authors, use "and" to separate their names. [5]
    • For example, you may write, “O’Connor, Flannery” or “Erdrich, Louise, and Diaz, Junot.”
  2. For example, you may write, "O’Connor, Flannery. ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find'" or "Erdrich, Louise. ‘The Flower.’"
  3. If you found the short story online, you do not need to include the title of the collection or anthology. [6]
    • For example, you may write, “O’Connor, Flannery. ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find.’ The Collected Stories of Flannery O’Connor. ” or “Erdrich, Louise. ‘The Flower.’ The Best American Short Stories 2016. ”
  4. Put “Ed.” and then note the editor of the anthology, if listed. You do not need to include the editor's name if the short story is from a short story collection. [7]
    • For example, you may write, “Erdrich, Louise. ‘The Flower.’ The Best American Short Stories 2016, Ed. by Junot Diaz.”
  5. The publisher's location should be noted by city. If you cannot find publisher information for a short story you found online, you do not need to include it. [8]
    • For example, you may write, “O’Connor, Flannery. ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find.’ The Collected Stories of Flannery O’Connor. New York: FSG, 2000.” Or you may write, “Erdrich, Louise. ‘The Flower.’ The Best American Short Stories 2016, Ed. by Junot Diaz, New York: Harper Collins, 2016.”
  6. Put the name of the website in the citation so the reader knows where they can find the story online. You do not need to include a URL for the website. [9]
    • For example, you may write, “Gaitskill, Mary. ‘Something Better Than This.’ Fictionaut.'"
  7. Note the page names of the short story in the source text. If you are citing a short story from a website, you do not need to include page numbers. [10]
    • For example, you may write, “Erdrich, Louise. ‘The Flower.’ The Best American Short Stories 2016, Ed. by Junot Diaz, New York: Harper Collins, 2016. 324-414.”
  8. If the short story is from a printed book, use “Print” for the medium. If the short story is from a website, use “Web” for the medium and note the date you accessed the site. [11]
    • For example, you may write, “O’Connor, Flannery. ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find.’ The Collected Stories of Flannery O’Connor. New York: FSG, 2000. 255-356. Print.”
    • Or you may write, “Gaitskill, Mary. ‘Something Better Than This.’ Fictionaut. Web. 12 December 2017.”
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Expert Q&A

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  • Question
    How do I format a Shakespeare quote in MLA?
    Marissa Levis
    English Teacher
    Marissa Levis is an English Teacher in the Morris County Vocational School District. She previously worked as an English director at a tutoring center that caters to students in elementary and middle school. She is an expert in creating a curriculum that helps students advance their skills in secondary-level English, focusing on MLA formatting, reading comprehension, writing skills, editing and proofreading, literary analysis, standardized test preparation, and journalism topics. Marissa received her Master of Arts in Teaching from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
    Marissa Levis
    English Teacher
    Expert Answer
    Whether it's prose or verse, count the lines of text you're citing. If it's prose, you can treat it like a regular citation. However, if it's verse, use line breaks (slashes) when necessary. If your quote is more than three lines, format it as a block quote.
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  • Question
    How do I cite the same author?
    Tom De Backer
    Top Answerer
    Every time you quote a work, you must include a citation. If you quote the same work more than once, you must include a citation of that same work every time you quote it. You use page numbers in your citation to immediately direct the reader to the page where the quote can be found. You can, however, also group the citations and and link to the same single entry in your bibliography every time you quote that same work without using page numbers.
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      References

      1. ↑ https://penandthepad.com/cite-short-story-mla-format-1134.html
      2. ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/punctuation/quotation_marks/quotation_marks_with_fiction.html
      3. ↑ https://penandthepad.com/cite-short-story-mla-format-1134.html
      4. ↑ https://otis.libguides.com/mla_citations/books#s-lg-box-15872775
      5. ↑ https://otis.libguides.com/mla_citations/books#s-lg-box-15872775
      6. ↑ https://penandthepad.com/cite-short-story-anthology-8558144.html
      7. ↑ https://warren.libguides.com/c.php?g=1062317&p=7724336
      8. ↑ https://warren.libguides.com/c.php?g=1062317&p=7724336
      9. ↑ https://penandthepad.com/cite-short-story-mla-format-1134.html
      1. ↑ https://penandthepad.com/cite-short-story-mla-format-1134.html
      2. ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_page_books.html

      About This Article

      Article Summary X

      Citing a short story can be a great way to strengthen your paper. To do an in-text citation, include the author’s last name and the page number in parentheses after the quoted text. For example, if you’re citing from page 10 of O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” you would follow your quote with (O’Connor 10). Always place the period in the sentence after your citation. On your works cited page, you need to provide a more detailed citation. It should begin with the author’s last and first names, with a comma separating them. Then, add the title of the story in quotation marks, the name of the anthology in italics, the place of publication, the publisher’s name, and the date of publication. A completed citation may look like, “O’Connor, Flannery. 'A Good Man is hard to Find.' The Collected Stories of Flannery O’Connor. New York: FSG, 2000.” To see some additional examples of MLA citations, keep reading!

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