How to Cite a Short Story in MLA | Format & Examples
When you quote from a short story in MLA Style, make sure to properly introduce the quote and to follow it with an MLA in-text citation giving the author’s last name and the page number of the quote.
The narrator tells us that Bartleby “seemed to gorge himself on my documents” (Melville 11).
The citation corresponds to an entry in your Works Cited list, giving the story’s author and its title in quotation marks, followed by the publication details of the container (e.g. a book, magazine, or website). The story in this example comes from a collection with an editor.
| MLA format | Author last name, First name. “Story Title.” Book Title, edited by Editor first name Last name, Publisher, Year, pp. Page range. |
|---|---|
| MLA Works Cited entry | Melville, Herman. “Bartleby, the Scrivener.” Billy Budd, Sailor and Selected Tales, edited by Robert Milder, Oxford UP, 1998, pp. 3–41. |
Quoting and citing a short story
When you quote from a short story, it’s important to properly introduce the quotation in your own words.
For example, you could use an introductory sentence followed by a colon. The in-text citation is placed directly after the quotation.
The narrator refers to the mystery of his father’s behavior: “Why did Father smile to himself, why did his eyes turn up, misty, in a parody of mock admiration?” (Schulz 99).
Or you can integrate the quote into your own sentence, as shown below. If you name the author when introducing the quote, you only need to include the page number in parentheses.
Schulz describes the interior of the shop as a “cosmogony of cloth” (89).
If you quote more than four lines, format it as a block quote.
Consecutive citations of the same story
If you’re referring to the same story repeatedly, you don’t need to include the author name in every citation. As long as it’s clear you’re citing the same source again, omit the author name and just cite the page number.
Schulz describes the interior of the shop as a “cosmogony of cloth . . . a fantastic Canaan” (89). The biblical imagery continues: the objects of the father’s anger are referred to as “idolaters” and “worshippers of Baal” (90).
If you refer to a different source in between or start a new paragraph, include the author’s name in the citation again.
Citing a short story from a book
To cite a short story from an edited collection, after giving the author and title of the story, list the title of the book, the editor(s), the publisher, the year, and the page range on which the story appears.
| MLA format | Author last name, First name. “Story Title.” Book Title, edited by Editor first name Last name, Publisher, Year, pp. Page range. |
|---|---|
| MLA Works Cited entry | Smith, Ali. “The Universal Story.” The Penguin Book of the Contemporary British Short Story, edited by Philip Hensher, Penguin Books, 2018, pp. 99–107. |
| MLA in-text citation | (Smith 103) |
If the story is published in a single-author collection, without a named editor, simply omit the editor from the reference.
| MLA format | Author last name, First name. “Story Title.” Book Title, Publisher, Year, pp. Page range. |
|---|---|
| MLA Works Cited entry | Schulz, Bruno. “The Comet.” The Street of Crocodiles and Other Stories, Penguin Books, 2008, pp. 95–111. |
| MLA in-text citation | (Schulz 99) |
Citing a short story from a newspaper or magazine
To cite a story published in a newspaper or magazine, list the name of the periodical, the date of publication, and the page range where the story can be found.
| MLA format | Author last name, First name. “Story Title.” Newspaper/Magazine Name, Day Month Year, pp. Page range. |
|---|---|
| MLA Works Cited entry | Coetzee, J. M. “The Dog.” The New Yorker, 4 Dec. 2017, pp. 15–19. |
| MLA in-text citation | (Coetzee 15) |
Citing a short story found online
For a short story published online, whether in an online magazine or elsewhere, list the website name, the date it was published, and the URL.
Note that if there are no page numbers and the author is already named in your sentence (narrative citation), no parenthetical citation is needed.
| MLA format | Author last name, First name. “Story Title.” Website Name, Day Month Year, URL. |
|---|---|
| MLA Works Cited entry | Hughes, Caoilinn. “A Woman of No Information.” Granta, 10 Jun. 2020, granta.com/a-woman-of-no-information/. |
| MLA in-text citation | (Hughes) |
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Frequently asked questions about MLA citations
- When should I cite a book chapter in MLA?
-
In MLA Style, you should cite a specific chapter or work within a book in two situations:
- When each of the book’s chapters is written by a different author.
- When the book is a collection of self-contained works (such as poems, plays, or short stories), even if they are all written by the same author.
If you cite multiple chapters or works from the same book, include a separate Works Cited entry for each chapter.
- How do you write a book title in MLA?
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In MLA style, book titles appear in italics, with all major words capitalized. If there is a subtitle, separate it from the main title with a colon and a space (even if no colon appears in the source). For example:
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and InheritanceThe format is the same in the Works Cited list and in the text itself. However, when you mention the book title in the text, you don’t have to include the subtitle.
The title of a part of a book—such as a chapter, or a short story or poem in a collection—is not italicized, but instead placed in quotation marks.
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