Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Verified for the 2026 exam
Verified for the 2026 exam•Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Definition
MLA (Modern Language Association) is a formatting style commonly used in the humanities, such as English literature, to cite sources and format academic papers.
Related terms
In-text citation: A brief reference within the body of your paper that indicates the source of information.
A list at the end of your paper that includes full bibliographic information for all sources cited.
Parenthetical citation: Another term for in-text citation, where you include the author's last name and page number in parentheses after a quote or paraphrase.