MLA Referencing Generator
Paste a DOI or ISBN for instant lookup, or enter details manually. Generates an MLA 9 Works Cited entry and in-text citation. Fully usable on mobile. Pro Mode adds a multi-author matrix and Word/PDF export.
Paste a DOI or ISBN, we'll build the Works Cited entry for you
DOI works for journal articles via CrossRef. ISBN works for books via Open Library. A general webpage or news URL can't be auto-fetched this way, browser security rules block that for any site, use manual entry for those instead.
Alphabetized by author, with real MLA hanging indents. Add references from lookup, manual entry, or batch results.
How to Use the MLA Referencing Generator
From a DOI, an ISBN, or a set of source details to a ready Works Cited entry. Fully usable on mobile.
DOI lookups go to CrossRef, ISBN lookups go to Open Library, both directly from your browser. No account, no tracking, nothing stored in between.
MLA Reference Page Generator, 9th Edition, Free and Online
An MLA reference page generator turns a DOI, an ISBN, or a set of source details into a properly formatted Works Cited entry and in-text citation instantly. This one looks up journal articles via CrossRef and books via Open Library, then generates a hanging-indented Works Cited entry alongside the matching author-page in-text citation.
Setting up an MLA reference page correctly means getting a handful of small details right, calling it Works Cited rather than References, applying a hanging indent to every entry, and inverting only the first author's name rather than every author on the list. Miss any one of those and the page reads as slightly off, even if every source is technically correct. This free MLA reference generator tool removes the guesswork for the sources that can be auto-fetched. Paste a DOI for a journal article and CrossRef fills in the author, title, journal and volume, or paste an ISBN for a book and Open Library fills in the title, author and publisher. For webpages, switch to manual entry and the fields adjust to what MLA actually requires, a full day-month-year date and a site name rather than a journal volume. Every entry comes with the correct hanging indent already applied and a matching author-page in-text citation. Pro Mode adds a 10-author matrix, an alphabetized Works Cited compiler, and export to Word or Markdown.
1Simple vs Pro, What Each Mode Includes
| Feature | Simple Mode | Pro Mode (Free) |
|---|---|---|
| DOI lookup via CrossRef, ISBN lookup via Open Library | Included | Included |
| Manual entry for webpages, journals, books | Included | Included |
| Works Cited entry with real hanging indent | Included | Included |
| Author-page in-text citation, with page locator | Included | Included |
| Up to 10 authors on one entry | Limited to 3 authors | Included |
| Batch DOI generator, up to 10 at once | Not included | Included |
| Alphabetized Works Cited compiler, export to Word or Markdown | Not included | Included |
2MLA Reference Page vs In-Text Citation, at a Glance
The detail that trips up the most students is the author inversion rule for entries with more than one author. Only the very first author on a Works Cited entry gets inverted to Last, First, every other author on that same entry stays in normal First Last order, which is different from styles like APA where every author's surname comes first. The in-text citation is simpler than APA or Harvard in one respect, MLA never includes a year, just the author's surname and the page number, with no comma between them.
3MLA vs APA Reference Pages
| Feature | MLA | APA |
|---|---|---|
| Reference page name | Works Cited | References |
| In-text citation | Author, page number, no year | Author, year, no page unless quoting |
| Author inversion | First author only | Every author |
| Common field | Humanities, English, literature | Social sciences, psychology |
4Where MLA Style Actually Came From
The Modern Language Association itself is older than most students assume, founded in 1883 by a group of professors who wanted modern language study, English, French, German, taken as seriously as the classical languages that dominated universities at the time. What is easy to miss is that the organization existed for nearly seventy years before it had a citation style at all. According to the MLA's own history page, it was not until 1951 that executive director William Riley Parker published a slim style sheet addressing citation for the first time, and that original version actually recommended footnotes alongside in-text citations. The combination of in-text citations with a standalone Works Cited page, the format everyone now associates with MLA, only became standard with the second edition of the MLA Handbook in 1971, twenty years after the first attempt.
DOI lookups go to CrossRef and ISBN lookups go to Open Library, both free public registries, directly from your own browser, with no account and no tracking. Manually entered details are never sent anywhere.
5Frequently Asked Questions
Grounded in the MLA's own documented timeline, the 1883 founding, the 1951 style sheet, and the 1971 second edition, not a flattened "MLA has always worked this way" story. The full account is detailed on the Modern Language Association's official history page. For other citation styles on this site, see the APA 7 Reference Generator and the full SmallStudyTools.com tool library.
More Research & Referencing Tools
Every other tool in the Research & Referencing category
