MLA是Modern Language Association的缩写，是美国现代语言协会制定的论文指导格式，同时也是北美大学英文论文写作最常用的一种参考文献格式，最新的为MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers（《MLA学术论文指南》）第8版。相比APA，CMS等格式来说，MLA论文格式更加严谨，更加常用。语言文学类论文通常使用MLA格式。
MLA文内引用和Harvard文献格式以及APA文献格式都有很大的不同，MLA格式使用的是“作者姓+页码”的组合。例如：
Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (263).或者：
Romantic poetry is characterized by the “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (Wordsworth 263).
1.如果引用的材料存在多个作者（人数超出三人）的情况，MLA格式需要使用“et al.”的缩略写法。例如：
According to Franck et al, “Current agricultural policies in the U.S. are contributing to the poor health of Americans” (327).或者：
The authors claim that one cause of obesity in the United States is government-funded farm subsidies (Franck et al. 327).
2.引用作者人数未超过三人。例如：
The authors claim that surface reading looks at what is “evident, perceptible, apprehensible in texts” (Best and Marcus 9).或者：
Best and Marcus argue that one should read a text for what it says on its surface, rather than looking for some hidden meaning (9).
3.如果引用同一个作者的不同文献，则在文内引用中需要加上文献的名称。例如：
⑴ 同一作者的两篇文章
Lightenor has argued that computers are not useful tools for small children (“Too Soon” 38), though he has acknowledged elsewhere that early exposure to computer games does lead to better small motor skill development in a child’s second and third year (“Hand-Eye Development” 17).
⑵ 同一作者的两本书
Murray states that writing is “a process” that “varies with our thinking style” (Write to Learn 6). Additionally, Murray argues that the purpose of writing is to “carry ideas and information from the mind of one person into the mind of another” (A Writer Teaches Writing 3).
在MLA参考文献格式中，主要有两种类型的文献，Print（书籍和期刊）和Web（网页引用内容），这些都必须要在文末的Works Cited中标注出来。另外，每条引用条目还需要次行缩进。
1.书籍引用
Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. City of Publication, Publisher, Publication Date.例如：
Gleick, James. Chaos: Making a New Science. Penguin, 1987.
Wysocki, Anne Frances, et al. Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of Composition. Utah State UP, 2004.
2.期刊引用
Author(s). “Title of Article.” Title of Journal, Volume, Issue, Year,pages.例如：
Bagchi, Alaknanda. “Conflicting Nationalisms: The Voice of the Subaltern in Mahasweta Devi’s Bashai Tudu.” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature, vol. 15, no. 1, 1996, pp. 41-50.
3.网页引用
Editor, author, or compiler name (if **ailable). Name of Site. Version number, Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if **ailable), URL, DOI or permalink. Date of access (if applicable).例如：
Felluga, Dino. Guide to Literary and Critical Theory. Purdue U, 28 Nov. 2003, www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/. Accessed 10 May 2006.
Lundman, Susan. “How to Make Vegetarian Chili.” eHow, www.ehow.com/how_10727_make-vegetarian-chili.html. Accessed 6 July 2015.
最后需要注意，MLA格式在2016年4月份更新至第8版。大家在使用MLA引用格式的时候，务必确定所要求的格式版本。下面详细介绍MLA格式第8版新的要求。
接受使用作者的化名来替代作者的真实姓名。例如:
@WSJ. “Generation X went from the most successful in terms of homeownership rates in 2004 to the least successful by 2015.” Twitter, 8 Apr. 2016, 4:30 p.m., twitter.com/WSJ/status/718532887830753280
引用期刊时，需要加上vol.和no.来表示期刊的期刊数和卷号。
● MLA 8th引用期刊
Kincaid, Jamaica. “In History.” Callaloo, vol. 24, no. 2, Spring 2001, pp. 620-26.
● MLA 7th引用期刊
Kinkaid, Jamaica. “In History.” Callaloo 24.2 (Spring 2001): 620-26.
在引用网络信息时，需要包含网站链接。在之前的MLA格式要求中，对网站链接没有明确的规定。但是在MLA第8版本中，明确指出了需要包含网站链接。即使网站信息更新了，读者也可以通过链接找到相关的信息。注意在引用URL时不需要包括“http://”或者“https://”。
在引用期刊或者是网站时，可以省略出版信息。
MLA第8版本在引用书籍时，省略了出版城市。只有在不同国家/地区发行的版本不同时，才需要在引用中指出出版的城市。
● MLA 8th引用书籍
Jacobs, Alan. The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction. Oxford UP, 2011.
● MLA 7th引用书籍
Jacobs, Alan. The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2011. Print.
MLA格式范文可浏览网页：https://cl.ly/1H3f102r0w10。其详细的介绍可参看美国佛蒙特大学图书馆大卫•W•豪纪念图书馆（D**id W. Howe Memorial Library of THE UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT Libraries）网站上的“MLA (Modern Language Association) Style”网页（网址：http://library.uvm.edu/research/citations_style_guides_and_information_management/mla_style）