How to Cite Poetry, Song Lyrics, & Plays in MLA Style

This video explains how to cite verse (poetry, song lyrics, plays) according to the 7th edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. Topics covered: 1-3 lines of verse (0:54), 1-3 lines of Shakespeare/plays (1:40), block quotes (2:14), dialogue 2 or more characters (2:54), using an ellipsis (3:17).

The content was created by Crystal Rose, Public Services Librarian, Memorial University Libraries, in partnership with the university's department of Distance Education, Learning & Teaching Support.

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Other videos in this series:

[nicolejudd]

Does anybody else find it incredibly stupid and redundant to make such insignificant changes to the MLA formatting??? It becomes so confusing to keep up, when new editions with unnecessary changes keep being published!! Its understandable to update the editions as language progresses, but changing the order of names and titles or changing a title from parenthesis to italics is utterly useless and time consuming to figure out and apply!

[lemon-vymj]

I love how on educational videos
Everybody is ranting about their school in the comments



My school gives unnecessary amount of work

[GothicElf]

Thank you for this. I am writing my first essay for a college English Composition course and included some song lyrics. I had no clue how to properly annotate them.

[bigjames]

Wasn't that just how to quote it? What about actually citing it?

[lilaclisa]

Thank you, this should help me pass my literature quiz tomorrow!

[mwidunn]

First, M. L. A. sucks (just for the record). Second, where does she specifically get into song lyrics?

[mbaniskitchen]

YT is really failing me on something. Everyone is talking about the final results, like how it would look like, but HOW do you do it Like i need someone to go to ms word and show step by

[takarasights]

In the first example, why did you add a period after "rests"?

[nightslasher]

Why is Amy Lee teaching me how to format my work?

[montevallewiffleballleague]

What if you are putting the authors last name and the lines at the end

[imcracked]

DUDE MY QUOTE IS OVER A HUNDRED LINES INTO THE POEM,

[TinyGiraffes]

Nothing is more useless than MLA, why is there an 8th edition? because the 7th wasn't useless enough. Just say what the person said and who said it.

[ChungNguyen-ttyk]

CovidImages need to be invested more than half19