In the previous examples, the type of source made a difference for how the title was formatted.

It is important for you to know what type of source you are citing when you create your citations, because the source type influences where you find the information you need and how you format that information. For example, an article citation is different from a book citation.

Elements 3-9

The first two elements (author and title) should be familiar by now. The third part of the citation includes elements 3-9 and contains more details about the what, who, when, and where of your source.

What was it published in (ex. journal) or on (ex. website)?
Who published it?
When was it published?
Where was it published?

These details make up the rest of your citation. All together, elements #1-9 are called the Core Elements of MLA citation:

Author.
Title of source.
Title of container,
Other contributors,
Version,
Number,
Publisher,
Publication date,
Location.

Punctuation

All the details included in elements #3-9 are separated by commas, not periods. The period is not included until after the last detail.

For example:

Anderson-Lopez, Kristen, and Robert Lopez. "Let It Go." Frozen, performed by Idina Menzel,

Walt Disney Records, 2013.

Note in this example that not every element in the "more details" is present (5, 6, and 9 are not included because they do not apply to this particular source).

Most citations that you write will have some but not all of elements 3-9.