MLA Date Format | Works Cited and Main Text
MLA essays always include dates, especially in the main heading on the first page and in Works Cited entries. Dates can also be used in the main text of an essay to give context about an event or an outside source.
In MLA Works Cited entries, write dates in day-month-year order. Abbreviate months that are more than four letters long (e.g., 20 Oct. 2022). Also use day-month-year order for the main heading on the first page, but don’t abbreviate the month (e.g., 7 November 2024).
In the main text, use either day-month-year or month-day year order, but stay consistent with the same format throughout the document. Months in the main text shouldn’t be abbreviated.
| Main text | Works Cited entry |
|---|---|
| In a September 18, 2023 article, Peter Yeung and Melanie Péréz Arias describe a fog-catching technology that can address water shortages in remote areas affected by droughts. |
Yeung, Peter, and Arias, Melanie Péréz. “The Backyard Farmers Who Grow Food with Fog.” Reasons to Be Cheerful, 18 Sept. 2023, www.reasonstobecheerful.world/lima-fog-catchers-water-scarcity-irrigation/. |
MLA date format for Works Cited entries
Works Cited entries usually include a publication date (whereas MLA in-text citations don’t). The level of detail for the publication date varies for each type of source.
As a general rule, provide the same amount of detail that the source provides. For example, most MLA journal article citations have month and year or season and year, but Works Cited entries for books usually have only a year.
| Level of detail | Source types | Works Cited entry |
|---|---|---|
| Year | Book Book chapter Movie Song/Album TV episode |
Metsa, Paul, and Shefchik, Rick. Blood in the Tracks: The Minnesota Musicians behind Dylan’s Masterpiece. University of Minnesota Press, 2023. |
| Month-year | Journal article |
Chee, Christine L., et al. “Academic Stress of Native American Undergraduates: The Role of Ethnic Identity, Cultural Congruity, and Self-Beliefs. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, vol. 12, no. 1, Mar. 2019, pp. 65-73. APA PsychNet, https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000094. |
| Season-year | Journal article (if the journal uses this) |
Tyson, Laura D., and Zysman, John. “Automation, AI & Work.” Daedalus, vol. 151, no. 2, spring 2019, pp. 256-71. JSTOR, jstor.org/stable/48662040. |
| Day-month-year | Magazine or newspaper article Podcast Web page YouTube video |
Lagos, Anna. “How a PhD Student Discovered a Lost Mayan City from Hundreds of Miles Away.” Wired, 2 Nov. 2024, wired.com/story/lost-maya-city-valeriana-interview/. |
MLA month abbreviations in Works Cited entries
MLA has special guidelines for abbreviating months in Works Cited entries. Abbreviate all months with four letters or more on the Works Cited page only. (Use the full month name in your heading or main text.)
| Month | MLA format |
|---|---|
| January | Jan. |
| February | Feb. |
| March | Mar. |
| April | Apr. |
| May | May |
| June | June |
| July | July |
| August | Aug. |
| September | Sept. |
| October | Oct. |
| November | Nov. |
| December | Dec. |
When to include an access date
For online sources, include an access date in Works Cited entries in these situations:
- The website doesn’t provide a publication date
- The information on the website is updated frequently
- The website is no longer available
If the website doesn’t provide a publication date, omit this from the Works Cited entry. To provide an access date, write “Accessed” and then day-month-year (with the month abbreviated).
Original publication date in Works Cited entries
If you’re using an older source (such as a novel from the 1800s), the original publication year can be useful in your Works Cited entry. In this situation, put the year right after the title of the work. The publication date of the source you used goes in the usual part of an MLA book citation, MLA website citation, and so forth.
Formatting dates in the main text
If you mention dates in the main text of an essay, spell out the month’s full name (e.g., January). MLA permits month-day-year or day-month-year format as long as you use the same format consistently.
If you use month-day-year, place a comma after the day and after the year (if the date is in the middle of a sentence).
MLA requires numerals for days and years (e.g., “July 9” not “July 9th” or “ninth of July”).
Jhumpa Lahiri was born in London on 11 July 1967.
If you refer to decades in MLA writing, you can use either a word (e.g., “the eighties”) or numerals (e.g., “the 1970s”) as long as you’re consistent with one style.
Technically, you can use an apostrophe to abbreviate a decade like the 1960s with “the ’60s,” but using all four digits of the decade is more precise if you choose to use numerals rather than words for decades.
Frequently asked questions about MLA date format
- What’s the date format for an MLA header?
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The date format for an MLA header is either day-month-year or month-day-year. MLA accepts either of these formats, but it also requires you to spell out the full name of the month in your heading.
If you use month-day-year format, place a comma between the day and year.
MLA heading examples Saanvi MehtaProfessor Bennett
Composition I
30 September 2024
Grace Eldridge
Professor Rivera
Sociology 101
October 15, 2024
If you include dates in the main text of your paper, use the same MLA date format that you chose for your heading.
QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker can help you proofread MLA documents to ensure that they’re error free.
- How do you cite a source with no date in MLA?
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To cite a source with no date in MLA, write a Works Cited entry that includes an access date instead of a publication date.
The access date goes at the end of a Works Cited entry, followed by a period.
MLA source with no date example Semtner, Christopher P. “12 Stories behind Edgar Allen Poe’s Terror Tales.” Biography, biography.com/authors-writers/edgar-allan-poe-horror-stories-facts. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.
The access date should follow MLA date format for Works Cited entries (day-month-year with abbreviations for months longer than four letters).
QuillBot’s free Citation Generator can help you format access dates correctly in MLA Works Cited entries.
- How do you write time in MLA format?
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Write time in MLA format to create a time stamp for in-text citations of audio and video sources (e.g, a movie or a song). The format is hh:mm:ss (hour:minute:second) with a colon between each element.
MLA time stamp example The video tour of the actress’s new home includes a close-up shot of a brass door knocker in the shape of a lion’s head (“Inside SNL Star” 00:01:47-49).This in-text citation has an abbreviated title of the video (because there’s no author) and a timestamp, which directs readers to the 1 minute and 47 seconds spot of the video.
QuillBot’s free Citation Generator can help you create time stamps and use MLA date format in Works Cited entries.
- When do you abbreviate months in MLA format?
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Abbreviate months in MLA format for publication dates or access dates in Works Cited entries. MLA requires abbreviations for all months except May, June, and July.
The abbreviations for MLA date format are Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec.
MLA month abbreviation example Studach, Mel. “Inside SNL Star Heidi Gardner’s Midcentury
Home, a Disco Fantasy Come True.” Architectural Digest, 29 Oct. 2024, www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/heidi-gardner-inside-the-snl-stars-midcentury-disco-fantasy.
Don’t abbreviate months in the heading or main text of an MLA document (e.g., “Harry Potter was born on July 31, 1980.”)
QuillBot’s free Citation Generator can help you format months and dates correctly in MLA Works Cited entries.
- What are the MLA month abbreviations?
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MLA month abbreviations are part of the MLA date format for Works Cited entries.
When a Works Cited entry includes a publication date or access date, MLA requires abbreviations for all months that are longer than four letters. The MLA abbreviations are Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec.
These abbreviations do not apply to the heading or the main text, where MLA requires the full month names (e.g., “February 14, 2025”).
When you’re writing MLA Works Cited entries, QuillBot’s free Citation Generator can help you format months and dates correctly.
