How to Cite a Conference Paper in MLA 9th Edition

This guide explains how to format a conference paper citation in MLA 9th Edition. Follow the format template below, refer to the real example, and use the step-by-step instructions to build your citation correctly.

Format Template

The general pattern for citing a conference paper in MLA 9th Edition:

Template

Author(s). "Title of Paper." Title of Conference Proceedings, edited by Editor(s), Publisher, Year, pp. page range. DOI/Database.

In-Text Citation Example

How the citation appears within the body of your paper:

In-text citation

(Lee and Park 312)

Reference List Entry Example

The full citation as it appears in your Works Cited:

Works Cited entry

Lee, Jiyeon, and Hyunwoo Park. "Transformer Architectures for Low-Resource Languages." Proceedings of the 60th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, edited by Smaranda Muresan et al., Association for Computational Linguistics, 2022, pp. 310--25. https://doi.org/10.18653/v1/2022.acl-long.45.

Step-by-Step Guide

1
Identify the author(s)
List the paper author(s) in standard MLA format.
2
Write the paper title
Place the title in quotation marks using title case.
3
Add the proceedings title
Italicize the proceedings title. If the proceedings is a book, include "edited by" and the editor name(s).
4
Include publisher and year
Add the publisher (often the sponsoring organization) and the year of publication.
5
Add page numbers and DOI
Include "pp." and the page range. Add the DOI or database name as the final element.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Confusing a published proceedings paper with a conference presentation.
Not italicizing the proceedings title.
Omitting the editor(s) of the proceedings volume.
Forgetting the page range.
Not including the DOI or database for electronically accessed proceedings.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I cite a conference presentation that is not published in proceedings?

For an unpublished presentation, treat it as an unpublished work: Author. "Title of Presentation." Conference Name, Date, Location. Presentation.

Should I include the conference location?

For published proceedings, the location is generally not needed. For an unpublished conference presentation, include the location after the date.

What if the proceedings are published as a journal issue?

If the proceedings were published as a special issue of a journal, cite it as a journal article rather than a book chapter.

Information You Will Need

Before creating your citation, gather the following information from your conference paper:

Author(s)
Year of presentation
Title of paper
Conference name
Location
Date(s) of conference
Publisher of proceedings (if published)
Page range (if in proceedings)
DOI or URL

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Reference List Entry Example

The full citation as it appears in your Works Cited:

Works Cited entry

Step-by-Step Guide

Identify the author(s)

List the paper author(s) in standard MLA format.

Write the paper title

Place the title in quotation marks using title case.

Add the proceedings title

Italicize the proceedings title. If the proceedings is a book, include "edited by" and the editor name(s).

Include publisher and year

Add the publisher (often the sponsoring organization) and the year of publication.

Add page numbers and DOI

Include "pp." and the page range. Add the DOI or database name as the final element.