MLA (9th edition) · YouTube video
How to cite a YouTube video in MLA (9th edition)
An online video citation names the uploader, the upload date, the video title, the platform, and the URL. The uploader is whoever owns the channel, which may be an organisation rather than a person. Timestamps for the exact moment you rely on go in the in-text citation, not the reference.
Worked example · MLA (9th edition)
Lovelace, Ada. “How to Structure a Literature Review.” YouTube, 2024, https://www.example.org/watch/lit-review. Video.
Rendered with the official MLA (9th edition) style file from a placeholder source (reserved example DOI and domain), so the format is exactly what the style produces. In text: Author-page in-text citations, for example (Author 23), with a Works Cited list.
What to collect before you cite a YouTube video
- Channel or uploader name
- Video title
- Upload date
- Platform name (YouTube, Vimeo)
- The full URL
- The date you accessed it
Have a DOI? Generate the reference instantly
Journal articles, many books and reports carry a DOI. Paste it and get the MLA (9th edition) entry from the same engine that produced the example above.
Citing a whole thesis, not one source?
CiteDash keeps your bibliography in MLA (9th edition) automatically, verifies every citation against a real paper, and compiles to DOCX, PDF or LaTeX.
Citing a YouTube video in MLA (9th edition): FAQ
The channel name and the presenter differ. Who is the author?
The channel, because that is the publishing entity the reader can find. If the presenter matters academically, name them in your sentence rather than the reference.
How do I point to one moment in a long video?
Cite the whole video in the reference list and give the timestamp in text, the same way page numbers work for print sources.
Is a lecture recording on YouTube cited as a video or a lecture?
As the video you watched: uploader, title, platform, URL. What the recording contains belongs in your prose, not in the citation format.
What does the in-text citation look like in MLA (9th edition)?
Author-page in-text citations, for example (Author 23), with a Works Cited list.
Is the example on this page hand-written?
No. It is rendered by the same citation engine and official CSL style file CiteDash uses for full thesis bibliographies, from a clearly-marked placeholder source, and a test re-renders it on every release so the page can never drift from the engine.