MLA format checker

Paste your Works Cited list. The MLA format checker flags MLA 9 mistakes (author names, title case, quotation marks, vol. and no., pp., where the date goes) and looks every entry up in CrossRef and OpenAlex, so it is also an MLA citation checker: it tells you whether each source exists and whether the year and authors match.

Example result

2 found0 to check1 not found7 format notes

1Found
LeCun, Yann, et al. “Deep Learning.” Nature, vol. 521, no. 7553, 2015, pp. 436–44, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14539.
CrossRef record LeCun, Bengio, Hinton (2015). Deep learning. Nature. doi.org/10.1038/nature14539
No MLA 9 format problems spotted.
✓
2Found
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191-215.
CrossRef record Bandura (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review. doi.org/10.1037/0033-295x.84.2.191
MLA 9 format
- MLA puts the date near the end, after the journal, volume and issue (…, vol. 84, no. 2, 1977, pp. 191–215), not in parentheses after the author.
- Write the author's name as it appears in the source, usually with the full first name (Bandura, Albert), not initials only.
- Put the article title in quotation marks: “Title of the Article.” The journal name goes in italics.
- MLA uses title case: capitalize the first word and all major words (nouns, verbs, adjectives), not just the first word.
- Write volume and issue as “vol. 84, no. 2,” not 84(2).
- Put “pp.” before a page range: pp. 191–215.
- This work has a DOI. MLA asks you to include it when there is one: https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295x.84.2.191
3Not found
Smith, John, and Laura Carter. “Adaptive Neural Scaffolding for Cross-Lingual Sentiment Transfer in Low-Resource Classrooms.” Journal of Educational Data Science, vol. 14, no. 3, 2021, pp. 211–29, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeds.2021.04.012.
The DOI 10.1016/j.jeds.2021.04.012 is not registered.
No paper, book or report with this title in CrossRef or OpenAlex (over 250 million records). AI tools often invent references like this. It can also be a thesis, a very new preprint or a source these databases do not cover.
No MLA 9 format problems spotted.

What the MLA format checker looks at

Authors: the first author inverted (Last, First); two authors joined with “and”, not “&” (Smith, John, and Laura Carter); three or more shortened to the first author and “et al.”; names as they appear in the source rather than initials.
Title: article and chapter titles in quotation marks and title case (major words capitalized).
Volume, issue and pages: “vol. 84, no. 2,” instead of 84(2), and “pp.” before a page range.
Date: near the end of the entry, after the journal, volume and issue, not in parentheses after the author as in APA.
DOI: if CrossRef has a DOI for a work you cite without one, you get the link to add.
Existence: each entry is matched against publisher records, so wrong years, wrong first authors and invented sources show up too. That part works as an MLA citation checker for any list.

MLA 9 Works Cited examples

Journal articleLast, First. “Title of the Article.” Journal Name, vol. 12, no. 3, 2021, pp. 45–67, https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx.

Two authorsLast, First, and First Last. “Title of the Article.” Journal Name, vol. 8, no. 1, 2019, pp. 1–20.

BookLast, First. Title of the Book. Publisher, 2020.

Web pageLast, First. “Title of the Page.” Site Name, 4 Nov. 2026, example.com/page.

MLA paper format checklist

Pasted text loses layout, so check these in your document:

1-inch margins on all sides, the whole paper double-spaced, a readable 12-point font such as Times New Roman.
Your last name and the page number in the top right corner of every page.
On the first page, top left: your name, your instructor's name, the course and the date, each on its own line; the title centred below, with no bold, underline or quotation marks.
Works Cited on a new page, the heading “Works Cited” centred, entries in alphabetical order by author with a half-inch hanging indent.

Common MLA citation mistakes

APA habits. A year in parentheses after the author and 84(2) for volume and issue are APA; MLA writes “vol. 84, no. 2, 1977”.
“&” between authors. MLA spells out “and”.
Listing every author. With three or more, MLA keeps only the first and adds “et al.”
Sentence-case titles. Reference managers set to APA lowercase the title; MLA wants title case.
Sources that don't exist. If an AI tool helped with the draft, check every entry it supplied.

FAQ

Is this MLA format checker free?

Yes. Up to 25 entries per check, no account. The same check tells you whether each source exists.

Which edition of MLA does it check?

MLA 9, published in 2021. Works Cited entries follow the same core elements as MLA 8: author, title, container, volume and issue, date, pages, DOI or URL.

Can it check my whole paper's formatting?

It checks the Works Cited entries you paste. Page layout (margins, spacing, header, hanging indent) is lost when you paste text, so use the checklist on this page for those.

Is it an MLA citation checker too?

Yes. Besides the format, it looks every entry up in CrossRef and OpenAlex, so wrong years, wrong authors and sources that don't exist show up.

Does it work for APA?

Use the APA format checker for APA 7 rules. The existence check works the same for any style.