MLA Citation Checker
Paste your MLA 9 Works Cited list below to review likely formatting issues — author inversion, the “and” connector, Title Case, DOI format, alphabetical order, and duplicates. Free, unlimited, no account, and it runs entirely in your browser.
Using APA instead? Try the APA 7 Citation Checker.
What this checker looks for
- The first author inverted to Last name, First name — keeping the full given name (MLA does not abbreviate to initials).
- The word “and” (not &) before the final author.
- Source titles in Title Case rather than sentence case.
- DOIs as a clean https://doi.org/10.xxxx link.
- A terminal period (unless the entry ends in a DOI or URL).
- Alphabetical order of the list and duplicate entries.
Every finding is advisory and links to the relevant MLA guideline. The checker is deterministic — it never uploads your text, never uses AI, and never auto-rewrites your references. It targets MLA 9 Works Cited entries only (in-text citations and other styles are not checked yet).
Frequently Asked Questions
- What does the MLA citation checker check?
- It scans each entry in your Works Cited list for high-confidence MLA 9 formatting issues: first-author name inversion (Last name, First name with the full given name), using the word “and” instead of & before the final author, source titles in Title Case rather than sentence case, DOI/URL hygiene (a clean https://doi.org/… link), a missing terminal period, alphabetical ordering of the list, and duplicate entries.
- How is this different from the APA citation checker?
- MLA 9 and APA 7 are partly opposite, so they need separate checkers. MLA keeps the author’s full first name (not initials), joins authors with the word “and” (not &), and uses Title Case for titles (not sentence case). Running an APA checker on MLA references would flag every correct entry, which is why CitationEasy ships a dedicated MLA checker.
- Is the MLA citation checker free, and do I need an account?
- Yes, it is completely free with no sign-up, no source limit, and no paywall. The checker runs entirely in your browser — your Works Cited list is never uploaded to a server.
- Does a clean result mean my Works Cited is perfect?
- No. The checker flags specific, deterministic formatting issues it can detect with high confidence. It does not verify that a source exists, that a DOI resolves, or that every nuance of MLA style is correct. Treat the findings as a helpful first pass, not a guarantee, and always double-check against your assignment guidelines.
- How should I paste my references?
- Paste your Works Cited list with one reference per line, or separate multi-line references with a blank line. The checker analyzes each entry separately and also checks the list as a whole for alphabetical order and duplicates.