How to Cite a Preprint in MLA

Paste the arXiv ID or link. If the paper has since been published in a journal, cite the published version instead. This page follows MLA 9th edition, 9th edition (2021).

MLA format for a preprint

MLA 9th edition

Works Cited entry

Devlin, Jacob, et al. “BERT: Pre-Training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understanding.” Preprint arXiv:1810.04805, arXiv, 11 Oct. 2018, https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1810.04805.

In-text citation

(Devlin et al.)

Style: MLA 9th edition

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Preview: MLA 9th edition

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Your citations appear here, formatted in MLA 9th edition. They are saved in this browser only: nothing is sent to us, and no account is needed.

    Where to find the details

    • arXiv gives every paper a DOI of the form 10.48550/arXiv.ID.

    Required in most styles: author, date published, title, repository (arxiv, ssrn, medrxiv).

    Cite a preprint in another style

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    Questions

    What do I need to cite a preprint in MLA?

    At minimum: author, date published, title, repository (arxiv, ssrn, medrxiv). arXiv gives every paper a DOI of the form 10.48550/arXiv.ID.

    What does a preprint look like in MLA?

    Works Cited entry: Devlin, Jacob, et al. “BERT: Pre-Training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understanding.” Preprint arXiv:1810.04805, arXiv, 11 Oct. 2018, https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1810.04805. In-text citation: (Devlin et al.)

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    Yes. No account and no limit. Your bibliography is saved in this browser only, and you can export it to Word, BibTeX, RIS or CSL-JSON.

    Citations are formatted by citeproc-js by Frank Bennett (CPAL-1.0, or AGPL-1.0), the engine behind Zotero and Mendeley, running the official Citation Style Language styles (10,863 styles, commit 2e93558) and locales (commit a89adec), used under CC BY-SA 3.0. AGLC4 citations use the LexIntellect AGLC4 engine, checked against the Guide's worked examples. Always check a citation against the manual or your institution's guide before you submit.