How to Cite a Preprint or Working Paper in MLA 9th edition

Preprints on servers such as arXiv, SSRN or bioRxiv, and working papers.

Example in MLA 9th edition

Perelman, Grisha. “The Entropy Formula for the Ricci Flow and Its Geometric Applications.” arXiv, 11 Nov. 2002, https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.math/0211159.

In-text (Perelman)

Fix by hand: Set arXiv in italics, as MLA sets the site or repository a work is in.

What MLA 9th edition includes

These are the details of the example above that the style prints, so they are the ones to collect for your own source.

Title
Author(s)
Server or Repository
Date Published
DOI

Check whether the paper has since come out in a journal or proceedings. If you read that version, cite it as a journal article or a conference paper. Otherwise note the server, the date of the version you read and the DOI on its page. For a working paper, note its series and its number too.

The formatting comes from the style's own file, so check the finer points against your guide. What to check by hand in MLA 9th edition.