MLA Lecture Citation
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How to cite a lecture in a bibliography using MLA
The most basic entry for a lecture consists of the speaker’s name, lecture title (if applicable), meeting/event/course title, venue, date conducted, sponsoring institution, and city.
Begin the citation with the name of the speaker. This person’s name should be reversed, with a comma placed after the last name and a period after the first name (or any middle name). A suffix, such as a roman numeral or Jr./Sr. should appear after the person’s given name, preceded by a comma.
Lecture with a title:
If the lecture has a title, place it in quotation marks after the speaker’s name, followed by a period. After the title, include the event or meeting name where the lecture was conducted, followed by a period. If there is an institution, such as a college or company, that sponsored the lecture, include it after the event name, followed by a comma and the event details, such as venue, date, and location.
Last Name, First Name. “Lecture Title.” Meeting/Event/Course Title. Venue, Date Conducted, Sponsoring Institution (if applicable), City.
Pausch, Randy. “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” Journeys Forum. Annual Fiction Symposium, 18 Sept. 2007, Wyndham Grand Hotel, Pittsburgh.
Continue your citation with the venue name, the date, and the city where the event occured, separated by commas. Place a final period after the city. State the date on which the lecture was conducted, followed by a period. The complete date should be written in the international format (i.e., day-month-year). With the exception of May, June, and July, abbreviate month names (four letters for September, three letters for all other months) and follow the abbreviation with a period.
Lecture from a course:
If the lecture is a class lecture, include the live presentation format (lecture) directly after the speaker’s name and replace the event name with the course number/name, followed by the date and the school/university where the lecture occurred. Separate the elements after the lecture format with commas and end the entry with a period after the school/university name.
Last Name, First Name. Presentation Format (Lecture). Course Name/Number, Date Conducted, School/University Name.
Pausch, Randy. Lecture. Computer Science 101: Building Virtual Worlds, 25 Feb. 2005, Carnegie Mellon University.
“Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything really good.”
– William Faulkner