How to Cite a PowerPoint in MLA | Format & Examples
Published on
December 7, 2020
by
Jack Caulfield.
Revised on
June 16, 2022.
To cite a PowerPoint or other slide-based presentation in MLA style, the format depends on how you viewed the presentation.
If the slides are available to view online, the format is similar to that for a website: provide the author and title of the presentation, the name of the site in italics, the date it was posted, and the URL.
Use a slide number to indicate the location of the relevant information in in-text citations.
MLA format
Author last name, First name. “Presentation Title.” Website Name, Day Month Year, URL.
If you viewed the PowerPoint in person and it isn’t available online, cite it using details of the context in which you viewed it: the name of the course, the date the lecture was given, and the name and location of your university.
You can also add the optional label “PowerPoint presentation” for clarity.
MLA format
Author last name, First name. “Presentation Title.” Course Name, Day Month Year, University Name, City. PowerPoint presentation.
If you want to cite content reproduced in a PowerPoint (like an image or quotation from someone other than the person who created the slides), it’s best to cite the original source if possible. Try looking for source information in the slides, or asking the lecturer.
However, if necessary, you can treat it as a source contained within a source. Cite details of the original source first, and then include details of the presentation as a container, including the slide where the relevant quote or image appears at the end.
For example, the following format shows how to cite an artwork from a presentation.
MLA format
Author last name, First name. Artwork Title. Year of Artwork. Presentation Name, taught by Presenter first name Last name, Day Month Year, University Name, City. Slide number.
When you want to cite a PowerPoint or lecture notes from a lecture you viewed in person in MLA, check whether they can also be accessed online; if so, this is the best version to cite, as it allows the reader to access the source.
If the material is not available online, use the details of where and when the presentation took place.
MLA recommends citing the original source wherever possible, rather than the source in which it is quoted or reproduced.
If this isn’t possible, cite the secondary source and use “qtd. in” (quoted in) in your MLA in-text citation. For example: (qtd. in Smith 233)
If a source is reproduced in full within another source (e.g. an image within a PowerPoint or a poem in an article), give details of the original source first, then include details of the secondary source as a container. For example:
Picasso, Pablo. Guernica. 1937. Introduction to Art History, taught by James Wilson, 24 Sep. 2019, Duke University, Durham. Slide 7.
If a source has no page numbers, you can use an alternative locator (e.g. a chapter number, or a timestamp for a video or audio source) to identify the relevant passage in your in-text citation. If the source has no numbered divisions, cite only the author’s name (or the title).
If you already named the author or title in your sentence, and there is no locator available, you don’t need a parenthetical citation:
Rajaram argues that representations of migration are shaped by “cultural, political, and ideological interests.”
The homepage of The Correspondent describes it as “a movement for radically different news.”
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Caulfield, J.
(2022, June 16). How to Cite a PowerPoint in MLA | Format & Examples. Scribbr.
Retrieved November 3, 2023,
from https://www.scribbr.com/mla/powerpoint/
Jack is a Brit based in Amsterdam, with an MA in comparative literature. He writes for Scribbr about his specialist topics: grammar, linguistics, citations, and plagiarism. In his spare time, he reads a lot of books.
