How do I cite an online lecture from a course I’m taking remotely?

Note: This post relates to content in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook. For up-to-date guidance, see the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook.

If your instructor wants you to cite quotations from video or audio recordings of lectures posted online, cite them as you would any online lecture. (Check with your instructor about what form of quotation and citation they prefer.) The following provides an example of a works-cited-list entry:

Smith, Joanna. Lecture on quantum mechanics. Blackboard, Utopia University, 9 Dec. 2020, blackboard.utopia.edu. Video recording.

If the lecture has a title, use that in place of the generic description in the example above. In the text of your essay, provide time stamps as in-text citations for all quotations from the lecture.

See also our posts on citing online lectures and on citing presentations posted on learning management systems.