How to Cite a TED Talk in MLA | Format & Examples
To cite a TED Talk from the TED website in MLA, list the name of the speaker, the talk title, the site name TED, the month and year, and the URL.
In an in-text citation, you can use a timestamp to highlight a specific quote where necessary.
| Format | Speaker last name, First name. “Talk Title.” TED, Month Year, URL. |
|---|---|
| Works Cited entry | Jacobs, A. J. “The Life Cycle of a Cup of Coffee.” TED, Jan. 2021, www.ted.com/talks/a_j_jacobs_the_life_cycle_of_a_cup_of_coffee. |
| In-text citation | (Jacobs 3:15) |
Citing a TED Talk from YouTube
If you’re citing the TED Talk not from their site but from YouTube, the format differs slightly. You should still list the speaker in the author position, but also list the uploader (usually “TED” or “TEDx Talks”) and give the full upload date, since it’s available on YouTube.
| Format | Speaker last name, First name. “Video Title.” YouTube, uploaded by TED or TEDx Talks, Day Month Year, URL. |
|---|---|
| Works Cited entry | Bailey, Chris. “How to Get Your Brain to Focus | Chris Bailey | TEDxManchester.” YouTube, uploaded by TEDx Talks, 5 Apr. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu4Yvq-g7_Y. |
| In-text citation | (Bailey 12:15) |
Citing a transcript of a TED Talk
If you’re quoting from the transcript of the video, link to this instead of the video, and add “Transcript” to the end of your Works Cited entry.
| Format | Speaker last name, First name. “Talk Title.” TED, Month Year, URL. |
|---|---|
| Works Cited entry | Jacobs, A. J. “The Life Cycle of a Cup of Coffee.” TED, Jan. 2021, www.ted.com/talks/a_j_jacobs_the_life_cycle_of_a_cup_of_coffee/transcript. Transcript. |
| In-text citation | (Jacobs 3:54) |
Frequently asked questions about MLA citations
- Are titles capitalized in MLA?
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Yes. MLA style uses title case, which means that all principal words (nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and some conjunctions) are capitalized.
This applies to titles of sources as well as the title of, and subheadings in, your paper. Use MLA capitalization style even when the original source title uses different capitalization.
- What is the easiest way to create MLA citations?
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The fastest and most accurate way to create MLA citations is by using Scribbr’s MLA Citation Generator.
Search by book title, page URL or journal DOI to automatically generate flawless citations, or cite manually using the simple citation forms.
2 comments
Rianna Real
November 24, 2021 at 7:28 AMwhat if there are two (or multiple) speakers in the TED talk? How would I cite that and which name would I use?
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
December 2, 2021 at 12:05 PMHi Rianna,
When a source has two authors, you should write both their names with only the first one reversed in your Works Cited list, e.g. Smith, Thomas, and Barbara Michelle Williams. Also write both names in your in-text citation, e.g. (Smith and Williams 20)
When a source has three or more authors, you should list the first author’s name followed by “et al.” (meaning “and others”) in both the Works Cited list (Smith, Thomas, et al.) and your in-text citations (Smith et al. 20).