PERRLA/Guides/MLA 9/Poster presentation

How to Cite a Poster Presentation in MLA 9

An MLA 9 Works Cited entry for a poster presentation gives the first author's last name and first name (with et al. for three or more), the poster title in quotation marks and title case, the conference name, the day the poster was shown (28 Oct. 2024), the city, the link to the poster or its program listing if you found it online, and the description Poster presentation at the end. The in-text citation is the first author's last name, with no page number: (Shah et al.).

The format

Last Name, First Name, et al. "Title of the Poster." Conference Name, Day Mon. Year, City, State, www.url.com. Poster presentation.

PERRLA MLA Experts · Updated October 29, 2026
Checked against the MLA Handbook, 9th edition. Every example is formatted by PERRLA's reference engine.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

Choose Conference & Symposium Materials, then Conference Session or Presentation. Add everyone listed on the poster in the Author / Presenter role, in the poster's order. Type the poster's title in Contribution Title and Poster presentation in Type of Contribution. Then fill in the Conference Name, the city and state, and the day of the poster session in Conference Start Date, and paste the link to the poster or its abstract.

PERRLA puts the title in quotation marks and title case, shortens three or more authors to the first one and et al., writes the date day-month-year, and ends the entry with Poster presentation. If the program doesn't say which day the poster was up, add the conference's end date too, and PERRLA prints the range, like 27–30 Oct. 2024.

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same works cited entry by hand.

The parts of the works cited entry

1. Authors

Start with the first author's last name, a comma, and their first name as the poster or program prints it. With three or more authors, which most posters have, add a comma and et al.

Shah, Zill, et al.

Two authors: invert only the first name, then write and and the second author's name in normal order.

2. Poster title

Put the title in quotation marks and capitalize it in title case, whatever casing the program uses. The period goes inside the closing quotation mark.

"Protecting Nurses from COVID-19: An Update on the Fight for a National Standard."

Programs sometimes lowercase acronyms (this one printed covid-19). Write them the standard way.

3. Conference name

The conference is the container. Give its name in plain type, not italics, followed by a comma.

APHA 2024 Annual Meeting and Expo,

4. Date

Give the day of the poster session, written day, month, year, with months longer than four letters shortened. Poster sessions often run an hour or two on one day of a longer meeting; the program's listing for the poster shows the day.

28 Oct. 2024,

5. Location and link

Give the city where the conference met, with the state for a US city. For a virtual poster session, write online instead. If you found the poster or its abstract online, the link comes next, without https://.

Minneapolis, MN, apha.confex.com/apha/2024/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/553291.

6. Description

End with the description Poster presentation, so your reader knows it was a poster and not a talk or a paper. It's an optional element in MLA, but for a poster it's worth including. No brackets, and a period at the end.

Poster presentation.

Examples

A poster presentation at a national conference

A poster on burnout among school nurses, shown October 28 at the American Public Health Association's 2024 meeting in Minneapolis by a team from George Mason University, with Erin Maughan as the fifth author. The entry uses the day of the poster session, not the four days of the meeting.

  • In-text citation(Shah et al.)
  • Narrative citationShah et al. found that …

A poster with eight authors

A poster on COVID-19 protections for health care workers by a team from National Nurses United and the Veterans Health Administration, shown November 14 at the 2023 American Public Health Association meeting in Atlanta. Eight authors or three, MLA names only the first, then et al.

  • In-text citation(Westmoreland et al.)
  • Narrative citationAs Westmoreland et al. explain, …

In-text citations

An MLA 9 in-text citation for a poster is the first author's last name. A poster has no page numbers, so nothing follows the name.

  • One author: the last name alone.
  • Two authors: both last names joined by and.
  • Three or more authors: the first author and et al.: (Shah et al.)
  • Name in your sentence: leave the parentheses off: Westmoreland et al. describe the push for a national standard.

If you cite two posters by the same first author, add a short version of each title in quotation marks: (Shah et al., "Association").

Common mistakes

  • (Shah et al., 2024)(Shah et al.)That's APA. MLA in-text citations don't take the year, and a poster has no page to add.
  • The Association between Burnout and Education … [Poster presentation]."The Association between Burnout and Education …."MLA puts a poster's title in quotation marks, not italics. Poster presentation goes at the end of the entry, without brackets.
  • Westmoreland, Irma, Zenei Cortez, Deborah Burger, Jean Ross, …Westmoreland, Irma, et al.MLA lists every author only when there are one or two. With three or more, give the first and et al.
  • APHA 2024 Annual Meeting and Expo, 27–30 Oct. 2024,APHA 2024 Annual Meeting and Expo, 28 Oct. 2024,When the program gives the day of the poster session, use that day. The meeting's full dates are only the fallback.
  • Shah, Zill, et al. "The Association …." APHA 2024 Annual Meeting and Expo, 28 Oct. 2024, Minneapolis, MN.… Minneapolis, MN, apha.confex.com/apha/2024/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/553291. Poster presentation.Without the description, your reader can't tell a poster from a talk. Add the link too if you read the poster or its abstract online.

Quick checklist

  • First author inverted, then et al. for three or more
  • Poster title in quotation marks and title case
  • Conference name in plain type, then the day of the poster session
  • City and state, or online for a virtual session
  • Link to the poster or abstract if you found it online
  • Poster presentation at the end, no brackets

Questions students ask

Is a poster cited differently from a conference talk in MLA?

Only in the description at the end. Both follow the same MLA template: authors, title in quotation marks, the conference as the container, the date, and the place. A poster ends with Poster presentation, a talk with Conference presentation or Paper presentation.

What if the poster's abstract was published in a journal?

If what you read is the abstract in a journal or a journal supplement, cite it as a journal article: the authors, the abstract's title in quotation marks, the journal in italics, the volume, the issue, the date, the page, and the DOI.

Do I list every author on the poster?

No. MLA names every author only when there are one or two. With three or more, give the first author's name, a comma, and et al., in the Works Cited entry and in the text.

Which date do I use for a poster?

The day of the poster session, if the program shows it. If it doesn't, give the conference's dates as a range, like 12–15 Nov. 2023.

How do I cite my own poster in MLA?

The same way, with your name in the author slot. If the poster was a class project that wasn't presented at a conference, cite it as an unpublished work instead, with the title still in quotation marks.

Rules checked against the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), chapters 5 and 6 (the core elements, optional elements, and in-text citations), and the MLA Style Center's answer on citing a paper presented at a virtual conference (presenter, title, conference as the container, date presented, and location). The MLA Style Center has no poster-specific answer, so posters follow the same template with Poster presentation as the description. Example sources are the ones verified for the APA 7 page; for MLA, each poster's page in the American Public Health Association's online program was re-read by curl on October 29, 2026, for the authors' full first names, the title, and the poster session date (Shah et al., 28 Oct. 2024; Westmoreland et al., 14 Nov. 2023).

PERRLA builds the poster entry for you, with the title in quotation marks and Poster presentation at the end.

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