PERRLA/Guides/MLA 9/Speech

How to Cite a Speech in MLA 9

An MLA 9 Works Cited entry for a recorded speech starts with the speaker's last name and first name, then the speech title in quotation marks and title case, the date the speech was given, the website or archive that holds the recording in italics, and the URL. You can add a description, like Audio recording or Transcript, at the very end. The in-text citation is the speaker's last name: (Fisher). A speech you watched on YouTube is cited as a YouTube video, and a speech you read is cited as the transcript.

The format

Last Name, First Name. "Title of the Speech." Day Mon. Year. Website Name, URL. Audio recording.

PERRLA MLA Experts ยท 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 Speech (Audio Recording). Add the speaker in the Speaker role, then fill in Title of the Speech, the website or archive under Publishers, Date of the Speech, and the URL (Web address). You can leave Copyright Year blank: the MLA entry doesn't use it. PERRLA writes the speaker's name in MLA order, keeps Jr. after the first name, puts the title in title case, writes the date day-month-year with the month abbreviated, and adds a description of the recording at the end.

Speech has no title? Type a short description inside square brackets in Title of the Speech, like [Address at the dedication of the National Institute of Health]. PERRLA drops the brackets and prints the description in plain type, the way MLA wants an untitled work.

Watched it on YouTube? Paste the YouTube link into PERRLA's reference search, or choose Videos (online), then A streaming (online) video, then A video posted on a streaming site (e.g., video on YouTube). PERRLA starts the entry with the video's title, puts YouTube in italics, and names the channel after uploaded by. Check the channel name and the upload date against the video before you save. Read a transcript instead? Choose Webpage and fill in the Page Title, the Website Name, the Publication Date, and the URL.

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

The parts of the works cited entry

1. Speaker

The person who gave the speech is the author. Write their last name, a comma, and their first name, with any middle name or initial. A suffix like Jr. goes at the end, after another comma. End with a period.

King, Martin Luther, Jr.

A YouTube video works differently. MLA's own example of a speech on YouTube starts with the video's title, and the account that posted it goes after uploaded by. Name the speaker in your sentence instead.

2. Title of the speech

Put the title in quotation marks and capitalize it in title case. The period goes inside the closing quotation mark. Use the title the website gives the speech, so your reader can find the same recording, even if the speech is better known by another name.

"1992 Republican National Convention Address."

No title at all? Write a short description in its place, capitalized like a sentence, with no quotation marks and no italics.

Address at the dedication of the National Institute of Health.

3. Date the speech was given

Give the day, month, and year the speech was delivered, right after the title, followed by a period. Abbreviate months longer than four letters (Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.).

19 Aug. 1992.

This is the date of the speech, not the date the website posted it. If the site also shows its own posting date, that one goes after the website's name. For a YouTube video, the date is the upload date, which can be a day or decades after the speech.

4. Website or archive

The website, library, or archive that holds the recording is the container, so its name goes in italics, followed by a comma. It's the place you listened, not the place the speech was given: American Rhetoric, not Houston or the Lincoln Memorial. Write an ampersand in the name as and.

American Rhetoric,

Leave the publisher out when it has the same name as the website.

5. URL

End with the link to the page that holds the recording, followed by a period. The https:// can come off the front.

www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/maryfisher1992rnc.html.

6. Description (optional)

MLA lets you add a word or two at the very end to tell your reader what kind of file it is, when that isn't clear. Common choices are Audio recording, MP3 file, and Transcript.

Audio recording.

Examples

A speech recording from American Rhetoric

Mary Fisher's speech on HIV and AIDS at the 1992 Republican National Convention in Houston, from the audio on American Rhetoric. It's widely known as "A Whisper of AIDS," but American Rhetoric titles it 1992 Republican National Convention Address, so that's the title in the entry. You can still use the popular name in your sentence.

  • In-text citation(Fisher)
  • Narrative citationAs Fisher told the convention, …

A speech by a speaker with Jr. in their name

Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream," delivered at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963, from the audio on American Rhetoric. In the Works Cited entry, Jr. follows the first name after a comma. In the text, use the last name alone.

  • In-text citation(King)
  • Narrative citationKing imagines a day when …

An untitled speech from a presidential library

Franklin D. Roosevelt's address at the dedication of the National Institute of Health and its new National Cancer Institute building in Bethesda, Maryland, on October 31, 1940. The FDR Presidential Library & Museum posts the audio and a transcript without a title for the speech, so a short description takes the title's place.

  • In-text citation(Roosevelt)
  • Narrative citationSpeaking at Bethesda, Roosevelt called medical research …

A speech you watched on YouTube

President Barack Obama's September 9, 2009, address to a joint session of Congress on health care, as posted by The Obama White House channel the next day. A video of a speech is cited as a YouTube video: the entry starts with the video's title, YouTube is the container, the channel goes after uploaded by, and the date is the upload date. Name Obama in your sentence.

  • In-text citation("President Obama")
  • Narrative citationIn "President Obama: Address to Congress on Health Insurance Reform," Obama tells Congress that …

A speech transcript

The White House transcript of the same 2009 address, from the archived Obama White House website. A transcript is cited like a webpage: the speaker, the title as the page gives it, the website, the date on the transcript, the URL, and Transcript as the description. Here the transcript and the speech share a date, so it appears once.

  • In-text citation(Obama)
  • Narrative citationAs Obama told Congress, …

In-text citations

An MLA 9 in-text citation for a speech uses the first element of your Works Cited entry. For an audio recording or a transcript, that's the speaker's last name. For a YouTube video, it's a short form of the video's title.

  • Audio recording: (Fisher)
  • Speaker with a suffix: leave Jr. out: (King)
  • YouTube video: the title's first words, in quotation marks: ("President Obama"). Name the speaker in your sentence so your reader knows whose words they are.
  • Transcript: (Obama)
  • Quoting a recording: add the time the quote starts, in hours, minutes, and seconds, with no comma after the name. A quote that starts 4 minutes and 51 seconds in looks like this: (Fisher 00:04:51).
  • Name in your sentence: when there's no timestamp to add, leave the parentheses off: Fisher told the convention that …

A transcript on a webpage has no page numbers, so don't count paragraphs to make one up. If you read the speech in a book, add the book's page number after the speaker's name.

Common mistakes

  • Fisher, Mary. 1992 Republican National Convention Address.Fisher, Mary. "1992 Republican National Convention Address."In MLA, a speech title goes in quotation marks. Italics are for the website or archive that holds it.
  • Fisher, M. (1992, August 19). 1992 Republican National Convention address [Speech audio recording].Fisher, Mary. "1992 Republican National Convention Address." 19 Aug. 1992.That's APA. MLA spells out the first name, puts the title in quotation marks and title case, and writes the date day, month, year.
  • "President Obama: Address to Congress on Health Insurance Reform." YouTube, 10 Sept. 2009."President Obama: Address to Congress on Health Insurance Reform." YouTube, uploaded by The Obama White House, 10 Sept. 2009.Name the account that posted the video after uploaded by, exactly as YouTube shows it. The speaker isn't the uploader here, so name Obama in your sentence.
  • Roosevelt, Franklin D. Address at the Dedication of the National Institute of Health.Roosevelt, Franklin D. Address at the dedication of the National Institute of Health.A description standing in for a missing title is capitalized like a sentence: the first word and proper nouns only. No quotation marks, no italics.
  • (King, 00:04:51)(King 00:04:51)MLA puts no comma between the name and the location, whether it's a page number or a timestamp.

Quick checklist

  • Speaker's name inverted, with Jr. after the first name
  • Title in quotation marks and title case, as the website gives it
  • The date the speech was given, day month year
  • The website or archive in italics, then the URL
  • YouTube: the video's title first, then uploaded by and the channel
  • A timestamp, with no comma, when you quote a recording

Questions students ask

How do I cite a speech on YouTube in MLA 9?

Cite it as a YouTube video. Start with the video's title in quotation marks, then YouTube in italics, uploaded by and the channel's name, the upload date, and the URL. Name the speaker in your sentence, and add a timestamp when you quote it.

What date do I use for a speech in MLA?

For an audio recording or a transcript, give the date the speech was delivered, right after the title. If the website shows its own posting date too, add that after the website's name. For a YouTube video, use the upload date.

How do I cite a speech I heard in person?

MLA gives a live speech its own Works Cited entry. Give the speaker, the title in quotation marks, the event, the sponsor if it isn't part of the event's name, the date, and the place, and you can end with a description like Address or Keynote speech. If the speech was recorded and posted, cite the recording instead, so your reader can find it.

What if the speech doesn't have a title?

Write a short description where the title goes, like Address at the dedication of the National Institute of Health. Capitalize it like a sentence and leave off the quotation marks and the italics.

How do I cite a speech printed in a book?

Cite the version you read. Give the speaker and the speech title in quotation marks, then the book's title in italics, edited by and the editor, the publisher, the book's year, and the page range. Use the book's date, not the date of the speech.

Do I need the words Speech or Audio recording in an MLA entry?

No, they're optional. MLA lets you add a short description at the end, like Audio recording, MP3 file, or Transcript, when your reader might otherwise not know what kind of source it is.

Is a TED Talk a speech in MLA?

MLA cites a TED Talk as a video. On TED.com, give the speaker, the talk title in quotation marks, TED in italics, the date, and the URL. On YouTube, start with the video's title and name TED or TEDx Talks after uploaded by.

Rules checked against the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), chapters 5 and 6 (the core elements, containers, optional elements, and in-text citations), and the MLA Style Center's answers on citing a State of the Union address, citing a copy of a speech, citing an online lecture or speech, unpublished audio transcripts, YouTube videos, and time stamps. Example sources are the ones verified for the APA 7 page, opened again by curl on October 29, 2026: the American Rhetoric pages for each speaker, title, delivery date, and audio; the FDR Presidential Library & Museum page for the October 31, 1940, audio and transcript; the YouTube video's channel, title, and September 10, 2009, upload date; and the archived White House transcript's title and September 9, 2009, date.

PERRLA builds the speech entry from what you fill in, with the speaker's name in MLA order and the date written the MLA way.

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