MLA style manual
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Style guides

The MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, published by the Modern Language Association of America, in its third edition (2008), is an academic style guide widely used in the United States, Canada, and other countries, providing guidelines for writing and documentation of research in the humanities, especially in English studies; the study of other modern languages and literatures, including comparative literature; literary criticism; media studies; cultural studies; and related disciplines ("What Is MLA Style?"). Its audience is primarily graduate students, academic scholars, professors, professional writers, and editors.

The third edition of The MLA Style Manual (2008), first published in 1985 (Achtert and Gibaldi), updates the second edition, published in 1998 (Gibaldi): "This new edition of the MLA Style Manual presents a significant revision of MLA documentation style, which the MLA will begin to use in its own publications in January 2009" ("What Is MLA Style?"). It aims to accommodate advancements in computer-generated word processing, electronic publishing, and related digital-publishing practices. One of "two authoritative explanations of MLA style" published by the MLA ("What Is MLA Style?"), it differs significantly from the other one, The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (1977; 6th ed., 2003), whose target audience is secondary-school and undergraduate students and their teachers and which differs in content and format from the MLA Style Manual.

MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (3rd ed.)
MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (3rd ed.)

Contents

Purpose: Official guide of MLA style

The MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd ed. (2008), is addressed primarily to academic scholars, professors, graduate students, and other advanced-level writers of scholarly books and articles in humanities disciplines such as English and other modern languages and literatures: "Since its publication in 1985, the MLA Style Manual has been the standard guide for graduate students, teachers, and scholars in the humanities and for professional writers in many fields" (MLA book catalogue). Many journals and presses in these disciplines require that manuscripts be submitted following MLA style. The MLA stresses that "only" official MLA publications of MLA style are "certain to present MLA Style accurately" (MLA Fall 2007 and Spring 2008 Publications catalogue). As the official MLA style guide revised most recently, the third edition of the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (2008) is the most current version presented to its target audience.

New features

According to the catalogue description, "Reorganized and revised, this new edition of the MLA Style Manual offers complete, up-to-date guidance to writing and documenting scholarly texts, preparing them for publication, submitting them to publishers, and dealing with complex legal issues. Previous editions sold more than 14,000 copies." It includes the following "new and notable" features:

  • A significant revision of MLA documentation style
  • Simplified citation formats for electronic sources
  • Detailed advice on the review process used by scholarly journals and presses
  • A fully updated chapter on copyright, fair use, contracts, and other legal issues
  • Guidelines on preparing electronic files and submitting them to a publisher
  • Discussion of issues to consider in the electronic submission of a dissertation
  • A foreword by Domna C. Stanton on the current state of scholarly publishing.

Citation and bibliography format

"Works Cited"

MLA style provides a bibliography of "Works Cited" listing works cited in one's text and notes (either footnotes and/or endnotes), which is placed after the main body of a term paper, article, or book. Brief parenthetical citations, including the name or names of author(s) and/or short titles (as needed) and numbers of pages (as applicable), are used within the text. These are keyed to and direct readers to a work or works by author(s) or editor(s) and sometimes titles, as they are presented on the list of works cited (in alphabetical order), and the page(s) of the item where the information is located (e.g. (Smith 107) refers the reader to page 107 of the cited work by an author whose surname is Smith). If there are more than one author of the same name and/or more than one title of works by that author or authors being cited, then a first name or initial and/or titles or short titles are also used within the text's parenthetical references.

"Selected Bibliography" or "Works Consulted"

In addition to "Works Cited", MLA style also provides other possible options for bibliographies such as more-selective lists headed "Selected Bibliography" or "Works Consulted".

In-text citations

When citing a work within the text of a paper, try to mention the material being cited in a "signal phrase" that includes the author's name. After that phrase, insert in brackets, the page number in the work referred to from which the information is drawn. For example,

In his final study, Lopez said that the response "far exceeded our expectations" (253).

The reader can then look up Lopez in the works cited list for complete information about the publication for which page 253 is being cited.

If the author is not mentioned in a "signal phrase," the author's name, followed by the page number, must appear in parentheses. For example,

The habits of England's workers changed dramatically during the Industrial Revolution (Hodgkinson 81).

When citing an entire work, or one without page numbers (or only one page), one writes only the author's last name in parentheses.

When the "Works Cited" contains more than one work by an author, if the text preceding a citation does not specify which work is being cited, there is a comma after the author's last name, followed by a shortened version of the title in question (or the entire title if it is short) and the page number. The short title contains one or a few words of title (enough for it to be easily identifiable and to distinguish it from other titles by the same author being cited). For example,

Securing its communications through the Suez Canal was Britain's overriding aim (Smith, Islam 71).

with the title italicized for a book or within quotation marks for an essay, a poem, or a speech, as appropriate. (In the "Works Cited" or bibliography, three short dashes [––– if word processed; hyphens (---) when typed] are used when the author or authors' name is the same in subsequent works being listed. Such in-text parenthetical citations guide the reader to the pertinent entries in the attached list of "Works Cited":

Hodgkinson, Tom. How to Be Idle. New York: Harper, 2005.

Smith, Charles D. "The 'Crisis of Orientation': The Shift of Egyptian Intellectuals to Islamic Subjects in the 1930s." International Journal of Middle East Studies 4 (1973): 382–410.

–––. Islam and the Search for Social Order in Modern Egypt: A Biography of Muhammad Husayn Haykal. Albany: State U of New York P, 1983.

Bibliography format (with some specific examples)

Book

Author last name, first name. Title. Place of publication: publisher, year published.

Hodgkinson, Tom. How to Be Idle. New York: Harper, 2005.

Article in a periodical (magazine or journal, as well as newspapers)

Journal articles

Author last name, first name, middle initial (as applicable). "Article title." Title of periodical Date of periodical (or, if a consecutively paginated journal, volume number, followed by year in parentheses): Pages. Medium consulted.

Brophy, Mike. "Driving Force." Hockey News 21 Mar. 2006: 16-19. Print.

Kane, Robert. "Turing Machines and Mental Reports." Australasian Journal of Philosophy 44 (1966): 334-52. Print.

When citing a journal that continues its page numbering from issue to issue within one volume, one does not include an issue number. If the pages start at 1 every issue, or unsure whether or not the issues in the volumes are paginated separately or consecutively, one includes the issue number.

Newspaper articles

(See sec. 6.5.5 [178–80])

To cite an English-language newspaper, give the name as it appears on the masthead but omit any introductory article (New York Times, not The New York Times). Retain articles before the names of non-English-language newspapers (Le monde). If the city of publiation is not included in the name of a locally published newspaper, add the city in square brackets, not italicized, after the name: "Star-Ledger [Newark]." (178)

This method avoids ambiguities; some other examples are:

Times [New Delhi, India]

Globe and Mail [Toronto]

For nationally published newspapers (e.g., Wall Street Journal, Chronicle of Higher Education), you need not add the city of publication. Next give the complete date—day, month, and year. Abbreviate the names of all months except May, June, and July (see 8.2). Do not give the volume and issue numbers even if they are listed. If an edition is named on the masthead, add a comma after the date and specify the edition (e.g., natl. ed., late ed.), because different editions of the same issue of a newspaper contain different material. Follow the edition—or the date if there is no edition—with a colon and the page number or numbers. Then state the medium of publication consulted. Here are examples illustrating how an article appeared in different sections of two editions of the New York Times on the same day:

Rosenberg, Geanne. "Electronic Discovery Proves an Effective Legal Weapon." New York Times 31 Mar. 1997, late ed.: D5. Print.

Rosenberg, Geanne. "Electronic Discovery Proves an Effective Legal Weapon." New York Times 31 Mar. 1997, natl ed.: C5. Print.

Depending on the practice of designating sections in particular newspapers, which vary according to days published, sections may be labeled by letters (e.g., A, B, C, D, etc., with separate pagination), so that the section letter is part of every page number (e.g., A1, B1, C5, D3, and so on). "Whenever the pagination of a newspaper includes a section designation, copy the page number or numbers exactly" (179); for example, in the daily New York Times:

Barbaro, Michael. "Early Holiday Sales Are Strong at Department Stores." New York Times 1 Dec. 2006, late ed.: C4. Print.

On some days, especially weekend days and most particularly in the Sunday edition(s), newspapers may include many "individually paged sections (covering the arts and entertainment, business, sports, travel, and so on)", which are designated not by letters but by numbers ("Section 2," "Section 4," "Section 7," and so on), and these section numbers do not appear as part of the page numbers. In such cases, "Whenever the section designation of a newspaper is not part of the pagination," a comma follows the date (or the edition, if any), followed by the abbreviation sec., the appropriate number or letter, a colon, page number or numbers, and publication medium. For example,

Haughney, Christine. "Women Unafraid of Condo Commitment." New York Times 10 Dec. 2006, late ed., sec. 11: 1+. Print.

As indicated in that example, one need not specify inclusive pages, since such newspaper articles often are not printed on consecutive pages, but skip to later and sometimes back even to earlier ones. In the bibliographical entry ("Works Cited"), one may indicate only the first page number and then adds a plus (+), with no space intervening, e.g.: "1+", "C4+". In the in-text parenthetical references, one cites the exact page number or numbers on which the material appears (179–80).

Personal interview

Last name, first name, middle initial (as applicable) of person interviewed. Personal interview. Date interviewed.

Pei, I. M. Personal interview. 22 July 1993.

Sound recording

Composer/conductor/performer. Title of recording. More personnel (optional). Date recorded. Medium. Manufacturer, year of issue.

Briertone. Sojourners. Something Sacred, 2006. CD.

The writer may put either the composer, conductor, or performer(s) first, depending on the desired emphasis. The remaining personnel can be added after the recording's title. If citing a specific song, place its title in quotation marks after the performer's name. If the performers vary from song to song on the recording, place that information (if necessary) after the song title. Each individual's role is indicated after his/her name, except for orchestras, which are listed separately (before and after a period and introduced with By), and composers, who are listed as authors if at the beginning of the citation or introduced with By if after the title.

Ellington, Duke, cond. First Carnegie Hall Concert. Duke Ellington Orch. Rec. 23 Jan. 1943. Prestige, 1977. LP.

Previn, André, cond. "Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus." By Ludwig van Beethoven. Royal Philharmonic Orch. Symphony No. 9, "Choral". RCA Victor, 1993. CD.

Stone Temple Pilots. "Tumble in the Rough." Tiny Music...: Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop. Atlantic, 1996. CD.

CD-ROM and DVD-ROM

Citations for publications on CD-ROM and DVD-ROM are similar to those for print sources, with ... important differences" pertaining to "Vendor's Name" and "Publication Dates". (235)

"Material from a Periodically Published Database on CD-ROM or DVD-ROM"

Author's last name, first name, middle initial (if given). Title of publication volume number.Issue number (separated by a period and followed by parenthetical year of publication). [Publication information for the printed source or printed analogue (including title and date of print publication in italics).] CD-ROM or DVD-ROM ("Medium of publication consulted"). Title of the database (italicized). Name of the vendor. Publication date of the database.

Brady, Philip. "Teaching Tu Fu on the NIght Shift." College English 57.5 (1995): 563-69. Abstract. CD-ROM. ERIC. SilverPlatter. Sept. 1996.

"A Nonperiodical Publication on CD-ROM or DVD-ROM"

Author's last name, middle initial, first name (if given). ["If only an editor, a compiler, or a translator is identified, cite that person's name, followed by the appropriate abbreviation (ed., comp., trans.)."] Title of the publication (italicized). Name of the editor, compiler, or translator (if relevant), preceded by "Ed., "Comp.", or "Trans." (First name, initial, last name). Place of publication: name of the publisher, year of publication. CD-ROM or DVD-ROM (Medium of publication consulted). Supplementary information.

Aristotle. The Complete Works of Aristotle: The Revised Oxford Translation. Ed. Jonathan Barnes. 2 vols. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1984. CD-ROM. Clayton: InteLex, 1994.

"Web publications"

Change in the 3rd ed. from earlier eds.

(See sec. 6.7.1: "Citing Web Publications: Introduction")

In the past, the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing recommended including URLs of Web sources in works-cited-list entries. Inclusion of URLs has proved to have limited value, however, for they often change, can be specific to a subscriber or a session of use, and can be so long and complex that typing them into a browser is cumbersome and prone to transcription errors. Readers are now more likely to find resources on the Web by searching for titles and authors' names than by typing URLs. You should include a URL as supplementary information only when the reader probably cannot locate the source without it or when your publisher requires it. If you present a URL, give it immediately following the date of access, a period, and a space. Enclose the URL in angle brackets, and conclude with a period.... (212–13)

"A Work Cited Only on the Web"

(See sec. 6.7.2.)

Name of the author, compiler, director, editor, narrator, performer, or translator of the work [....] Title of the work (italicized if the work is independent; in roman type and quotation marks if the work is part of a larger work [see 3.8.2–3]). Title of the overall Web site (italicized, if distinct from item 2). Version or edition used. Publisher or sponsor of the site; if not available, use N.p., date of publication (day, month, and year, as available); if nothing is available, use n.d. Medium of publication (Web). Date of access (day, month, and year).

Committee on Scholarly Editions. "Guidelines for Editors of Scholarly Editions." Modern Language Association. MLA, 25 Sept. 2007. Web. 20 Nov. 2007.

Author (etc.)'s last name, first name. "Article Title." Title of webpage. Date of publication (and/or date page was last modified or "updated"). Sponsoring Agency (if any), Date of publication. Web. Date of access. <url>.

"Boston Columnist Resigns Amid New Plagiarism Charges." CNN.com. Cable News Network, 19 Aug. 1998. Web. 28 April 2008. <http://www.cnn.com/US/9808/19/barnicle/>.

See also

Works Cited

External links
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