MLA Style Manual

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The MLA Style Manual, published by the Modern Language Association>, is a style guide widely used in academia 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.^[1]

MLA style uses a Works Cited Page 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,MLA is a pain in the arse, 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. There are also other possible headings for lists such as "Selected Bibliography" or "Works Consulted" suggested following MLA style.

There are two official publications of the MLA presenting MLA style, which have been published in revised editions. The MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, second edition (ISBN 0-87352-699-6), 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. Many journals and presses in these disciplines require that manuscripts be submitted following MLA style. The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, sixth edition (ISBN 0-87352-986-3), is addressed primarily to secondary-school and undergraduate college and university students; its conventions pertain to students' writing of reports and research papers as required by teachers in those disciplines. The author of both official MLA publications is Joseph Gibaldi, the Director of Book Acquisitions and Development for the MLA.^[2] In the most-recent editions of the Manual and the Handbook, MLA style has been updated and adapted to stay in step with computer-generated word processing, electronic publishing, and related digital-publishing practices.

Contents 1 Format 2 Citation 3 In-text citations 4 See also 5 Notes 6 See also 7 External links

[edit] Format

The MLA suggests that, when creating a document on a computer, the writer try to maintain a series of guidelines that make it easier for people to read a composition without causing the style to distract from the content.

• Choose a standard, easy-to-read font. Times Roman is suggested.
• Align text to the left and do not justify. Center titles.
• Double space.
• Put only one space after a period at the end of a sentence unless at the end of a paragraph or if your instructor says otherwise.
• Put one space after other punctuation marks.
• Turn off your word processor's automatic hyphenation feature.
• Turn off your word processor's automatic hyperlink feature (URLs on your works cited page should neither be underlined nor hyperlinked).
• Website addresses should be placed between angle brackets to set them apart from the rest of the text.
• Print on only one side of each piece of paper.
• Although underlining is rendered in print through italicization, MLA style recommends that writers of research papers and scholars preparing manuscripts for publication by presses use underlining, unless directed that italicization is permissible or preferred. ^[3]

In addition to these general format guidelines, MLA has a specific format for labeling papers for a class. It dictates that one must put the following items left justified above the first paragraph in the following order:

• Name
• Professor
• Class
• Day/Month/Year

If the paper has a cover page, then the said items are centered, and put below the title of the paper.

[edit] Citation

The works cited page should be headed "Works Cited," centered in normal font. Entries should be double-spaced, alphabetized, and use a hanging indent of 0.5 inches (beginnings of entries are not indented, but wrapped text is). Dates should be written with the day of the month first, the three letter abbreviation of the month and the year (example: 1 Jan. 2000). The title can either be underlined or italicized. It does not matter which style is chosen, but it should be consistent throughout the page.

• A book: Author last name, first name. Book title. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication.

Conway, John Horton. On Numbers and Games. 2nd ed. Natick: Peters, 2001.

• An entry in an encyclopedia or dictionary: Author of entry. "Title of entry." Title of reference book. Edition number. Year of publication.

Mohanty, Jitendra M. "Indian Philosophy." The New Encyclopædia Britannica: Macropædia. 15th ed. 1987.

(If the work is not particularly well-known, the writer is advised to add the publication details required in a normal book entry.)

• An article in a periodical (magazine or journal): Author last name, first name. "Article title." Title of periodical Date of periodical (or, if a journal, volume number, followed by year in parentheses): Pages.

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

Kane, Robert. "Turing Machines and Mental Reports." Australasian Journal of Philosophy 44 (1966): 344-52.

• A website: Author of webpage. "Article Title." Title of webpage. Date of publication (or last modified date). Institution associated with (if not cited earlier). Date of retrieval <url>. (Note: When citing Wikipedia, it may be preferable to link directly to the revision you used, the URL of which can be seen by clicking "Permanent link" in the Toolbox. This makes it easier for instructors or editors to check the article just as the writer saw it.)

"Plagiarism." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 19 Oct. 2006, 22:59 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation. 20 Oct. 2006 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Plagiarism&oldid=82555694>.

• A CD-ROM: Author's last name, first name. "Article title of printed source or printed analogue." Periodical title of printed source or printed analogue Date: inclusive page. Title of database. CD-ROM. Name of vendor or computer service. Electronic-publication data or data for access.

• Personal interview: Person interviewed last name, first name. Personal interview. Date interviewed.

Bashuk, Mark. Personal interview. 10 Dec. 2006.

[edit] 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, Smith said that the response "far exceeded our expectations" (253).

The reader can then look up Smith 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. Example:

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

If you are citing an entire work, or one without page numbers (or only one page), just the author's name in parentheses.

Your bibliography may, of course, contain more than one work by an author. If the text preceding your citation does not specify which work you are referencing, place a comma after the author's name, followed by a shortened version of the title in question (or the entire title if it is short) and the page number. This is typically the first word or two of the title:

When he left that job he felt it was time to move back to the sea (Smith, Islam 309).

The formatting of the shortened title should match that of the title in your Works Cited—in quotes for an article, italicized for a book, and so on. It should easily guide the reader to the relevant Works Cited entry:

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.

[edit] See also

• APA style, used by the American Psychological Association.
• The Chicago Manual of Style, a predecessor of MLA style.
• Harvard referencing

[edit] Notes

1. ^ "What Is MLA Style?", online posting, Modern Language Association 9 Sept. 2003, 15 July 2006 <http://www.mla.org/style>.
2. ^ "The MLA Staff", Modern Language Association 15 May 2006, 15 July 2006 <http://www.mla.org/the_mla_staffnew>.
3. ^ See, e.g., Section 3.3 of the 6th ed. of The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers:

   3.3. ITALICS (UNDERLINING) Italic is a style of type in which the characters slant to the right (Casablanca). In research papers and manuscripts submitted for publication, words that would be italicized in print are best underlined.
   Casablanca
   Most word-processing programs and computer printers permit the reproduction of italic type. In material that will be graded, edited, or typeset, however, the type style of every letter and punctuation mark must be easily recognizable. Italic type is sometimes not distinctive enough for this purpose, and you can avoid ambiguity by using underlining when you intend italics. If you wish to use italics rather than underlining, check your instructor's preferences. When preparing a manuscript for electronic publication, consult your editor or instructor on how to represent italicization.
   In electronic environments that do not permit underlining, it is common to place one underline before and after each word or group of words that would be italicized in print.
   _Casablanca_
   _Life Is a Dream_. . . . (94)

[edit] See also

• Comparison of reference management software

[edit] External links

• MLA Formatting and Style Guide. — Comprehensive MLA guide from Purdue University.
• MLA Cite — University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Library online MLA guide.