MLA Style Guide

The 9th edition of the MLA Handbook has recently been released, and that means changes to their citation and formatting guidelines.

• Apps and databases should be cited only when they are containers of the particular works you are citing, such as when they are the platforms of publication of the works in their entirety, and not an intermediary that redirects your access to a source published somewhere else, such as another platform. For example, the Philosophy Books app should be cited as a container when you use one of its many works, since the app contains them in their entirety. However, a PDF article saved to the Dropbox app is published somewhere else, and so the app should not be cited as a container.
• If it is important that your readers know an author’s/person’s pseudonym, stage-name, or various other names, then you should generally cite the better-known form of author’s/person’s name. For example, since the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is better-known by his pseudonym, cite Lewis Carroll opposed to Charles Dodgson (real name).
• For annotated bibliographies, annotations should be appended at the end of a source/entry with one-inch indentations from where the entry begins. Annotations may be written as concise phrases or complete sentences, generally not exceeding one paragraph in length.

• New to MLA 9th edition, there are now steps to take for citing works by an author or authors using a pseudonym, stage-name, or different name.

  If the person you wish to cite is well-known, cite the better-known form of the name of the author. For example, since Lewis Carroll is not only a pseudonym of Charles Dodgson, but also the better-known form of the author’s name, cite the former name opposed to the latter.

  If the real name of the author is less well-known than their pseudonym, cite the author’s pseudonym in square brackets following the citation of their real name: “Christie, Agatha [Mary Westmacott].”

  Authors who published various works under many names may be cited under a single form of the author’s name. When the form of the name you wish to cite differs from that which appears on the author’s work, include the latter in square brackets following an italicized published as: “Irving, Washington [published as Knickerbocker, Diedrich].”.
  

  Another acceptable option, in cases where there are only two forms of the author’s name, is to cite both forms of the author’s names as separate entries along with cross-references in square brackets: “Eliot, George [see also Evans, Mary Anne].”.

The MLA style guidelines outlined here come from the MLA Handbook (9th ed.)

If using MLA, it is recommended to follow these guidelines unless otherwise instructed by your professor.

Always follow your professor's guidelines.

• 1 inch margins on all sides
  
• 12-point font (e.g. Times New Roman or Ariel)
  
• Double-spaced
  
• Your last name and page number in the upper right corner of the header
  
• One space after periods
  
• Indent first line of paragraphs using tab

Click on the image to the right to view an example first page.

When citing a source, use the author's last name and page number where possible. Do not repeat the authors name in the parenthetical citation if already stated in the sentence.

• Scheub concludes that oral traditions provide the social resonance for "great poets to bring elements of tradition to bear on these significant and dangerous transitional periods" (196).
• Scheub concludes that orators would use oral traditions as allegory during watershed periods of history (196).
• Oral traditions used as allegory provided significant social resonance during watershed periods of history (Scheub 196).

Multiple Authors:

• The Brothers Grimm did not treat each version of a tale as similarly valid, instead qualitatively judging versions in terms of artistic integrity, detail and which "corresponded better to the moral codes" of the time (Calvin and McAra 20).

No Author and Webpages:

If no author is given, use the title of the work. On a webpage where no page numbers are give, use the title of the work.

• Between antiquity and post-antiquity, mythology was treated with fundamentally different attitudes where in the former there was a strong connection between daily and religious life, and the latter as a source of themes in art and literature ("About Greek and Roman Mythology").

For more details and examples, see the Purdue Online Writing Lab.

Your Works Cited page should be the last page of your paper.

The same basic rules apply:

• 1 inch margins on all sides
  
• 12-point font (e.g. Times New Roman or Ariel)
  
• Double-spaced
  
• Your last name and page number in the upper right corner of the header
• One space after periods

Additionally:

• The title Works Cited should be centered at the top of the page with no quotes, italics, underline, etc.
• Citations should be listed alphabetically by first word of the citation (usually author's last name)
• Hanging indent (first line of citation all the way to the left, following line indented by .5 inch)

When using a databases such as Academic Search Premier from EBSCO or General OneFile from Gale, be sure to look for the citation option.

Remember, when using a machine-generated citation, you are still responsible for the accuracy of information and format! Always double check these citations before you finish your paper.

• Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)
• Citation Machine
• MLA Style Template

Reference and Information Literacy Librarian

Email: sabelsmith@villa.edu
Website: http://www.villa.edu/academics/library/
Location: 240 Pine Ridge Road, Buffalo, NY 14225
Phone: (716) 961-1864