This guide, brought to you by conduct.edu.vn, provides a comprehensive overview of the MLA (Modern Language Association) style, 9th edition. Understanding and correctly applying MLA formatting is crucial for students and researchers across various disciplines in the humanities. This guide will help you master MLA citations, the Works Cited page, and in-text citations, ensuring academic integrity and enhancing the clarity of your research papers.
Crafting a Works Cited Page in MLA 9th Edition
The 9th edition of the MLA handbook emphasizes a principle-based approach to citation, moving away from rigid rules to accommodate the evolving landscape of digital and diverse sources. This flexible system focuses on a set of core elements applicable to almost any source type, simplifying the citation process while maintaining thoroughness and accuracy.
The core element approach allows you to cite sources methodically, irrespective of the source type or field of study. Familiarizing yourself with these elements is key to effective and consistent documentation.
To cite a source effectively, begin by identifying and arranging the following core elements in your Works Cited entry, in this specific order:
- Author.
- Title of source.
- Title of container,
- Other contributors,
- Version,
- Number,
- Publisher,
- Publication date,
- Location.
Each element is followed by specific punctuation as indicated above. The 9th edition streamlines punctuation, primarily using commas and periods to separate elements, focusing on essential source information. This contrasts with earlier editions that included place of publication and varied punctuation based on source type.
Author
Start your Works Cited entry with the author’s name. List the last name first, followed by a comma, and then the rest of the name as it appears in the source. Conclude this element with a period.
Example:
Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture. Routledge, 1994.
Title of Source
The title of the source is the next element, appearing after the author’s name. The formatting—italics or quotation marks—depends on the source type.
Books are italicized:
Example:
Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House. MacMurray, 1999.
Individual webpages are placed in quotation marks. The website name, considered a “container” in MLA, is then italicized:
Example:
Lundman, Susan. “How to Make Vegetarian Chili.” eHow, www.ehow.com/how_10727_make-vegetarian-chili.html.
Articles from periodicals (journals, magazines, newspapers) use quotation marks for the article title:
Example:
Bagchi, Alaknanda. “Conflicting Nationalisms: The Voice of the Subaltern in Mahasweta Devi’s Bashai Tudu.” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature, vol. 15, no. 1, 1996, pp. 41-50.
Songs or musical pieces from albums are also enclosed in quotation marks. The album title is italicized:
Example:
Beyoncé. “Pray You Catch Me.” Lemonade, Parkwood Entertainment, 2016, www.beyonce.com/album/lemonade-visual-album/.
Note: MLA recommends including URLs for online sources. Refer to the “Optional Elements” section for more details.
Title of Container
The “container” concept, introduced in the 8th edition and refined in the 9th, refers to the larger entity holding the source. For instance, in a collection of poems, the poem itself is the source, and the anthology is the container. Container titles are generally italicized, followed by a comma.
Example:
Kincaid, Jamaica. “Girl.” The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories, edited by Tobias Wolff, Vintage, 1994, pp. 306-07.
A container can also be a television series, where individual episodes are the sources:
Example:
“94 Meetings.” Parks and Recreation, created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, performance by Amy Poehler, season 2, episode 21, Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, 2010.
Websites act as containers for articles, blog posts, and other online content:
Example:
Wise, DeWanda. “Why TV Shows Make Me Feel Less Alone.” NAMI, 31 May 2019, www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/May-2019/How-TV-Shows-Make-Me-Feel-Less-Alone. Accessed 3 June 2019.
Containers can be nested. Reading a book on Google Books or watching a show on Netflix involves containers within containers. Citing these nested containers allows readers to trace your exact source.
Example (Container within a container):
“94 Meetings.” Parks and Recreation, season 2, episode 21, NBC, 29 Apr. 2010. Netflix, www.netflix.com/watch/70152031?trackId=200256157&tctx=0%2C20%2C0974d361-27cd-44de-9c2a-2d9d868b9f64-12120962.
Example (Journal article from a database):
Langhamer, Claire. “Love and Courtship in Mid-Twentieth-Century England.” Historical Journal, vol. 50, no. 1, 2007, pp. 173-96. ProQuest, doi:10.1017/S0018246X06005966. Accessed 27 May 2009.
Other Contributors
Beyond the author, acknowledge other significant contributors like editors, illustrators, or translators if their roles are relevant to your research or source identification.
Example (Translator):
Foucault, Michel. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason. Translated by Richard Howard, Vintage-Random House, 1988.
Example (Editor/Annotator):
Woolf, Virginia. Jacob’s Room. Annotated and with an introduction by Vara Neverow, Harcourt, Inc., 2008.
Version
Include version information if the source is a specific edition or version of a work.
Example (Version of the Bible):
The Bible. Authorized King James Version, Oxford UP, 1998.
Example (Edition of a textbook):
Crowley, Sharon, and Debra Hawhee. Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. 3rd ed., Pearson, 2004.
Number
For sources within numbered sequences, like multi-volume books or journals with volume and issue numbers, include these numbers in your citation.
Example (Journal with volume and issue number):
Dolby, Nadine. “Research in Youth Culture and Policy: Current Conditions and Future Directions.” Social Work and Society: The International Online-Only Journal, vol. 6, no. 2, 2008, www.socwork.net/sws/article/view/60/362. Accessed 20 May 2009.
Example (TV episode with season and episode number):
“94 Meetings.” Parks and Recreation, created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, performance by Amy Poehler, season 2, episode 21, Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, 2010.
Example (Volume of a multi-volume work):
Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria. Translated by H. E. Butler, vol. 2, Loeb-Harvard UP, 1980.
Publisher
The publisher is the entity responsible for producing or distributing the source. If multiple publishers are relevant, list them separated by a forward slash (/).
Example (Museum as Publisher):
Klee, Paul. Twittering Machine. 1922. Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Artchive, www.artchive.com/artchive/K/klee/twittering_machine.jpg.html. Accessed May 2006.
Example (Organization as Publisher):
Women’s Health: Problems of the Digestive System. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2006.
Example (Production Companies):
Daniels, Greg and Michael Schur, creators. Parks and Recreation. Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, 2015.
Note: Publisher information is typically omitted for periodicals, works published by the author or editor, websites with names matching their publishers, and platforms like YouTube, WordPress, or JSTOR that host but do not publish content.
Publication Date
A source may have multiple publication dates, especially online versions of originally published works. Use the date most relevant to your context. If unsure, use the original publication date.
Example (TV Episode – Original Air Date vs. Production Date):
“Hush.” Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon, performance by Sarah Michelle Gellar, season 4, Mutant Enemy, 1999. (General citation)
“Hush.” Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon, performance by Sarah Michelle Gellar, season 4, episode 10, WB Television Network, 14 Dec. 1999. (Citing original air date for historical context)
Location
Specify the source’s location as precisely as possible.
For essays in books or articles in journals, provide page numbers.
Example (Essay in a book):
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. “On Monday of Last Week.” The Thing around Your Neck, Alfred A. Knopf, 2009, pp. 74-94.
For online sources, include a URL, removing the “http://” or “https://” prefix.
Example (Online journal article with URL):
Wheelis, Mark. “Investigating Disease Outbreaks Under a Protocol to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.” Emerging Infectious Diseases, vol. 6, no. 6, 2000, pp. 595-600, wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/6/6/00-0607_article. Accessed 8 Feb. 2009.
When citing a physical object experienced firsthand, indicate its physical location.
Example (Artwork in a museum):
Matisse, Henri. The Swimming Pool. 1952, Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Optional Elements
The 9th edition MLA prioritizes clarity and conciseness. Include optional elements only if they provide essential context without being distracting.
Date of Original Publication: Include if crucial for context or understanding the source’s evolution.
Example:
Erdrich, Louise. Love Medicine. 1984. Perennial-Harper, 1993.
City of Publication: Generally unnecessary, except for works published before 1900, where the city can sometimes replace the publisher’s name.
Example:
Thoreau, Henry David. Excursions. Boston, 1863.
Date of Access: Recommended for online sources as content can change.
Example:
Bernstein, Mark. “10 Tips on Writing the Living Web.” A List Apart: For People Who Make Websites, 16 Aug. 2002, alistapart.com/article/writeliving. Accessed 4 May 2009.
URLs: MLA recommends including URLs for online sources; however, always verify with your instructor or editor.
DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers): Use DOIs instead of URLs when available, especially for journal articles, as they are more stable.
Example:
Alonso, Alvaro, and Julio A. Camargo. “Toxicity of Nitrite to Three Species of Freshwater Invertebrates.” Environmental Toxicology, vol. 21, no. 1, 3 Feb. 2006, pp. 90-94. Wiley Online Library, doi: 10.1002/tox.20155.
In-Text Citations: Referencing Sources within Your Text
In-text citations are brief references within your paper that point to the full citation in your Works Cited page. They are essential for attributing ideas, paraphrases, and direct quotes to their original sources, maintaining academic honesty and guiding readers to your sources. Typically, an in-text citation includes the author’s last name and the page number in parentheses.
Examples:
Imperialism is “the practice, the theory, and the attitudes of a dominating metropolitan center ruling a distant territory” (Said 9).
Alternatively, if the author’s name is mentioned in the sentence:
According to Edward W. Said, imperialism is defined by “the practice, the theory, and the attitudes of a dominating metropolitan center ruling a distant territory” (9).
Corresponding Works Cited entry:
Said, Edward W. Culture and Imperialism. Knopf, 1994.
For media with runtimes, like movies or podcasts, use time ranges (hours, minutes, seconds) for specific references.
Example: (00:02:15-00:02:35).
The goal of in-text citations is to provide clear source attribution without disrupting the flow of your writing. Readers should be able to follow your argument smoothly, with citations serving as unobtrusive guides to your sources.
Citing the Purdue OWL in MLA Style
For citing the entire Purdue OWL website in MLA:
Example:
The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 2019.
For citing individual resources on the Purdue OWL:
Example:
“MLA Formatting and Style Guide.” The Purdue OWL, Purdue U Writing Lab. Accessed 18 Jun. 2018.
In most cases, citations for Purdue OWL resources will start with the resource title, as author and publication dates are often not listed on the updated OWL. This guide provides a comprehensive understanding of MLA 9th edition, empowering you to cite sources accurately and effectively in your academic work.
