Research Guide: MLA Style

For more complete information, consult the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6 th ed. (2003) REF LB 2369 G 53 2003. A style guide also appears in the Assumption College Student Handbook. Consult the Academic Support Center on the second floor of the library for assistance in using the MLA style.

This guide is intended as a quick reference to the most common aspects of the MLA style. It does not replace the resources mentioned in the first paragraph.

General guidelines for the works cited list (source: Assumption College Student Handbook, 2005-06 ed., 182.)

• Double-space all entries
• Begin the first line of an entry at the left margin, and indent lines that follow by ½ inch
• List entries in alphabetical order by the author’s last name
• Alphabetize multiple works of the same author by title
• Type three hyphens followed by a period for additional works by the same author
• Underline titles of works
• Use quotation marks to indicate titles of short works included in larger works
• Separate the author, title, and publication information with a period followed by two spaces. Use a single space after a colon

Electronic Sources  

Basic components (source: MLA Handbook, 208)

• Author’s last name, first name
• “Title of the document”
• Information about the print publication
• Information about electronic publication
• Date of access and URL

Examples:

An entire Internet site (MLA Handbook, 216)

Encyclopedia Britannica Online . 2002. Encyclopedia Britannica. 15 May 2002

     <http://www.britannica.com/>.

An entire online book (MLA Handbook, 219)

Keats, John. Poetical Works. 1884. Bartleby.com: Great Books Online Ed. Steven van Leeuwen. 2002.

     5 May 2002 <http://www.bartleby.com/126/41.htm>.

An online article in a scholarly journalfrom a library database (MLA Handbook, 229)

Tolson, Nancy. “Making Books Available: The Role of Early Libraries, Librarians, and Booksellers in the

    Promotion of African American Children’s Literature.” African American Review 32 (1998): 9-16.

    JSTOR.   Assumption College, Worcester, MA. 1 Oct. 2002 < http://www.jstor.org/search>.

An online article in a magazine (MLA Handbook, 223)

Levy, Steven. “Great Minds, Great Ideas.” Newsweek 20 May 2002. 27 May 2002

     < http://www.msnbc.com/news/754336.asp>.

Books  

Order of components (Many entries will omit one or more of these aspects; source: MLA Handbook, 152)

• Author’s name
• Title of a part of the book, for example part of an anthology
• Title of the book
• Name of the editor, translator, or compiler
• Edition used
• Number(s) of the volume(s) used
• Name of the series
• Place of publication, name of the publisher, and date of publication
• Page numbers
• Supplementary bibliographical information and annotation

Examples:

Book by a single author (MLA Handbook, 147)

Fukuyama, Francis. Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution. New York:

    Farrar, 2002.

Two or more books by the same author (MLA Handbook, 153)

Borroff, Marie. Language and the Past: Verbal Artistry in Frost, Stevens, and Moore. Chicago: U of

     Chicago P,  1979.

---, trans. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. New York: Norton, 1967.

---, ed. Wallace Stevens: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice, 1963

A book by two or more authors (MLA Handbook, 154)

Hutcheon, Linda, and Michael Hutcheon. Bodily Charm: Living Opera. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 2000.

A book by more than three authors (MLA Handbook, 154)

Gilman, Sander, et al. Hysteria beyond Freud. Berkeley: U of California P, 1993.

A work in an anthology (MLA Handbook, 159)

More, Hannah. “The Black Slave Trade: A Poem.” British Women Poets of the Romantic Era. Ed. Paula R.

    Feldman. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1997. 472-82.

An article in a reference book (MLA Handbook, 161)

Mohanty, Jitendra M. “Indian Philosophy.” The New Encyclopaedia Britannica: Macropaedia. 15th ed.

    1987.

A multivolume work (MLA Handbook, 167-169)

• If you are citing from two or more volumes, cite the total number of volumes
• If you are citing from only one volume, state the number of the volume that you are using  

Example using two or more volumes

Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Oxford Sherlock Holmes. Ed. Owen Dudley Edwards. 9 vols. New York: Oxford

     UP, 1993.

Example citing from only one volume of a multivolume work

Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Oxford Sherlock Holmes. Ed. Owen Dudley Edwards. Vol. 8 New York: Oxford

     UP, 1993.

Articles  

Order of components (Many entries will omit one or more of these aspects; source: MLA Handbook, 184)

• Author’s name
• Title of the article
• Name of the periodical
• Series number or name
• Volume number
• Issue number (needed only if each issue begins a new page number sequence from page 1)
• Date of publication
• Page numbers
• Supplementary information

Examples:  

Article from a scholarly journal that uses continuous page numbers for an entire volume (MLA Handbook, 183)

White, Sabina, and Andrew Winzelberg. “Laughter and Stress.” Humor 5 (1992): 343-55.

Article from a scholarly journal that pages each issue separately (MLA Handbook, 184)

Albada, Kelly F. “The Public and Private Dialogue about the American Family on Television.” Journal of

    Communication 50.4 (2000): 79-110.

Article from a magazine published every month or every two months (MLA Handbook, 188)

Fallows, James. “The Early-Decision Racket.” Atlantic Monthly Sept. 2001: 37-52.

Article from a magazine published every week or every two weeks (MLA Handbook, 187)

Weintraub, Arlene and Laura Cohen. “A Thousand-Year Plan for Nuclear Waste.” Business Week 6 May

     2002:  94-96.

Article from a newspaper (MLA Handbook, 186)

Hennenberger, Melinda. “The Leonardo Cover-up.” New York Times 21 Apr. 2002, late ed., sec. 6: 42+.

A Review (MLA Handbook, 189)