Library Guides: Reference Department: MLA Style Guide

MLA Handbook, 8th edition (Print)

MLA Handbook by The Modern Language Association of America
Call Number: LB2369 .G53 2016 Post Main Reference
ISBN: 9781603292627
Publication Date: 2016-04-01
The Modern Language Association, the authority on research and writing, takes a fresh look at documenting sources in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook. Works are published today in a dizzying range of formats. A book, for example, may be read in print, online, or as an e-book--or perhaps listened to in an audio version. On the Web, modes of publication are regularly invented, combined, and modified. Previous editions of the MLA Handbook provided separate instructions for each format, and additional instructions were required for new formats. In this groundbreaking new edition of its best-selling handbook, the MLA recommends instead one universal set of guidelines, which writers can apply to any type of source. Shorter and redesigned for easy use, the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook guides writers through the principles behind evaluating sources for their research. It then shows them how to cite sources in their writing and create useful entries for the works-cited list. More than just a new edition, this is a new MLA style.

Resources for MLA Style

The Modern Language Association (MLA) style for writing a research paper is used primarily in the humanities. The MLA Handbook is in paper format only and can be found at the Reference Desk in the library. In the MLA Handbook you will find useful tips on how to correctly format your paper and how to cite the resources you used in your paper. Some example citations of MLA style can be found in the tabs above for various resources. There are also several print and online resources that outline the formatting and citation structure used in MLA style. A few of these resources are listed below.

MLA 8th edition Core Elements

The MLA Handbook, 8th edition presents a chart or worksheet to create proper MLA formatted citations. The rationale is that all sources will have similar elements regardless of their format. Some sources may not have a particular element (e.g. version), so you can skip to the next element. For instance, a journal article should have an Author, Title of source (Article title), Container (Name of journal), Numbers (Volume and issue) and Location (Page numbers) but adding a publisher is not necessary. Online resources will not have page numbers but should have a url, doi, or permalink to indicate the Location element.