MLA, 8TH EDITION: AN INTRODUCTION & OVERVIEW
MLA, 8TH EDITION:AN INTRODUCTION & OVERVIEWAugu! 2016MLA 8th Edition1 of 33
A B"ef IntroductionLaunched in April of 2016, the 8th Edition of MLA carries with it a significant shift in howwe should think about formatting and citation. MLA is now more focused on methodologyand process than adherence to strict formulaic rules and equations. MLA is, now more thanever, a rational process, not merely a product. Further, the writer’s approach todocumentation and citation should be tethered to a thoughtful understanding ofaudience and context.The purpose of this document is to provide keystone fundamentals of MLA 8th Edition.This document is not intended to serve or function as an end-all/be-all MLA resource or afully instructive guide. It seeks to describe and exemplify the process of MLA 8th Edition.Contents of # PacketThe Logic of MLA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 03MLA Manuscript Formatting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 09The Works Cited List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15In-text Citations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Sample MLA Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24For Practice: MLA Worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.MLA 8th Edition2 of 33A BRIEF INTRODUCTIONFor more information about MLA 8th Edition, please visit https://style.mla.org. This MLAStyle Center provides a number of useful resources ranging from sample papers tointeractive Q&A boards.
%e Logic of MLA, 8 E'tionLet’s begin with MLA’s official introduction to the MLA Handbook, Eighth Edition:INTRODUCTIONIn today’s world, forms of communication proliferate, and publicationsmigrate readily from one medium to another. An article published in aprint journal may be discovered and read online, through one of manydatabases; an episode of a television series may be watched through aservice like Hulu; A blog post may be republished as a book chapter. Evenas we developed this edition of the MLA Handbook, new publicationformats and platforms emerged.Your use of MLA style should be guided by theseprinciples:Cite simple traits shared by most worksIn previous editions of the MLA Handbook, anentry in the works-cited list was based on thesource’s publication format (e.g., book, film,magazine article, Web publication). The writerfirst determined the format of the source andthen collected the publication facts associatedwith the format. A consequence of thatapproach was that works in a new mediumcoulee not be documented until the MLAcreated instructions for it. This edition, bycontrast, is not centered on publication formats.It deals instead with facts common to mostworks — author, title, and so on. The writerexamines the source and records its visiblefeatures, attending to the work itself and a set ofuniversal guidelines. A work in a new mediumthus can be documented without newinstructions.MLA 8th Edition3 of 33THE LOGIC OF MLAAs a result, now more than ever we need a system for documentingsources that begins with a few principles rather than a long list of rules.Rules remain important, and we will get to them indue course, but in this section we emphasizecommonsense guidelines aimed at helping writersat various levels conduct research and provide theiraudiences with useful information about theirsources.
Remember that there is often more than one correct way to documenta sourceDifferent situations call for different solutions. A writer whose primarypurpose is to give credit for borrowed material may need to provideless information than a writer who is examine the distinguishingfeatures of particular editions (or even specific copies) of source texts.Similarly, scholars working in specialized fields may need to citedetails about their sources that other scholars making more general useof the same resources do not.Make your documentation useful to readersThis edition of the MLA Handbook is designed to help writers think aboutthe sources they are documenting, select the information about the sourcesthat is appropriate to the project they are creating, and organize it logicallyand without complication. Armed with a few rules and an understanding ofthe basic principles, a writer can generate useful documentation of anywork, in any publication format.WHY DOCUMENT SOURCES?Documenting sources is an important aspect of writing common to allacademic fields. Across the natural sciences, the social sciences, and thehumanities, authors use standard techniques to refer to the works thatinfluenced or otherwise contributed to their research. Why?Academic writing is at its root a conversation among scholars about atopic or question. Scholars write for their peers, communicating the resultsof their research through books, journal articles, and other forms ofpublished work. In the course of a project, they seek out relevantpublications, to learn from and build on earlier research. Through theirown published work, they incorporate, modify, respond to, an refuteprevious publications.Given the importance of this conversation to research, authors must havecomprehensible, verifiable means of referring to one another’s work. Suchreferences enable them to give credit to the precursors whose ideas theyborrow, build on, or contradict and allow future researchers interested inthe history of the conversation to track it back to its beginning. Thereferences are formatted in a standard way so that they can be quicklyunderstood and used by all, like a common language.MLA 8th Edition4 of 33THE LOGIC OF MLAGood writers understand why they create citations. The reasonsinclude demonstrating thoroughness of the writer’s research, givingcredit to original sources, and ensuring that readers can find thesources consulted in order to draw their own conclusions about thewriter’s argument. Writers achieve the goals of documentation byproviding sufficient information in a comprehensible, consistentstructure.
Students are called on to learn documentation styles in a range of coursesthroughout their education, but not because it is expected that all studentswill take up such research practices in their professional lives. Rather,learning the conventions of a form of writing —those of the researchessay, for instance— prepares the student to write not just in that form butin others as well.Learning good documentation practices is also a key component ofacademic integrity. However, avoiding charges of plagiarism is not theonly reason that a student should learn to document sources. The properuse of a field’s preferred documentation style is a sign of competence in awriter. Among other benefits, it shows that the writer knows theimportance of giving credit where credit is due. It therefore helps thewriter become part of a community of scholars and assures readers that thewriter’s work can be trusted.PLAGIARISM AND ACADEMIC DISHONESTYYou may have heard or read about cases in which a politician, a journalist,or another public figure was accused of plagiarism. No doubt you havealso had classroom conversations about plagiarism and academicdishonesty. Your school may have an honor code that addresses academicdishonesty; it almost certainly had disciplinary procedures meant toaddress cases of plagiarism. But you may nonetheless find yourself withquestions: What is plagiarism? What makes it a serious offense? Whatdoes it look like? And how can scrupulous research and documentationpractices help you avoid it?What is plagiarism?Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines plagiarizing ascommitting “literary theft.” Plagiarism is presenting another’s ideas,information, expressions, or entire work as one’s own. It is thus a kindof fraud: deceiving others to gain something of value. Whileplagiarism only sometimes has legal repercussions (e.g., when itinvolves copyright infringement — violating an author’s legal right topublication), it is always as serious moral and ethical offense.MLA 8th Edition5 of 33THE LOGIC OF MLALearning a documentation style, in other words, prepares a writer to be onthe lookout for the conventions to which every professional field expectsits members to adhere in their writing. Legal documents must refer to priorlegal documents in a standard way to be acceptable in the legal profession.Reports on scientific research must refer to earlier research in the fashionexpected in a particular scientific field. Business documents point topublished information and use a language and format that are accepted inbusiness. Journalists similarly obey conventions for identifying theirsources, structuring their stories, and so on. The conventions differ fromone profession to another, but their purpose is the same.
What makes plagiarism a serious offense?Plagiarists are seen not only as dishonest but also as incompetent,incapable of doing research and expressing original thoughts. Whenprofessional writers are exposed as plagiarists, they are likely to losetheir jobs and are certain to suffer public embarrassment, diminishedprestige, and loss of future credibility. The same is true of otherprofessionals who write in connection with their jobs, even when theyare not writing for publication. The charge of plagiarism is seriousbecause it calls into question everything about the writer’s work: if thispiece of writing is misrepresented as being original, how can a readertrust any work by the writer? Once instance of plagiarism can cast ashadow across an entire career.What does plagiarism look like?Plagiarism can take a number of forms, including buying papers froma service on the Internet, reusing work done by another student, andcopying text from published sources without giving credit to thosewho produces the sources. All forms of plagiarism have in commonthe misrepresentation of work not done by the writer as the writer’sown. (And, yes, that includes work you pay for: while celebrities mayput their names on work by ghostwriters, students may not.)Even borrowing just a few words from an author without clearlyindicating that you did so constitutes plagiarism. Moreover, you canplagiarize unintentionally; in hastily taken notes, it is easy to mistake aphrase copied from a source as your original thought and then to use itwithout crediting the sources.Imagine, for example, that you read the following passage in thecourse of your research (from Michael Agar’s book Language Shock):Everyone uses the word language and everybody these days talksabout culture . . . . “Languaculture is a reminder, I hope, of the necessaryconnection between its two parts . . . .If you wrote the following sentence, it would constitute plagiarism:MLA 8th Edition6 of 33THE LOGIC OF MLASchools consider plagiarism a grave matter for the same reason. If astudent fails to give credit for the work of others in one project, howcan a teacher trust any of the student’s work? Plagiarism underminesthe relationship between teachers and students, turning teachers intodetectives instead of mentors, fostering suspicion instead of trust, andmaking it difficult for learning to take place. Students who plagiarizedeprive themselves of the knowledge they would have gained if theyhad done their own writing. Plagiarism also can undermine public trustin educational institutions, if students are routinely allowed to passcourses and receive diplomas without doing the required work.
At the intersection of language and culture lies a concept that wemight call “languaculture.”This sentence borrows a word from Agar’s work without giving creditfor it. Placing the term in quotation marks is insufficient. If you use theterm, you must give credit to its source:At the intersection of language and culture lies a concept thatMichael Agar has called “languaculture” (60).In this version, a reference to the original author and a parentheticalcitation indicate the source of the term; a corresponding entry in yourlist of works cited will give you reader full information about thesource.American Exceptionalism as our founders conceived it was definedby what America was, at home. Foreign policy existed to defend, notdefine, what America was.If you write the following sentence, you have plagiarized, even thoughyou changed some of the wording:For the founding fathers America’s exceptionalism was based on thecountry’s domestic identity, which foreign policy did not shape butmerely guided.In this sentence, you have borrowed an author’s ideas withoutacknowledgment. You may use the ideas, however, if you properlygive credit to your source:As Walter A. McDougall argues, for the founding fathers America’sexceptionalism was based on the country’s domestic identity, whichforeign policy did not shape but merely guarded (37).In this revised sentence, which includes an in-text citation and clearlygives credit to McDougall as the source o the idea, there is noplagiarism.How Can You Avoid Plagiarism?Avoiding plagiarism begins with being scrupulous in your researchand note-taking. Keep a complete and thorough list of all the sourcesthat you discover during your research and wish to use, linking eachsource to the information you glean from it, so that you can doublecheck that your work acknowledges it. Take care in your notes todistinguish between what is not yours and what is yours, identifyingideas and phrases copied from sources you consult, summaries of yoursources, and your own original ideas. As you write, carefully identifyMLA 8th Edition7 of 33THE LOGIC OF MLAIt’s important to note that you need not copy an author’s words to beguilty of plagiarism; if you paraphrases someone’s ideas or argumentswithout giving credit for their origin, you have committed plagiarism.Imagine that you read the following passage (from Walter A.McDougall’s Promised Land, Crusader State: The American Encounterwith the World since 1776):
all borrowed material, including quoted words and phrases,paraphrased ideas, summarized arguments, and facts and otherinformation.Most important is that you check with your instructor if you are unsureabout the way the you are using a particular sources.Does Absence of Documentation Indicate Plagiarism?The OWL at Purdue summarized a few key changes as follows:TakeawaysIf you are already familiar with traditional MLA citation methods,continue to use them in a more simplified form. Since the eighthedition emphasizes the writer’s freedom to create references based onthe expectations of the audience, consider what your readers need toknow if they want to find your source. Think of MLA style principles as flexible guides, rather than rules.Part of your responsibility as a writer is to evaluate your readersand decide what your particular audience needs to know aboutyour sources. Your goal is to inform, persuade, and otherwise connect with youraudience; error-free writing, along with trustworthydocumentation, allows readers to focus on your ideas. In-text citations should look consistent throughout your paper. Theprinciples behind in-text citations have changed very little fromthe seventh to the eighth editions. List of works cited/works consulted needs to include basic coreinformation, such as author’s name, title of source, publicationdate, and other information, depending on the type of source. Eachentry should be uniform and simple, but should give enoughinformation so that your readers can locate your sources. These updated MLA guidelines are based on a simple theory: onceyou know the basic principles of style and citation, you can applythat knowledge widely, and generate useful documentation for anytype of publication, in any field.MLA 8th Edition8 of 33THE LOGIC OF MLADocumentation is not required for every type of borrowed material.Information and ideas that are common knowledge among yourreaders need not be documented. Common knowledge includesinformation widely available in reference words, such as basicbiographical facts about prominent persons and the dates andcircumstances of major historical events. When the facts are in dispute,however, or who your readers may want more information about yourtopic, it is good practice to document the material you borrow.
MLA Manusc"pt Forma(ingFor ease of reference, here are the quick notes provided by mla.org as of July 2016 :Source: https://style.mla.org/formatting-papers/FORMATTING A RESEARCH PAPERIf your instructor has specific requirements for the format of your researchpaper, check them before preparing your final draft. The most commonformatting is presented here. When you submit your paper, be sure to keepa secure copy.MARGINSExcept for the running head (see below), leave margins of one inch at thetop and bottom and on both sides of the text. If you plan to submit aprintout on paper larger than 8½ by 11 inches, do not print the text in anarea greater than 6½ by 9 inches.TEXT FORMATTINGAlways choose an easily readable typeface (e.g., Times New Roman) inwhich the regular type style contrasts clearly with the italic, and set it to astandard size (e.g., 12 points). Do not justify the lines of text at the rightmargin; turn off any automatic hyphenation feature in your writingprogram. Double-space the entire research paper, including quotations,notes, and the list of works cited. Indent the first line of a paragraph halfan inch from the left margin. Indent set-off quotations half an inch as well(for examples, see 76–80 in the MLA Handbook). Leave one space after aperiod or other concluding punctuation mark, unless your instructorprefers two spaces.MLA 8th Edition9 of 33MANUSCRIPT FORMATTINGIn today’s world, the “printed page” isn’t quite what it used to be. With the rise of fluid,digital text, of web pages, social media feeds, and other websites that bend and pour intothe contours of the digital screen as set by both the reader/user and the device itself, theidea of the “printed page” is becoming more and more antiquated in our society. However,the printed page is still quite important in the academic, business, governmental worlds —even when that printed page is not, in fact, actually printed on paper. In many cases,documents are distributed in a fixed format such as PDF. An electronic PDF file can, insome ways, be considered a print document. It is, after all, a manuscript formatted to thespecific dimensions of what could be a printed page (if the user chooses to print thatdocument), and unlike other types of electronic sources, in theory these prints could comeout the same. From font to pagination, a PDF document is simply a digital representationof a print manuscript.
HEADING AND TITLEA research paper does not need a title page. Instead, beginning one inchfrom the top of the first page and flush with the left margin, type yourname, your instructor’s name, the course number, and the date on separatelines, double-spacing the lines. On a new, double-spaced line, center thetitle (fig. 1). Do not italicize or underline your title, put it in quotationmarks or boldface, or type it in all capital letters. Follow the rules forcapitalization in the MLA Handbook (67–68), and italicize only the wordsthat you would italicize in the text.Local Television Coverage of International News Events The Attitude toward Violence in A Clockwork Orange The Use of the Words Fair and Foul in Shakespeare’s Macbeth Romanticism in England and the Scapigliatura in ItalyDo not use a period after your title or after any heading in the paper (e.g.,Works Cited). Begin your text on a new, double-spaced line after the title,indenting the first line of the paragraph half an inch from the left margin.If your teacher requires a title page, format it according to the instructionsyou are given.Fig. 1. The top
The purpose of this document is to provide keystone fundamentals of MLA 8th Edition. This document is not intended to serve or function as an end-all/be-all MLA resource or a fully instructive guide. It seeks to describe and exemplify the process of MLA 8th Edition. For more information about MLA 8th Edition, please visit https://style.mla.org.
MLA style is used by writers in the arts, humanities, business, and political science. The most current version of the MLA Handbook is the eighth (8th) edition. "MLA (th edition) itation and Style Guide " by J. King & A. Knight, Santa Ana ollege is licensed under Y . 1 C
Aug 07, 2018 · Documenting sources in MLA style In English and other classes, you will be asked to use the MLA (Modern Language Association) system for documenting sources. The guidelines in this booklet follow those set forth in the MLA Handbook 8th edition (MLA, 2016). MLA recommends in-text citations that refer readers to a list of works cited.
MLA Style Guide: 8th Edition (2016) In the past, citing sources in MLA was governed by rules and a more prescriptive approach: you decided what type of source you had and looked up the correct MLA format
MLA Style MLA style calls for (1) brief in-text documentation and (2) complete bib liographic information in a list of works cited at the end of your text. The models and examples in this chapter draw on the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook, published by the Modern Language Association in 2016. For additional information, visit style.mla.org.
Jan 15, 2018 · Paper Format The preparation of papers and manuscripts in MLA style is covered in chapter four of the MLA Handbook, and chapter four of the MLA Style Manual. Below are some basic guidelines for formatting a paper in MLA style. General Guidelines Type your paper on a computer
ABOUT THE MLA STYLE The MLA style is one of a number of styles of referencing or bibliographic citation that is used widely for academic writing, particularly in the humanities . MLA uses an author-page system of in-text citation, e.g. (Mullan 24), and a Works Cited list at the end of the document. The MLA style is very flexible, thus you
MLA Handbook for Writers, 7th ed. describes how to format using the MLA system. Students in the Winnipeg School Division are expected to cite their sources of information in all reports and essays using the MLA format. True MLA
Advanced Engineering Mathematics 6. Laplace transforms 21 Ex.8. Advanced Engineering Mathematics 6. Laplace transforms 22 Shifted data problem an initial value problem with initial conditions refer to some later constant instead of t 0. For example, y” ay‘ by r(t), y(t1) k1, y‘(t1) k2. Ex.9. step 1.
