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MLA Handbook

{{Short description|Academic style guide}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2023}} {{Use American English|date=November 2023}}

{{Infobox book

| language = English

| country = United States

| genre =

| publisher = Modern Language Association of America

| isbn = 9781603293518

| title_orig = MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers

| translator =

| image = MLA-Handbook_9ed_cover.jpg

| caption = MLA Handbook, 9th ed.

| illustrator =

| cover_artist =

| series =

| subject = Style guide

| pub_date = 2021

| media_type =

| pages = xxx + 367

| congress = LB2369 .M52 2021

| website = {{URL|https://style.mla.org/}}

}}

{{Styles}}

MLA Handbook (9th ed., 2021), formerly MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (1977–2009), establishes a system for documenting sources in scholarly writing. It is published by the Modern Language Association, which is based in the United States. According to the organization, their MLA style "has been widely adopted for classroom instruction and used worldwide by scholars, journal publishers, and academic and commercial presses".{{Cite web|url=https://www.mla.org/MLA-Style|title=MLA Style|publisher=Modern Language Association|access-date=5 April 2016}}

MLA Handbook began as an abridged student version of MLA Style Manual. Both are academic style guides that have been widely used in the United States, Canada, and other countries, providing guidelines for writing and documentation of research in the humanities, such as English studies (including the English language, writing, and literature written in English); the study of other modern languages and literatures, including comparative literature; literary criticism; media studies; cultural studies; and related disciplines.{{Cite web|url=http://www.mla.org/style |title=What is MLA Style |website=MLA |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310034132/http://www.mla.org/style |archive-date=2012-03-10 }} Released in April 2016, the eighth edition of MLA Handbook (like its previous editions) is addressed primarily to secondary-school and undergraduate college and university teachers and students.{{Cite book|title=MLA Handbook|last=Feal|first=Rosemary G.|publisher=Modern Language Association|year=2016|isbn=978-1-60329-262-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/mlahandbook0000unse/page/ vii–viii]|chapter=Foreword|url=https://archive.org/details/mlahandbook0000unse/page/}}

MLA announced in April 2016 that MLA Handbook would henceforth be "the authoritative source for MLA style", and that the 2008 third edition of MLA Style Manual would be the final edition of the larger work. The announcement also stated that the organization "is in the process of developing additional publications to address the professional needs of scholars."{{cite web |url= https://style.mla.org/is-a-new-edition-of-the-mla-style-manual-going-to-be-published/ |title=Ask the MLA: Is a new edition of the MLA Style Manual going to be published? |work=The MLA Style Center |publisher=Modern Language Association |date=April 8, 2016 |author= |access-date=November 7, 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180711091035/https://style.mla.org/is-a-new-edition-of-the-mla-style-manual-going-to-be-published/ |archive-date=July 11, 2018 |url-status=live}}

History

MLA Handbook grew out of the initial MLA Style Sheet of 1951{{Cite journal| doi = 10.2307/2699076| issn = 0030-8129| volume = 66| issue = 3| pages = 3–31| title = The MLA Style Sheet| journal = PMLA| date = 1951| jstor = 2699076| s2cid = 170456871}} (revised in 1970{{Cite book| publisher = American Library Association| isbn = 978-0-8389-3468-5| last1 = Kennedy| first1 = Scott| title = Reference Sources for Small and Medium-sized Libraries| location = Chicago and London| date = 1999| page = [https://archive.org/details/referencesources00kenn/page/779 779]| url-access = registration| url = https://archive.org/details/referencesources00kenn/page/779}}{{Cite book| edition = First| publisher = Modern Language Association of America| isbn = 978-0-87352-136-9| last1 = Achtert| first1 = Walter S.| last2 = Gibaldi| first2 = Joseph| title = The MLA Style Manual| location = New York| date = 1985| page=vii}}), a 28-page "more or less official" standard.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/mlahandbook0000unse/page/|title=MLA Handbook|last=Fitzpatrick|first=Kathleen|publisher=Modern Language Association|year=2016|isbn=978-1-60329-262-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/mlahandbook0000unse/page/ ix–xiv]|chapter=Preface|edition=8th}} The first five editions, published between 1977 and 1999 were titled MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. The 2003 sixth edition changed the title to MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers.

The seventh edition's main changes from the sixth edition were "no longer recogniz[ing] a default medium and instead call[ing] for listing the medium of publication [whether Print or Web or CD] in every entry in the list of works cited", recommending against listing URLs, and preferring italics over underline.{{cite web|title=What is new in the seventh edition of the MLA Handbook? |date=3 February 2012 |website=MLA |url=http://www.mla.org/style/handbook_faq/whatsnew_7edhandbook |archive-date=1 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130401162929/http://www.mla.org/style/handbook_faq/whatsnew_7edhandbook}} Additionally, the seventh edition included a website with the full text of the book.{{Cite book|title=MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers|last=Nicholls|first=David G.|publisher=MLA|year=2009|isbn=978-1-60329-024-1|edition=7th|location=New York|pages=xvii–xix|section=Preface}} Later online additions allowed for citation of e-books{{Cite web|title=How do I cite an e-book? |website=MLA |url=http://www.mla.org/style/handbook_faq/cite_an_ebook|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150311081837/http://www.mla.org/style/handbook_faq/cite_an_ebook |archive-date=11 March 2015 |edition=7th}} and tweets.{{Cite web|url=http://www.mla.org/style/handbook_faq/cite_a_tweet|title=How do I cite a tweet?|edition=7th |website=MLA|archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20131110040530/http%3A//www%2Emla%2Eorg/style/handbook_faq/cite_a_tweet |archive-date= 10 November 2013 |url-status=dead}}

The eighth edition's main changes from the seventh edition are "shift[ing] our focus from a prescriptive list of formats to an overarching purpose of source documentation". Released in spring 2016, it changes the structure of the works cited list, most directly by adding abbreviations for volumes and issues (vol. and no.), pages (p. or pp.), not abbreviating words like "editor" or "translator", using URLs in most instances (though preferring DOI, as in APA), and not favoring the medium of publication.{{Cite web|url=https://www.mla.org/MLA-Style/What-s-New-in-the-Eighth-Edition|title=What's New in the Eighth Edition|website=Modern Language Association|access-date=5 April 2016}} The ninth edition, in 2021, provides more examples, advises more inclusive language, and advises that URLs are optional, with DOI and permalinks being preferred.{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1192304724|title=MLA Handbook|publisher=Modern Language Association of America|year=2021|isbn=978-1-60329-351-8|edition=9th|location=New York|pages=xxv–xxvi, 187–188|oclc=1192304724}}{{Cite web|last=|first=|title=MLA 9th Edition Changes|url=https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_changes_9th_edition.html|access-date=2021-12-31|website=Purdue Writing Lab|publisher=Purdue University|language=}} The ninth edition also provides rules for annotated bibliographies.

= Editions =

The table below identifies the year of publication of each edition of MLA Handbook.

class="wikitable"

|+

!Edition

!Year

1

|1977

2

|1984

3

|1988

4

|1995

5

|1999

6

|2003

7

|2009

8

|2015

9

|2021

=MLA Style Manual=

{{Infobox book

| name = MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing

| title_orig = MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing

| translator =

| image = MLAStyleManual3rdEd.gif

| illustrator =

| cover_artist =

| country = United States

| language = English

| series =

| subject = Style guide

| genre =

| publisher = Modern Language Association of America

| pub_date = 2008

| english_pub_date = May 2008

| media_type = Print; large print; also listed as available as audiobook

| pages = xxiv & 336

| isbn = 978-0-87352-297-7

| dewey= 808/.027 22

| congress= PN147 .G444 2008

| oclc = 191090459

| preceded_by = MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (2nd ed., by Joseph Gibaldi)

| followed_by =

}}

MLA Style Manual, formerly titled MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing in its second (1998) and third edition (2008), was an academic style guide by the United States–based Modern Language Association of America (MLA) first published in 1985. MLA announced in April 2015 that the publication would be discontinued: the third edition would be the last and was to be "taken out of print". The announcement also said that what began as an abridged version for students, MLA Handbook, was to be after that point "the authoritative source for MLA style", and that the organization was "in the process of developing additional publications to address the professional needs of scholars".{{cite web |url= https://style.mla.org/is-a-new-edition-of-the-mla-style-manual-going-to-be-published/ |title=Ask the MLA: Is a new edition of the MLA Style Manual going to be published? |work=MLA Style Center |publisher=Modern Language Association |date=April 8, 2016 |author= |access-date=November 7, 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180711091035/https://style.mla.org/is-a-new-edition-of-the-mla-style-manual-going-to-be-published/ |archive-date=July 11, 2018 |url-status=live}}

==Usage==

MLA documentation style is used in scholarship throughout the humanities, especially in English studies, modern languages and literatures, comparative literature, literary criticism, media studies, cultural studies, and related disciplines.

MLA Style Manual was one of two books on MLA documentation style published by the MLA. While MLA Handbook is aimed at secondary and post-secondary students and their teachers, the intended audience of MLA Style Manual primarily consisted of graduate students, academic scholars, professors, professional writers, and editors.{{Cite book| edition = Second| publisher = Modern Language Association of America| isbn = 0-87352-699-6| last = Gibaldi| first = Joseph| title = MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing| location = New York| date = 1998| page = [https://archive.org/details/mlastylemanualgu00giba/page/ iv]| url-access = registration| url = https://archive.org/details/mlastylemanualgu00giba/page/}}

==History==

Both MLA Handbook and MLA Style Manual were preceded by a slim booklet titled MLA Style Sheet, first published in 1951 and revised in 1970.{{Cite book| edition = 2nd| publisher = Modern Language Association of America| isbn = 978-0-87352-002-7| title = The MLA Style Sheet| location = New York| date = 1970| url=https://archive.org/stream/mlastylesheet00mode}} The Style Sheet was allowed to go out of print after the commercial success of the Handbook, creating the need for the Manual as a companion to the Handbook.

MLA Style Manual was scheduled to go out of print in 2016. In April 2017, the organization said it would be "developing additional publications to address the professional needs of scholars".{{cite web|title=The MLA Style Manual|url=https://www.mla.org/MLA-Style/The-MLA-Style-Manual|website=Modern Language Association|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170420133615/https://www.mla.org/MLA-Style/The-MLA-Style-Manual|access-date=19 April 2017|archive-date=2017-04-20|language=en}}

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

Bibliography

  • {{citation |last1=Achtert |first1=Walter S. |last2=Gibaldi |first2=Joseph |title=The MLA Style Manual |location=New York |publisher=MLA |date=1985|url=https://archive.org/details/mlastylemanual00achtrich}}.
  • {{citation |author=Modern Language Association |title=MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing |edition=3rd |location=New York |publisher=MLA |date=2008 |isbn=978-0-87352-297-7}}.
  • {{citation |author=Modern Language Association |title=The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers |location=New York |publisher=MLA |edition=7th |date=2009 |isbn=978-1-60329-024-1}}.
  • {{citation |url=http://www.mla.org/style |title=What Is MLA Style? |website=Modern Language Association |date=2011 |access-date=2011-01-31}}.

External links

  • [http://style.mla.org The MLA Style Center] – dedicated website
  • [http://irsc.libguides.com/mla MLA Style Guide, Eighth Edition, IRSC Libraries]
  • [https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/ MLA Formatting and Style Guide, Purdue OWL]
  • [https://archive.org/details/mlastylemanualgu00giba MLA Style Manual], Second Edition, 1998
  • [https://www.strose.edu/student-development/student-success/academic-success-center/writing-center/writing-center-resources/ Guide to academic style guides], from College of St. Rose.

Category:2009 non-fiction books

Category:Academic style guides

Category:Style guides for American English

Category:Modern Language Association