Introduction to MLA
MLA = MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (4th ed., New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1995).
Overview
For a more detailed explanation see the Documentation Guide MLA
MLA does not use footnotes.
General Purpose of the MLA Style Guide
The MLA Handbook advises sources to be acknowledged by brief parenthetical citations within text and an alphabetical list of works that appears at the end of the paper. Widely used by writers in literature, language studies, and other fields in the humanities, the MLA style of documentation allows writers to keep texts "as readable and as free of disruptions as possible".
Citing
Citing author, date and page numbers in the flow of the text
A. General reference
Carrington argued this (1979).
This was argued throughout the year of averages (Carrington 1979).
According to Carrington (1979), this was argued throughout the year of averages.
B. Specific reference
According to Carrington (1979 17), this was argued throughout the year of averages.
Citing author, date and page numbers in direct quotes
"The dealers in Wall Street argued this throughout the year of averages" (Carrington 1979 17).
Citing a range of pages
(Carrington 1979 17-19)
Citing volume and page numbers
(Carrington 1979 vol. 1, 17)
Citing a work with two authors
(Gramsci and Marrington 1999)
Citing a work with three authors
(Poobar, Lyttle, and Dunkim 1999)
Citing a work with more than three authors
(Drinkham et al. 1971)
Citing an author who has written multiple works in the year
(Carrington 1979a) (Carrington 1979b) ... (Carrington 1979z)
Note: Include the letter in the bibliography as well.
Citing authors with the same surname
Given names are reduced to initials unless there are two authors with the same family name and initials in which case the full names must be used to distinguish them.
(Carrington, David. 1979) (Carrington, David Edward. 1979)
Citing books without authors
Use the title as if it were the name of the author
(A history of smells. 1994)
Citing articles without authors
Use the reference as if it were the name of the author
(The Sydney Morning Herald. 12 July. 2001 12)
Citing books without authors but published by an organization
Use the name of the organization as if it were the name of the author
(CSIRO. 1996)
Bibliography (≡Reference List)
Sequence of List Items
The references should be arranged alphabetically by their author. Within each author, the items should be arranged in date order. Within date the items should be arranged alphabetically (1999a).
Book
| Format: |
| Author name. Book Title . Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. |
Single Author
Carrington, David Edward. Exciting Downtown Odours . Sydney: Harcourt, 1979.
Three Authors
Poobar, Harriet, Robert Lyttle, and Henrietta Dunkim. A Little Nose: A Story of Faith and Hope . New York: Penguin Books, 1999.
More than Three Authors
Drinkham, George. et al. On the Nose . Sydney: International Publishers, 1971.
Edited Work
Gramsci, Lynda. (ed.) The Last Smell . London: Blake & Wyndham, 1994.
Multivolume Work
Carrington, David Edward. Exciting Downtown Odours . 3 vols. Sydney: Harcourt, 1979.
Edition other than first
Carrington, David Edward. Exciting Downtown Odours . 4th edn. Sydney: Harcourt, 1979.
Multiple Reference
Several entries for the one author do not have the author's name repeated in the second or subsequent entries, instead the author's name is replaced by a short line about � inch long (enter as three dashes) with a comma.
- Example
1. Gramsci, Lynda. (ed.) The Last Smell . London: Blake & Wyndham, 1994.
2. ---, Smells that Rule the World . New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Article in a book
| Format: |
| Author. 'Article title'. Book Title . ed. Editor. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of publication. article pages. |
Ho, Patrick. "Old Time Smells." Essays on Eastern Fantasy . ed. Jenny Marigold. New York: Harcourt, 1998. 23-33.
Annual Reports
Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd. Annual Report 1997-98 . Sydney: Coca-Cola Amatil, 1998.
Government Publications
Australian Bureau of Statistics. Government Finance Statistics 1995-96 . Cat. No. 5512.0. Canberra: ABS, 1997.
Conference paper in published proceedings
Riley, Donald. 'Industrial relations in Australian education'. Contemporary Australasian Industrial Relations: Proceedings of the Sixth AIRAANZ Conference . ed. David Blackmur. Sydney: AIRAANZ, 1992. 124-140.
Theses
Boykett, Teresa Helen Henrietta. Algebraic aspects of reversible computation . PhD thesis. University of Western Australia,1996.
CD-ROM
| Format: |
| Author. Title . [CD-ROM]. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of publication. |
Economic Intelligence Unit. Investing, Licensing, and Trading . [CD-ROM]. London: Economic Intelligence Unit, 1998.
Articles - in print and electronic
Article in a journal
| Format: |
|
Author of article. 'Article title'. Journal Title . volume, issue, year of publication: article pages. |
Conley, Tascott George and Galenson, Daryl Warrick 'Nativity and wealth in mid-nineteenth century cities'. Journal of Economic History . 58, 2 (1998): 468-493.
Article in a newspaper with a known author
| Format: |
| Author of article. 'Article title'. Newspaper Title . day, month and year of publication: page. |
Ryan, Deborah. 'Looking on the bright side'. The Age . 24 July,1998: 17.
Article in a newspaper with no obvious author
| Format: |
| Newspaper Title . day month, year of publication: page. |
Financial Review . 23 Jan, 1987: 6
Article from an electronic database
| Format: |
| Author(s) of article Year of publication. 'Article title'. Journal Title . [Electronic or CD-ROM]. volume, issue. article pages. Available: Supplier: Database name/id if available [Access date]. |
Hawke, Adrian. 'The changing face of Australian industrial relations'. Economic Record . [Electronic]. Vol. 74, no. 224, 1998. 74-88. Available: Proquest: ABI/Inform [Aug. 24, 1999].
'Right idea, wrong decade?'. The Guardian . [Electronic]. 7 August, 2000. Available: Dow Jones Interactive [Dec. 13, 2000].
Indirect quotation
To cite material not taken from the original source but obtained through an intermediate source the reference is as follows:
Haselby, Phillip. 'The panic of 1979'. 1999. quoted in Debby Kickett. Worker on the Edge . Sydney, University Press, 2000. 72.
World Wide Web
No standard method for citing electronic sources of information has yet been agreed upon. This method is based on the style outlined in Electronic styles: a handbook for citing electronic information by Xia Li and Nancy B. Crane.
| Format: |
| Author of webpage Last update or copyright date. Homepage Title [Homepage of...]. [Online]. Available: URL [Access date]. |
U. S. Department of Commerce (September 3, 1999). -last update. Indonesia Economic Trends and Outlook . [Homepage of Trade Port International Trade]. [Online]. Available: http://www.tradeport.org/ts/countries/indonesia/trends.html [Nov. 18, 2000].
If the author or editor is not available:
| Format: |
| Homepage Title [Homepage of...]. [Online]. Last update or copyright date. Available: URL [Access date]. |
Indonesia Economic Trends and Outlook [Homepage of Trade Port International Trade], [Online]. (September 3, 1999)-last update. Available: http://www.tradeport.org/ts/countries/indonesia/trends.html [Nov. 18, 2000].
Annotated Bibliography
| Format: |
| Appropriate bibliographic reference
Narrative account of the work including such matters as Topic; Purpose and Audience; Scope; Outline; Sources; Bibliographic Form; Organization; Additional Features (indexes, annotations, library locations of works cited, and numbering of entries); Preliminaries (or Front Matter); Accuracy; Timeliness; Layout; Qualifications (of the compiler); and Promotion of the Publication.
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