LibGuides: SOC 235 (Inequality in Society): MLA Style

What is "Style"?

Research "style" is very simply the set of instructions and format that a particular discipline uses when writing papers and citing resources. Different areas of study do things a little bit differently. For ENG 101 (and other English/Humanities courses), MLA Style is used. MLA stands for the Modern Language Association, an organization of professionals who study and teach languages and literature.

Additional Resources

Purdue Online Writing Lab MLA Formatting and Style Guide

MLA Style Center FAQ

MLA Works Cited: A Quick Guide

What is MLA Style?

MLA Handbook by The Modern Language Association of America
Call Number: LB2369 .G53 2016
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.

MLA 8th Edition

Previous versions of the MLA Handbook were created based on the publication format of the source. Citations looked different and followed different rules depending on whether the source being cited was a book, a journal article, a website, etc. Now, users identify 9 pieces of information about the source, regardless of format, and put those pieces of information into a prescribed order with simplified punctuation. The core elements are, in order and with punctuation:

Author.
Title of source.
Title of container,
Other contributors,
Version,
Number,
Publisher,
Publication date,
Location.

In the Works Cited, citations should still be formatted using a hanging indent. Please note, not ever citation will contain all 9 core elements. Provide as much information as is available and pertinent to your source. They should appear in alphabetical order based on the core element that appears first (usually author or title) and should end with a period regardless of the last core element that appears. See examples below:

Book:

Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. HarperCollins, 1999.

Article:

Peet, Lisa. "To Kill a Mockingbird Author Harper Lee Dies." Library Journal, vol. 141, no. 5, 15 Mar. 2016, pp. 18-19.