Books
When citing a book, should the book's title be in quotation marks or italicized?
italicized (ex: The Alchemist)
When citing a scholarly article, should the article title or journal title be italicized?
When citing an individual webpage, should the title of the page be in quotation marks or italicized?
quotation marks (ex: "How to Make Vegetarian Chili")
When citing a meme, should the title of the meme be italicized or should it be in quotation marks?
It depends on the meme being cited. If the meme is common and has developed a de facto title, such as Bad Luck Brian, it should not be italicized or in quotation marks. If you're citing a meme that uses different contexts, you should use quotation marks.
When citing a song, should the title be italicized or should it be in quotation marks?
It should be in quotation marks. The album name should be italicized after the song name. (ex: "Formation." Lemonade
What is wrong with this citation?
Foucault, Michel. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason. Translated by Richard Howard, Vintage-Random House, 1988.
What is wrong with this citation?
“What We Can Learn From the Philologist in Fiction.” Brundan, Katy. Criticism, vol. 61, no. 3, summer 2019, pp. 285-310.
The author's name should come before the article title.
What do I do if I cannot find all of the information required for a proper MLA website citation?
Find all of the information you can and omit the information you could not locate.
What is the main challenge in citing a meme?
Individual meme examples often lack a title or employ the same formulaic textual framework. In the case of Evil Kermit, for example, the meme consists of a photo of “good” and “evil” Kermit with a statement from “Me” succeeded by a statement by “Evil Kermit.” If you were citing various examples of this meme, you would substitute a description in the “Title of container” slot.
Music can be cited in many different ways depending on what?
The container you accessed it from.
If I want to cite a quote that is over 40 words, what do I need to do?
Create a block quote.
If the work I am citing has contributors other than the author, such as editors and/or translators, that need to be cited, where should their names be placed in the citation?
After the article title.
Ex: Author. Title. Title of container (self contained if book), Other contributors (translators or editors), Version (edition), Number (vol. and/or no.), Publisher, Publisher Date, Location (pp.). 2nd container’s title, Other contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Pub date, Location (pp.).
If I am only citing an individual page on a website, do I still include the website's name alongside the title of the webpage?
Yes, of course! The webpage's title should be in quotation marks followed by the website's name in italics.
Ex: Lundman, Susan. “How to Make Vegetarian Chili.” eHow, www.ehow.com/how_10727_make-vegetarian-chili.html. Accessed 6 July 2015.
If I am citing two different instances of the same meme, how would I differentiate this in my citations?
The author's names or the dates of posting should help differentiate the memes.
Ex. of names:
Parker, Susan. Evil Kermit meme. Facebook, 3 Dec. 2017.
Sanchez, Roland. Evil Kermit meme. Facebook, 3 Dec. 2017.
Ex. of dates:
Parker, Susan. Evil Kermit meme. Facebook, 3 Dec. 2017.
—. Evil Kermit meme. Facebook, 5 Dec. 2017.
If I am citing a film, I list the director's name, film studio or distributor, and what else (if relevant)?
Performer's names
Ex: Speed Racer. Directed by Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski, performances by Emile Hirsch, Nicholas Elia, Susan Sarandon, Ariel Winter, and John Goodman, Warner Brothers, 2008.
What do I do if I am citing a book with no author?
Begin the citation with the title of the book in the Works Cited page. In the in-text citation, you will provide the name of the work in the signal phrase alongside the page number.
Would a scholarly journal be considered a container? Why or why not?
Yes. It is a larger work that is comprised of a series of smaller works, so it is a container.
If I am citing an article that appears only in an online format (i.e., there is no corresponding print publication), that does not make use of page numbers, what extra location information must I include?
The URL
Ex: Dolby, Nadine. “Research in Youth Culture and Policy: Current Conditions and Future Directions.” Social Work and Society: The International Online-Only Journal, vol. 6, no. 2, 2008, www.socwork.net/sws/article/view/60/362. Accessed 20 May 2009.
If the same author published multiple instances of a meme on the same platform on the same date, what should I do to differentiate these different instances?
Add more detail to the citations.
Ex:
Freely, Eleanor. “Me: Bake cookies for the grandkids” Evil Kermit meme. Facebook, 3 Dec. 2017.
—. “Me: Iron the tablecloth” Evil Kermit meme. Facebook, 3 Dec. 2017.
What is a "container"? Give an example.
The larger wholes in which the source is located. For example, if you want to cite a poem that is listed in a collection of poems, the individual poem is the source, while the larger collection is the container.
What do I do if I am citing a book written by an organization instead of an individual person?
Use the organization name as the signal phrase instead of the author's name.
What is one of the main differences between citing a book and a scholarly journal?
Scholarly article/journal citations should include the volume # and issue # when available.
Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal, Volume, Issue, Year, pages.
Are citations for physical books and e-books identical?
Almost. Simply indicate that the book in question is an e-book by putting the term "e-book" in the "version" slot of the MLA template (i.e., after the author, the title of the source, the title of the container, and the names of any other contributors).
Ex: Silva, Paul J. How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing. E-book, American Psychological Association, 2007.
If you refer to an online article that collects various examples of a meme, what is the source?
The article itself.
Ex: Kircher, Madison Malone. “You’ve Heard of Elf on the Shelf, Now Get Ready for This Meme with a Rhyme Scheme.” Select/All, 15 Sept. 2017, nymag.com/selectall/2017/09/rhyming-elf-on-the-shelf-memes-explained.html.
If I am citing an individual episode of a TV show, what would be the "container" in the citation?
The name of the television show.
Ex: "The One Where Chandler Can't Cry." Friends: The Complete Sixth Season, written by Andrew Reich and Ted Cohen, directed by Kevin Bright, Warner Brothers, 2004.