Hello readers...
we have a paper on Research Methodology. In that we have a unit on the Documentation. Our medam gave a task on that we have to explore that documenting sources. So in this blog i would like to about the Documenting sources.
So let's see what is the MLA and its main context.
What is MLA?
MLA stands for the Modern Language Association, an organization that focuses on language and literature.
Depending on which subject area your class or research focuses on, your professor may ask you to cite your sources in MLA style. This is a specific way to cite, following the Modern Language Association's guidelines. There are other styles, such as APA format and Chicago citation style, but MLA format is often used for literature, language, liberal arts, and other humanities subjects. This guide extensively covers this format but is not associated with the organization.
What is MLA Citing?
The Modern Language Association Handbook is in its 9th edition and standardizes the way scholars document their sources and format their papers. When everyone documents their sources and papers in the same way, it is simple to recognize and understand the types of sources used for a project. Readers of your work will look at your citations not only to understand them but possibly to explore them as well.
When you're borrowing information from a source and placing it in your research or assignment, it’s important to give credit to the original author. This is done by creating an MLA citation. Depending on the type of information you're including in your work, you may place citations in the body of your project and in a works-cited list at the end of your project.
The handbook explains how to create MLA citations. This page summarizes the information in the handbook’s 9th edition.
There is also a section below on a recommended way to create an MLA header. These headers appear at the top of your assignment’s pages. Check with your instructor on whether they prefer a certain MLA format for the header.
What is MLA Format?
The 9th edition is the most recent and updated version for MLA citations. Released in April 2021, the citation format differs slightly from previous versions. This update follows the 2016 update for the 8th edition that contained many significant changes from previous editions.
For the 8th edition, the biggest difference and most exciting update was the use of one standard format for all source types. In previous versions, scholars were required to locate the citation format for the specific source that they used. There were different formats for books, websites, periodicals, and so on. After 2016, using one universal MLA citation format allowed scholars to spend less time trying to locate the proper format to document their sources and focus more on their research.
Other updates included the addition of “containers.” A container provides details on a work contained within a larger work. For example, books contain chapters, albums contain songs, and journals contain journal articles. The source is the larger work, such as a website, while the container is a smaller work within that source, such as a short story on the website.
MLA now encourages you to add DOIs or URLs to citations. Use a DOI instead of a URL when it’s available. According to the MLA 9th edition, you can usually leave out http:// or https:// from URLs unless you want to hyperlink them. For DOIs, use http:// or https:// before the DOI: https://doi.org/xx.xxxx/xxx.xxxx.xxxx).
Social media pseudonyms and usernames can replace the real name of the author. Volume and issue numbers are now abbreviated as “vol.” and “no.” Cities of publication and the source’s medium (such as print or web) are no longer included in citations. For academic presses/publishers, with the words “university” or “press,” shorten “university” to “U”, and “press” to “P” (Cambridge UP). Lowercase seasons when using them in the date field of a citation (spring 2021 not Spring 2021).
Bibliography vs. Works Cited - What's the Difference?
You may have heard the two terms, "Bibliography" and "Works Cited" thrown around interchangeably. The truth is that they are two different words with two completely different meanings.
A bibliography is a list of sources that the writer recommends for further reading. A works-cited list is a list of sources that were included in the author's writing.
Want to suggest some books and websites to your reader? Create an MLA format bibliography by creating a list of full citations and label the page as "Bibliography."
Did you use any quotes or place any paraphrases in your writing? Create in-text citations and place them in the body of your work. Then, create a list of full citations and place them at the end of the project. Label the page as "Works Cited."
The good news is that references in MLA bibliography format and regular works-cited lists are structured the exact same way.
Documenting Sources: MLA
Formatting the Works Cited Page (MLA):-
Whenever you incorporate outside sources into your own writing, you must provide both in-text citations (within the body of the paper) and full citations (in the works cited page). The in-text citations point your reader toward the full citations in the works cited page.
That’s why the first bit of information in your in-text citation (generally, the author’s name; if no name is provided, the title of the article/book/webpage) should directly match up with the beginning of your works cited entry for that source. For further information about in-text citations, please read “Formatting In-Text Citations.”
For example, let’s say I have a quote from Benedict Anderson’s Imagined Communities in my research paper. Within the body of the paper, following the quote, I include the following in-text citation: (Anderson 56). This information points to the book’s entry in my works cited page:
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso, 2006. Print.
When your reader sees the in-text citation in your essay, she may decide that the source might be valuable for her own research. When she looks at the works cited page, she can easily locate the source (because the works cited page is alphabetized and because she has the in-text citation as her referent) and then can use the full citation to retrieve a copy of the source for her own research. But aside from providing the reader with resources for her own research, the works cited page serves another function: it establishes the writer’s credibility. If a writer fails to include in-text citations and/or a works cited page, that writer has plagiarized because he or she has neglected to provide the publication information of the source. In addition, when a reader locates undocumented information in an essay, she will likely think that the information was made up by the writer or that the information was stolen from a source, or plagiarized. And when a reader peruses a writer’s works cited page, she can see the types of sources used by the writer, assessing those sources in terms of their credibility. For instance, if a reader reads my works cited page and sees I cite sources from university presses such as Oxford UP and Cambridge UP, she will know that I’ve incorporated credible sources into my research paper. Thus, including both in-text citations and a works cited page in a research paper provides the writer with ethos, or credibility.
Now let’s take a look at how to properly format a works cited page according to MLA guidelines:
1)Placement:-
According to MLA style guidelines, the works cited page should appear after the body of your paper and any accompanying endnotes. It should begin on a new page, and the pagination should continue from the body of the paper. In the above example, the works cited page begins on page 38, which means that the essay concluded on page 37.
2)General format:-
The works cited page should be double-spaced throughout. The first line of each entry should be flush with the left margin; if the entry extends more than one line, ensuing lines should be indented 1/2 inch from the left margin. The first page of the works cited list should have the title “Works Cited,” not “Bibliography.” The works cited title should appear in the same manner as the paper’s title: capitalized and centered—not bolded, within quotation marks, italicized, underlined, or in a larger font.
3)Entries:-
The entries should be alphabetized based on the author’s last name. According to MLA guidelines, author names come first in an entry, then titles, then the publication information (city of publication, publisher, and date of publication), and then the type of media—the details for different types of sources vary, but this is the general structure followed. Note that if the city is not “well-known” and there is more than one city with that name, unlike New York and London, then the state or territory should be included after the city, e.g., “Roswell, GA: 2006.” If no name is provided for a given source, the title of the work/webpage will take the place of the author’s last name and should still be placed in its proper alphabetical location. Also note that “university” and “press” are always abbreviated “U” and “P” in works cited entries.
Here are some guidelines for commonly used sources:
Single-Authored Book
Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Date of Publication. Type of media.
Example:
Bratlinger, Patrick. Rule of Darkness: British Literature and Imperialism, 1830–1914. Ithaca: Cornell UP,
1988. Print.
Book with Multiple Authors
Last Name, First Name (of first author listed), and First Name Last Name (of second author, etc.). Title
of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Date of Publication. Type of media.
Example:
Sabherhagen, Fred, and James V. Hart. Bram Stoker’s Dracula: A Francis Ford Coppola Film. New York:
Signet, 1992. Print.
Article or Chapter in an Edited Collection (or Textbook)
Last Name, First Name. “Article Title.” Title of Book. Ed. First Name Last Name (of Editor). Place of
Publication: Publisher, Date of Publication. Page Range of Article. Type of Media.
Example:
Vieregge, Quentin. “Writing as Process.” Negotiating Writing Spaces. Ed. Jennifer Yirinec and Lauren
Cutlip. Plymouth, MI: Hayden-McNeil, 2011. 57–59. Print.
Article in a Print Journal
Last Name, First Name. “Article Title.” Title of Journal. Volume #.Issue # (Date of publication): Page Range
of Article. Print.
Example:
Rogers, Pat. “Crusoe’s Home.” Essays in Criticism 24.4 (Oct. 1974): 375–90. Print.
Journal Article Accessed Using an Electronic Database
Last Name, First Name. “Article Title.” Journal Name Volume #.Issue # (Date of publication): Page Range
of Article. Database. Web. Date of Access.
Example:
Lamont, Rose C. “Coma versus Comma: John Donne’s Holy Sonnets in Edson’s WIT.” The Massachusetts
Review 40.4 (Winter 1999–2000): 569–75. JSTOR. Web. 30 April 2012.
Article Accessed from an Online Journal
Last Name, First Name. “Article Title.” Journal Name Volume #.Issue # (Date of publication): n.pag. Web.
Date of Access.
Example:
Haynsworth, Leslie. “All the Detective’s Men: Binary Coding of Masculine Identity in the Sherlock Holmes
Stories.” Victorians Institute Journal 38 (2010): n.pag. Web. 16 May 2012.
Article from a Webpage
Last Name, First Name (if given). “Title of Webpage.” Website Title. Publisher of website (often found at the bottom
of the page), date of last update. Web. Date of Access. See (URL is only necessary if you think your
reader won’t easily be able to locate the webpage).
Example:
“Opening Night: Wit Starring Cynthia Nixon.” Broadway.com. Broadway.com, Inc., 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2012.
Entire Website
Website Title. Publisher of website, date of last update. Date of Access. See (URL is only necessary if you
think your reader won’t easily be able to locate the webpage).
Example:
Broadway.com. Broadway.com, Inc., 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2012.
Watch this video for better understanding:-
Work cited:-
MLA Handbook. 8th ed., Modern Language Association, 2016.
MLA Handbook. 9th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2021.
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