References - MLA Method.

On this page:

• Background information.
• Citations in the text of your work.
• Bibliographic references.
  • Books
  • Editions of books
  • Critical essays in edited collections
  • Journal articles
  • CD-ROM
  • E-mail
  • Newspaper articles
  • Official publications
  • Personal communication
  • Published proceedings of a conference
  • Television programme
  • Unpublished theses, dissertations, student projects
  • Video/DVD
  • Websites
• Further information

Background information.

"Nearly all research builds on previous research. Researchers commonly begin a project by studying past work in the area and deriving relevant information and ideas from their predecessors. This process is largely responsible for the continual expansion of human knowledge. In presenting their work, researchers generously acknowledge their debts to predecessors by carefully documenting each source, so that earlier contributions receive appropriate credit." (MLA Handbook 104)

In keeping with this philosophy, all the critical essays, extended essays and dissertations you write must contain references in the body of the text and a bibliography at the end. This reference system will:

• Give direct sources for all quotations.
• Give sources for any paraphrased information (facts, opinions, etc.).
• Give sources for any statistical information, maps and diagrams.
• Allow the reader of your work to go to the sources you have used.
• Give `back-up' for a generalisation.

Top.

Citations in the text of your work.

The School of Literary Studies prefers its students to use the reference system prescribed by the Modern Language Association of America (MLA). In MLA style, you acknowledge your sources by keying brief parenthetical citations in your text to an alphabetical bibliography at the end.

Example:

One respected American critic has dared to suggest that literary studies has no future (Bloom 519).

If readers want to follow up this reference, they can turn to the bibliography, where, under the name Bloom, they would find the following information:

Bloom, Harold. The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1995.

A citation in MLA style contains only enough information to allow readers to find the source in the bibliography. If the author's name is mentioned in the text, only the page number appears in the citation: `(519).' If the bibliography includes more than one work by the same author, a shortened version of the title is given: `(Bloom, Western Canon 519).'

This reference system is very economical: it provides all the information that readers may need, keeps the text as readable and free of interruptions as possible.

Referencing conventions for electronic media are currently unstable, because of the rapid evolution of the media themselves. However, guidelines based on those given in recent issues of PMLA have been included in this guide.

Top.

Bibliographic References.

For Books.

As you can see from the above example, a bibliographic entry has three main parts, each separated by full stops:

They need to know:

Example:

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Reseach Papers. 6th ed. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2003.

Mutliple authors.

For a book by two or more authors, give their names as on the title page, and reverse only the name of the first author:

Example:

Lentricchia, Frank, and Thomas McLaughlin. Critical Terms for Literary Study. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1990.

If there are more than three authors, name only the first and add `et al.' (`and others'):

Example:

Montgomery, Martin, et al. Ways of Reading: Advanced Reading Skills for Students of English Literature. London and New York: Routledge, 1992.

Books accessed electronically.

Additional information is required when citing an electronic text. Important details to include are the name of the repository of the text (such as the Oxford Text Archive or the Electronic Text Center at the University of Virginia), the date of access and the URL:

Example:

Grey, Zane. The Man of the Forest. 1919. Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library. 11 June 2001 <http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/subjects/bestsell.html>

Top.

For an edition (most of the set texts you buy are editions).

You need to provide the editor's name (and possibly the translator's too). In the publication information you provide the date of the edition, though you can also provide the original date of publication immediately after the title, if you wish.

Example:

Kipling, Rudyard. Kim. 1901. Ed. Edward W. Said. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1987.

For a critical essay in an edited collection.

You must cite the individual essay, not just the title of the collection. This is one of the commonest errors in referencing by students. You need to provide inclusive page numbers for the essay you are citing.

They need to know:

Example:

Mulvey, Laura. `Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.' Feminisms: An Anthology of Literary Theory and Criticism. Ed. Robyn R. Warhol and Diane Price Herndl. Revised ed. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1997. 438-48.

(When giving inclusive page numbers, it is MLA style to give the second number in full up to ninety-nine, but only the last two digits of the second number for larger numbers [unless more are necessary]. Thus: 2-3, 21-48, 103-04, 265-312, 1234-56, 1490-520, and so on.)

Top.

Journal articles.

When citing articles in journals, there is a basic distinction between journals with continuous pagination and journals which page each issue separately. Most scholarly journals use continuous pagination through each annual volume.

They need to know:

Example:

Armstrong, Tim. 'The Electrification of the Body at the Turn of the Century.' Textual Practice 5 (1991): 303-25.

This reference provides readers with the journal title, volume number, date of publication, and inclusive page numbers, allowing them to find the article easily in the back numbers of the journal, which are bound together by the Library and shelved by year number.

Some journals do not use continuous pagination, but begin each issue on page 1. For such journals, it is important to include the issue number:

Example:

Ledger, Sally. 'In Darkest England: The Terror of Degeneration in Fin de Siècle Britain.' Literature & History 3rd series 4.2 (1995): 71-86.

Here, '4.2' signifies volume 4, issue 2.

Journal articles accessed electronically.

An article in an electronic journal should be treated in a similar way to an article in a print journal, except that you provide the number of pages (if given) rather than specific page numbers, and also the URL and date that you accessed the material.

Example:

Morton, Timothy. 'Imperial Measures: Dune, Ecology and Romantic Consumersism.' Romanticism on the Net 21 (February 2001). 11 June 2001 <http://users.ox.ac.uk/~scat0385/21morton.html>

Top.

CD-ROM

Example:

The Royal Historical Society Bibliography on CD-ROM.  CD-ROM.  Vers. 1.0. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1998. 

E-mail

Example:

Powys, John Cowper. "Re: My Recent Novel." E-mail to the author. 15 Nov. 1933.

Newspaper articles.

Example:

Higgins, Charlotte. “National Gallery Chief Walks Away from the Old Masters.” The Guardian 26 July 2007: C11+.

In the above example, the letter preceding the page number refers to the particular section of a newspaper that has several parts – the main section with additional supplements. The ‘+’ symbol infers that the story runs on to a subsequent page or pages.

Official publications.

Example:

Great Britain. Department of Health. Learning from Bristol: The Department of Health's Response to the Report of the Public Inquiry into Children's Heart Surgery at the Bristol Royal Infirmary 1984-1995.  Cm 5363. London: HMSO, 2002.

Personal communication

Example:

Rees, Ruth. Personal interview. 15 July 2007.

Published proceedings of a conference

Example:

Remenyi, Dan. Proceedings of the Eleventh European Conference on Information Technology held at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, November 11-12, 2004. Reading: Academic Conferences, 2004.

Television programme

Example:

Feminism. Big Ideas that Changed the World (2). Narr. Germaine Greer. Channel 5. 7 June 2005. 

Unpublished theses, dissertations, student projects

Examples:

Bowly, Tim. “Bristol's Trading Networks with Ireland in the Later Middle Ages.” MA thesis. University of the West of England, 2005.

Johns, Sophie. “The Body and Communication in Performance.” Diss. University of the West of England, 2006.

Video/DVD

Example:

The Servant. Screenplay by Harold Pinter. Dir. Joseph Losey. Perf. Dirk Bogarde, James Fox, and Sarah Miles. EMI Videogram, 1963.

Citations should include the following elements: title, director and other pertinent names and distributor with year of release.

Top.

Material from literary websites.

These websites may not be titled or dated, and may be anonymous, but you should include this information where it is available.

Example:

'Bibliography of Jane Austen Sequels.' Jane Austen Info Page. 11 June 2001 <http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/austeql.html>

Further Information.

MLA style is not the only way to document sources; you will come across others in the course of your reading. It is, however, increasingly widely used in the humanities, and it is simpler and more economical than most other styles. For these reasons you are strongly encouraged to use it in your written work. (Remember, too, that notes are included in the total word-count: using MLA style will leave more space for what you have to say.) A little time spent mastering the guidelines above will ensure your written work meets the demands made of all scholarly activity, and give it a professional finish.

For more details on referencing see the following:

• What is a reference?
• Why reference?
• When to reference?
• Where and how to reference?

For different referencing methods please see:

• Harvard.
• Running Notes.
• Numeric system.

Remember, references should be correct, complete and consistent.

PLEASE CHECK WITH YOUR FACULTY WHICH METHOD THEY WANT YOU TO USE.