2009 MLA Style

The Major ChangesBased on the Purdue OWL handout at

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

New MLA is in many ways simpler…

• No More Underlining! You should ITALICIZE titles of independently published works (books, periodicals, films, etc).

• No More URLs! While website entries will still include authors, article names, and website names, when available, MLA no longer requires URLs unless the citation information does not lead readers to locate the source easily.

• Issue and Volume numbers for ALL scholarly journals, no matter what kind of pagination they have.

Publication Medium. Every entry receives a medium of publication marker. Most entries will be listed as Print or Web, but other possibilities include Performance, DVD, or TV.

Location. The medium of presentation goes at the end of entries; however, markers for Web sources are followed by the date of access.

Abbreviations for missing web info. When no publisher name appears on the website, write n.p. for no publisher given. When sites omit a date of publication, write n.d. for no date. For online journals that appear only online (no print version) or on databases that do not provide pagination, write n. pag. for no pagination.

Book Form

• Book citations remain largely the same except for the addition of the medium of publication, Print, at the end of the entry.

Nosich, Gerald. Learning to Think ThingsThrough. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2009. Print.

Scholarly Publication (Paper)

The major changes are the addition of the medium of publication at the end and the requirement for volume & issue numbers in ALL cases.

Rosen, Christine. “The Myth of Multitasking.” The New Atlantis 20 (Spring 2008): 105-10. Print.

Scholarly Publication (Web)The major changes are the addition of the

medium of publication at the end and the requirement for volume & issue numbers in ALL cases. Note the medium goes before the date of download.

Rosen, Christine. “The Myth of Multitasking.” The New Atlantis 20 (Spring 2008). Web. 15 Sept. 2009.

Article in a Magazine

The major change is the addition of the medium of publication at the end.

Carr, Nicholas. “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” The Atlantic July/Aug. 2008. Web. 15 Sept. 2009.

Article on a Web Site

The major changes are the omission of the URL and the addition of the medium of publication.

Lightman, Alan. “Prisoners of the Wired World.” 2002. CRTW 201.12 Online Calendar. Web. 15 Sept. 2009.

BUT if the site is hard to retrieve, add the URL for clarity:

Wallace, David Foster. “This Is Water.” 2005. CRTW 201.13 Online Calendar. Web. 15 Sept. 2009. < http://faculty.winthrop.edu/kosterj/CRTW201/TRCalendarF09.htm >