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MLA Style (8th/9th Ed.)

Core Elements Format

The MLA 9th ed. does not provide rules for citing specific types of resources.  They provide a universal set of guidelines for any type of material based based on the core elements.  
Date of Access is now an optional element in MLA 8th edition.  The MLA Handbook 8th edition states " since online works typically can be changed or removed at any time, the date on which you accessed online material is often an important indicator of the version you consulted." (MLA Handbook, 8th ed. p. 53)  The first website example includes date accessed.

(MLA Handbook, 8th ed., page 110)

The MLA recommends removing “http://” and “https://” protocols from URL addresses in printed works, in which the creation of hyperlinks is irrelevant, although if the protocol is anything else, such as “ftp://,” you should include it. If you are citing these sources in a format that has the ability to display hyperlinks—for instance, if they will be displayed in html—do include the protocol. DOI's are preferred, so if your source has a DOI you should provide that unless otherwise instructed.

(MLA Handbook, 89th ed., page 195)

Website

FORMAT

Author's Last name, First name. "Title of Document or Page." Title of Website, Publication Date, URL. Date Accessed.

EXAMPLE

Galewitz, Phil. "In Depressed Rural Kentucky, Worries Mount Over Medicaid Cutbacks." NPR, 19 Nov. 2016, www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/11/19/502580120/in-depressed-rural-kentucky- worries-mount-over-medicaid-cutbacks. Accessed 21 Nov. 2016.

In Text:  (Galewitz)

"When a source has no page numbers or any other kind of part number, no number should be given in a parenthetical citation.  Do not count unnumbered paragraphs or other parts." (MLA Handbook, 8th edition, page 56)

Online Report or PDF with Organization as Publisher

FORMAT

Title of Report. Publisher, Date of Publication or last update, Title of website, URL.

EXAMPLE

Canada's Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Understanding the Trends, 1990-2006. Environment Canada, 2008, Government of Canada, publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2009/ec/En81-4-2006-2E.pdf.

In Text: (Canada's Greenhouse 17)

If your author is the organization that published it use the title in your in text citation or use a shortened version of the title before the page number. 

Website article with no Author

FORMAT

"Title of webpage or article." Title of Website, Date of Publication, URL.

EXAMPLE

"Drugged Driving by the Numbers." MADD, 2015, www.madd.org/drugged-driving/drugged-driving-by-the.html. 

In Text  ("Drugged Driving")

If there is not a personal author, start the citation with the title of the document/website. (MLA Handbook, 8th ed., p. 24) 

Wikipedia, Articles

FORMAT

"Title of Entry." Wikipedia, Publication Date, URL. 

EXAMPLE

"Hypnosis." Wikipedia, 26 Nov. 2016, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnosis.

In Text  ("Hypnosis") 

Blog Post

FORMAT

Author's Last Name, First Name or Username if real name not given. "Title of Blog Post." Name of Blog, Publication Date, URL. Date Accessed [NOW OPTIONAL]

EXAMPLE

Minchilli, Elizabeth. "Eating Outside in Rome." Elizabeth Minchilli in Rome, 13 April 2016, www.elizabethminchilliinrome.com/ 2016/04/eating-outside-rome/. Accessed 18 July 2016.

In Text:  (Minchilli)

Data or Statistics found online

FORMAT

Author's last name, First name. "Title of Document or Page." Publisher, Publication Date, Title of Website, URL. 

EXAMPLE: (with author)

Rodrigues, Samantha. "Hidden homelessness in Canada." Statistics Canada, 15 Nov. 2016, www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/75-006-x/2016001/article/14678-eng.htm. 

In Text: (Rodrigues)

EXAMPLE: (No author)

"Canada demographics." WolframAlpha, hwww.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Canada+demographics. Retrieved 14 June 2018. 

In Text: (Canada demographics)

Website No Author

FORMAT

"Title of webpage or article." Title of Website, Date of Publication, URL.

EXAMPLE

"Four Main Components for Effective Outlines." OWL Purdue Online Writing Lab, 2016, owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/544/01/.

In Text  ("Four Main") 

Source Code

When citing source code include as many elements of the MLA template as you can.

Author might be an individual, a group or an organization. MLA treats the name of the software as a Title.

Format: Last name, First name. Title of source, First Container, version, publisher, date, Second container, location(URL)

the first Container is the name of the software, the second container is the website where you found it.

Example citation: (no author)

Buffer.java. Apache Hadoop, commit ef9946cd52d54200c658987c1dbc3e6fce133f77, Apache Software Foundation, 2015. GitHub, github.com/apache/hadoop/blob/ release-3.1.0-RC1/hadoop-tools/hadoop-streaming/src/main/< java/org/apache/ hadoop/record/Buffer.java.

In Text: (buffer.java).

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