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MLA Style (8th/9th Ed.)

MLA8 Citation list in brief

Missing information is not indicated in the citation.

Use letter by letter alphabetization for your citations.

Author.

Single: Last Name, First Name Initial. Additional source by the same author: use ---. in place of their name (3 hyphens & a period.)

2 authors: Last Name, First Name, and First Name Last Name.

3 or more authors: Last Name, First Name, et al.

No author: Begin your citation with Title.

Organization is both author and publisher: begin the entry with the work's title, and list the organization only as publisher.

Title of source.

Italics: Book titles, Plays, Anthologies, and Database names. (These are Containers.)

“Quotation marks:” Article title, webpage title, chapter, and poems etc. in an anthology.

No title? Add a short description. Eg: photograph of – chart showing – gif of cat with …

Container,

Italicize them and follow by a comma: Journal Title, Anthology title, name of streaming site or database.

Eg: Sports Medicine, Riverside anthology of literature, Netflix, or ARTstor.

Contributors,

Description of their role follow by a comma then First Name Last Name: narrated by – performance by

Eg: Translated by Natasha Randall, or poetry reading by Kim Catrall, etc.

Version,

Follows title and ends in a comma. Eg: 2nd edition or Canadian edition or  Director’s cut.

Number,

Your source is part of a number sequence or series. Abbreviate volume to vol. and number to no.

Eg: Orange is the New Black, S02 – E04. or Journal name, vol. 10, no. 4, etc.

Publisher,

Omit words such as Company & their abbreviations: Co., Inc., Ltd., Corp. Omit the publisher for a web site or newspaper if it duplicates information.

Shorten University Press to UP E.g. Oxford UP etc. More than one? separate with a forward slash. E.g. National Gallery / Yale UP,

Publication date, 

Write the full date as you find it on the source.  Format: Day Month Year Eg: Jan. 2013. Ends in either a period or comma.

Date missing? Do not write "No date" or "N.d."

Location.

This varies with different source types: page numbers, a permalink, a URL, or a physical location. Exclude http:// & https://

Eg: pp. 193-200, or pp. 57+ or  doi:10.1353/pmc.2000.0021. or Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.

Use p. for a single page source, pp. for multiple pages, add a Plus sign (57+) for multiple non-consecutive pages. 

No page numbers? Do not try to guess or count paragraphs, leave out missing information.

Supplemental Elements

Date of access, Date of original publication, City of publication, Series name, and Information on prior publication.

Your best estimate for missing information can be included in square brackets with a question mark Eg. for publication date: [2008?]

Include a description of an unusual or unexpected source type like a web comment or reblog. Eg. Slam Poetry performance: “Bic for Her.” poetry written and recited by Mary Pinkowski, or for a dissertation or Master's thesis: Diss., MA thesis, or MS thesis.

Core Elements Format

The MLA 8th 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. MLA allows the writer to emphasize the focus of particular people responsible for a work.  "If your discussion of such a work focuses on the contribution of a particular person - say, the performance of an actor or the ideas of the screenwriter - begin the entry with his or her name, followed by a descriptive label." (MLA Handbook, 8th ed., p. 24)

Streaming Video (via library database)

FORMAT

"Title of Film." Title of Production Company/Publisher, Publication Date. Title of Database, URL.

EXAMPLE

"Core Off the Floor!" Healthy Learning, 2008, Alexander Street, search.alexanderstreet.com/spex/search?ff[0]=asp_tertiary_community_facet%3APhysical%20Therapy.

In Text: ("Long Shadow" 00:17:44-58)

"For works in time-based media, such as audio and video recordings, cite the relevant time or range of times.  Give the numbers of the hours, minutes, and seconds as displayed in your media player, separating the numbers with colons." (MLA 8th edition, p. 57)

Streaming Video From a Website, YouTube etc.

FORMAT

Author's Last Name, First Name or Username if real name not provided. "Title of Video." Title of Website, Publication Date, URL.

EXAMPLE 

Griggs, Ben. "A Day in the Life of a Librarian." YouTube, 1 Oct. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mcn-B7X7HwQ.

In Text:(Griggs 00:02:26-27)

EXAMPLE when discussing a series in general

Daniels, Greg and Michael Schur, creators. Parks and Recreation, Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, 2015.

EXAMPLE when discussing a specific episode in series

“94 Meetings.” Parks and Recreation, season 2, episode 21, NBC, 29 Apr. 2010. Netflix, www.netflix.com/watch/70152031?trackId=200256157&tctx=0%2C20%2C0974d361-27cd-44de-9c2a-2d9d868b9f64-12120962

Film, DVD, Video

FORMAT 

Title of Film. Directed by Director's First Name Last Name. Performance(s) by Actor(s) Name(s). Title of Production Company, Release Date.

EXAMPLE To emphasize the performance of an actor:

The Grand Budapest Hotel, Directed by Wes Anderson. Performance by Ralph Fiennes. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2014.

In Text: (Grand Budapest 01:18:29-49)

EXAMPLE 2 film citation to emphasize the director:

Moore, Michael, director. Bowling for Columbine, Alliance Atlantis, 2003. 

Podcast

FORMAT

Creator/Host's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Podcast Episode." Title of Podcast Series, Episode Number if Given, Publisher of the Website if Different From Podcast Title, Publication Date of Episode, URL.

EXAMPLE

Kennedy, Paul. "Hope Within Horror: Marina Nemat." Ideas, CBC/Radio-Canada, 6 Dec. 2016, www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/ hope-within-horror-marina- nemat-1.3470823.

In Text (Kennedy 00:14:11-47)

Music - Sound Recordings

FORMAT 

Artist's Last Name, First Name or Band Name. Title of Album. Publisher of Recording, Publication Date.

CD EXAMPLE

Tragically Hip. Road Apples, MCA Records, 1991.

Song on a CD EXAMPLE

Cohen, Leonard. "Jazz Police." I'm Your Man, Columbia, 1988.

If you want to emphasize the particular work of a performer, song writer, composer etc., add it after the Title of Album.

Live Performance

FORMAT

Performer's Last Name, First Name or Band Name. "Title of song, monolog, poem or tour name." Version, Venue / Location. Live performance.

EXAMPLE (with band name)

Arkells. PullingPunches, 1 July, 2017, BC Legislature Lawn, Victoria BC. Live performance.

In Text: (Arkells)

NOTE in the above example the date is the Version element, publisher has been left out, and the venue is the lawn of the BC Legislature.

Photograph (Web)

FORMAT 

Last Name, First Name of photographer. "Title of Image/Photograph." Title of Website, Publication Date, URL. Date Accessed.

EXAMPLE 

Dobbs, Charles. "Zabriskie Point Sunset." FineArtAmerica, 7 Apr. 2016, fineartamerica.com/featured/zabriskie-point-sunset-charles-dobbs.html. Accessed 16 Dec. 2016.

In Text: (Dobbs)

Online art (reproduction on web)

FORMAT

Artist/Creator. Title of work. Date created. Name of Museum/Gallery, Container(database name). Location.

EXAMPLE Image from a library database

Currin, John. Blond Angel. 2001. Indianapolis Museum of Art. IMA: It’s My Art. collection.imamuseum.org/artwork/43494/

In text: (Currin)

Artwork in Gallery, or public location.

Format:

Creator's Last Name, First Name or Initial (if available). Title of Work. Publication Date, Location.

Example:

Potter-Mäl, Brigitte. Another Harvest, 1994, Camosun College, Wilna Thomas Building WT103.

In Text: (Potter-Mäl)

NOTE Location could be Name of Gallery or name of gallery + city. If the name of the city is in the name of the gallery you do not have to repeat that information.