MLA Gets With the Times

MLA Gets With the Times MLA Gets With the Times MLA Gets With the Times By Maeve Maddox Probably the biggest change in the seventh edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers has to do with the section. No more underlining I abandoned underlining for italicizing as soon as I got my hands on my first computer. That was in the 1980s. MLA has finally come round and recommends italicizing titles of books, periodicals, films, etc. No more continuous pagination All you have to do now is enter the volume and issue number for a scholarly publication. New Abbreviations Didnt you just hate it when your web source didnt include a publisher or date of publication? Well, there are abbreviations for those now: N.p. no publisher n.d. no date n. pag. no pagination (ex. online journals) NOTE to web publishers: if your site contains useful, accurate information, give researchers a break and provide a date and publisher. URL not compulsory A works cited entry for a website will include author, article title, and name of the website, but the URL is not mandatory. (Its probably still a good idea to include the URL for an obscure site.) Multi-media Markers A medium of publication marker goes at the end of every entry. For example: PRINT, WEB, DVD, TV. If the source is from the web, the marker is followed by the date of access. You can see some examples of entries typed according to the new guidelines a the Purdue OWL site. Annotated sample research paper that follows the new guidelines. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Book Reviews category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Cost-Effective vs. Cost-EfficientWriting the CenturyDozen: Singular or Plural?