Are notes compatible with MLA style?

Yes. Two kinds of notes are suitable with the parenthetical citations used in MLA style: content notes and bibliographic notes. These may be styled either… Read More

Dictionary 101

Beware the spelling checker! Here's what you need to know about using a dictionary . . . Read More

A Regrettable Shortcut: The Pseudo Conjunction With

The use of with as a pseudo conjunction weakens prose . . . Read More

Many or Multiple?

Multiple is often not a good synonym for many Read More

“Why Should We Sweat This Small Stuff?”

The notes posted here don’t concern small points . . . Read More

The Waste of Haste: Premature Introductions

A common type of jumble in prose results from premature introductions . . . Read More

A Regrettable Shortcut: Faculty Referring to Individuals

Faculty is one of a category of nouns that refer to groups of people as a body . . . Read More

Must quotations always be introduced with wording like “So-and-so writes”?

No. There are innumerable ways to weave a quotation gracefully into your prose. As long as the quotation’s purpose and source are clear, you need… Read More

What kind of number do I put in the parenthetical citation for a poem—a page number, a line number, or another part number?

The ultimate goal is to be concise and to cite what is most useful to the reader. For quotations from a poem in a print… Read More

News articles are sometimes credited to agencies like Reuters and the Associated Press. Should the agencies be cited as the authors of these articles?

No. News agencies distribute stories from a vast pool of journalists. The name of an agency is not a meaningful indicator of authorship. Moreover, local… Read More