Should italics or quotation marks be used for a character’s internal thoughts?
Styling a character’s internal thoughts in italics or with quotation marks depends on whether you are quoting from a source that shows a character’s thoughts,… Read More
If I need to separate titles styled in quotation marks by semicolons in my parenthetical citations, should the semicolons go inside or outside the quotations marks?
The semicolons should be placed outside the quotation marks: Sweden took in more than 160,000 asylum seekers in 2015 (Henden, “Sweden Election Polls”; Hernroth-Rothstein;… Read More
Student Accountability, Google Docs, and Digital Peer Review
In-class peer response is tedious for students Read More
How does the MLA style 9/11, when it refers to the attacks on the United States on that date?
In our publications, we allow either September 11 or 9/11. Whichever form is chosen must be used consistently throughout a work. Read More
Supporting Students in the Transition from High School to College Writing
The transition from high school to college writing can be challenging Read More
How do you cite a summary of a work in MLA style?
In MLA style, when you cite a summary of a work, you should generally mention the name of the work you are summarizing and its… Read More
If I am defining in my paper specialized terminology that I learned in class, do I need to cite a source?
No. Specialized terminology learned in a class can be considered a kind of common knowledge in the context of an essay written for that class,… Read More
Impact as a Verb
The MLA recommends restricting the use of impact as a verb . . . Read More
How should I style my parenthetical citation the first time I quote lines from a poem if I have not mentioned the author’s name in my prose?
The MLA Handbook explains that if you are citing line numbers instead of page numbers in your parenthetical citation, you should “in your first citation, use the word… Read More
This Can Be Confusing
Chances are, you've begun many sentences with This Read More
