MLA style spells out the names of centuries in prose and in titles of English-language works, even when the title page uses a numeral: Queen Victoria ruled England for most of the nineteenth century. Music of the Twentieth Century We make an exception and retain the numeral if it precedes an abbreviation in a title: The Ekopolitan . . .
Published 3 April 2018
Do not routinely capitalize the names of dog breeds. Many breed names are composed of proper nouns that you capitalize and generic terms (like retriever or terrier) that you lowercase. Breed names are often composed of a place-name, as in these references to the breed’s country of origin: French bulldog German shepherd Irish setter Portuguese water dog Sometimes . . .
Published 26 March 2018
The MLA Handbook explains that when you refer to an untitled poem known by its first line, you should style the line the way it is shown in the source (68). This guideline applies both to the text and the works-cited list: Dickinson’s poem “I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—” contrasts the everyday and the momentous. Work Cited Dickinson, . . .
Published 19 January 2018
A modern editorial style keeps capitalization to a minimum. In MLA style, a movement or school of thought is only capitalized when it could be confused with a generic term–for example, Romanticism or New Criticism.
Published 12 January 2018
In our house style, we capitalize the letter in lettered volumes: The Longman Anthology of World Literature. Edited by Jane Tylus and David Damrosch, vol. C, Longman, 2004. A poem by Louise Labé appears in volume C of The Longman Anthology of World Literature.
Published 22 December 2017
If a direct question contained in a sentence is long or has internal punctuation, set the question off with a comma and begin it with a capital letter: The question posed to the MLA editors was, How should a question contained in a sentence be punctuated? The teacher wondered, Will my students ever understand how to incorporate a question . . .
Published 23 March 2018
Whether the label before a contributor’s name–for example, edited by or translated by–is capitalized or lowercase depends on its position in the MLA template of core elements. In the following example, the label is capitalized because the contributor’s name follows the “Title of source” slot. Since the title of a source is always followed by a period, the . . .
Published 31 October 2017
Should you write, “Happy New Year,” “Happy new year,” or “Happy New Year’s”? It depends on how much happiness you want to impart.
Published 1 January 2018
When Merriam-Webster indicates that a term is “capitalized” or “usually capitalized,” the MLA capitalizes the term in its publications. When Merriam-Webster indicates that a term is “often capitalized,” our practice varies. We usually lowercase sun, moon, and earth, but, following The Chicago Manual of Style, when the does not precede the name of the planet, . . .
Published 7 November 2016
“The World Wide Web” is the name of a unique entity and is thus written with initial capital letters. “The Web” is the short form of the name. . . .
Published 29 February 2016
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