Creating Vertical Lists in MLA Style
By Jennifer RappaportIn some types of material, a vertical list may be preferable to a run-in list
Published 7 December 2018
How do I style geographic terms such as north and south in MLA style?
MLA style follows The Chicago Manual of Style (8.47) for geographic terms. For example, we capitalize north, south, east, and west when the terms refer to regions or cultures: Customs in the East differ from those in the West. She moved from the East Coast to the West Coast. The South lost the war. You should read both Western and . . .
Published 13 September 2018
Should shortened generic forms of proper nouns be capitalized?
In general, lowercase generic forms of proper nouns: the United States Army, the army President Kennedy, the president the Brooklyn Bridge, the bridge Housatonic River, the river But, as The Chicago Manual of Style notes, capitalize generic terms if necessary for clarity (“Wars”): the French Revolution, the Revolution of 1789, the Revolution, the revolution of 1848 . . .
Published 9 August 2018
How do I style the names of functional elements of a Web site when I refer to them in my prose?
In its online and print publications, when the MLA refers in prose to the label or functional element of a Web site or other electronic device (like a phone), it usually styles the label without quotation marks and capitalizes it like a title: To change your institutional affiliation, go to Update Your Profile. Select Save . . .
Published 21 June 2018
When should I capitalize the first letter of the first word of a quotation?
Whether to capitalize or lowercase the first letter of the first word of a quotation depends on how the quotation is integrated into your prose and what appears in the original. After a Verb of Saying Capitalize the first letter if the quotation appears after a verb of saying, regardless of the case used in . . .
Published 22 May 2018
Why does the MLA capitalize certain words in titles?
MLA style’s rules for capitalization are intended to help authors remain consistent while also respecting the ways in which titles have traditionally been styled in different languages. The history of capitalization in titles is complicated, though titles of printed works from earlier eras written in English generally conform to a currently recognizable style. For instance, the . . .
Published 29 April 2018
Can I silently change the initial capital letter in a quotation to fit the quotation syntactically into my sentence?
No. As the MLA Handbook advises, “Unless indicated in square brackets or parentheses, changes must not be made in the spelling, capitalization, or interior punctuation of the source” (75). Let’s say your original source reads as follows: Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world. If you need to lowercase the initial letter of the first word . . .
Published 23 April 2018
How do I style the names of centuries in MLA style?
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 I capitalize the names of dog breeds?
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
If an untitled poem is known by its first line, how do I style that line in my works-cited-list entry?
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