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Yes. The MLA Handbook notes that writers should aim to “provide their audiences with useful information about their sources” (3). If you have created a permalink for a Web page using a trusted tool, such as Perma.cc, providing the link will be useful since it will allow your reader to access the page even if the original URL changes. You should, however, also provide the URL, since that is where you located the source. List both the URL and the permalink in the “Location” slot, separated by a comma:
Gibson, Angela. “URLs: Some Practical Advice.” The MLA Style Center, . . .
Published 1 February 2019
How you cite a GIF depends on where it appears. If the GIF is part of a larger work, cite the work and refer to the GIF in your prose. As always, key your in-text citation to the first element of the works-cited-list entry:
In a BuzzFeed post on aging, a pair of GIFs demonstrates how much easier it is to lose weight in one’s early twenties than in one’s late twenties (Misener).
Work Cited
Misener, Jessica. “Life in Your Early Twenties vs. Your Late Twenties.” BuzzFeed, 8 Apr. 2013, www.buzzfeed.com/jessicamisener/
life-in-your-early-twenties-vs-your-late-twenties.
If the GIF is included as an illustration in your essay, . . .
Published 24 January 2019
It is generally more useful to create a separate entry for each volume. In the following example, the writer has cited a passage from the second volume of a novel scanned and archived on the Web site Internet Archive. Since each volume has a separate URL, a works-cited-list entry has been created for each volume. Following the MLA format template, each entry provides the novel’s volume number and publication information in the first container. The second container lists the name of the Web site and the URL for the volume. The parenthetical citation indicates the volume and page number for the citation:
The narrator of George MacDonald’s David Elginbrod notes that “David was not given to boasting” . . .
Published 14 December 2018
No. You do not need to provide a separate works-cited-list entry for each hymn, chapter, or surah cited if there are several and they all come from the same general Web site, unless readers cannot easily find their way from that central place.
Let’s say you are citing Genesis and Psalms from the Web site King James Bible Online. As the MLA Handbook notes, when you cite scripture, indicate at first instance, in either your prose or a parenthetical citation, the first element of the works-cited-list entry for the source. Then indicate the division of the Bible from which you borrowed the material (122–23).
Published 28 November 2018
In general, you should list your entry for a Web site under the name of the creator. The creator may be an author, an editor, or a director. Many Web sites coin terms like “project lead” or “curator” to refer to the creator. The creator can also be a group of persons, an organization, or a government entity. You may need to consult an About page or a Credits page to determine the site’s creator.
For example, on the Credits page for Voice of the Shuttle, Alan Liu is listed as the director of the site:
In your works-cited-list entry, . . .
Published 26 November 2018
To cite published song lyrics, follow the MLA format template. Note that the way you cite published lyrics will depend on how you accessed them and what information is provided by the source.
For example, the Web site ST Lyrics contains an audio version of “The Story of Lucy and Jessie,” as well as printed lyrics. To cite the printed lyrics, begin the entry with the title since no author is given. Then provide the name of the Web site as the title of the container and list any relevant publication details. In the optional-element slot at the end of the entry, . . .
Published 21 November 2018
To cite an online lesson, follow the MLA format template. List the name of the instructor in the “Author” slot, the title of the lesson or a description of it, the course title, the sponsor of the course, the start and end dates of the course, and a URL:
Venard, Lourdes. Lesson on nominalizations, wordy language, and passive language. Copyediting: Intermediate, Editorial Freelancers Association, 5 June-17 July 2018, www.the-efa.org/product/
copyediting-intermediate-session-2-online-jun-5-jul-17.
If you are citing supplementary material your instructor created for the lesson and uploaded to the lesson page, provide the the title of the supplement or a description of the material in the “Title of source” . . .
Published 8 November 2018
By Joseph WallaceTo cite source code begin with the MLA format template . . .
Published 15 October 2018
No. If the app is the work, as in the following examples, you do not need to indicate in your works-cited-list entry that you are citing an app:
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Othello. Edited by Barbara Mowat and Paul Werstine, version 1.3.1, Luminary Digital Media, 2013.
Laudate. Version 2.36, Aycka Soft, 28 Feb. 2018.
There is also no need to indicate that you are citing an app if the app is simply the platform through which you accessed the work. For instance, if you watched the movie The Crown using the Netflix app, . . .
Published 26 September 2018
As the MLA Handbook explains, in some cases, you may omit the name of a publisher from your works-cited-list entry—for example, if you are citing a source from a Web site with basically the same name as that of its publisher (42):
Burns, Shauntee. “Finding Wonder Women at the Library: Online Biographies and Encyclopedias.” New York Public Library, 2 Mar. 2016, www.nypl.org/blog/2016/03/02/biographies-women-history.
The handbook also notes that if a work is by a corporate author, such as a public institution, the author element is omitted from the entry, and the institution’s name is given in the “Publisher” . . .
Published 17 September 2018
