How do I distinguish works by an author that have the same title?

The eighth edition of the MLA Handbook recommends brevity and clarity in an in-text citation (116)—brevity so that a reference won’t obstruct the flow of… Read More

How do I cite a term in an online or print dictionary that lists several numbered definitions?

Follow the MLA format template and begin with the headword (as it appears) as the title of the source. Note that this may include parts… Read More

Is using ibid. allowed for in-text citations? If so, how is it done?

MLA style avoids ibid. and op. cit., using short titles instead, on the principles that (1) a short title makes your reference clearer to readers,… Read More

When an organization is the author and the publisher of a work, the handbook advises writers to begin the works-cited-list entry with the title of the source. Is it OK to use the organization’s name in a signal phrase or in the in-text citation even though the name does not begin the works-cited-list entry?

No. The text should always key to the list of works cited. You can provide the key in the parenthetical citation or in your text. Read More

When documenting unpublished letters, should the descriptions of the letters that are used in place of a title appear in quotation marks or italics? If I am citing more than one letter written by the same person, how should I distinguish the letters in my in-text citation?

For unpublished letters, provide a generic description in place of the title (see pp. 28–29 of the MLA Handbook); do not enclose the description in… Read More

How do I cite an e-book in MLA style?

Use the Version element to specify that the work you are citing is an e-book—that is, a book that lacks a URL and that you… Read More

I am citing two editions of the same novel. How do I order the entries in the list of works cited, and how do I distinguish the editions in the in-text citation?

Order the entries by the most important unique piece of identifying information. This is usually the date. You can list entries either in chronological order… 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

Is it ever appropriate to use see or see also in a parenthetical citation?

The purpose of every parenthetical citation is to tell the reader to see a work, so the word see would almost always be redundant. See… Read More

The rules for positioning a parenthetical citation next to a final period seem different with run-in quotations and block quotations. What is the logic here?

Run-in quotations and block quotations follow the same logic, although the differences in their formats call for differences in punctuation. First, let’s look at a… Read More