You are viewing all posts tagged punctuation
In MLA style, a comma is generally only used before et al. in the “Author” slot of works-cited-list entries when the author’s first and last names are reversed: Burdick, Anne, et al. Digital_Humanities. MIT P, 2012. The comma tells your reader that the name Anne is out of normal position and that the abbreviation attaches to . . .
Published 11 September 2018
No. In MLA style, italics in a quotation are assumed to be in the original unless otherwise indicated. See the MLA Handbook for more details on quoting sources exactly (75) and on italics added for emphasis (86). Work Cited MLA Handbook. 8th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2016.
Published 28 August 2018
No. Since a compound formed by an adverb ending in ly cannot be misread, no hyphen is used: She had a politically transformative experience.
Published 16 August 2018
No. A sentence should never have two periods at the end. If a sentence ends with an abbreviation followed by a period, do not add an additional period: She explained the rules for periods, commas, semicolons, etc.
Published 12 July 2018
Yes. If a title ends with a punctuation mark, include the mark: The Band Perry opened their set with the song “Done.,” the second track on their album Pioneer. For examples of titles ending in punctuation marks other than a period, see our previous post.
Published 28 June 2018
In MLA style, if each part of the name of an ethnic or national group is an independent term, no hyphen is used, regardless of whether the name appears as a noun or an adjective: Many Native Americans live in California. I am studying African American literature. If the name includes a combining form, however, . . .
Published 5 June 2018
The language that you use to describe elements in your works-cited list should be the language that your paper is written in, which should also determine the punctuation used. In other words, if your paper is in Spanish but you cite a work published in English in the works-cited list, use “editado por” instead of . . .
Published 17 May 2018
If the last element of a works-cited-list entry is a URL ending in a question mark, a period should follow the URL: Krugman, Paul. “Bubble, Bubble, Fraud and Trouble.” The New York Times, 29 Jan. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/opinion/bitcoin-bubble-fraud.html?. Note, however, that the rule differs for the title of a work ending in a question mark or exclamation . . .
Published 11 May 2018
The MLA Handbook explains that you should “[i]dentify an omission within a sentence by using three periods with a space before each and a space after the last ( . . . )” (81). Note, however, that if you use Microsoft Word’s ellipsis character, the periods will not be spaced, and if you try to insert . . .
Published 10 May 2018
Epigraphs establish tone, highlight allusions, provide commentary, and mark transitions between parts of a work. Primarily ornamental, they are not discussed subsequently in the text. Design Although publishers vary in how they style epigraphs, one commonality is that epigraphs are set apart from the main text by being placed at the start of a book, . . .
Published 7 May 2018
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