Should the comma after an italicized element appear in italics?

Publishers differ in their practice. In its publications, the MLA’s preference is not to italicize commas that appear after italicized elements. However, we are open… Read More

In reference to centuries, when should I use a hyphen with early and late?

MLA style generally hyphenates elements of a compound adjective and does not use a hyphen for a noun phrase. a poet of the early nineteenth… Read More

Should italics or quotation marks be used for a character’s internal thoughts?

Styling a character’s internal thoughts in italics or with quotation marks depends on whether you are quoting from a source that shows a character’s thoughts,… Read More

If I need to separate titles styled in quotation marks by semicolons in my parenthetical citations, should the semicolons go inside or outside the quotations marks?

The semicolons should be placed outside the quotation marks: Sweden took in more than 160,000 asylum seekers in 2015 (Henden, “Sweden Election Polls”; Hernroth-Rothstein; Milne;… Read More

How should I style my parenthetical citation the first time I quote lines from a poem if I have not mentioned the author’s name in my prose?

The MLA Handbook explains that if you are citing line numbers instead of page numbers in your parenthetical citation, you should “in your first citation, use the word… Read More

Why are both a comma and and used to separate the names of coauthors in a works-cited-list entry?

The MLA Handbook notes that “[w]hen a source has two authors,” you should “[r]everse the first of the names” and “follow it with a comma and… Read More

Where do I place the colon that separates the title from a subtitle if the title ends with a quotation mark?

If the title ends with a quotation mark, insert the colon between the quotation mark and the subtitle. In the first example below, the title… Read More

If my works-cited-list entry has a title styled in quotation marks that ends in a question mark, should I insert a period after the question mark?

No. Omit the period, as shown in the example below: “How Do I Cite a Map?” The MLA Style Center, Modern Language Association of America,… Read More

How do you punctuate a question that quotes a question?

Do not use two question marks. Use only the question mark contained in the quotation: Which Shakespeare character asked, “Is this a dagger which I… Read More

How does the MLA handle orphaned words and widowed lines?

In our publications, we prefer to avoid an orphan—a word alone on a line or at the end of a paragraph—if the word, including any… Read More