How do I style genus and species names, such as Homo sapiens, in MLA style?
MLA style was developed to be used by writers in the humanities, so we defer to our colleagues at The Chicago Manual of Style regarding how… Read More
MLA style was developed to be used by writers in the humanities, so we defer to our colleagues at The Chicago Manual of Style regarding how… Read More
It depends. In the following example, commas are used to set off the by phrase because the phrase is not integral to the meaning of… Read More
It depends. MLA style minimizes the use of abbreviations in prose, but if in certain contexts the abbreviation is more common than the spelled out… Read More
The choice of era designations is up to the writer. In our publications, we prefer to use BCE (before the common era) and CE (common era),… Read More
Only italicize et al., meaning “and others,” if it is referred to as a term, as the examples in this sentence and the question above show. In… Read More
Yes, you may edit out speech tics from personal interviews, but you should mention in a note the first time you quote from the interview… Read More
In its publications the MLA follows Merriam-Webster, allowing the inflected forms emeritus to refer to a man or woman, emerita to refer to a woman, and emeriti… Read More
A preposition that is not at the start or end of a title should be lowercased, no matter how many words compose it and no… Read More
Yes. When a speaker’s words in dialogue extend to more than one paragraph, use an opening quotation mark at the beginning of each paragraph. Use… Read More
MLA publications generally follow the American spelling preferences listed in Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary and Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged. When you are writing a paper for a… Read More