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Use the links on the sidebar for guidelines regarding MLA requirements
The eighth edition of the MLA Handbook, published in 2016, rethinks documentation for an era of digital publication. MLA now recommends a universal set of guidelines that writers can apply to any source and gives writers in all fields—from the sciences to the humanities—the tools to intuitively document sources. The 8th edition can be purchased in bookstores and online.
What Is MLA?
MLA style is a system for documenting sources in scholarly writing. For over half a century, it has been widely adopted for classroom instruction and used worldwide by scholars, journal publishers, and academic and commercial presses.
Why Use MLA?
Using MLA Style properly makes it easier for readers to navigate and comprehend a text by providing familiar cues when referring to sources and borrowed information. Editors and instructors also encourage everyone to use the same format so there is consistency of style within a given field. Abiding by MLA's standards as a writer will allow you to:
Provide your readers with cues they can use to follow your ideas more efficiently and to locate information of interest to them
Allow readers to focus more on your ideas by not distracting them with unfamiliar or complicated formatting
Establish your credibility or ethos in the field by demonstrating an awareness of your audience and their needs as fellow researchers (particularly concerning the citing of references)
MLA Style is typically reserved for writers and students preparing manuscripts in various humanities disciplines such as:
Who Uses MLA?
English Studies - Language and Literature
Foreign Language and Literatures
Literary Criticism
Comparative Literature
Cultural Studies
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