Developed by the Modern Language Association, this style is widely used in literary studies and throughout the humanities. Unlike Chicago humanities style, it uses in-text citations rather than notes.
The concept of containers is crucial to MLA style. When the source being documented forms part of a larger whole, the larger whole can be thought of as a container that holds the source. For example, a short story may be contained in an anthology. The short story is the source, and the anthology is the container.
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One Author:
Baron, Naomi S. "Redefining Reading: The Impact of Digital Communication Media." PMLA, vol. 128, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 193-200.
Jacobs, Alan. The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction. Oxford, UP, 2011.
Two Authors:
Dorris, Michael, and Louise Erdich. The Crown of Coumbus. HarperCollins Publishers, 1999.
Three or More Authors:
Burdick, Anne, et al. Digital_Humanities. MIT P, 2012.
Editor:
Nunberg, Geoffrey, editor. The Future of the Book. U of California P, 1996.
Two or More Editors:
Baron, Sabrina Alcorn, et al., editors. Agent of Change: Print Culture Studies after Elizabeth L. Eisenstein. U of Massachusetts P / Center for the Book, Library of Congress, 2007.
Holland, Merlin, and Rupert Hart-Davis, editors. The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde. Henry Holt. 2000.
Pseudonyms:
@persiankiwi. "We have report of large street battles in east & west of Tehran now - #Iranelection." Twitter, 23 June 2009, 11:15 a.m., twitter.com/persiankiwi/status/2298106072.
Stendhal. The Red and the Black. Translated by Roger Gard, Penguin Books, 2002.
No Author:
Beowulf. Translated by Alan Sullivan and Timothy Murphy, edited by Sarah Anderson, Pearson 2004.
Collection of Essays:
Baron, Sabrina Alcorn, et al., editors. Agent of Change: Print Culture Studies after Elizabeth L. Eisenstein. U of Massachusetts P / Center for the Book, Library of Congress, 2007.
An Essay, a Story, or a Poem in a Collection:
Dewar, James A., and Peng Hwa Ang. "The Cultural Consequences of Printing and the Internet." Agent of Change: Print Culture Studies after Elizabeth L. Eisenstein, edited by Sabrina Alcor Baron et al., U of Massachusetts P / Center for the Book, Library of Congress, 2007, pp. 365-77.
Periodical (Journal, Magazine, Newspaper):
Goldman, Anne. "Questions of Transport: Reading Primo Levi Reading Dante." The Georgia Review, vol. 64, no. 1, 2010, pp. 69-88.
Examples provided by Works Cited: A Quick Guide from the MLA Style Center and the MLA Handbook (9th ed.)