MLA: Additional Information and Examples
Note: Always read your assignments carefully and defer to your instructors’ guidelines if they differ from MLA. Instructors may have their own preferences about citing and formatting. This handout represents the standard MLA style according to the MLA Handbook 9th Edition. A printable version of this information is available here.
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Tips for Using Respectful Language (MLA 89-93)
1. Do not draw attention to someone’s ethnicity, religion, gender sexual orientation, disability, age, or economic status if it is not the main point you are making.
Example: Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Ronald Reagan, and African American Barak Obama are former U.S. presidents who lived in Illinois.
(The added detail about Obama is but not appropriate, since the ethnicity of the other men is not included.)
2. Avoid gendered words or phrases that exclude large groups of people.
- man-made --> human-made
- mankind --> humankind or humanity
- policeman --> police officer
- firewoman --> firefighter
3. Be as precise as possible when referring to people groups.
Too General: College students like pizza.
Better Example: Most of my friends like pizza.
4. Respect your subject by writing about them rather than labeling them.
Labeling: Ella is depressed.
Better: Ella is experiencing depression.
5. When trying to be gender neutral, using plurals can be more concise.
Neutral but clunky: When a student wants to be his or her best, he or she should make sure to get plenty of sleep and eat healthy foods.
Better: When students want to be their best, they should get plenty of sleep and eat healthy foods.
6. They/their/them can be used as singular pronouns if they are someone’s chosen pronouns or you are unsure which gender to use.
Example: Taylor is coming to the football game, so I am saving them a seat.
7. Avoid framing others’ situations as negative.
Negative: Maria suffers from diabetes.
Neutral: Maria lives with diabetes.
For more information, please visit style.mla.org.
| Type/Notes: | Works Cited |
|---|---|
|
Album (MLA p. 330) |
Beatles. The Beatles. EMI Records, 1968. |
|
Dictionary, Digital (MLA p. 328) |
“Content, N. (1).” Merriam-Webster, 2020, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/content. |
|
Dictionary, Hardcopy (MLA p. 328) |
“Content, N. (4).” Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed., Merriam-Webster, 2003, p. 269. |
|
Text Message (MLA p. 337) |
Hollendale, Stefan. Text message to author. 11 Dec. 2010. |
|
Print Cartoon, stand alone |
Karasik, Paul. Cartoon. The New Yorker, 14 Apr. 2008, p. 49. |
|
Unknown author—begin with |
Lazarillo de Tormes. Medina del Campo, 1554. |
|
Audiobook |
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Narrated by Sissy Spacek, audiobook ed., unabridged ed., HarperAudio, 8 July 2014. |
|
Edited work with primary author |
Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Edited by Stephen Orgel and Jonathan Goldberg, Oxford UP, 2008. |
|
Email (MLA p. 337) |
Peters, Edwina. Email to PSY 101-06. 15 Jan. 2019. |
|
Edited work, focused on editor (MLA p. 108) |
Sánchez Prado, Ignacio M. editor. Mexican Literature in Theory. Bloomsbury Academic, 2018. |
|
Play Performance (MLA p. 334) |
Shaw, George Bernard. Heartbreak House. Directed by Robin Lefevre, Roundabout Theatre Company 11 Oct. 2006, American Airlines Theatre, New York City |
|
Photograph Viewed Online (MLA p. 332) |
Sheldon, Natasha. Photograph of The Muleteer. “Human Remains in Pompeii: The Body Casts, by Sheldon, 23 Mar. 2014. Decoded Past, decodedpast.com/human-remainsin-pompeii-the-body-casts/. |
|
Press Release (MLA p. 337) |
“SPLC Joins National Day of Mourning.” SPLC: Southern Poverty Law Center, 4 June 2020, www.splcenter.org/presscenter/splc-joins-national-day-mourning. Press release. |
|
Printed Cartoon, part of a series |
Trudeau, Garry. “Doonesbury.” The Star-Ledger [Newark], 4 May 2002, p. 26. |
|
Federal Statutes (U.S. Code) |
United States, Congress, House. United States Code. Title 17, section 304, Office of the Law Revision Counsel, 14 Jan. 2017, uscode.house.gov. |
|
Executive Orders (MLA p. 345) |
United States, Executive Office of the President [Barak Obama]. Executive Order 13717: Establishing a Federal Earthquake Rick Management Standard. 2 Feb. 2016. Federal Register, vol. 81, no. 24, 5 Feb. 2016, pp. 6405–10, www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2016-02-05/pdf/2016-02475.pdf. |
|
U.S. Supreme Court Decisions |
United States, Supreme Court. Brown v. Board of Education. 17 May 1954. Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/347/483. |
|
State Senate Bill (MLA p. 346) |
Wisconsin State, Legislature. Senate Bill 5. Wisconsin State Legislature, 20 Jan. 2017, docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2017/related proposals/sb5. |
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