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MLA

Overview of using MLA to format citations.

Book Citations: The Basics

Author Last Name, Author First Name. Source. Publisher, Date of Publication.

Examples:

Morrison, Toni. Beloved. Alfred Knopf, 1987. 

Singleton, Jermaine. Cultural Melancholy: Readings of Race, Impossible

Mourning, and African American Ritual. U of Illinois P, 2015. 

Online Books and eBook

MLA makes a distinction between online books and ebooks. Ebooks are normally downloaded onto personal devices, such as a Kindle Reader or iPad, and lack a URL.

MLA Handbook. 8th ed., e-book, Modern Language Association of America, 2016.

If you know the e-book provider, specify it: 

MLA Handbook. 8th ed., Kindle ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2016.


Online (From Library Resources):

 Last Name, First Name. Source. Publisher, Year of Publication. Container, 

permanent link. Accessed date.

Note: 

Including a date of access is optional in MLA 8th ed.  Check with your instructor

Including a database name before a URL or DOI is also optional.

With database name

Singleton, Jermaine. Cultural Melancholy: Readings of Race, Impossible Mourning,

and African American Ritual. U of Illinois P, 2015. 

Proquest ebrary, site.ebrary.com/lib/hamline/detail.action?docID=111377407.

Without database name

Singleton, Jermaine. Cultural Melancholy: Readings of Race, Impossible Mourning,

and African American Ritual. U of Illinois P, 2015, 

site.ebrary.com/lib/hamline/detail.action?docID=11137740.

Book Compiliations

Print:

The chapter title is the Source; the book title is the Container.

Chapter Author Last Name, Chapter Author First Name. "Source." Container,

edited by Editor Name, Publisher, Year of Publication,

chapter page numbers. 

Deo, Veena. "Representations of Dalit Women: Translating the Stories of 

Urmila Pawar's Short Stories." Claiming Power from Below: Dalits and the

Subaltern Question in Indiaedited by Manu Bhagavan and

Anne Feldhaus, Oxford UP, 2008, pp. 166-178.

Reference Books:

Note including database name before the DOI or URL is optional. Check with your instructor.

With database name 

Ewing, Adam. "African Diaspora." Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity and

Nationalism, edited by John Stone, et al., Wiley Blackwell, 2016. 

Wiley Online Library, doi: 10.1002/9781118663202.

Without 

Ewing, Adam. "African Diaspora." Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity and

Nationalismedited by John Stone, et al., Wiley Blackwell, 2016,

 doi: 10.1002/9781118663202.

"Monograph." Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary, 2016. (print)

"Monograph." Merriam-Webster: Dictionary and Thesaurus, 2016, 

www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/monograph. 

Online (From Library Resource):

The citation will include a source and, perhaps, two containers.

Chapter Author Last Name, Chapter Author First Name. "Source." 

Container 1,  edited by Editor's name, Publisher, Year of Publication,

chapter page numbers. Container 2DOI or permalink. Accessed date.

Note:

Including a date of access is optional. (See "New Formatting.") 

Including a database name before the URL or DOI is also optional. Check with your instructor.

With database name

Geraghty, Christine. "Foregrounding the Media": Atonement (2007)

as an Adaption." A Companion to Literature, Film, and Adaptation,

edited by Deborah Cartmell, Wiley-Blackwell, 2012, pp. 359-373. 

Wiley Online Librarysite.ebrary.com/lib/hamline/detail.action?

docID=10657796

Without

Geraghty, Christine. "Foregrounding the Media" Atonement as an Adaptation."

A Companion to Literature,  Film, and Adaptation, edited by Deborah Cartmell,

Wiley-Blackwell, 2012, pp. 359-373, site.ebrary.com/lib/hamline/detail.action?

docID=10657796.

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