1. What’s New and Different
MLA 8th Edition
What’s New and Different

2. New Emphasis Strict formatting not as important
Practice and process is key
Focus on using principles in many different situations
Universal guidelines can be applied to ANY SOURCE through the “core elements”

3. Ask yourself these questions.
WHO is the author of the source?
WHAT is the title of the source?
HOW was the source presented?
WHERE did you find the source?
WHEN was the source published?
MLA p. 13

4. What are the core elements?
Author
Number
Title of source
Publisher
Title of container
Publication date
Other contributors
Location
Version
These elements should be applied to ALL SOURCES.

5. Differences in 7th ed. & 8th ed. are minimal.
8th Edition: Print book with one author Jacobs, Alan. The Pleasures of Reading in the Age of Distraction. Oxford UP, th Edition: (old way) Jacobs, Alan. The Pleasures of Reading in the Age of Distraction. Oxford: Oxford UP, Print. Place of publication and medium (print) no longer required.

6. Sample from Scholarly Journal
8th Edition: Kincaid, Jamaica. “In History.” Callaloo, vol. 24, no. 2, Spring 2001, pp th Edition: Kincaid, Jamaica. “In History.” Callaloo 24.2 (Spring 2011): Web.
Explains these numbers making it clearer to the reader.
Punctuation is streamlined with just commas in between sets of information.

7. Finding facts for books
Franke, Damon. Modernists Heresies: British Literary History, Ohio State UP, 2008.
MLA, pp

8. Finding facts for web pages
Kwakkel, Erik. “The Beauty of the Injured Book.” Medieval Fragments. 2 May, 2014, medievalfragments.wordpress.com/2014/05/02/the-beauty-of –the – injured-book/.
MLA, p.17

9. Closer look at Core Elements
AUTHOR
Author or authors
Editor or editors
Corporate author
Jacobs, Alan. The Pleasures of Reading in the Age of Distraction Oxford UP, 2011.
Dorris, Michael, and Louise Erdrich. The Crown of Columbus. HarperCollins Publishers, 1999.
Nunberg, Geoffrey, editor. The Future of the Book. U of California P, 1996.
MLA, p.21

10. Title of Source Main title followed by subtitle.
If title is “contained” in a larger work, the title is in quotes.
Web sites are italicized.
If a “contained” title is normally independent, (such as a play or a novel) it is italicized.
Joyce, Michael. Othermindedness: The Emergence of Network Culture. U of
Michigan P, 2000.
Dewer, 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 Alcorn Baron et al., U of Massachusetts P/Center for the Book, Library of Congress, 2007, pp
MLA, p.27

11. Title of Container
When the source is part of a larger whole, the larger whole is referred to
as the “container.” The title of the container is normally italicized and is
followed by a comma, since the information that comes next describes the
container.
a periodical that contains articles, creative pieces, etc.
a television series, made up of episodes.
a web site that contains articles, postings and other items.
Williams, Joy. “Rogue Territory.” The New York Times Book Review,
9 Nov. 2014, pp. 1+.
Hollmichel, Stefanie. “The Reading Brain: Differences between Digital and
Print.” So Many Books, 25 April, 2013, somanybooksblogs.com/2013/
04/25the-reading-brain.
MLA, p.30

12. Other Contributors adapted by directed by edited by translated by
Aside from an author whose name appears at the start of the entry, other
people may be credited in the source as contributors, if their contribution
is important to your research. Precede each name or group of a names with
a description. Examples are:
adapted by
directed by
edited by
translated by
illustrated by
Chartier, Roger. The Order of Books: Readers, Authors, and Libraries in Europe Between the Fourteenth and Eighteenth Century. Translated by Lydia G. Cochraine, Stanford UP, 1994.
“Hush.” Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon, performance by Sarah Michelle Gellar, season 4, eisode10, Mutant Enemy, 1999.
MLA, p.37

13. Version
If the source carries a notation indicating that it is a version of a work released
in more than one form, identify the version in the entry.
The Bible. Authorized King James Version, Oxford UP, 1998.
Newcomb, Horace, editor. Television: The Critical View. 7th ed., Oxford UP, 2007.
MLA, p.38

14. Number
The source you are documenting may be part of a numbered sequence. This
would apply to books in multiple volumes, journals which are typically numbered
and television series.
Rampersand, Arnold. The Life of Langston Hughes. 2nd ed., vol. 2, Oxford UP, 2002.
Baron, Naomi S. “Redefining Reading: The Impact of Digital Communication Media.”
PMLA, vol. 128, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp
MLA, p.39

15. Publisher
The publisher is the organization primarily responsible for producing the source or making it available to the public. In a book, this information is typically found on the title page, but if not, look on the copyright page.
For web sites, publishers can often be found in the copyright notice or the "about us” section.
Lessig, Lawrence. Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy.
Penguin Press, 2008.
Harris, Charles. “Teenie.” Woman in Paisley Shirt behind Counter in Record Store.
Teenie Harris Archive, Carnegie Museum of Arts, Pittsburg. Teenie.cmoa.org/
interactive/#date08.
MLA, p.41

16. Publication Date
Sources, especially those published online, can have more than one publication date. When a source carries more than one date, cite the date that is most relevant to your use of the source.
Online Version
Deresiewicz, William. The Death of the Artist and the Birth of the Creative
Entrepreneur.” The Atlantic, 28 Dec. 2014,
The-death-of-the-artist/
Print Version
Deresiewicz, William. The Death of the Artist and the Birth of the Creative
Entrepreneur.” The Atlantic, Jan.-Feb. 2015, pp
Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. Vintage Books, 1995.
MLA, p.43

17. Location
For a print source, the location refers to a page number or a range of page numbers. For an online work, it’s usually the URL or DOI (digital object locator. If provided, use the DOI instead of the URL. Most entries in our Gale
Databases provide a DOI.
Print Version
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. “On Monday of Last Week.” The Things around Your
Neck. Alfred A. Knopf, 2009, pp
Online Version
Deresiewicz, William. The Death of the Artist and the Birth of the Creative
Entrepreneur.” The Atlantic, 28 Dec. 2014,
The-death-of-the-artist/
Chan, Evans. “Postmodern Culture.” vol. 10, no. 3, May Project Muse, doi: /pmc
MLA, p.46

18. If you follow this guide, you should have very little trouble
If you follow this guide, you should have very little trouble. Just remember many works are independent and are not part of a “container.” Always examine any source for each of the 9 elements.
MLA, p.129

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