


If you’re not sure if you’re supposed to be using MLA style for an assignment, consult with your instructor.Īs detailed in the 2016 MLA Handbook, MLA uses a parenthetical documentation system, which means you will place citations in parentheses within your own sentences to indicate you have used ideas, information, and quotations from sources at that particular spot in your paper the parenthetical information points to specific sources in an alphabetized list of works cited (it’s not called a bibliography in MLA), which appears at the end of your paper. Its documentation system is commonly used in the fields of English and foreign language and literature, as well as in other disciplines in the humanities. In addition, there are several excellent citation style guides on the web.The Modern Language Association (MLA) is the primary professional association for language and literature scholars. The library has style manuals in print and online for several commonly used styles such as American Psychological Association (APA), Modern Language Association (MLA) and Chicago.

Where can I find more information on how to cite a specific type of source in a particular style? When in doubt, ask your professor if there is a particular style that he/she would like you to use. The citation style that you use depends on the discipline in which you are writing, and where, or by whom, your work will be published or read. The way that citations appear (format) depends on the citation style, which is a set of established rules and conventions for documenting sources.Ĭitation styles can be defined by an association, such as the Modern Language Association (MLA), publisher, such as the University of Chicago Press, or journal, such as The New England Journal of Medicine. While the two basic approaches to citations are simple, there are many different citation styles. Scholars writing in the sciences and social sciences typically use in-text citations, while humanities scholars utilize endnotes/footnotes. Endnotes or footnotes +/- a bibliography at the end of the paper.In-text citations + a list of references at the end of the paper.There are two basic approaches to citation:
