Education World ® - Lesson Planning Skills Page: Modern Language Association Style Guide

Modern Language Association Style Guide

"Entries in a works-cited list for such [World Wide Web] sources contain as many items from the list below as are relevant and available."

Editor's Note: The style descriptions and examples are written using the appropriate capitalization, punctuation, type style (italics, etc.), underlines, and date style called for in that style.

E-mail
Author's Last and First Names (author's e-mail address). "Subject Line." E-Mail Recipient's Name (recipient's e-mail address). Month, Day, Year of Message.

Example:
Hopkins, Gary ([email protected]). "Education World Redesign." Starr, Linda ([email protected]). January 1, 2000.

Listservs
Author's Last and First Names or author's e-mail or logon name. "Subject Line." Online posting. Month, Day, Year of Posting. Discussion list name. Available e-mail. Month, Day, Year Accessed.

Example:
Jameson, Mary. "MLA Outline Form for Citing Resources." Online posting. January 28, 1999. FYI. Available e-mail: [email protected], FYI. January 1, 2000.

Newsgroups
Author's Last and First Names or author's e-mail or logon name. "Subject Line." Online posting. Month, Day, Year of Posting. Available Usenet: address. Month, Day, Year Accessed.

Example:
Gunn, Michael P. "Education Quote of the Day." Online posting. June 6, 1999. Available Usenet: K12.chat.teacher. January 1, 2000.

WWW Sites
Author's Last and First Names, if Known. "Title of Work." Site Name. Month, Day, Year of Publication or Accessed. Complete URL.

Example:
Halse, John, and Walkowiak, Karen. "The Great Debate Project." SchoolWorld Projects. September 26, 1998. http://www.schoolworld.asn.au/debate.

Online Publications
Books
Author's Last and First Names or Initial. Title of Book Cited. Print Publication Information, Including Date. Site Name, if Applicable. Online Information, Including Publication Date. Name of Online Service, if Applicable. Month, Day, Year Accessed. Complete URL.

Example:
Clough, G. Benson. A Short History of Education. Ralph Holland & Co., London, 1904. The History of Education Site. November 3, 1998. January 1, 2000. http://www.socsci.kun.nl/ped/whp/histeduc/clough.

Poems
Author's Last and First Names or Initial. "Name of Poem." Title of Complete Work, if Applicable. Print Publication Information, Including Date. Site Name, if Applicable. Online Information, Including Publication Date. Name of Online Service. Month, Day, Year Accessed. Complete URL.

Example:
Silverstein, Shel. "Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me Too." Where the Sidewalk Ends. Harpercollins Juvenile Books, November 1974. Where the Sidewalk Ends. April 30, 1999. June 6, 2000. http://www.ezy.net/~quix/ickleme.html.

Journals, Magazines, or Newspaper Articles
Author's Last and First Names. "Title of Article." Name of Journal or Magazine. Publication information. Month, Day, Year Accessed. Complete URL.

Example:
Jacobson, Linda. "Effects of Child Care Linger in Early Grades." Education Week on the Web. June 20, 1999. Vol. 18, number 40, page 3. June 20, 1999. http://www.edweek.org/ew/1999/40care.h18.

Electronic Databases
Author's Last and First Names, if Known. "Title of Work." Source or Database Name. Identifying information, such as version or edition number, or series name. Date of Publication. Name of Online Service. Month, Day, Year Accessed. Access information or protocol, address, path, and directories followed.

Example:
Balas, Andrea K. "Science Fairs in Elementary School." ERIC Clearinghouse for Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Education DIGEST. January 1998. ERIC Clearinghouse for Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Education. June 20, 1999. http://www.ericse.org/digests/dse98-1.html.

Electronic Reference Sources
Author's Last and First Names, if Known. "Title of Work." Source Name. Source type. Identifying information, such as version or edition number or series name, date of publication. Month, Day, Year Accessed. Access information, or protocol, address, path, and directories followed, if applicable.

Example:
"The Gettysburg Address." Encarta 97 Encyclopedia, CD-ROM. Microsoft Corporation, 1993-96. June 20, 1999.

References Within Text
"In parenthetical references in the text, online resources are cited just like printed works. Web documents generally lack page numbers; however, if your source includes fixed page numbers or section numbering, cite the relevant numbers with the appropriate abbreviations: (Moulthrop, pars. 19-20.) Page numbers of a printout of an online document should not be cited, because the pagination may vary in different printouts."

Italics
"In material that will be graded or edited for publication, the type style of every letter and punctuation mark must be easily recognizable. Italic type is sometimes not distinctive enough for this purpose. In printed material submitted for grading and editing, therefore, words that would be italicized in a publication are usually underlined to avoid ambiguity."

Spacing
"It is increasingly common for papers and manuscripts to be prepared with single spaces after all punctuation marks; however, there is nothing wrong with using two spaces after concluding punctuation marks."

From:
http://www.mla.org MLA Style