MLA is a style of writing and formatting that is created and updated by the Modern Language Association (MLA). MLA style is most commonly used in the Humanities and English courses of study.
The current edition of MLA is the 8th Edition. Each update includes changes to the formatting.
Major changes in 8th Ed. include:
- If a core element does not exist or cannot be found, simply omit the element from the Works Cited entry. Placeholders including "n.d." for "no date" and "n.p." for "no publisher" are no longer used.
- For sources with three or more authors, list the first author's name followed by ", et al.".
- The city of publication for books is no longer included.
- Journal volumes and issues are now formatted: "vol. 12, no. 3,".
- If a journal issue includes a publication month or season include that in the publication date, like: "Spring 2016," or "Jan. 2016,".
- If an organization is both the author and the publisher, list the organization only once as the publisher and begin the citation with the title.
- Include a DOI (digital object identifier) when available using the format "doi:############." If a DOI is not available, use a stable URL.
- The URL, without https:// or https://, should be included for Web sources. Angle brackets are no longer used.
- The source's medium (Print. Web., etc.) is no longer included.
- In the Works Cited entry, "p." is used before citing a page number and "pp." is used before citing a page range. These are not used in the in-text citation.
Information from this MLA article.
