AUSTRALASIAN VICTORIAN STUDIES JOURNAL STYLE SHEETNB. Visit the MLA website for useful info about referencing data you've found on the net: http://www.mla.org/style_faq
Adapted from the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers by Joseph Gibaldi and Walter S. Achtert (New York: MLA, 1999). You can copy (control c) and paste (control v) this information into a word processing document or print out directly from the webpage. It is just a basic guide; for more detailed information and clarification please consult the MLA handbook.
In general MLA Style is a simple and economical one; it considerably reduces the number of foot-notes required, and it uses some more economical styles of citing bibliographical information. Latin terms like ibid and op cit are not used.
Parenthetical documentation
Using parenthetical documentation simplifies your manuscript for publication purposes, it is no longer necessary to provide footnotes (or endnotes) which simply give a bibliographical reference for the source of an idea, fact, or quotation. This information is now provided in your list of "Works Cited" (i.e. your bibliography) and a parenthetical reference briefly acknowledges the source.Example:
It is Marlowe's perception of Kurtz's combination "of sombre pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror" (Conrad 99) for which we have to account.OR, if the author's name is mentioned only the page number is needed:
In Conrad's Heart of Darkness Marlowe's perception of Kurtz's combination "of sombre pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror" (99) for which we have to account.
Notes
Only two kinds of Notes will now be required and these only rarely:
1. CONTENTS NOTES offering comment, explanation, or information that cannot be incorporated in the text of the essay.
2. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES containing several sources or which offer comment on the books documented.
Other changes
Page, Volume, and Part Numbers. As you will see from the examples used below, "p." and "pp." are no longer used for page numbers in Parenthetical Documentation, Notes, or list of "Works Cited", nor are "Vol." or "No." used for the Volume and Part Numbers of Periodicals.Arabic numerals. In almost every case, Arabic numerals (1, 5, 8) are used instead of Roman (I, V, VIII). The only exception is when citing those pages of a book which are numbered with Roman numerals (usually only the "preliminary" pages--e.g., page iv).
Quotations
Use quotations only when they support or illustrate the argument of your essay and avoid lengthy quotations. Excessive quotations may bore your readers and lead them to conclude that you are neither an original thinker nor a skilful writer. Do not refer to quotations as "quotes" in your text, employ the full word "quotation." A quotation should follow exactly its source in all matters of spelling and punctuation, except as described below.SHORT QUOTATIONS (i.e. up to four typed lines of prose, or three lines of verse) are given in the text and enclosed within quotation marks. Lines in any verse quotation should be separated with a slash. Give the reference, in brackets, immediately after the end of the quotation. (A capital letter beginning the first word of such quotations should be changed to lower case
Example:
The puzzled Lilliputians thought Gulliver's watch was "either some unknown Animal, or the god that he worships" (Swift 135).When he says, "though I am native here / And to the manner born" (Hamlet 1.4.14-15) he begins to acknowledge his precarious state.
LONGER QUOTATIONS (i.e. more than four typed lines of prose, three lines of verse) are separated from the body of the essay by two lines, indented ten spaces from the left margin and are not enclosed within quotation marks. Such quotations are usually introduced by a colon. After the concluding punctuation, leave 2 spaces and give the reference in brackets.
Example:
At the conclusion of Lord of the Flies Ralph and the other boys acknowledge the horror of their actions:
The tears began to flow and sobs shook him. He gave himself up to them now for the first time on the island: great, shuddering spasms of grief that seemed to wrench his whole body. His voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island; and infected by that emotion, the other little boys began to shake and sob too. (Golding 192)This reaction provides a metaphoric accompaniment to the apocalyptic ending.Omissions from a quotation:
It is seldom necessary to make any alteration to a quotation but sometimes conciseness dictates that some words, or even a sentence or paragraph be omitted. In this case, indicate the omission by an ellipsis; ie: . . . Three dots only should be used unless the ellipsis coincides with the end of your sentence or where more than a sentence is omitted: in these cases four dots are used; ie: . . . .Additions to a quotation: Anything added to a quotation is placed in square brackets. Use this to indicate any comment or explanation you interpolate, or when using sic to indicate the accuracy of your transcription of an apparent error in a quotation, or when indicating that you have added emphasis to a passage. Such comments made after the end of the quotation may go in parentheses (round brackets).
Example:
"Why, she would hang on him [Hamlet's father] / As if increase of appetite had grown / By what it fed [emphasis added] on" (1.2.143-44)."And later when I . . . read 'The Idylls of the King' and 'The Lady of Shallot' [sic] . . . I already had my Camelot" (Anderson 9; emphasis added).
Note the use of single quotation marks for a title (or direct speech, or a quotation) within a quotation, ie single quotation marks within the double quotation marks indicating the quotation.
Indirect quotation:
Wherever possible quote from the original source but, if you cannot, give the reference that you have actually used.Example:
Foucault asserts that "madness was no longer recognized in what brings man closer to an immemorial fall" (qtd Tanner 14).The list of "Works Cited" will contain the full reference: Tanner, Tony. Introduction. Mansfield Park. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1969.
Apostrophes are used to indicate possession--eg Prospero's Books (ie the books of Prospero) or students' work (ie the work of students); or contraction--eg, don't (ie do not). NOTE apostrophe's do not signify plural.
Parenthetical documentation
While the list of "Works Cited" provides the bibliographical references for the works you have quoted in your article it does not itself provide detailed acknowledgement of what you have used or quoted: this is the function of the parenthetical documentation. NOTE that since economy of space is the rationale behind the documentation method we are detailing here, we strongly request that your "Works Cited" only lists books from which you have direct information, not background reading.HOW TO DOCUMENT
Normally parenthetical documentation immediately follows a passage quoted or an idea borrowed and normally gives the name of the author being acknowledged and the page number/s. If the author's name has just been used in the text, or is quite clear from the context, omit it from the parenthetical reference and simply give the page number. Anonymous works are alphabetised by title in the "Works Cited" (see "Basic 14" list below, example 8) so in the parenthetical reference the title (shortened if necessary) is given before page numbers.Examples:
Most of Beckett's characters are confronted by "time-scales not their own" (Chambers 163) and are seemingly powerless.Chambers speaks of the way in which characters confront "time-scales not their own" (163).
Most students who fail to gain tertiary entry are highly motivated ("Thousands Miss Out").
The full reference to Chambers would be given in the "Works Cited." The reference to the article, "Thousands Miss Out on Uni" is given in the "Works Cited" under T for Thousands (see "Basic 14" list below, example 8).
When documenting references to the text that is the main subject of your essay it will, in most cases, be necessary only to give the page number in the parenthetical documentation.
Examples:
Miss Havisham's manipulation of Pip's awareness of Estella's beauty (101) is of greater significance.The "waning moon" ("Kubla Khan" line 15) is quite different from the one Coleridge draws attention to in "Christabel" (line 18) and to the "quiet moon" of "Frost at Midnight" (line 74).
It seems that it took rather a long time "for English . . . to penetrate the bastions of ruling-class power in Oxford and Cambridge" (Eagleton, Literary Theory 29). Elsewhere (Marxism 15-22) Eagleton relates this to the development of Marxist analysis.
The first reference is to page 29 of Eagleton's Literary Theory (1983), the second to pages 15 to 22 of his Marxism and Literary Criticism (1976): full details for each would appear in the list of "Works Cited."
List of "Works Cited"
This should contain all of the works that you have referred to, listed alphabetically.WHAT INFORMATION TO CITE
See "Basic 14" list below for examples of each category.A. the name/s of the author/s exactly as given on the title page (book), credits (film), head of article
B. the full title of the work
C. the edition used (2nd ed., 4th ed., rev. ed.) if pertinent; no of vols (2 vols) if pertinent; translator if pertinent.
D. the place (the city or town, not the country) of publication (not printing); not usually required for periodical or audiovisual material. Where several place names are given, cite only the first one.
E. the name of the publisher (of the pertinent edition, not the first publisher and not the printer): omit for periodical publication.
F. the date of the edition used (not the date of reprinting); for radio or TV give date of broadcast; for performance, give date of performance.
G. the page numbers if you are citing an article, chapter of a book, or an item from an anthology or collection."Basic Fourteen" list (the fourteen most common types of entries in a list of "Works Cited":
1. A book by a single or joint author(s) or editor(s)Examples:
2. A book in a series by a single or joint author(s)
3. An essay/story/poem in a collection by the same author
4. An essay/story/poem in a collection or anthology edited by a different person
5. An article in a journal which uses continuous pagination throughout a volume
6. A journal article by a single or joint author(s) where the journal paginates each issue separately
7. A review of a book, film, play, etc
8. An article/cartoon/letter/advertisement in a newspaper or other periodical which does not have volume numbers 9. A play or other performance
10. A film
11. A radio or television programme or series or advertisement 12. A recording
13. An anonymous work
14. Unpublished work1. A book by a single or joint author(s) or editor(s):
Surname, Firstname (,Firstname, Surname of secondary author if any) (, ed/s if appropriate). Title: Subtitle. No. vols (if relevant). Edn (if any). Trans. (if any). City (, State if city not well known): Publisher, Year.Adam, Ian, and Helen Tiffin, eds. Past the Last Post: Theorizing Post-colonialism and Post-modernism. London: Harvester, 1991.
Derrida, Jacques. Of Grammatology. Trans. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1976.
Frow, John. Marxism and Literary History. Oxford: Blackwell, 1986.
Ferrier, Carole, ed. Gender, Politics and Fiction: Twentieth Century Australian Women's Novels. 2nd ed. St. Lucia: U of Queensland P, 1992.
Williamson, David. Three Plays. Sydney: Currency; London: Eyre Methuen, 1974.
2. A book in a series by a single or joint author(s): Surname, Firstname. Title: Subtitle. Series name. City: Publisher, Year.
Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin. The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures. New Accents. London: Routledge, 1989.
MacQueen, John. Allegory. The Critical Idiom. London: Methuen, 1970.
3. An essay/story/poem in a collection by the same author:
Surname, Firstname. "Title of Article." Title of Book: Subtitle. City: Publisher, Year (not colon). page numbers.Gilbert, Kevin. "Birth Control for Blacks." People Are Legends. St. Lucia: U of Queensland P, 1978. 24.
Malouf, David. "The Empty Lunch-Tin." Antipodes. London: Chatto, 1985. 36-42.
4. An essay/story/poem in a collection edited by a different person:
Surname, Firstname. "Title of Article, Story, Poem." Title of Book: Subtitle [if any]. Ed. Editor's Firstname Editor's Surname. City: Publisher, Year. page numbers.Kelly, Veronica. "`Nowt More Outcastin': Utopian Myth in The Golden Age." The Writer's Sense of Exile. Ed. Bruce Bennett. Perth: Centre for Studies in Australian Literature, 1988. 101-10.
Wright, Judith. "The Cycads." Macmillan Anthology of Australian Literature. Ed. Ken Goodwin and Alan Lawson. S. Melbourne: Macmillan, 1990. 325-26.
5. An article in a journal which uses continuous pagination throughout a volume:
Surname, Firstname. "Title of Article: Subtitle." Title of Journal Volume number (Year): page numbers. Do not give editor or publisher or place for a periodical.Horn, R.L. "The Thematic Structure of The Honest Whore Part 1." Durham University Journal 77 (1984): 7-10. Tiffin, Chris. "Black and White and the Literature of Empire." WLWE 23 (1984): 224-33.
6. A journal article by a single or joint author(s) where the journal paginates each issue separately:
Surname, Firstname (, and Firstname Surname). "Title of Article: Subtitle." Title of Journal Volume number. Part number (Year): page numbers.Turner, Graeme, and Delys Bird. "Australian Studies: Practice Without Theory." Westerly 27.2 (1982): 51-56.
7. A review of a book, film, play, etc:
Surname, Firstname. "Title of Review (if any)." Rev. of Title of Work Reviewed, by Author of Work Reviewed. Title of Journal Volume number [or month for monthly journal] (Year): page numbers.Duwell, Martin. Rev. of Sideways From the Page: The Meanjin Interviews, by Jim Davidson. Australian Literary Studies 11 (1983): 284-86.
Ferrier, Carole. "Problems in Feminist Criticism." Rev. of Coming Out From Under, by Pam Gilbert and Writing a New World: Two Centuries of Australian Women Writers, by Dale Spender. Australian Book Review Sept. 1988: 24-27.
Kiernander, Adrian. "The Dutchman Soars." Rev. of The Flying Dutchman, by Richard Wagner. Lyric Opera of Queensland. Bulletin 29 May 1990: 116.
8. An article/cartoon/letter/advertisement in a newspaper or other periodical which does not have volume numbers:
Surname, Firstname (if used). "Title of Article." Title of Periodical [place, if unfamiliar] Day Month Year: Section title [if numbered separately] page numbers.Brass, Ken. "The Fight to Save Historic Edinglassie." Australian Women's Weekly 23 July 1980: 28.
Hawke, Robert J. "Carte Blanche." Letter. Canberra Times 6 Aug. 1994: 5.
Hergenhan, Laurie. "A Private Life: Frederic Manning." Quadrant June 1989: 33-35.
McCrann, Terry. "'Bubbling Glass' Shrouds Looming Economic Abyss." Sunday Mail [Brisbane] 26 Feb. 1989: 29.
Naipaul, Shiva. "Why the Dreaming Can Never Come Back." Weekend Australian 13 Apr. 1986: Review 37, 39.
Piraro, Dan. "Bizarro." Cartoon. Globe & Mail [Toronto] 12 Nov. 1990: 34. "Thousands Miss Out on Uni." Australian 8 Jan. 1992: 1. Toyota Commercial Vehicles. Advertisement. Cleo Jan. 1989: 65-66.
9. A play or other performance:
Author's Surname, Firstname. Title of Play. Dir. Director's Firstname Surname. Name of Theatre, City. Day Month Year.Jones, Alan. The Laundromat. Dir. A. Pirandello. Suncorp Theatre, Brisbane. 14 July 1985.
Overmayer, Eric. On the Verge. Dir. David Bell. La Boite, Brisbane. 1 Mar. 1991.
10. A film:
Title. Dir. Studio/distributor, Date. [If especially relevant, also include Screenplay by. Music by. Prod.]On Our Selection. Dir. Ken G. Hall. Cinesound, 1932. Picnic at Hanging Rock. Dir. Peter Weir. Picnic Productions, 1975.
11. A radio or television programme or series or advertisement:
"Title of episode [if known]." Writ. [if known]. Series Title. [Product advertised. Agency. Length. For Advertisement] Dir. [if known]. Station, City. Day Month Year [of transmission cited]."The Perfect Wave." Coca-Cola Pty Ltd. Mojo. 60 seconds. QTQ9, Brisbane. 25 May 1990.
Said, Edward. Interview. Late Night Live. ABC Radio National, Brisbane. 21 Feb. 1991.
"A Touch of Class." Writ. David Allen. Country Practice. BTQ7, Brisbane. 19 Dec. 1985.
12. A recording:
Composer or performer or conductor [depending on whose contribution you focus on]. "Title of work cited." Artists [if referred to]. Title of recording. Medium. Manufacturer, catalogue number, year of issue.Joplin, Janis. "Me and Bobby McGee." Big Brother and the Holding Company. Audiotape. CBS, AT5698, 1972.
Verdi, Giuseppe. Rigoletto. With Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti. London Symphony Orch. Compact Disk. Columbia, CD1856, 1988.
13. (a) An anonymous work:
In most cases follow the rules in 1-12 above, simply omitting author's name and alphabetise under first main word of title (see also examples, 8, 11 above).
(b) Government or corporate publications without a nominated author:
Corporation or Government Department. Title of Work. Place: Publisher [even if same as Corporation or Department], Date.Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The Role of A National Broadcaster in Contemporary Australia. Sydney: Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 1985.
Queensland. Primary Industries. Culture and Cheese Production. Brisbane: Govt Printer, 1981.
14. An unpublished work:
(a) A lecture or conference paper:
Surname, Firstname (or Title and initials). "Title of lecture" or topic. Meeting, and organization (or subject). Place, date.(b) A thesis:Fotheringham, Richard. "Actors, troupes, doubling." EN 214 lecture. U of Queensland, 18 March 1992.
Lawson, Alan. "Un/settling Colonies." Literature and Opposition, ASPACLS Conference. Monash U, 11 July 1991.
Surname, Firstname. "Title." (Degree if not PhD) Diss. University, Year.Rosner, Elizabeth. "Eve's Version: Un-creating the Patriarchal Garden." M.Lit.St. Diss. U of Queensland, 1990.
Published for the Australasian Victorian Studies Association