I learned that in April of 2009, the newest MLA Handbook was released, and it made a few important changes (from the Write Source).
- Underlining is no longer recommended to represent italics. Use italics instead.
- Within the list of works cited, all entries must be identified by medium: Print, Web, DVD, CD-ROM, PDF file, and so on. List the appropriate medium(s) at the end of each entry. In the case of a Web source, the date of access follows the word “Web.”
- Online sources no longer require a URL listing**.
So, what does this mean for you, kids? Well, if you want to cite an Internet source, here's what you need to do. Keep in mind that complete publication information may not be available for a website; so you should provide what is given. You should try and find the following information before you begin:
- Author and/or editor names (if available)
- Article name in quotation marks (if applicable)
- Title of the website (in italics)
- Any version numbers - revisions, posting dates, volumes, or issue numbers.
- Publisher information, including the publisher name and publishing date. (it is suggested that you use use n.p. if no publisher name is available and n.d. if no publishing date is given.)
- Date you accessed the material. (This is important because web pages often change, and information on the page may no longer be the same later)
- Medium of publication (in most of our cases, this is "Web")
- URL (if required, or for your own personal reference).
TO CITE AN ENTIRE WEB SITE (simplified):
(NOTE: The color-coding in just to help you organize. The actual citation should be in plain black text.)
Editor or author name (if available). Name of Site. Version number. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site, date of resource creation (if available). Medium of publication. Date of access.
Example:
Windows to the Universe. National Earth Science Teachers Association, n.d. Web. Accessed in Nov 2009.
TO CITE A SINGLE WEB PAGE (simplified):
Author name. "Title of page." Name of Site. Version number. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site, date of resource creation (if available). Medium of publication. Date of access.
Examples:
Strickland, Jonathan. "How Does the Internet Work?." HowStuffWorks.com. Discovery, n.d. Web. Accessed on April 4, 2011.
"Twitter." CrunchBase.com. n.d. Web. Accessed on April 10, 2011.
Byrne, Richard. "Six Easy Ways for Students to Create Videos Online." Free Technology for Teachers, November 29, 2009. Web. Accessed in Feb 2010.
"How to Make Vegetarian Chili." eHow.com, eHow, n.d. Web. Feb 2009.
Want to know more? Visit the Purdue OWL site. Or, you could give the online Citation Machine a try!
** Important Note on the Use of URLs in MLA
"MLA no longer requires the use of URLs in MLA citations. Because Web addresses are not static (i.e., they change often) and because documents sometimes appear in multiple places on the Web (e.g., on multiple databases), MLA explains that most readers can find electronic sources via title or author searches in Internet Search Engines.
For people who still wish to require the use of URLs, MLA suggests that the URL appear in < angle brackets > after the date of access. Break URLs only after slashes."
So, it would look like this:
Strickland, Jonathan. "How Does the Internet Work?." HowStuffWorks.com, n.d. Web. April 4, 2011. < http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/basics/internet.htm >
"Twitter." CrunchBase.com. n.d. Web. Accessed on April 10, 2011.
Byrne, Richard. "Six Easy Ways for Students to Create Videos Online." Free Technology for Teachers, November 29, 2009. Web. Accessed in Feb 2010.
< http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2009/11/six-easy-ways-for-students-to-create.html >
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