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 | MLA Style for Research Papers The Modern Language Association has evolved a crisp modern style that reflects "the customs of a community of writers who greatly value scrupulous scholarship and the careful documentation . . . of research" (Franklin xv, in Gibaldi). This style is documented in the MLA Handbook, one of the few style guides still reasonably priced (read Doc's review). The latest edition made it easier to format quotations, but created an amazingly complex style for referencing electronic sources (MLA Handbook at Amazon.com). The style has a unique title page, an MLA trademark, but with exception of references to online documents is otherwise refreshingly easy to use. |
Doc Scribe has compiled a small library of resources to help you craft papers in impeccable MLA style. The Writer's Guide is Doc's original guide to MLA style and is still the most comprehensive reference available other than the official Handbook. The MLA Web Sheet attempts to explain the complex rules for referencing Web sources.
 Read Me! The MLA Quick Study is a short course on using MLA style [PDF version]. New! MLA (Style) Lite for Research Papers (PDF). If you are new to MLA (or any) research style this is a handy abridged guide. If you are not a novice, buy the excellent MLA Handbook, it's even better.  Windows Vista? The MLA Quick Reference and Writer's Guide require the Windows Help reader (winhlp32). Microsoft chose not to include it with Windows Vista. Google "winhlp32" to find the Microsoft Knowledge Base article (KB917607) explaining how to download and install the reader. Free to use, but not to sell or change. You may also use parts of the guides--images, figures, tables, whatever--as long as reference is given to this website. © Copyright 2009 by Dr. Abel Scribe PhD. |
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The MLA Handbook is focused entirely on preparing papers for college classes. It is well written and well organized. However, it is not quite true to the way the MLA actually publishes papers, and it has come up with a senselessly complex set of instructions for formatting references to online sources. See the section below on the Writer's Guide Doc Set for help.
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Gibaldi, Joseph. 2003. The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th ed. New York: Modern Language Association of America. Link to Amazon.com: (
Paperback $17.00, 361 pages).Read Doc's review.
The MLA Handbook documents a style especially appropriate for scholarship in literary fields. Coverage of documentation formats for text citations and references is excellent, occupying about a third of the volume. Other sections introduce the process of research and writing, and the mechanics of punctuation, mostly quite conventional. The new sixth edition has relaxed requirements for using brackets in quotations and expanded coverage of referencing Internet sources. |
 amazon.com |
Endnote (Bibliographies Made Easy?). Version XI. 2007. ISI Research Soft. Windows and Mac.Amazon Student Versions $95: [Windows] [Mac]. Endnote automatically formats references for you--in standard AMA, APA, CBE, Chicago, ICMJE, and MLA styles, as well as a vast number of journal styles (over 1000). It is the standard of bibliographic software, required at many top universities. Surf for sources online; download bibliographic material from any online database or library catalog. The program comes with templates (for MSWord) that will set up your word processor for you! Endnote is your personal research assistant. Warning! Reviews of recent versions are poor! Older editions, versions 6 or 7, may be a better buy. These may be available at amazon, used. A free 30-day trial version is available at the Endnote website. |
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