MLA Citation Changes 2009

New Rules for Documenting Research Papers

Aug 13, 2009 Megge Hill Fitz-Randolph

MLA citation rules have changed for 2009. New citation format required in all source material from print to web sites including MLA styles, MLA research, MLA term papers.

The year 2009 has seen an update in MLA citation rules. This is the first of its kind in many years. When perusing Diana Hacker's Pocket Style Manual for what these updates include, precisely, one find that there is less updating than one might have presumed.

Old MLA Citation

Title and subtitle
City of publication
Author
Publisher
Date of publication

New 2009 MLA Citation: Single Author

Title and subtitle
City of publication
Author
Publisher
Date of publication
Medium

Note: number 6 – Medium.Only one change here: Include the type of medium on last line.

Single Author Citation MLA

This rather simple change affects every citation. Here is an example in the single author book. Once a single book was cited thus:

Tan, Amy. Saving FIsh from Drowning. New York: Putnam, 2005.

But the new rule requires that it be cited thus:

Tan, Amy. Saving FIsh from Drowning. New York: Putnam, 2005. Print.

Nor is it necessary to italicize or put in quotation marks any of these medium types. Merely, place the medium designation at the end of the citation followed with the period punctuation.

Three MLA Changes in All

No underlining of titles – ever!!
No URL in citation – unless required by instructor.
Add type of medium at end of each of citation.

2009 MLA Guidelines: Designate Medium

Web
Television
Film
Lecture

New Rules Prove Helpful

This "add medium" rule holds true for those involving print and those taken from the internet. (Print, of course, includes articles from magazines, anthologies, Encyclopedias, poetry, republished books, sacred texts and so forth.) It does not involve articles and papers taken from the internet. These will be listed as Web.

This helps particularly when reading through a list of references with internet sources on which so much research now relies. Such an internet reference is now made perfectly plain:

Peterson, Susan Lynn. The Life of Martin Luther. Susan Lynn Peterson, 2005.

Web. 24. 2009.

New Rules for Web Citation

Or in citing from a government article also found on the web, it reads thus:

Halsall, Paul. Ed. Internet Modern History Sourcebook. Fordharm U, 22 Sept.

2001. Web. 19 Jan. 2009.

Or in citing a paper from the web, it goes like this:

Margaret Sanger Papers Project. History Dept., New York U, 18 Oct. 2000. Web.

6 Jan. 2009.

You get the idea. What is different here is that with each citation the type of media is also included which will save much guesswork and seems an obvious and very useful change, indeed.

MLA In-Text Citations Not Affected.

However, in-text citation will not affected. The rules for in-text or parenthetical citation remain the same. This new rule only affects the Works Cited Page.

MLA Citation from Internet: No URL's

One more thing to keep in mind: When citing from the Internet the URL is not included. This can be required by the instructor, however; so students should first ascertain if this is so. Ordinarily, MLA does NOT require the URL. (An instructor might require the URL in order to check the source, for example.)

If the URL is to be included, it would read like this:

Peterson, Susan Lynn. The Life of Martin Luther. Susan Lynn Peterson, 2005.

Web. 24 Jan. 2009. <http://susanlynnpeterson.com/index_files/luther.htm>.

More about changes in the MLA citation can be found in any 2009 MLA reference book but Diana Hacker's books are particularly reliable and thorough.

Reference:

Hacker, Diana. A Pocket Style Manual, 5th ed., New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.

Print.

The copyright of the article MLA Citation Changes 2009 in Academic Writing is owned by Megge Hill Fitz-Randolph. Permission to republish MLA Citation Changes 2009 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Two Important Books by Diana Hacker for MLA 2009

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