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MLA Style: MLA Core Elemenets

MLA Core Elements

MLA Core Elements

1.

Author
The person, group or organization primarily responsible for producing the work or the aspect of the work that you are focused on
2.

Title of Source  The name of the work.  Titles are usually displayed prominently in the work.

3. Title of Container
A container is a work that contains another work. The container may be one of the following:
  • a book that is a collection of essays, stories and poems
  • a periodical, such as a journal, magazine, or newspaper
  • a vinyl album is the container of a song
  • a television series, radio programs are containers of individual episodes
  • a website
4.

Contributor,  There may be other people who may need to be credited in addition to the author. These people are called contributors.

  • translators
  • editors of anthologies
  • DIrector of a film
5. Version,  Often works are published in different versions. Books are often published in versions called editions.
6. Number the source you are documenting may be a part of a numbered sequence
7. Publisher  The organization primarily responsible for producing the source or making it available to the public
8. Publication Date  Usually the year the work was published
9. Location   Where you found the work
  • In a print work the location is the page number in a book or journal article where you found that information that you are using
  • The location of content found on the Internet is the URL, or web address.
  • The location of an online journal article is usually identified by the DOI, or Digital Object Identifier
  • The location of a physical object that you experienced first hand, such as a work of art, is that place where you viewed the object, such as a museum

Understanding Version 8

The key to understanding MLA Style, beginning with the 8th edition, and continuing in the 9th, is to recognize that the Core elements are what has always been required in MLA Style, except they have new terminology.