CITING ELECTRONIC MATERIALS WITH THE NEW MLA GUIDELINES

• Overview
• Citation template
• Examples
  • A. Work or part of work with printed source
  • B. Work or part of work without printed source
  • C. Journal/Newsletter/Newspaper with printed source
  • D. Journal/Newsletter/Newspaper/Conference (e.g., listserv) without printed source
  • E. Dictionary/Encyclopedia/Database/Abstract collection with printed source
  • F. Dictionary/Encyclopedia/Database/Abstract collection without printed source
  • G. Work in more than one medium
• Exceptions to the template
  • A. Newsgroups
  • B. E-mail
• When the rules do not apply

The new MLA rules (MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 4th ed.) generally treat electronic materials as if they were printed texts that require additional information to be fully described. Thus when a printed source or analogue has served as the basis of an electronic text, the works-cited listing (1) begins with traditional bibliographic data (author, title, etc.) about the printed text and (2) concludes with data about the electronic version's title, format, availability, and so on. Yet even when no printed source or analogue exists, MLA rules still treat the electronic material much as if it were printed, modifying guidelines developed for printed texts to the new digital environment in which the material is found.

Implicit in the new rules is a basic template for most electronic citations. The fullest possible bibliographic entry contains the following items:

• 1. Author's name.
• 2. Print publication data, when such exist, based on usual MLA guidelines for complete works, parts of works, articles, abstracts, entries, etc. (If you need to consult the rules for citing printed texts, you can find a version of them here .)
• 3. Title of electronic material if this differs from the print publication title, using quotation marks for part of a work and underlining for the whole. This system includes:
  • complete work (underlined)
  • painting, film, musical composition, etc. (underlined)
  • work within a work (quoted or underlined, as MLA rules hold for printed texts) followed by the name of the whole (underlined)
  • part of a work (quoted) followed by the name of the whole (underlined)
  • journal article title (quoted) followed by the name of the journal (underlined)
  • message (subject line quoted) received through a listserv-type conference (list name underlined)
  • dictionary/encyclopedia/database entry point (quoted) followed by name of dictionary/encyclopedia/database (underlined)
• 4. For material where a clear posting number and/or date of publication or posting exists--journals and listserv-type conferences are the most common--these data should be included. This type of citation should also include pagination (if the data are paginated) or a paragraph count.
• 5. Title of database (underlined) if this differs from the title of the electronic material.
• 6. Although the MLA does not specify the inclusion of an editor's name for a database collecting diverse resources, for example, on a single CD-ROM or in an online archive, logic dictates that the editor's name should follow the title of the database.
• 7. Edition, release, or version number.
• 8. Electronic medium. MLA offers several possibilities, with the option of using more than one for applications in multiple media: CD-ROM, Diskette, Magnetic tape, Videodisc, Videocassette, etc.
• 9. Owner/repository/publication data (place, publisher, date) of electronic material and/or network/service-provider.
• 10. Date of latest update (non-online sources) or date of access (online sources).
• 11. Availability, which for the MLA means access mode (TELNET, FTP, GOPHER, E-MAIL, HTTP, etc.) and an address (for example, lib.dartmouth.edu). Although the MLA suggests this is optional, one would do well to include sufficient information to tell others how to obtain a copy of the material. Moreover, the availability statement should, when practicable and as nearly as current MLA guidelines permit, take the form of a uniform resource locator (URL) that identifies not only the access mode but also precisely where the material can be found. And despite what the MLA says, there should not be a period after an availability statement, because a period will be understood as part of the URL if it is included.

Few bibliographic entries in a works-cited list will actually contain all of these items. Citations for electronic materials based on printed sources or analogues will have more; those for electronic materials that exist only online will have fewer. Further, some items may simply not be readily available to a researcher. At colleges where electronic data are distributed through a campus network, users may well be "protected" from dealing directly with the data source by the network interface, and thus they will not know whether the information on the screen comes from a CD-ROM, magnetic tape, or an online service. Likewise the seamless interconnection of networks and the mirroring of data (making copies of the same files on several computers around the world) often make it difficult to determine where the "original document" is. In these cases, researchers should include as much electronic bibliographic data as can be gathered from the screen, a manual, or a helpful librarian.

Examples for different types of electronic material suggest how this template works in practice.

A. Work (or part of a work) with a printed source or analogue

B. Work (or part of a work) without a printed source or analogue

C. Journal/Newsletter/Newspaper with a printed source or analogue

D. Journal/Newsletter/Newspaper/Conference (e.g., listserv) without a printed source or analogue

E. Dictionary/Encyclopedia/Database/Abstract collection with a printed source or analogue

F. Dictionary/Encyclopedia/Database/Abstract collection without a printed source or analogue

G. Work in more than one medium

Note: Online resources may draw text, pictures, and sound from a variety of media. Because the user will usually not be able to determine the media formats of online resources, online multimedia applications should be cited following the pattern for one of the items A-F above.

Exceptions to the template

Two kinds of electronic material have different citation rules: newsgroups and e-mail.

A. Newsgroups

Newsgroups (e.g., Usenet and similar network newsfeeds), apparently because of their often nonacademic and ephemeral nature, hold a lower bibliographic status than their listserv conference counterparts. Consequently, a newsgroup citation has no underlining within it and is designated by the medium code "Online posting." In these examples, the first date is that of the posting and the second is that on which the researcher accessed the material.

Smith, David. "Aliens took my kidneys." 5 Jan. 1995. Online posting. Newsgroup alt.alien.visitors. Usenet. 14 Feb. 1995.

An equivalent citation for an online service such as CompuServe takes the following form:

Jones, Tonya. "Any good French software?" 7 Feb. 1995. Online posting. Foreign Language Education Forum. CompuServe. 20 Feb. 1995.

B. E-mail

The MLA treats personal e-mail as a special form of unpublished correspondence. Two examples:

Sweet, Joelle. "Nabokov's Poetry." E-mail to Ralph Williams. 30 Nov. 1994.

Note, however, that e-mail received through a listserv-type conference should be treated as shown in item D above.

When the rules do not apply

If you encounter materials that do not correspond to these examples, return to the template. With it you should be able to construct a reasonably correct citation. It is difficult to make hard and fast rules to account for all the developments in today's rapidly changing electronic environment. When the rules do not seem to cover the situation at hand, it is wise to keep in mind the reason for a consistent list of works cited: to allow a reader to find the materials you used in your research. If you can do this, you have succeeded.