MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 2nd Edition (Hardcover)

by Joseph Gibaldi (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"A standard guide for scholarly style." -- Library Journal

"Clearly written, this style manual has the official imprimatur of the Modern Language Association of America. New features include citation formation for electronic sources and guidelines for preparing electronic files. Also featured are useful sections on placing a manuscript with a journal and with a press, copyediting, proofreading, and preparing an index (including strictures on the limitations of indexing software.) This third edition of the manual is indispensable. . . . Essential." --Choice, November 2008

"MLA's guidelines acknowledge the great changes in the way scholarship is disseminated and consumed today. . . . The most dramatic changes are to citation styles themselves our primary interest in the manual anyway. In the second edition, as in the current editions of all other academic style guides that I could find, directions for citing electronic resources are tacked on at the end of the section on citations, and the citation format looks almost exactly like that of a print resource except that it contains a URL at the end of it. In the third edition of MLA, however, citations now include a medium (like print or Web ) for all publications, putting electronic documents on a more equal footing with print ones. Furthermore, URLs themselves are no longer included in citations in most cases; instead, the title of the overall Web site and publisher or sponsor of the site are provided to help you locate the resource. This refreshing change in perspective is longer overdue: after all, readers are increasingly likely to search for an article by title and author rather than transcribe the URL given in a print citation or follow a hyperlink that is likely to have broken.

The MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing still has that special magic. While your publication venue (or professor) usually determines which style guide you ll use, it s nice to know that, for once, the humanities aren't the last to adapt to changing technology." --The Journal of Electronic Publishing, Spring 2008

"MLA's scholarly guide was last revised ten years ago, when the online universe was less pervasive than it is now. As a result, MLA users might have expected an expanded section on online sources, but they also might have expected simply an updating of the traditions that MLA has promulgated for almost sixty years. Those users would be wrong. This edition moves MLA's scholarly guidance into the twenty-first century in ways that most of us would never have expected." --The Writing Lab Newsletter, October 2008 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description
...reviews basics, legal issues, MLA conventions, style for journals, thesis, dissertations, proper citation.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 343 pages
• Publisher: Modern Language Association of America; 2 edition (April 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873526996
• ISBN-13: 978-0873526999
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #460,118 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

103 of 105 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the perfect reference source, April 19, 2000

By	"katherine-c" (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This book is the ultimate guide for writers. It is one of two books published by the Modern Language Association, and of the two, this one provides the complete guide to the MLA style. This book serves graduate students and scholarly writers best. It discusses publishing and legality as well as basics of writing and source citations. Many examples accompany the explanations clearly exhibiting the proper usage; however, this book is not necessary for the average research writer or undergraduate. If you are looking for a quick reference guide to proper MLA style, this is not the book for you. I would recommend the MLA HANDBOOK. The MLA HANDBOOK provides an easier, condensed version of the MLA STYLE MANUAL. This book is a waste of your money if all you need is information on how to do a works cited page or an annotated bibliography. The handbook is cheaper and would serve you much better. Regardless, the manual would serve anyone well and is a perfect reference book for anyone's personal library.

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Advanced MLA Style, October 28, 2003

By	Debbie Lee Wesselmann (the Lehigh Valley, PA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Gibaldi's MLA STYLE MANUAL AND GUIDE TO SCHOLARLY PUBLISHING describes itself perfectly. This fine reference book is designed for academics in the humanities who must adhere to the MLA style when writing papers, both for publication and advanced coursework. Not an introduction to MLA style, this book aims to guide the reader through the finer intricacies of scholarly writing by covering topics such as the proper use of punctuation, including slashes, square brackets, and semi-colons; using proper names from non-English speaking countries; questions of capitalization; abbreviations; and language and style. The author devotes an entire section to the legal issues of publishing academic papers, and another to thesis and dissertation formats. Perhaps the most detailed and helpful section concerns documentation and the format for citations, from corporate papers to electronic sources to books without page numbers. For those preparing for publication, the author offers practical guidelines for formatting manuscripts. Gibaldi's explanations are always clear and precise.

I highly recommend this manual for upper-level undergraduates, graduate students, and professors in the humanities. (Scientific style is somewhat different.) If you are just beginning to familiarize yourself with MLA style, you might feel more comfortable with Gibaldi's other stylebook, MLA HANDBOOK FOR WRITERS OF RESEARCH PAPERS.

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars MLA Style Guide...a great resource in most cases, March 26, 2000

By	Erika McCoy (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

When I picked this book up I was simply looking for ways to cite internet resources. It turns out the people at MLA have got a lot more to offer. The book did a great job at showing the hows and whys of writing well. As for citations, a critical aspect of most research, the Guide gave a multitude of different types of sources and how to cite them, not only in the Works Cited but also in endnotes and footnotes. Perhaps my only complaint would be the repetition in seperate chapters on citation. It was not initially clear what the purpose of the repetition was. That said, I will use this book again and again as a perfect tool when writing my papers.