Virtual Conference: Citing Sources with MLA Style, 8th Edition

Citing Sources with MLA Style, 8th Edition

Angie Neely-Sardon

Indian River State College

     In 2016, the Modern Language Association of America published the MLA Handbook Eighth Edition. The handbook notes that “the eighth edition brings one of the greatest shifts ever” as this major overhaul of the citation style changes the approach to citing sources from one based on source types to a universal perspective that all sources can be described by the same basic qualities (Modern Language Association of America, 2016, p. viii). English and literature courses at Indian River State College (IRSC) constitute the bulk of our information literacy one-shot instruction sessions. As MLA style is used in these courses, IRSC Librarians quickly developed a suite of resources to help the instructional faculty, tutors, and students transition to the new citation style rules. We continue to update and add to these resources. The ACRL Framework informed the creation of the components of this practice. The frame Information Has Value and its knowledge practice “Learners who are developing their information literate abilities give credit to the original ideas of others through proper attribution and citation” and the frame Scholarship as Conversation and its knowledge practice “cite the contributing work of others in their own information production” function as the learning objectives for this practice as students join the scholarly conversation by reading, analyzing, and interpreting works (Association of College and Research Libraries, 2016).

The four main components of the practice are:

1) the MLA Style Guide LibGuide, which functions as a hub for all MLA resources and is an open access resource for people everywhere;

2) continuing education sessions and resources for faculty and tutors;

3) a collection of learning objects for face to face and online learning to be used by librarians, faculty, and tutors;

4) and finally, an online paper review service.

The practice began in Summer 2016 with the LibGuide but was in full effect throughout 2018 with increasing number of uses for the LibGuide and the addition of new resources, including the online paper review service which was added in May 2018.

     IRSC adopted the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook in Fall 2016 before there were many supporting documents and learning objects available online from other institutions. I began our Citing Sources with MLA Style, 8^th Edition program by creating a comprehensive LibGuide in Summer 2016. The LibGuide includes explanations and charts of the major differences from the previous handbook, what to include in citations, a discussion of each of the core elements and optional elements that make up a reference citation, and examples for many different source types. The LibGuide is an open access resource that has been visited 1,358,128 times as of February 14, 2019. I continue to add examples and maintain the LibGuide. The LibGuide is licensed under Creative Commons and I have received Guide Reuse Notification emails from LibGuides that the guide has been copied and reused by eleven other institutions.

     In 2017, IRSC Librarians offered professional development workshops at three campuses for faculty and tutors to learn the new citation style. We created learning objects we encouraged them to use in their physical and virtual classrooms. In addition to the LibGuide, these include a PowerPoint presentation, a “What’s in an MLA Citation?” Prezi, a one sheet (front and back) quick guide with the basics and examples, a Kahoot quiz, a paraphrasing and quoting infographic, a citing poetry infographic, a sample paper and a sample annotated bibliography, downloadable MS Word templates for a research paper and an annotated bibliography, and MLA citation coloring sheets.

     An example of a face to face classroom activity we have included as part of this practice uses the blank MLA template provided by MLA on their website. During one-shot sessions for English and Literature courses, students attend a librarian-led presentation on the basics of MLA style and how to create a reference citation. The activity that follows provides students with practice creating properly formatted reference citations. Students are divided into small groups. Each student is given a blank MLA template with slots for each of the core elements and a copy of the quick guide. Each group is given a printout of the detailed record and first and last pages of a scholarly article from a database. The students go through the template and refer to the detailed record and article pages to find each core element. Students are encouraged to refer to the quick guide and the LibGuide to assist them. One representative from each group comes to the front of the classroom to transcribe the complete citation with appropriate punctuation, capitalization, and italics onto an oversized notepad. The class comes together as a whole again to review the citations for accuracy providing a teaching moment for each student across the multiple example articles.

     In May 2018, I added an MLA paper review submission feature to the LibGuide where students can provide their email address and upload a completed MLA style research paper or annotated bibliography for review by a librarian. I review the submissions for adherence to the style’s prescribed formatting, in-text, and Works Cited citation rules, and identify areas missing citations that could lead to accidental plagiarism. I then email my notes to the student. I have reviewed 145 individual MLA style papers since launching this offering. This service allows students to ask for help at the moment they need it no matter their physical location, making it a useful tool for distance learners. Rather than correcting the students’ papers for them, the notes provide personalized assistance with examples and links to how to videos and resources to enable students to learn new skills.

References

Association of College and Research Libraries. (2016, January 11). Framework for information literacy for

higher education. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework