Key Concepts: There
are many rules for following MLA format, and the facilitator should stress
that it is nearly impossible to memorize them all.Students’ best course of action is to
utilize the official MLA handbook or the MLA section in an updated
composition textbook as guides for properly using the documentation
format.Since the Modern Language
Association, a professional group of English and Foreign Language professors
and instructors, periodically updates the guide, students should be certain
that they are using the most current information possible.The most recent edition of the MLA guide
was published in 1999.The MLA web
site at www.mla.org also provides some limited information on recent changes
to the guide.
There are other resources
for finding current information on MLA format.The Purdue University Writing Lab has a
printable handout on MLA style at its web site: owl.english.purdue.edu.The web site also provides other links for
MLA style information on the web.For
quick questions on MLA format, students can also call the Writing Lab Grammar
Hotline at 494-3723.
