Research Guides: Comparative Literature: MLA Style

MLA Handbook Plus online

NYU now subscribes to the MLA Handbook Plus, the digital version of the MLA Handbook. Looking to cite or format your paper in MLA style? Start here!

MLA Handbook Plus This link opens in a new window
Relied on by generations of writers, the MLA Handbook is the only official, authorized book on MLA format. The ninth edition builds on the MLA’s unique approach to documenting sources using a template of core elements—facts, common to most sources, like author, title, and publication date—that allows writers to cite any type of work, from books, e-books, and journal articles in databases to song lyrics, online images, YouTube videos, dissertations, and more. Emphasizing source evaluation as the cornerstone of citation, MLA style promotes the crucial skills of information and digital literacy.

Print Guidebooks on MLA Style

For official information on how to cite your sources, there are two resources: the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (recommended for most MLA style questions) and the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (recommended for graduate study and publication).

MLA Handbook by The Modern Language Association of America
ISBN: 9781603292627
Publication Date: 2016
The Modern Language Association, the authority on research and writing, takes a fresh look at documenting sources in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook. Works are published today in a dizzying range of formats. A book, for example, may be read in print, online, or as an e-book--or perhaps listened to in an audio version. On the Web, modes of publication are regularly invented, combined, and modified. Previous editions of the MLA Handbook provided separate instructions for each format, and additional instructions were required for new formats. In this groundbreaking new edition of its best-selling handbook, the MLA recommends instead one universal set of guidelines, which writers can apply to any type of source. Shorter and redesigned for easy use, the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook guides writers through the principles behind evaluating sources for their research. It then shows them how to cite sources in their writing and create useful entries for the works-cited list. More than just a new edition, this is a new MLA style.
MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing by Modern Language Association of America
ISBN: 9780873522977
Publication Date: 2008
Reorganized and revised, the third edition of the MLA Style Manual offers complete, up-to-date guidance on writing scholarly texts, documenting research sources, submitting manuscripts to publishers, and dealing with legal issues surrounding publication.

Citing Sources with MLA Style

In addition to the MLA Handbook, there are also free resources on MLA style available online, including Purdue University's Online Writing Lab (OWL). Their MLA Style Guide contains guidelines for MLA style in citations and bibliographies, including a section summarizing changes in the 8th edition of the MLA Handbook. In addition, the Modern Language Association's own MLA Style Center offers basic guidelines and formatting recommendations.

Citation Management Tools

Take notes, organize your research, import citations from electronic databases and catalogs, format your references in dozens of standard styles (MLA, APA, etc.) for bibliographies; insert footnotes and endnotes directly into your papers.

NYU libraries offer a number of citation management tools to our users and the ones listed below are some of the more popular tools available. However, in order to make the right choice of citation management tool for your research, take a look at the comparison chart on the Citation Style research guide (linked below).

The following research guides offer more detailed guidance for each of the citation management tools the NYU Libraries support: