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The MLA Style Sheet

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

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PMLA , Volume 66 , Issue 3 , April 1951 , pp. 3 - 31
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Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1951

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References

1 When a journal (e.g., SIL) is lithoprinted from typed copy, an author of course facilitates the editor s work by typing his article as he wishes it to look; but, even so, SIL prefers double spacing throughout.

2 Normal quarto size in Great Britain is 8×10 inches. MLR accepts articles on either quarto or foolscap paper. Medium Ævum still accepts “easily legible” handwritten articles.

3 Use of thin (“air mail”) paper is sometimes a courtesy if an article is being submitted to a journal in a foreign country and if the typing is unusually clear, for it minimizes postal costs when the MS is returned with galley proof. See also Sec. 31 and note 4, below.

4 Some journals (e.g., American Anthropologist) do not return the original with galley proof, but assume that the author has retained a carbon. This economical practice may spread.

5 The formal location of the author s name and address in an article is not, of course, a point of style in the same sense as are other matters here discussed; moreover, the generalization offered above has numerous refinements and exceptions, and for the convenience of both editors and authors we record such as have been reported to us.

(1) Name preceded by the word “By” in the language of the article: AJP[sych], Anter. Anthropol., BPLQ, ELH, GR, HLQ, J Hl, Library, MLQ, NLB, PBS A, PM LA, PVLC, Ren., RES, SB, SFQ, SP, SQ, TA, WF. (2) Academic address on third line, below name: AL, ETJ, FR, Hisp., Lg., PADS, PQ, SS. (3) Both name and address on second line: AJP[sych], SIL, Sym. (4) No address given: AmSEER, HLB, Library, MeiStud, NCF, PBS A, PULC, RES, SB, SWR, UTQ, WF. (5) Name on right-hand side at end of text, address on left: AJP[hilol], Arch. Ling., HR, Ilal., JCS, JEGP, MLN, MLR, RPh., RR. (6) Name, title below, both flush, left: YFS.

6 SIL dates all articles and reviews as dated by the author or, if the author omits a date, by the date received.

7 For example: Like the Columbia University Press, many journals “permit an author to alter a capital or lower-case letter at the beginning of a quotation if it is incorporated into his own sentence” (italics added). Incidentally, the Cornell rule on this point is that “the first word of a quotation that is a complete sentence and that is not grammatically a part of another sentence should begin with a capital. Conversely, if the quotation is run into a text sentence, the first word should not be capitalized even though it is capitalized in the original.” There are, of course, exceptions in certain types of material.

GR asks authors to follow original spelling and punctuation of all sources through 1700, but to modernize in accordance with Duden s dictionary in quoting more recent sources, unless there is a special reason for following the original.

8 It is difficult to generalize about this matter of “permissions.” Ten lines of print are not, of course, the exact equivalent of ten typed lines. Sometimes even shorter quotations require permissions if the matter is substantive (e.g., an apothegm). The fact is, moreover, that learned journals, of very limited circulation, often neglect to bother about permissions; and the rules of the university presses vary: Yale, e.g., does not require permissions for quotations under 300 words. The following “Reciprocal Agreement on Permission to Quote” was signed in 1947 by all members of the Association of American University Presses except the American branches of the Oxford and Cambridge University Presses: “1. Each party to this agreement agrees to permit the other parties to quote from the originating publisher s books without seeking specific permission subject to the conditions listed below. 2. Full credit will be given to book, author and publisher (and series and translator, if any). 3. Waiver of the requirement for specific written permission does not extend to verse, to illustration, to quotations totaling more than 1,000 words from any one book, or to quotations that are complete units in themselves (as brief short stories or essays). 4. It is clearly understood that this agreement applies only to quotations used for purposes of illustration or the citing of authority and not to quotations presented as primary material for its own sake (as in anthologies or books of readings). The responsibility for determining the nature of the use rests with the quoting publisher.” When asking permission to quote, authors should always be careful to give full and accurate references to the material involved. The copyright period in the U. S. is normally 56 years.

10 The problems of capitalization of titles in foreign languages are too complicated to be treated adequately here. Many journals follow the Univ. of Chicago Press s Manual of Style, 11th ed. (Chicago, 1949).

11 Ital. accents all vowel caps in Italian. RPh. and NRFH use an accent on initial caps of Spanish words; Hisp. and HR do not

12 Like this. And suppose you had found only “Ibid.”

15 An adequate reference: Sidney Lee in DNB s.v. “Wither, George.” Since this is a familiar reference work, alphabetically arranged, a full reference to The Dictionary of National Biography, ed. Sir Leslie Stephen and Sir Sidney Lee (London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1937-38), xxi, 730-739, would be not only pedantic but possibly confusing: this volume originally had a different number and it has been several times reprinted.

14 These instructions apply, of course, to notes, not necessarily to the full lists of references (“bibliographies”) given at the end of some articles and many books. Moreover, the full first reference is very different from the elaborate and technical bibliographical description; for a thorough analysis of the problems involved in the latter, see Fredson Bowers Principles of Bibliographical Description (Princeton, 1949).

15 Common sense will have to guide the author in applying this rule; consider: Thomas Stearns Eliot, Herbert George Wells, Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff. AHR requires that the first name always be given in full. Some editors believe that square brackets should be used to indicate parts of a name supplied, i.e., not found in the work cited.

16 But see note 8, above, especially Art. 2. The attitudes of presses and journals necessarily differ on this point.

17 This necessity rarely arises. It may do so, however, when a work appears over a very long period of time or when a single volume has been revised after the completed publication of the work of which it is a part, e.g., David Masson, The Life of John Milton (London, 1859-80), i (rev. ed., 1881), 56. Note incidentally that this 6-volume work has a long title, 18 words, here legitimately shortened.

18 The new style sheet of AJA, compiled with the assistance of many editors of classical journals, advocates the omission of “p. (pp.)” and “col. (cols.)” in all bibliographical references except when doing so would cause misunderstanding. Lg., SIL, Kentucky, and Oklahoma follow this practice; AJP[hilol] does not.

19 Columbia states that “using op. cit. for the first citation in a chapter to refer to a work cited in a previous chapter we will not tolerate; we insist, if full bibliographical material is being given in the notes, that it be given at the first occurrence in every chapter. This ruling is one of our few rigid rules.”

20 Learned journals occasionally publish lists of accepted abbreviations; one for the classical field has recently (July 1950) appeared in AJA, liv, 269-272, SQ recommends the use (in documentation only) of the following abbreviations of titles of Shakespearian plays: All s W., Antony, A. Y.L., Errors, Cor., Cym., Ham., 1 H.IV, Caesar, John, Lear, L.L.L., Macb., Meas., Merck., Wives, Dream, Much, Oth., Per., R.II, R.III, Romeo, Shrew, Temp., Tim., Tit., Troi., Twel., T.G.V.; also Venus, Lucr., Sonn., Lm. Com., Pass. Pit., Phoenix. Accepted abbreviations of the names of books of the Bible (Gen., Exod., Lev., Num., Deut., etc.) are given in many dictionaries.

21 But Oxford (and therefore RES) still italicizes ante, ca.,fl., infra, n., passim, post, supra, sc., and sic. Princeton still italicizes ibid., loc.cit., and op.cit. on the grounds that “they are substitutes for book titles and it is a convenience to have them look typographically similar to book titles”, and also prints them in lower case even at the start of a note, as does M.Æ.

22 Distinguishing between abbreviations and contractions, some journals (e.g., HLB, Isis, MLR, Speculum, YFS) also omit periods after Dr, Mr, Mrs, Mme, Mile, Msgr, St, Ste. Consider, as well, assn, bk, edn, Jr, Sr, etc.

23 Most editors will bless-any authors thoughtful enough to mark printer s errors with a red pencil and author s alterations with a black, so that the printer will readily distinguish the two and charge only for the latter. The Clarendon Press asks authors to correct proof in ink(s).

24 A brief and helpful discussion of problems of proofreading may be found in Henry M. Silver s “Putting It on Paper”, PMLA, lxv (April 1950), 16-20.