Maybe, you heard the exciting (old) news. MLA 7th edition became MLA 8th edition in 2016. Yes, I know you are excited.
Do I Look Excited? Source: Flickr.com
Well, what exactly changed?
A bunch of things have changed including the use of “containers”, no city of publication, no medium stated, and page numbers now have a p. or pp. in front of them. There is no point listing all the little details, because you get the idea; things have changed. Don’t be to alarmed though, these are easy fixes to make. So, your these changes should not lead to an abrupt grade change.
Don’t let these MLA changes lead to an abrupt grade change in your English class. Source: Flickr
Why We Don’t have to Memorize MLA Style
My professor for my Cultures and Ideas course (a part of the core curriculum at SCU) is in the english department, but she maintains that she does not want us to memorize the MLA format, but rather understand the reasons behind it. For example, we don’t need to know where to put the nit picky commas and punctuation in MLA style for an article in a magazine. But, we should recognize that in MLA the author of the magazine is the first thing listed, then the title of the article, and then the title of the magazine. Because, and this is the kicker, those are the things we care about in MLA style. That’s why it is prevalent in the liberal arts and humanities.
On the other hand, in APA style you add the element of last edited up near the front of the citation. This is because Chicago is used by disciplines in the social sciences who need to know how recent the published item is.
What I am trying to say is that citations are all about function. We want to get the reader the exact information they need in a effective way.
The Changes as Effective
Though these changes may seem tedious at first, a few of them have clear connections to making citations more effective. Firstly, let’s look at the fact that we no longer have to include the type of media. The reason we don’t need it anymore is because the same book can be an e-book, in print, or online without changing in any significant way. So, why are we wasting time telling our readers that we read it as an e-book when they don’t need to know that to find the source? Basically, the changes in MLA are to help the reader find the source, not to mess-up the writer. So, don’t hate MLA for changing because you have to change things around. Instead, embrace it as a reader and see how easy it is to find the source an author is referring to.
NOTE: Here are my sources in case you wanna check them out or use them to guide you when you make a citation. *Hint: If you use Easy Bib to make a citation make sure to click MLA 8 above the search bar before you search. Also double-check that everything auto-entered by EasyBib in the fields is accurate.