Publication date 2008 Pages xxiv & 336 Originally published 1985 Original language English Subject Style guide | Published in English May 2008 ISBN 978-0-87352-297-7 Country United States of America | |
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Original title MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing Media type Print; large print; also listed as available as audiobook Publisher Modern Language Association Similar Joseph Gibaldi books, Author books | ||
The MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (2008) the third edition of The MLA Style Manual, was first published by the Modern Language Association of America in 1985. It was an academic style guide widely used in the United States, Canada, and other countries, providing guidelines for writing and documentation of research in the humanities, especially in English studies; the study of other modern languages and literatures, including comparative literature; literary criticism; media studies; cultural studies; and related disciplines (but not disciplines like history, philosophy, and theology, which follow The Chicago Manual of Style).
Contents
According to the MLA book catalog description, since first being published in 1985, the MLA Style Manual has been "the standard guide for graduate students, scholars, and professional writers". MLA style "has been widely adopted by schools, academic departments, and instructors for over half a century"; the MLA's "guidelines are also used by over 1,100 scholarly and literary journals, newsletters, and magazines and by many university and commercial presses", and they are "followed throughout North America and in Brazil, China, India, Japan, Taiwan, and other countries around the world".
Following the advent of the 8th edition of the MLA Handbook in spring 2016, the MLA stated that the MLA Style Manual would be declared out of print effective 1 September 2016.
Background
The MLA Style Manual was one of two official publications of the MLA presenting MLA documentation style written by Joseph Gibaldi, MLA Director of Book Acquisitions and Development ("Book Publications Program: General Information"), co-author with Walter S. Achtert of the first edition. The audience was primarily graduate students, academic scholars, professors, professional writers, and editors.
The other publication is the MLA Handbook, whose primary audience is secondary-school and undergraduate students and their teachers.
Purpose
The MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd ed. (2008), by the Modern Language Association of America (based on the work of Joseph Gibaldi with co-author Walter S. Achtert for The MLA Style Manual [1985], revised in the 2nd ed. in 1998), was addressed primarily to academic scholars, professors, graduate students, and other advanced-level writers of scholarly books and articles in humanities disciplines such as English and other modern languages and literatures. Many journals and presses in these disciplines require that manuscripts be submitted following MLA style.