Review by Choice Review
English teachers rejoice! This eagerly awaited edition's first section dictates how to format a research project, including margins, running heads, and placement of the works cited list. Even better, it provides much-needed information on basic grammar. Readers actually see the words subject, verb, and object in print. "When a Comma Is Necessary" and "When a Comma Is Incorrect" alone are worth the price of admission. Very welcome is an entirely new section called "Principles of Inclusive Language," which gently guides students away from language bias and toward more neutral or compassionate treatment of age, race, gender, culture, or disability. Responding to our increasingly online and paper-free learning environments, guidelines on electronic submission are now included. The section on plagiarism has been slightly expanded. Specific examples of common knowledge would have been helpful; this is a concept often difficult for students to grasp without concrete illustration. In-depth explanations of the core elements of a citation are extremely helpful. What really lifts this edition off the page is the addition of pictures of a variety of sources with citation elements clearly labelled. Especially useful is the variety of web sources illustrated, which are not nicely formatted like a book's title page. Previously complex and abstract text-based explanations are now made simpler and more real. This is a visually oriented generation, and photos resonate with them. More discussion and examples of containers, especially regarding websites, is a great improvement. An appendix gives numerous examples by source type. Though this version is significantly heftier (more than 400 pages--prepare for the groans), the additions were necessary to gear the work to the needs of today's students and teachers. The index has accordingly been expanded from sixteen to thirty-four pages. A great improvement. Buy it. Summing Up: Essential. Community college and undergraduate students through researchers/faculty; professionals/practitioners. --Lisa K. Miller, formerly, Western Kentucky University Libraries
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Incorporating input from users after the major 2016 revamp of MLA style, citation format, and guidelines, this well-organized update contains abundant examples, clear language, and helpful cross-referencing. While keeping the author-title-container format, the MLA editorial team beefed up examples, tweaked guidance for formatting tables and lists, and added sections on inclusive language and how to determine a work's author, title, or contributors when that information isn't readily available. VERDICT A necessary addition to every library's reference desk, this work is likely to see use from students and scholars, even with the plethora of online citation creators.
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