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Beyond the MLA handbook : documenting electronic sources on the Internet.
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1996-11-25
[PDF-66.26 KB]
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Abstract:Responding to the needs of writers, teachers, students, and scholars using the MLA style of documentation,
professional organizations and researchers are in the process of creating citation conventions that seek to
demonstrate efficient and unambiguous reference to Internet sources. Going beyond the limited recommendations in
The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (1995), Janice Walker's "MLA-Style Citations for Electronic
Sources," for example, presents a largely admirable style for documentation, worthy of endorsement by the Alliance
for Computers and Writing. In spite of its usefulness, however, a close examination of the style reveals several
noteworthy ambiguities and infelicities. Four problematic areas can be identified: (1) distinguishing between
Internet addresses and command sequences, (2) distinguishing between dates of publication and dates of user access,
(3) distinguishing between addresses of publication and addresses for retrieval, and (4) providing for the "openness"
of many Internet pathways to the same (authentic) source. After examining each of the four problem areas, we
recommend additions and emendations to Walker's models that help eliminate ambiguities. Each of our
recommendations improves the usefulness and clarity of individual models. Finally, in "Citing the Sites: MLA-Style
Guidelines and Models for Documenting Internet Sources," we provide a style sheet for teachers, students,
researchers, and scholars whose citation standards are based on MLA-style documentation principles and models.
"Citing the Sites" may be distributed as a self-contained guideline providing checklists and models for all current
instances of Internet citation.
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