LEO: Literacy Education Online MLA Periodicals

Examples of how to document the most common types of periodicals are illustrated in this document. However, you might need to use a reference for a source which is not listed on this document.

In such a case, refer to one of two books by Joseph Gibaldi: The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (Sixth Edition, New York: Modern Language Association, 2003) or the MLA Style Guide to Scholarly Publishing (Second Edition, New York: Modern Language Association, 1998). Choose the example that is most like your source and follow that format.

• Abstracts
• Journal article
• Special issue of a journal
• Magazine article
• Newspaper article

These examples use underlining (a remnant of typewriter technology) rather than italics. Either is correct.

Abstract in an abstracts journal

Gorilla." Linguistic Abstracts, 4 (1975): item 306.

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Journal article

Beaty, James C., Jr., Jeannette N. Cleveland, and Kevin R. Murphy. "The

Relation Between Personality and Contextual Performance in 'Strong' Versus

'Weak' Situations." Human Performance 14.2 (2001): 125-148.

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Special issue of a journal

Richmond, Elizabeth, ed. Humor and the Right Hemisphere. Spec. issue of Journal

of Social Anthropology, 17.6 (1992).

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Magazine article

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Newspaper article

Barr, Stephen. "Pay Rates Not So Special to Employees Who Feel Left

Behind." The Washington Post 10 July 2001: B02.

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