Research and Style Manual

MLA Conventions

Abbreviations

MLA is specific about abbreviations in citations. You will probably need to abbreviate months for any journal reference. Note that May, June and July are not abbreviated.

Jan. - January
Feb. - February
Mar. - March
Apr. - April
May - May
June - June
July - July
Aug. - August
Sep., Sept. - September
Oct. - October
Nov. - November
Dec. - December

Other common abbreviations:
trans. for translator
sec. for section
n.d. for no date
ed. for editor
eds. for editors
spec. for special
pars. for paragraphs

In works cited/consulted lists, shortened forms of publishers' names are recommended. In general, omit articles (a, an and the) and business abbreviations (Co., Corp., Inc. or Ltd.). If the publisher's name includes the name of one person, cite the surname only. (W.W. Norton would be simply Norton.) If the publisher's name includes several names, cite only the first of the surnames.

Examples:

• use Little for Little, Brown and Company, Inc.
• use ALA for The American Library Association
• use Cambridge UP for Cambridge University Press

Italicize or underline titles of longer works :

• books
• periodicals
• databases
• full-length plays (usually three to five acts)
• movies or television series
• works of art--paintings, sculptures
• book-length poems
• major Web sites

Set in quotation marks titles of shorter works, not independently published:

• chapters
• essays
• articles in periodicals
• short poems
• Web pages
• TV episodes
• one-act plays