IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Modern Language Association updated their guidelines on April 1, 2016. We have not yet updated this section of Resources for Researchers to reflect these changes. We have ordered a copy of the new guidelines and will update as soon as possible.
Parts of a Citation:
Publication Date
Books
The copyright serves as the date of publication for a book. You can often find the date of publication on one of the first couple of pages of the book. Look for © followed by a year. (e.g. © 2012)
Periodicals
For periodicals, the date of publication is more than the year in which the article was published.
For periodicals, you need to get the volume and issue number of the periodical as well as the year it was published. For example, the date of Andreal Cruz-Angón and Russell Greenberg's "Are Epiphytes Important for Birds in Coffee Plantations?: An Experimental Assessment" which was published in Journal of Applied Ecology includes the fact that it was published in issue 1 of volume 42.
Instead of having volumes and issues, some journals and magazines just have issues. Others use month and year. And for newspapers, you need day, month, and year.
Internet Sites
The date of publication is often missing from Internet sites. When no date appears, use "n.d." where the date should go.
Generally, you want the date when the page was last updated. However, you need to make sure that the Internet site is not reprinting something with an earlier publication date. For example, a web page might have a 2013 copyright date even if the article reproduced on the page was written--and is dated--from an earlier date.
