Documentation - Preparing a List of Works Cited
This blog is based on Documentation - Preparing a List of Works Cited and This task was assigned by Prakruti Ma'am.
Q- 1 Difference between MLA 7th Edition and MLA 8th Edition
1. Definition of MLA Style
The Modern Language Association (MLA) style is a standardized system of documentation used primarily in the humanities for acknowledging sources and avoiding plagiarism. It governs both in-text citation and the Works Cited list. Each edition of the MLA Handbook revises citation practices to reflect changes in publishing and information access.
2. Fundamental Structural Approach
MLA 7th Edition (2009):
Followed a format-specific model.
Each type of source (book, journal article, website, film, etc.) had its own prescribed citation pattern.
Users had to memorize multiple rules depending on the medium of publication.
MLA 8th Edition (2016):
Introduced a universal citation framework applicable to all sources.
Replaced rigid formats with a flexible system based on core elements arranged in a fixed sequence.
Emphasized conceptual understanding rather than mechanical rule-following.
3. Use of “Containers”
MLA 7th Edition:
Did not formally recognize the concept of containers.
Treated most sources as standalone entities.
MLA 8th Edition:
Introduced the notion of a container, defined as the larger whole in which a source is located (e.g., a journal, database, website, or streaming platform).
Allows for nested containers (e.g., an article in a journal accessed via an online database).
This reflects the layered nature of digital publication.
4. Treatment of Digital Sources and URLs
MLA 7th Edition:
Inclusion of URLs was optional and left to the discretion of the writer.
Priority was given to print-style bibliographic details.
MLA 8th Edition:
URLs are strongly recommended, especially for online sources.
Digital accessibility is treated as integral to citation practice.
Recognizes the dominance of online academic and journalistic platforms.
5. Author Identification and Social Media
MLA 7th Edition:
Required the author’s real or formal name; screen names and social media handles were discouraged or avoided.
MLA 8th Edition:
Permits the use of usernames, handles, and channel names as authors when real names are unavailable or irrelevant.
This change acknowledges contemporary authorship practices in digital and participatory media.
6. Volume and Issue Numbers
MLA 7th Edition:
Used volume and issue numbers inconsistently, and often without standardized abbreviations.
MLA 8th Edition:
Mandates the use of abbreviations “vol.” and “no.” for journal citations.
Enhances clarity, uniformity, and bibliographic precision.
7. Conceptual Orientation
MLA 7th Edition:
Medium-oriented (print vs. web).
Reflected a transitional phase between print culture and digital scholarship.
MLA 8th Edition:
Source-oriented rather than medium-oriented.
Designed for an environment of fluid, hybrid, and digitally mediated texts.
Encourages critical judgment by the researcher rather than blind adherence to templates.
8. Continuities between the Two Editions
Despite major revisions, certain principles remain unchanged:
The ethical imperative of acknowledging sources.
The use of in-text parenthetical citation linked to a Works Cited list.
The central goal of enabling readers to locate and verify sources efficiently.
9. Scholarly Significance of the Shift
The transition from MLA 7th to MLA 8th represents a move from prescriptive formalism to methodological flexibility. While the 7th edition privileges stability and typology, the 8th edition prioritizes adaptability and interpretive responsibility. This shift mirrors broader changes in academic knowledge production, where texts circulate across multiple platforms and formats.
10. Concluding Synthesis
In essence, the difference between MLA 7th and MLA 8th editions lies in their philosophy of documentation. The former operates through medium-based rules, whereas the latter adopts a principle-based model structured around core elements and containers. MLA 8th thus modernizes citation practice by aligning it with the realities of digital scholarship, without abandoning the foundational ethics of academic attribution.
Thus, MLA 8th Edition is not merely a revision of MLA 7th but a paradigmatic reorientation of citation from rigid categorization to contextual adaptability.
Q-2 Citation
1. Definition of Citation
Citation refers to a formal acknowledgement of the sources from which ideas, data, words, or theories have been derived in an academic work. It is a referential marker included within the text and/or bibliography that identifies the original source, enabling readers to locate and verify the referenced material. In scholarly research, citation functions as an abbreviated alphanumeric signifier tied to a full bibliographic entry in the references section.
2. Core Purpose of Citation
Citation serves several interconnected purposes in academic writing:
Acknowledgement of Intellectual Debt: It recognises and credits the original creators of ideas or knowledge used in a researcher’s work, thus affirming respect for intellectual property.
Avoidance of Plagiarism: By explicitly signalling borrowed ideas or direct quotes, citation helps prevent the ethical violation of plagiarism, which is considered an academic and legal offence.
Facilitation of Source Verification: Citation enables readers to trace the evidence and context underlying specific claims, thereby promoting transparency and verifiability in scholarly discourse.
3. Essential Components of a Citation
A citation typically includes information such as:
Author’s name
Title of the source
Publication details (publisher, place, date)
Page numbers (for direct quotations)
Digital identifiers (e.g., DOI, URL for online sources)
These components equip readers with sufficient detail to locate the original material and assess its relevance or authority.
4. When Citation Is Required
Researchers must cite sources whenever they:
Directly quote text from another work
Paraphrase or summarise another author’s ideas
Discuss theories or frameworks developed by others
Present data or specific findings that are not originally their own
Failure to do so undermines academic integrity and can constitute plagiarism.
5. Primary Functions of Citation in Research
The act of citation performs the following key functions:
Upholding Intellectual Honesty: By delineating the researcher’s contributions from those of others, it fosters clarity and academic integrity.
Strengthening Argumentative Evidence: Citations situate claims within an established knowledge base, lending credibility and robustness to the researcher’s argumentation.
Enabling Academic Dialogue: Through citation trails, readers and subsequent researchers can explore related literature, building upon or contesting existing work.
Indicator of Scholarly Engagement: The breadth and quality of cited sources reflect the depth of literature review conducted by the researcher.
6. Academic and Ethical Significance
Prevention of Misconduct: Citation is central to avoiding plagiarism a serious ethical breach that can invalidate academic work.
Validation of Research Quality: The presence of precise and appropriate citations enhances the credibility and reliability of research outputs, as readers can track and evaluate evidence independently.
7. Relationship with Citation Styles
While the concept of citation is universal, its format and presentation differ across styles (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.), each prescribing specific rules for the order, punctuation, and formatting of bibliographic elements.
8. Academic Integrity and Citation
At its core, citation reflects the ethical fundamentals of scholarship, sustaining a culture of trust, accountability, and cumulative knowledge creation. Proper citation not only respects original authorship but also enriches academic discourse by connecting individual research to a wider intellectual tradition.
In summary, citation is an indispensable scholarly practice that enables recognition of sources, affirms intellectual honesty, enhances credibility, and provides a transparent roadmap for knowledge verification and further investigation.
Annotated Bibliography
Topic: Climate Change and Human Displacement in Amitav Ghosh's Gun Island
Part I: Annotated Bibliography (8 Sources)
1. Journal Article
Bhatt, Isha. "Amitav Ghosh's Gun Island: The Climate Crisis and Planetary Environmentalism." Comparative Literature Studies, vol. 61, no. 2, 2024, pp. 1–22. Taylor & Francis, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00111619.2024.2314094 .
This peer-reviewed journal article examines Ghosh's novel as a vehicle for what the author terms 'planetary environmentalism'—a framework transcending national boundaries. The article closely reads the parallel between human climate refugees from the Global South and the displacement of nonhuman animals, arguing that Ghosh calls for multispecies solidarity. It is a highly relevant primary scholarly source that situated Gun Island within ecocritical and postcolonial debates on climate justice. The discussion of historical colonialism as a driver of the contemporary climate crisis is especially useful.
2. News Article
Shapiro, Ari. "Amitav Ghosh's 'Gun Island' Is Fiction in the Face of Climate Change." NPR, 16 Sept. 2019, https://www.npr.org/2019/09/16/761257295/amitav-ghosh-the-world-of-fact-is-outrunning-the-world-of-fiction .
This NPR interview with Amitav Ghosh, conducted around the US launch of Gun Island, presents the author's own reflections on climate change, migration, and the role of storytelling. Ghosh explains why he turned to the Bengali myth of Manasa Devi to address the climate crisis, and recounts the uncanny coincidence of real wildfires mirroring scenes he had already written. The article offers invaluable authorial context and is accessible to general readers, making it an excellent bridge between popular discourse and academic analysis.
3. Video
Ca' Foscari University of Venice. "Amitav Ghosh, Gun Island / L'isola dei fucili." YouTube, 29 Jan. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca-Foscari-GunIsland . Streaming lecture hosted by the Environmental Humanities Seminar.
This filmed public lecture, streamed live on Ca' Foscari University's YouTube channel, features Amitav Ghosh in conversation with his Italian translator Anna Nadotti. Ghosh discusses the Venetian setting of Gun Island, the migration crisis in the Mediterranean, and the intersection of myth and environmental catastrophe. The video provides a rare opportunity to hear the author engage with a European scholarly audience on themes of human displacement and posthumanist ecology central to the novel.
4. Encyclopedia Entry
Gane, Nicholas. "Posthumanism." Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication, Oxford University Press, 26 Apr. 2018, https://oxfordre.com/communication/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228613-e-627 .
This scholarly encyclopedia entry provides a rigorous definition of posthumanism as a philosophical framework that challenges the autonomous, rational human subject of Western humanism. It explains how posthumanism recognizes agency as distributed among human and nonhuman actors, and positions the human as enmeshed in environmental systems rather than separate from or superior to them. This entry is essential background for reading Gun Island through a posthumanist lens, as Ghosh's multispecies narrative directly engages these theoretical debates.
5. Book (Primary Source)
Ghosh, Amitav. Gun Island. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019.
Ghosh's novel is the primary text under study. Set across the Sundarbans, Los Angeles, and Venice, it follows rare-book dealer Deen Datta as the ancient Bengali myth of Bonduki Sadagar entangles with climate-driven displacements of both humans and animals. The novel weaves together climate fiction, postcolonial history, and posthumanist ecology to argue that the refugee crisis and the environmental crisis are inseparable. Every theme in the annotated bibliography displacement, posthumanism, myth, and migration originates here.
6. Book Chapter
Sengupta, Roshni. "Connecting and Creating Narratives: Interrogating Myth, Legends, and the Anthropocene in Amitav Ghosh's Gun Island." Literature, Environment and Ecological Sensibilities, edited by various, Springer, 2024, pp. 187–203. SpringerLink, https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-97-3933-2_12 .
This book chapter analyses how Ghosh employs the myths of Bonduki Sadagar and Manasa Devi as structural scaffolding to address the Anthropocene and ecological displacement. Drawing on Dipesh Chakrabarty's concept of decentering the human and Pramod K. Nayar's eco-precarity, the chapter demonstrates how legends function as repositories of environmental memory. It is particularly valuable for understanding how Gun Island positions indigenous mythology as a form of posthumanist knowledge that challenges Western anthropocentric rationalism.
7. Webpage
Som, Tathagata. "The Place of the Planet: Climate Change and Migration in Amitav Ghosh's Gun Island." NiCHE: Network in Canadian History and Environment, 6 Dec. 2021, https://niche-canada.org/2021/12/06/the-place-of-the-planet-climate-change-and-migration-in-amitav-ghoshs-gun-island/ .
This online essay by a PhD researcher in Environmental Humanities argues that Gun Island contests sedentarist ideas of belonging by situating human migration within a planetary ecology of movement. Som reads the novel as a challenge to the nation-state's narrow conception of identity, demonstrating how Ghosh's characters Rafi, Tipu, and the migrating dolphins alike embody a fluid, multispecies understanding of displacement. The essay usefully connects the novel to broader debates in environmental humanities and migration studies.
8. Image
Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Cover Art: Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh. 2019. Book cover illustration. FSG / Penguin Books. Reproduced in Tint Journal, https://tintjournal.com/review/a-powerful-translingual-cli-fi-story-a-review-of-gun-island-by-amitav-ghosh .
The cover art for Gun Island depicts a colossal serpent coiled amid tropical flowers and foliage—an immediate visual invocation of Manasa Devi, the snake goddess central to the novel's mythology. The design visually signals the novel's posthumanist preoccupation with the entanglement of human and nonhuman worlds, since the serpent dominates the frame where a human figure might conventionally appear. For students of the novel, the image is a parable worth analysing: it foregrounds ecological and mythological themes before the reader encounters a single sentence.
Part II: MLA Inclusive Language Analysis
Selected Research Article: Bhatt, Isha. "Amitav Ghosh's Gun Island: The Climate Crisis and Planetary Environmentalism." Comparative Literature Studies, vol. 61, no. 2, 2024, pp. 1–22.
Introductory Section Under Analysis
The article's introduction opens with a reference to a June 2023 Mediterranean disaster in which a vessel carrying 'over seven hundred migrating people from the Global South, including parts of South Asia' capsized en route from Libya to Italy. The author then pivots to Gun Island's fictional blue boat, asserting that Ghosh 'represents those migrants as climate refugees.' The introductory section proceeds to outline the novel's 'multispecies' and 'multi-ethnic' framework, referencing 'marginalized humans' of the Global South, 'nonhumans,' and the legacy of 'European colonization.'
The 7 Principles of Inclusive Language (MLA Handbook, 9th Edition)
The MLA Handbook's 9th edition (Section 3.6) identifies seven principles of inclusive language: (1) being specific about identities; (2) avoiding assumptions about identity; (3) using terms people use for themselves; (4) avoiding outdated or offensive terms; (5) writing about people with disabilities with care; (6) using inclusive pronoun practices; and (7) being alert to how one's language position and privilege may shape framing.
Analysis
Principle 1 – Specificity about identities: The introduction adheres strongly to this principle. Rather than using the vague collective 'migrants,' the author specifies 'migrating people from the Global South, including parts of South Asia' grounding identity in geography and socioeconomic position. The phrase 'climate refugees' is used with deliberate precision to distinguish environmental displacement from generic migration, a distinction that is both politically and analytically significant.
Principle 7 – Awareness of positionality: The author demonstrates awareness of structural power by framing the climate crisis through 'European colonization' and 'global capitalism.' By naming these systems explicitly, the introduction avoids the false neutrality that would present climate displacement as a natural accident rather than as a consequence of historically specific political choices. This reflects MLA's call for writers to be alert to how privilege and structural inequality shape language and argument.
Principle 3 – Using terms people use for themselves: The use of the term 'climate refugees' partly adheres to and partly complicates this principle. Ghosh himself notes in interviews that the migrants he met in Italy refused the label 'climate refugee,' finding it reductive. The article applies the term analytically, following Ghosh's novel, without fully engaging this contested self-identification. A more inclusive approach might have flagged this tension, acknowledging that 'climate refugees' remains a contested category for the people it describes.
Principle 4 – Avoiding outdated or offensive terms: The introduction avoids problematic terminology throughout. Terms like 'illegal immigrants' or 'aliens' common in political discourse are conspicuously absent. Instead, the author uses 'migrating people' and 'migrants,' which centres the human subject and avoids criminalising language. 'Nonhumans', though unusual, is used as an ecocritical technical term rather than a pejorative, consistent with posthumanist scholarship.
Principles 2, 5, and 6: Principle 2 (avoiding identity assumptions) is broadly respected; the author makes no claims about cultural practices or individual characteristics of displaced people beyond what the text supports. Principles 5 (disability language) and 6 (inclusive pronoun use) are not directly applicable in this introduction, as neither disability nor non-binary pronoun usage arises in this particular section.
Conclusion
Overall, the article's introduction adheres clearly to at least four of the seven MLA principles of inclusive language particularly Principles 1, 4, and 7 demonstrating a thoughtful awareness of how naming, framing, and structural critique intersect in writing about climate-displaced communities. The only area of tension concerns Principle 3: the author employs 'climate refugees' as an analytical category without adequately acknowledging that this label is contested by those it designates. A fuller engagement with self-identification would bring the article's already admirable language practice into complete alignment with MLA's inclusivity framework.
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