Directions for Submitting Manuscripts
Please follow these directions in preparing your manuscript for submission to the MLA book publication program. Care taken during the initial stages of manuscript preparation will facilitate evaluation and accelerate production.
Whether you are an author, a coauthor, a translator, an editor, or a contributor to an edited volume, you will find important guidelines on this page. Contributors to an edited volume will need to consult with the volume editor when preparing materials for submission; volume editors are ultimately responsible for seeing that contributors follow the guidelines.
Documentation
1. MLA Style
All documentation in the manuscript should follow MLA style as set out in the most recent edition of the MLA Handbook. Manuscripts not conforming to MLA style may be returned to volume editors before copyediting can begin.
2. Uniform Editions
Citations of major works should be uniform throughout a given volume. For instance, in a book about Germaine de Staël, all citations should refer to the same edition of de Staël and the same translation of her works. For an edited collection, the volume editor should establish the editions to be used and inform contributors accordingly. If it is not feasible for contributors to use the same edition or translation, the volume editor should make sure that the editions used are properly identified.
3. Works-Cited List
If you are a volume editor, ask your acquisitions editor whether the works cited will be listed at the end of each essay or in a comprehensive list for the volume. If a comprehensive list is required, you are responsible for consolidating the list. Please also submit individual lists (electronically) for each essay to assist the copyeditor.
A full works-cited-list entry must be provided for every work quoted, discussed, described, or referred to in a substantive way in the running text, the notes, and the appendixes (see the guidelines on creating works-cited-list entries in the most recent edition of the MLA Handbook). In addition, in the Approaches to Teaching series, all texts recommended as teaching resources in part 1, “Materials,” should appear in the list of works cited.
Inclusive page numbers, not chapter numbers, should be given for all short works (e.g., introductions to anthologies, essays, poems, short stories) that appear in books and periodicals.
Include a URL or DOI for Web sources (see the guidelines on The MLA Style Center).
If an essay is dropped in the course of manuscript preparation, the works referred to in that essay should be removed from the works-cited list (unless they appear in other essays). If an essay is added, citations from that essay need to be added to the list. If an essay is revised, the list should be revised accordingly.
When two or more works are cited from one collection, a complete entry should be given for the collection and individual pieces should be cross-referenced to it (see the guidelines on creating cross-references in the most recent edition of the MLA Handbook).
Works-cited-list entries should be provided for primary as well as secondary works, for classic as well as modern works. Do not include works-cited-list entries for whole Web sites or runs of journals.
Typically works cited appear in a single list arranged alphabetically. Check with the acquisitions editor you’re working with before creating a works-cited list with sections.
4. Parenthetical References
When the works-cited list shows more than one work for an author, all parenthetical references for that author should include a short title; for example, (Frye, Anatomy 10–11), (Frye, Fables 202).
5. Notes
MLA style relies on in-text references for documenting sources. However, sometimes a bibliographical citation works better in a note than in a parenthetical reference. Other times you may want to include supplementary information in a note. General principles: use notes only when the information you need to convey doesn’t work as a parenthetical reference; style notes as endnotes, not footnotes; and keep note content as brief as possible. See additional guidelines on The MLA Style Center.
6. Translations
Quotations from foreign languages should appear in the original language first, followed by a translation. Provide sources for both the original quotation and the translation. Use “my trans.” for your own translations or a note stating that all translations are yours.
Preparing Your Manuscript for Submission
1. Manuscripts must be submitted according to the following format specifications:
- Use one font for all parts of the manuscript, preferably 12-point Times New Roman.
- Double-space all parts of the manuscript, including notes, the table of contents, block quotations, and works-cited lists.
- Use the tabulation key rather than the space bar to indent text.
- Set off quoted text of more than four lines of prose or more than three lines of verse as a separate, double-spaced block of text, with an extra line above and below.
- Make the left margin 1'', the right 1.25'', with 1'' at top and bottom. Set text ragged right, not right-justified.
- Minimize formatting in the text: do not use all caps, display type, linked text, etc. The copyeditor will apply the appropriate formatting, and additional design work will be done in production.
- Do not use bullets or ornaments. Lists should be unnumbered unless the numbering is meaningful in some way, such as sequential steps. Do not use automatic hyphenation.
- Use italics to indicate text that will be italicized. Avoid italics for emphasis.
- Use epigraphs sparingly and keep them brief. Place heads and subheads flush left. Differentiate head levels by using boldface for level-1 heads, normal type for level-2 heads, italics or underlining for level-3 heads.
- Do not use “Introduction” or “Conclusion” as titles of heads or subheads. For an untitled concluding section, leave a blank line before the section. Appendixes should supply necessary supplements to the text and be as brief as possible. Reading lists and descriptions of course assignments are appropriate but a full syllabus usually is not. A full syllabus or other lengthy appendix material can be uploaded to CORE with a note in the text directing readers to it. Course assignments or extracts from syllabi should be revised to address instructors, not students. Appendixes should be called out at the appropriate point in the main text (e.g., “as described in the appendix”).
- Supply illustrations, tables, and charts in separate files. Indicate where they go in the text, but do not embed them.
- Number pages consecutively.
2. If you are the editor of a volume, make certain that every contribution is formatted as above. Any person responsible for an entire volume should note the following:
- Ask each contributor to submit a Word-compatible electronic file of his or her essay unless instructed otherwise.
- Save front matter (e.g., title page, table of contents, acknowledgments), essays, and back matter (e.g., notes on contributors, works-cited list) as a single file.
- Use a Word-compatible software program in a recent edition.
- Be sure that the volume is paginated consecutively, from beginning to end, with each file numbered to follow the preceding one.
- If you translate from one word-processing program to another, proofread for problems (e.g., loss of italics, faulty character substitutions) and correct them.
Images
If your essay includes images, the position of these must be indicated with figure call-outs in the text, usually placed at the end of a sentence, for example, “To conclude this examination, we study the incipit miniature of the Harley Livre de la cité des dames (Book of the City of Ladies) at fol. 290r (fig. 4).”
A list of captions, including correct permissions language, should appear at the end of the essay, labeled “Figure 1” and so on.
Images should not be embedded in the manuscript itself. Submit each image as a separate file and label them with your last name, a very brief description, and the order they appear in the manuscript (e.g., Garcia_Hamilton photo_1; Garcia_Plot Timeline_2; Garcia_Musical score_3) (For more information, see our image guidelines).
Charts and tables should use minimal formatting. After they are copyedited, a designer or typesetter will format them to fit the series style and meet MLA publications standards. If possible, include the original source files from which any charts and tables were created.
List of Special Features
The volume editor should prepare a list of special features for the entire volume, including all artwork, charts, tables, appendixes, etc. The list should also flag anything that may need special attention in production, such as text in non-Roman alphabets. Submit this list with the manuscript.
Permissions
Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to use material that falls outside fair use, including quoted matter, photographs or other illustrations, charts, and student writing. (See our permissions guidelines). The permission should include wording allowing use of the material in electronic format as well as in print. Any costs associated with reproducing such material are also the responsibility of the author.
Questions about the above directions or about manuscript preparation should be addressed to your acquisitions editor.