Synecdoche

Edit (19 May 2010): “Internet” format and post updated to allow for weblog posts and various performer types.

Edit (20 May 2010): updates to book and book chapter/excerpt formats to allow for e-books.

Edit (31 May 2010): “Interview” format updated to properly format published and unpublished interviews from books and/or journals, within reason.

Edit (28 June 2010): “Print Magazine” format created to properly format print magazines. Note: The “Newspaper” format can also be used to format magazines, so long as you don’t include any extraneous information, such as “Section,” etc. MLA doesn’t want much from magazines, so the format is pretty sparse.

Edit (18 February 2011): Corrected and minor error in the “Multivolume Work” format.

Edit (25 February 2011): Corrected errors in a number of formats where “Ed.” means “Edited by” and therefore should not become “Eds.” when there is more than one editor. (The only place “Ed.” should become “Eds.” is in an edited book.)

I’ve spent a long time over the last couple of years tweaking the implementation of MLA in Bookends, and decided to take the last few days to clean them up, standardize (to the extent possible) the fields where each bit of information goes for different reference types, and make them publicly available. Feel free to grab the formats, but also be aware that using them requires some user intervention, and that they are not perfect.

It’s been years since I’ve had a clean installation of Bookends, but I don’t think I’ve mucked up any too many of the default settings. That is, if you need to switch back and forth between MLA and some other system, you should still be able to do so. If you do discover evidence to the contrary, please let me know and I will try to fix it. The reference types for which I’ve noted “Same as built-in MLA” indicates that I haven’t modified anything. Often this is because I’ve never cited anything of that type, and so have never checked whether Bookends implements it correctly or not.

The implementation of the MLA 7th edition relies heavily on the use of metatypes. Most of the functionality metatypes allow can be adapted to single references, but using metatypes keeps the information neater and more organized. If you are averse to metatypes, I offer the following (old) formats “as is,” without any guarantees that they work as they should:

• Multivolume work, 1 volume: a. t. $Ed. $e. u2$ ed.$ $Trans. $u3*. l: u, d. $Vol. $v ~of ~f`.` $Ed. $u8*. u13~ vols.~|$ $u12`.` where u2 is the edition, u3 is the translator, u8 is the editor of the complete set, u13 is the total number of volumes, and u12 is the years over which the complete set was printed. Most of these can be omitted.
• Anthology excerpt or reprint: a. "t." $Trans. $u3*~.~ v. $Ed. and trans. $u4*~. ~ $Comp. $j~. ~ $Ed. $e. u2$ ed.$ l:~ ~u, d. p-. u18. $Rpt. in $u14 $Excerpt from $u15 where u3 is the translator, u4 is the editor and translator, j is the compiler, u2 is the edition, u18 is the medium, and u14 is the volume in which it is reprinted, and u15 is the volume from which it was excerpted. Most of these can be omitted.

Finally, I welcome any format modifications or simplifications. I am fairly certain that all these formats work as MLA wants them to, even in most cases allowing unnecessary information to be omitted. I do not, however, pretend that they are elegantly expressed.

Setup

Here follows a list of all reference types included in this implementation of MLA 7th edition, as well as the Field Labels, in order. You can create these reference types and edit their corresponding field labels in the “Refs” tab of the Preferences.

I will only note where reference types depart from the following basic set of field labels. Bold text indicates that the field must be filled to generate a proper bibliographic entry. Italicised text indicates that the field is optional, but will appear in the bibliographic entry if filled.

• Author
• Title
• Editor
• [Unused]
• Volume (i.e. volume number of a multivolume work)
• Pages
• Year
• Publisher
• City
• URL
• Short Title
• Series (NB: Include series title and volume number, as desired)
• Edition (NB: 1st, 2nd, etc. Not series volume number)
• Abstract
• Keywords
• Notes
• Translator
• Ed/trans (i.e. editor & translator)
• Call Num
• ISBN/ISSN
• Language
• Orig lang (i.e. original language)
• Trans author (i.e. original spelling of author’s name)
• Trans title (i.e. title in original language)
• Orig pub (i.e. original date of publication)
• User12-User16
• DOI
• Medium (print, web, etc.)

1. Artwork: Same as built-in MLA
2. Audiovisual material: Same as built-in MLA
3. Book:
   • Pages → Total pages
   • User12 → Database
   • User13 → Access Date
   • Sample output: Althusser, Louis. Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. Ed. Frederick Jameson. Trans. Ben Brewster. New York: Monthly Review Press, 2001. Print.
   • Sample output (no author): Popul Vuh. Ed. and trans. Adrián Recinos. México, D.F.: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2008. Print.
4. Book chapter/excerpt:
   • [Unused] → Book Title
   • User12 → Anth pages (i.e. pages in anthology in which excerpt appears if this reference is an excerpt from an anthology
   • User13 → Database
   • User14 → Access Date
   • Sample output: Barnes, Jonathan. “Metaphysics.” The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle. Ed. Jonathan Barnes. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995. 66-108. Print.
5. Conference proceedings:
   • [Unused] → Conf Name (i.e. conference name)
   • Year used for year of publication of the proceedings
   • User12 → Conf Date (i.e. Conference date)
   • Sample output: Belmar Marchante, María Angeles. “La tensión de la dicotomía del personje actor, como acción amorosa y del autor-narrador como ocultamiento: Ardanlier, Arnalte, Leriano.” Medievo y literatura. 9-12 December 1992. Vol. 1. Granada: Universidad de Granada, 1993. 311-20. Print.
6. Dissertation:
   • [Unused] → Dept (i.e. department)
   • Volume → Degree (i.e. degree earned)
   • Pages → Total pages
   • Publisher → University
   • Series → Database
   • Edition → Access date
   • Translator → Thesis type
   • Ed/trans → Access’n #
   • Sample output: Last name, First Name. “Dissertation title.” Diss. University of Somewhere, 2007. Electronic Theses and Dissertations Database. Web. 23 November 2009.
7. Edited Book:
   • Author → [Unused]
   • Sample output: Nina Grabe, Sabine Lang, and Klaus Meyer-Minnemann, eds. La narración paradójica: ‘Normas narrativas’ y el principio de la ‘transgresión’. Frankfurt: Vervuert, 2006. Print.
8. Editorial: Same as built-in MLA
9. In press: Same as built-in MLA
10. Journal Article:
    • Editor → [Unused]
    • [Unused] → Journal
    • Volume → Vol (Issue)
    • Year → Date
    • City → Address
    • Series → Database
    • Edition → Access Date
    • Ed/trans → User4
    • User15 → PMID
    • User16 → PMCID
    • Sample output (print): Hutman, Norma Louise. “Universality and Unity in the Lazarillo de Tormes.” PMLA: Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 76.5 (1961-12): 469-73. Print.
    • Sample output (web): Aguirre Romero, Joaquín María, and Yolanda Delgado Batista. “Jorge Volpi: Las verdades absolutas siempre son mentiras.” Espéculo: Revista de Estudios Literarios 11 (1999): n. pag. Web. 22 Dec 2009.
11. Letter: Same as built-in MLA
12. Map: Same as built-in MLA
13. Newspaper article:
    • [Unused] → Newspaper
    • Volume → Section
    • Year → Date
    • Series → User1
    • “Edition” is used for Early ed., Late ed., etc.
    • Ed/trans → Access date
    • User12 → Article type
    • Sample output (print): Kundera, Milan. “Die Weltliteratur: How we read one another.” The New Yorker 8 Jan. 2007, Reflections sec.: 28-35. Print.
    • Sample output (web): Damiani, Marcelo. “Las utopías según Jorge Volpi.” La Nación [Buenos Aires] 1 Oct. 2006, Cultura sec.: 3. Web. 23 Dec. 2009.
14. Patent: Same as built-in MLA
15. Personal communication:: Same as built-in MLA
16. Book Review:
    • Author → Rev author (i.e. review author)
    • Title → Book title
    • Editor → Book author
    • [Unused] → Journal
    • Sample output: Klinkowitz, Jerome. Rev. of The Usable Past: The Imagination of History in Recent Fiction of the Americas, by Lois Parkinson Zamora. The Yearbook of English Studies 31 (2001): 315-16.
17. Internet:
    • Editor → Site editor
    • [Unused] → Contributor (i.e. names of other contributors to the specific web page, e.g. editor, performer, compiler, narrator. Name will be output in the form that it is entered.)
    • Year → Pub Date
    • “Publisher” is publisher or sponsoring organization. If none, enter “N.p.”
    • City → Cont type (i.e. contributor type, the type of contributor named in the “Contributor” field, in any)
    • Seried → Access date
    • Call number → Genre label (i.e. for untitled works, e.g. “Home page”)
    • User12 → Version (i.e. version number of the work cited, e.g. “1.2”)
    • User13 → By (e.g. composer if a performance, author if a narrated work)
    • User14 → Last update
    • Sample output: Matthews, Kyle James. “MLA 7th edition formats for Bookends.” Synecdoche. N.p. 12 May 2010. Weblog. 19 May 2010.
    • Sample output: <Last Name, First Name>. <Contributor>, <Cont type>. “<Title>.” <Genre label>. By <By>. <Web site>. Ed. <Site editor>. <Edition> ed. Vers. <Version>. <Publisher>, <Pub date>. <Medium>. <Access date>.
18. Multivolume work:
    • [Unused] → Title
    • Volume → Total vols
    • Pages
    • Date range (i.e. years when publication began and ended)
    • Sample output: Alas, Leopoldo. La Regenta. Ed. Gonzalo Sobejano. 5ª ed. 2 vols. Madrid: Castalia, 1981-1989. Print.
19. Interview:
    • Author → Interviewee
    • Title → Int title (i.e. Interview Title)
    • [Unused] → Work Title (i.e., if part of a larger work)
    • Year → Pub Date (i.e. of larger work)
    • City → Address
    • User12 → Date (i.e. of interview)
    • User13 → Interviewer
20. Frontmatter (i.e. Introdiction, Preface, Prologue, etc.) — this is a largely redundant reference type that I will probably convert to a metatype in the near future:
    • [Unused] → Intro title
    • Sample output: Oviedo, Gonzalo Fernández. Introduction. Natural History of the West Indies. By Sterling Stoudemire. Ed. Sterling Stoudemire. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1959. Print.
21. Print Magazine (Use “Internet” for an internet magazine):
    • [Unused] → Magazine
    • Volume → Section
    • Year → Pub Date
22. Lecture, Speech, etc.: Same as built-in MLA
23. Anthology:
    • Author → Compiler
    • Title → Anthology
    • Pages → Total pages
    • Series → Comp/trans (i.e. Compiler & translator)
    • Sample output: The Routledge language and cultural theory reader. Ed. Lucy Burke, Tony Crowley and Alan Girvin. London; New York: Routledge, 2000. Print.

Here follows a list of metatypes to add after the built-in set, followed by descriptions of their uses. Metatypes must be added in the “Links” tab of the Preferences. The first six types are used for different types of sources within anthologies. See section 5.5.6 of the MLA Handbook 7th edition for more information. To learn how to link references together, see the Bookends User Guide.

1. Reprinted in : Original (book) — combines “Antholgy” with “Book chapter/excerpt”
   • Sample output: Derrida, Jacques. “Semiology and Grammatology: Interview with Julia Kristeva.” Positions. Trans. Alan Bass. London: Althone Press, 1987. 17-29. Print. Rpt. in The Routledge language and cultural theory reader. Ed. Lucy Burke, Tony Crowley and Alan Girvin. London; New York: Routledge, 2000. 241-246. Print.
2. Reprinted in : Original (journal) — combines “Anthology” with “Journal Article”
   • Sample output: DeMan, Paul. “Semiology and Rhetoric.” Diacritics: A Review of Contemporary Criticism 3.3 (1976): 42-70. Print. Rpt. in The Norton anthology of theory and criticism. Ed. Vincent B Leitch. 1st ed. New York: Norton, 2001.
3. Reprint of : Original (book) — combines “Anthology” with “Book chapter/excerpt” when title of chapter changes
   • Sample output: Last name, First name. “New Title.” Anthology Title. Ed. Person 1, Person 2. City: Publisher, 2000. Pages. Medium. Rpt. of "Original title." Original Source Title. Ed. and trans. Person 3. City: Publisher, 2000. Pages. Medium.
4. Reprint of : Original (journal) — combines “Anthology” with “Journal Article” when title of article changes
   • Sample output: same as above with journal info and formatting
5. Excerpt from : Original (book) — combines “Anthology” with “Book chapter/excerpt”
   • Sample output: Barthes, Roland. “Myth Today.” The Routledge language and cultural theory reader. Ed. Lucy Burke, Tony Crowley and Alan Girvin. London; New York: Routledge, 2000. 410-415. Print. Excerpt from Mythologies. Trans. Annette Lavers. London: Jonathan Cape, 1972. 109-24. Print.
6. Excerpt from : Original (journal) — combines “Anthology” with “Journal Article”
   • Sample output: same as above with journal info and formatting
7. Multivolume work : Single Volume — combines “Multivolume work” with “Book”
   • Sample output: Lacan, Jacques. The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis. 1st American ed. Trans. Alan Sheridan. New York: W.W. Norton, 1998. Print. Vol. 11 of The Seminar of Jacques Lacan. Ed. Jacques-Alain Miller. 11 vols. 1988-1998.
8. Multivolume work : Excerpt — combines “Multivolume work” with ”Book chapter/excerpt”
   • Sample output: Freud, Sigmund. “Mourning and Melancholia.” The Case of Schreber; Papers on Technique; and Other Works. London: Hogarth Press, 1973. 237-60. Print. Vol. 12 of The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud. Ed. Anna Freud, Carrie Lee Rothgeb and James Strachey. Trans. James Strachey. 24 vols. 1973.

Known issues:

1. In cases where the editor and translator of a book are the same person, they will always be listed Ed. and trans. <name> regardless of the order they are listed in the book. See section 5.5.4. I see no way around this other than requiring the user to manually enter Ed. and trans. or Trans. and ed. into each entry.
2. Editors and translators will always be listed in the following order: editors & translators, then editors, then translators. Switching the order would be pretty trivial, though. If anyone sees any reason to do so, let me know. MLA almost certainly prefers that contributors be listed in the order they appear in the book, but as far as I know that is impossible to accomplish. This also extends to anthologies, which can have compilers, editors, and translators, all of which can be performed by one or more potentially overlapping people. Since compilers and editors seem to be mutually exclusive, and I’ve yet to run into a compiler who also translates, I believe the options I’ve included —comp., ed(s)., trans., ed and trans.— should be sufficient.
3. As far as I know, there is no way to elegantly list multiple publishers from multiple cities, e.g. New York: Random House; London: Associated University Presses, <date>.
4. Edited books whose editors are also translators will not sort properly in the reference library if “Ed/trans” is used. I’m not sure what to do about that. They will sort properly in generated bibliographies, however.
5. If you excerpt from only one volume of a multivolume work but don’t include full publication information for the whole set, the volume used should appear before the city & publisher.

Download the format

Download the MLA 7th edition format. Unzip the file, and install it in the ~/Library/Application Support/Bookends/Custom Formats folder.

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