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MLA Style Guide Eighth Edition

Title of container

Title of Container,
The container is where the material that you are looking for is housed. If the source that is documented is part of a larger whole, the larger whole is the container that holds the source. The title of the container is italicized and is followed by the comma since the information that follows describes the container. The container may be a book that is a collection of stories, poems, essays, art, etc.; a periodical that may contain articles, creative writings, etc.; a web site that contains postings, articles.; or a television series consisting of episodes.

Examples of works with one container:

Book
Baxin, Patrick. "Toward Metareading." The Future of the Book, edited by Geoffrey Nunberg, U of California P, 1996, pp. 153-68.

Periodical
Baron, Naomi S. "Redefining Reading: The Impact of Digital Communication Media." PMLA, vol. 128, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 193-200.

Television Series
"Hush." Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon, performance by Sarah Michelle Gellar, season 4, episode 10,
           Mutant Enemy, 1999.

Web site
Hollmichel, Stefanie. "The Reading Brain: Differences between Digital and Print." So Many Books, 25 Apr. 2013,
           somanybooksblog.com/2013/04/25/the-reading-brain-differences-between-digital-and-print/.
 

Note: A work can sometimes have two containers. A container can be nested in another container. When there is more than one container, include as much information as possible about each container to help the reader understand and locate the original source. The following template can be used as a guide to cite a work with two containers:

1. Author.
2. Title of Source.

Container 1
3. Title of container,
4. Other contributors,
5. Version,
6. Number,
7. Publisher,
8. Publication date,
9. Location.

Container 2
3. Title of container,
4. Other contributors,
5. Version,
6. Number,
7. Publisher,
8. Publication date,
9. Location.

Examples of works with two containers:

Gikandi, Simon. Ngugi wa Thiong'o. Cambridge UP, 2000. ACLS Humanities E-book, hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.07588.0001.001.

Howells, W. D. Their Wedding Journey. Edited by John K. Reeves, 1968. A Selected Edition of W. D. Howells, general editor, Edwin H. Cady, vol        5, Indiana UP, 1968-83.