One of the principles of MLA, many other referencing style guides too, is to allow a degree of flexibility in its use by individuals, institutions and organisations. Style guides are just that: guides to style. Bibliographic footnotes continue to be read and are not included in the word count. IB examiners are instructed to disregard such footnotes but to include them in the word count. In the past, students have sometimes attempted to evade word count limits by including explanations, clarifications and additional thoughts in footnotes. One other thought here: MLA allows for the use of explanatory footnotes. If your school requires you to use the 6th or earlier edition of MLA, then a quiet and carefully-worded suggestion that the school get into the 21st century might be appropriate. It is not misconduct, it is not plagiarism. Incorrect formatting is the equivalent of a spelling or grammar mistake, a calculation error in mathematics. Note: “may lose marks for incorrect formatting.” Incorrect formatting, in in-text citations, in footnotes or in references, is not misconduct. Again, you could lose marks for incorrect formatting and use of MLA in your footnotes – especially if you use footnotes instead of in-text citation. If your instructor, school or exam board demands the use of MLA8, then – given the spirit of this edition, one of the main aims of citation and referencing being to help the reader – I would suggest that the same thoughts hold: explanation and/or listing multiple sources. You may lose marks for incorrect formatting and use of MLA if you use MLA7 style in your footnotes – especially if you use footnotes instead of in-text citation. So, the short answer to the question, Can we use MLA and footnotes? is : if your instructor, school or college or examination board demands the use of MLA7 (the 7th edition of the MLA Handbook), then footnotes can be used only for the purposes suggested. The latest edition, the 8th edition, makes no mention of footnotes at all. The implication is that footnote documentation as a standard method of documenting sources would/should no longer to be used – or supported. The only recommendation regarding footnotes in the 7th edition (2009) was that they be used (only) for explanation or clarification of a passage in the text and/or for comment on sources or a listing of multiple sources adding to the points made in the text (230 ff). The 6th edition (2003) noted that some disciplines using MLA still used “endnotes or footnotes to document sources,” and gave a few examples in an appendix (298 ff). (This piece of history is gleaned from page xi of the 8th edition, published in 2016.) MLA, the student-level style guide of the Modern Language Association as published in the MLA Handbook, recommended the use of footnotes in the 1st edition, published in 1977 in the 2nd edition, published in 1984, MLA stated a preference for citation in the text. This could be crucial in, for instance, an IB Extended Essay. The first is “No, you can’t.” The second is, “Yes you can.”īefore I explain my thinking, I will just add that the reason most frequently given for wanting to use MLA and footnotes is “the word count.” If the citation is in a footnote and footnotes aren’t counted in the word count, then the rationale is that using footnotes will save words. A question that comes up regularly in the forums is, “We use MLA can we use this style with footnotes?”
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