MLA International Bibliography (1963- )

Database Description
Fields in This Database:
· Authors
· Titles and Source Information (Journal Articles and Dissertations)
· Titles and Publishing Information (Books and Book Articles)
· Subjects
· Other Text
· Numbering and Date
· Codes

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Database Description: The MLA International Bibliography provides a classified listing and subject index for books and articles published on modern languages, literatures, folklore, and linguistics. This database annually indexes over 50,000 journal articles, books, and dissertations.

MLA indexers review books and journals for material that relates to all forms of human communication. Coverage includes literature from all over the world--Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America. Folklore is represented by folk literature, music, art, rituals, and belief systems. Linguistics and language materials range from history and theory of linguistics, comparative linguistics, semantics, stylistics, and syntax to translation. Other topics include literary theory and criticism, dramatic arts (film, radio, television, theater), and history of printing and publishing.

Works on literature that is transmitted orally, in print, or in audiovisual media and on human language, including both natural languages and invented languages (e.g., Esperanto, computer-programming languages), are listed. Works on subjects such as aesthetics, human behavior, communication, and information processes are included only if they treat human language or literature. There are no historical-period restrictions on language coverage. Works exclusively on classical Greek and Latin literatures are excluded. Works on the teaching of language, literature, and rhetoric and composition at the college level are listed. Works solely on secondary school teaching are excluded unless they contain significant discussion of postsecondary teaching.

PRODUCED BY: Modern Language Association of America.
DATES COVERED: From 1963.
UPDATES: Ten times a year.

Fields in This Database

AUTHORS

AUTHORS (.AU.) encompasses all kinds of author names:

• Author(s) of an article, chapter, dissertation, or book.
• Editor(s) of a book or collection.
• Organization name given as author.

Examples:

DiMassa, Michael V.
Holmes, Olivia
Christian, R. F.
Castillo Sandoval, Roberto
Center for American Culture Studies

All words are indexed. If you are unsure how the name is given, begin searching by surname only. For hyphenated surnames, use either surname or both.

Multiple forms of name may be used for a particular person and may include a designation of function, for example:

Gilman, Sander
Gilman, Sander L.
Gilman, Sander L. (ed.)
Gilman, Sander L. (ed. & pref.)
Gilman, Sander L. (introd.)

When there may be variation in use of initials or spelled out names, and you want to be sure to retrieve all forms, here are some searching tips:

1. Search surname only, or search surname and both first name and initial: Lambdin (R or Robert).
2. Omit middle name or initial.
3. Use BROWSING to look for possible multiple forms.

For more precise results, you may search by one of the specialized author types listed below. However, to search these specialized fields effectively, you need to understand how records are constructed by the indexers.

MAIN AUTHOR (.AUTH.): First author or editor of the article, chapter, dissertation, or book. Authors are presented in order of importance, primary author first.

ALTERNATE AUTHOR (.ALAU.): Secondary or joint author or editor of the article or book.

TITLES AND SOURCE INFORMATION (Journal Articles and Dissertations)

ARTICLE OR DISSERTATION TITLE (.TI.): Title of the article or dissertation.

JOURNAL TITLE (.JN.): Title of the journal in which the article appeared. For dissertations, JN is Dissertation Abstracts International.

JOURNAL TITLE CODE (.JC.): Journal abbreviation used in the printed bibliography.

JOURNAL PLACE OF PUBLICATION (.PUBA.): The place of publication (city and state, or city and country) of the journal, if known by the MLA.

DEGREE GRANTING INSTITUTION (.DGI.): For dissertations, the name of the institution that awarded the degree.

DEGREE GRANTING YEAR (.DGYR.): For dissertations, the year in which the degree was awarded.

TITLES AND PUBLISHING INFORMATION (Books and Book Articles or Chapters)

ARTICLE OR BOOK TITLE (.TI.): Title of the book article or chapter, or the entire book, being cited.

BOOK TITLE (.BKTI.): For book articles or chapters, BKTI is the title of the book collection in which the article or chapter appeared. Searching with BKTI retrieves the separate records for the individual articles or chapters within the book.

BOOK EDITOR (.BKED.): For book articles or chapters, BKED names the editor(s) of the book collection.

BOOK PUBLISHER (.BKPB.): Publisher of the book.

BOOK PLACE OF PUBLICATION (.BKPL.): Place of publication of the book.

SERIES (.SE.): Series in which the book was published.

SERIES ABBREVIATION (.SEA.): Series abbreviation used in the printed bibliography.

SERIES NUMBER (.SENO.)

SUBJECTS

The MLA International Bibliography uses the Contextual Indexing and Faceted Taxonomic Access System (CIFT). Subject analysis is provided by MLA staff members and contributors in terms of an ordered sequence of facets--fundamental categories of information relevant to the study of literature, linguistics, and folklore. A computer system developed at the MLA is used to input, edit, arrange, and format entries and indexes.

In indexing an item for the bibliography, the indexers use terms that describe its content. These descriptors, based on the document author's wording, are assigned to facets pertinent to that item, and these facets control its classification and provide subject access to it in the index.

Subjects display as a string of phrases separated by hyphens. Examples:

language -- sociolinguistics -- language policy -- United States -- Texas - for education -- relationship to multiculturalism -- in reading - dissertation abstract

ethnomusicology -- folk music -- popular music -- rap music -- of African Americans -- United States -- New Jersey -- linguistic approach

English literature -- 1800-1899 -- Browning, Robert -- poetry -- and Auden, W. H. -- Bishop, Elizabeth -- metaphor -- relationship to economics -- dissertation abstract

OTHER TEXT

NOTES (.AB.): Notes about the publication history or special content or attributes of the item being cited, such as photos, plates, references, indexes, or electronic publication. Omit stopwords when searching AB.

NUMBERING AND DATE

YEAR (.YR.): For all kinds of material in this database, YR is the 4-digit year of publication. A search with YR retrieves journal articles, books and book chapters, and dissertations.

VOLUME (.VO.): For journal articles, the volume in which the article appeared.

ISSUE/PART/SUPPLEMENT (.IP.): For journal articles, the issue or part number, or supplement in which the article appeared.

PUBLICATION DATE (.PD.): For journal articles, the date of the issue in which the article appeared. The date may consist of year and month; year, month, and day; year and season, etc. Months and seasons are given in English. Most often, months are abbreviated and seasons are spelled out.

BOOK PUBLICATION YEAR (.BKYR.): For books and book chapters, the publication year of the book.

DEGREE GRANTING YEAR (.DGYR.): For dissertations, the year in which the degree was awarded.

DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS NUMBER (.DAI.): For dissertations, the citation number from Dissertation Abstracts.

CODES

ACCESSION NUMBER (.AN.): Record control number assigned by database producer; unique to each record in the database. Searching by AN is a method for returning directly to a record that you have retrieved previously.

PUBLICATION TYPE (.AT.): A phrase describing the type of material. To search or limit by publication type, include the entire hyphenated phrase:

Journal-article
Book
Book-article (chapter of a book)
Book-collection (book which is a collection of separately titled chapters or articles)
Book-bibliography
Dissertation
Dissertation-abstract (citation from Dissertation Abstracts)

ISSN (.IS.): The International Standard Serial Number of the journal.

ISBN (.ISBN.): The International Standard Book Number of the book. Searching with ISBN limits your results to records for books (does not retrieve records for the individual chapters).

LANGUAGE (.LA.): The language (spelled out) of the item. Many languages from throughout the world are included in this database.

SEQUENCE NUMBER (.SEQ.): The position of the citation in the printed MLA bibliography. For example, 1997-1-7790 means that the citation appears in the MLA 1997 Bibliography, volume 1, item 7790.

UPDATE CODE (.REV.): The format is YYYYNN, where YYYY is the bibliography year, and NN is the number of the update.

March 2003

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