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Citation Help for MLA, 8th Edition: Email and Tweets

An introduction to MLA Style.

Month Abbreviations

According to p. 95 of the MLA Handbook 8th ed. Spell out months in the body of your paper and abbreviate as follows in your works cited list:

January = Jan.
February = Feb.
March = Mar.
April = Apr.
May = May
June = June
July = July
August = Aug.
September = Sept.
October = Oct.
November = Nov.
December = Dec.

Email Example

Olsen, Mary. "Re: Statistics from Student Population." Received by Jonas Conner, 15 Mar. 2015.

Email Explanation

Author: Olsen, Mary.
Provide the last name and first names of the author of the email, followed by a period.

Title of message: "Re: Statistics from Student Population."
Use the title of message taken from the subject line and enclose it in quotations marks. End with a period.

Recipient: Received by Jonas Conner,
Use the words Received by followed by the recipient's name of the e-mail and a comma.


Date: 15 Mar. 2015.
The date of the e-mail using the appropriate abbreviation for the month. End citation with a period.

[The above information is based on p. 29 of the MLA Handbook 8th edition.]

Tweet Example

@persiankitty. "We are low on cat food and kitty litter." Twitter, 28 June 2016, 4:45 p.m., twitter.com/persionkitty/status/2938479832.

Tweet Explanation

Author: @persiankitty.
Provide the name of the hashtag of the tweet, followed by a period.

Message: "We are low on cat food and kitty litter."
Restate the entire full text of the message and enclose it in quotations marks. End with a period.

Twitter: Twitter,
Give the name Twitter in Italics followed by a comma.


Date and time: 28 June 2016, 4:45 p.m.,
The date and time of the tweet using the appropriate abbreviation for the month. End each part with a comma.

URL: twitter.com/persionkitty/status/2938479832.
Give the URL for hte tweet and end citation with a period.

[The above information is based on p. 29 of the MLA Handbook 8th edition.]