theshiftingstacks

I'm no expert on citation, which is a funny thing for a librarian to say. That is to say, with the introduction of the latest MLA Handbook I am less sure about certain sources. In particular, I found MLA's section on web publications useful only to a point. At my work place, our copy of the MLA Handbook 7th ed. spontaneously opens to section 5.6.1 after only a few weeks of use. The web publication section represents things in print, now on the web, or things that could be in print, and originated on the web, rather well. It's those new fangled services that are not represented that MLA provides little guidance, like YouTube or other web video services.

I'm sure that may make some librarians cringe but YouTube contains important and relevant content, like Obama's inaugural address. Original content, created by Youtube users, is valuable and deserves some method of citation. On top of that, Google's search power and the migration of media outlets to Youtube, make the video streaming service that much more valuable (CSPAN on youtube).

With each update of the writing and research handbooks, my colleagues and I scramble to update our crib sheets for our students. Leaving out web sources is not an option. I found that students want to use sources that are difficult to cite, more often than not. And the students need the confident guidance of the librarians to cite their sources correctly. So for our MLA citation crib sheet I took a swing at coming up with guidelines to MLA citation for YouTube and other web based video. I based my template on MLA's Handbook section 5.6.2b.

This is a work in progress and welcome any suggestions.

Not all elements of the citation template below may be present, in which case fill in the pertinent information as best as possible.

[Author.] [Title.] [Date of Original Work] [Site Name.] [Editor.] [Date Posted.] [Publisher Name.] [Larger Work Title] [Media Type.] [Date Accessed.] [‹ url ›].

Example from YouTube:

40 Inspirational Speeches In 2 Minutes. youtube.com. MBelinke. 10 Dec. 2008. Video. 6 June 2009 ‹ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6wRkzCW5qI ›

Example of an Original Work posted to YouTube:

If the web video is a recording of an original work then the posting date is not necessary. Depending on the orginal work (i.e. speech, performance, etc.) you may need to place quotes around or italicize the title of the work. If cited piece is apart of a larger work, include italicized title of the larger work when available. If original publications date is not available use posting date.

Ferrell, Will. "Harvard Class Day June 4 2003 Will Ferrell SNL 352nd Commencement part 1 of 3." 4 June 2003. youtube.com. qianguanchang. Web. 6 June 2009. ‹ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPl3X6whm3A › .

Example from TED:

Rives, perf. Rives Controls the Internet. Nov. 2006. ted.com. TED. Web. 6 June 2009. ‹ http://www.ted.com/talks/rives_controls_the_internet.html ›

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th ed. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2009. Print.