MLA Citation Help: Email, Tweets, Insta, & Blogs

In the MLA 8th edition, a work's format ("book," "webpage," "database article," etc.) isn't the most important consideration (if you're not sure where to start in NoodleTools, check here).

Cite everything by using the MLA list of Core Elements (info common to most works) in this specific order:

1. Author's last name, First name.
2. "Title of Source."
3. Title of Container,
4. Other contributors,
5. Version,
6. Number,
7. Publisher,
8. Publication date,
9. Location. [where is it? page numbers in a book, URL if it's a website, etc.]
10. (if necessary:) 2nd Container’s Title, Other contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location.

If you have looked hard for a piece of information but cannot find it, skip it.

There is often more than one way to correctly cite a source. If you have a question about citation, ask Ms. Biancolo or your teacher.

The following is an example of a good citation. In this example, my article only has the highlighted elements, so I skip the ones my article doesn't have:

1. Author.
2. "Title of Source."
3. Title of Container,
4. Other Contributors,
5. Version,
6. Number,
7. Publisher,
8. Publication date,
9. Location. 
10. (if necessary:) 2nd Container’s Title, Other contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location.

Cunningham, Paige Winfield. "The Hopeful News About Moderna's Coronavirus Vaccine is Extremely Preliminary." Washington Post, 19 May 2020. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A624329670/OVIC?u=mlin_c_woracd&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=e373f807.

Include the entire tweet, without changing the capitalization:

@realjohngreen (John Green). “I'm astonished how many people (many dozens) email me to inform me they are illegally downloading my work. Not okay. GO TO THE LIBRARY.” Twitter, 25 March 2012, 10:54 a.m., twitter.com/johngreen/status/183975184498298880.

A blog or listserv network is considered the "Publisher" of the blogs it hosts:

Gaiman, Neil. “Neil Gaiman Talks about His Love of Libraries.” The Book Case, BookPage, 14 Apr. 2010, www.bookpage.com/the-book-case/2010/04/14/neil-gaiman-talks-about-his-love-of-libraries/.

When citing an email, use the subject as the title:

Geenty, Kristina. "Re: WA is the Best!" Received by Vicky Biancolo, 4 Oct. 2022.

1. Instagram account holder’s name or username (in other words, the author).
2. "Photo title or description" (title of source). If there is no title, make up a description and do not use italics or quotation marks.
3. Instagram (title of container),
4. Did someone else take the photo? (names of any other contributors),
5. Date photo was published on Instagram,
6. Most recent date you saw it,
7. URL (location).

1. Open a browser
2. Type " instagram.com/username" in the address bar to find all of the posts by that user (in my case, I typed in: instagram.com/worcesteracademy) 
3. Click on the photo you want to cite to open it
4. Copy the URL from your address bar

Say you want to cite this post from WA's Insta:

Your citation would look like this: