I have just finished browsing through the 7th edition of the MLA Handbook for writers of research papers and the 6th edition of the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association. I still consider these publications are must-haves for researchers, but all through the reading, searching and random page marking, I have been wondering how long the new editions will last.
A few highlights of both are the recently renewed discussions on point of view, voice ownership, academic responsibility and ethics. The classic, luring sections consecrated to adequacy and correction are still the best guidelines into language use in scientific papers. I have always been fond of the unit the APA manual reserves for publication recommendations, although it is primarily concerned with the field of psychology. In contrast, the most enticing part of the MLA handbook is the introductory chapter, which addresses the passage from empirical research to text.
Both manuals are renowned the world over for having set forth the two leading reference and citation standards. Nowadays, though, I doubt any reader approaches the APA or MLA manuals in search of advice on how to build reference lists because, as noted in the previous post, we entrust online applications with that job. I am more inclined to believe we still read these texts to gain information on the state of the art in issues like editing and publication standards.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that both associations have developed new, more efficient and explicit methods to report e-references. In much the same way, at least the APA has openly acknowledged the impossibility to update the manual as frequently as the advent of new, more varied media would require. Hence, the association has revamped its website, now more user-friendly and interactive than in the past. There, on twitter and in the APA style blog, users will keep track of the changes and additions that are made to its system. The MLA, though, restricts the contents of the website to those who have the printed edition of the book. Interestingly enough, none of the manuals has been released in electronic formats.
I bear little doubt that online reference management programs are evolving faster and more efficiently than the systems they are based on. And now that users do not need to purchase the books to shape up their bibliographies, I wonder if they will still remain loyal to the printed page.
Image © lumix2004
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