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MLA 9 Writing Guide

Containers (5, 5.31)

Containers are works that contain other works. In academic writing we often work with a resource that is found within something else. That "something else" is the container. We often work with an article IN a journal IN a database or a chapter IN an eBook IN a series IN a database.

MLA asks you to cite the work and all the containers. The purpose is so that the read can find the same work.

Container (the larger work)

Contained (the resource consulted)

journal, magazine, newspaper article
anthropology essay, poem, or short story
album track or song
dictionary or encyclopedia entry
book chapter, prologue, foreword, or introduction
TV series, podcast, or radio program

episode

database

eBook, journal, magazine, or newspaper

museum

piece of art

play

scene