How do I do in-text citations (preferably MLA style) for multiple published letters in the same collection? « Mla Style Help « Writing Help

20Nov/092

How do I do in-text citations (preferably MLA style) for multiple published letters in the same collection?

I am writing a paper using five or six letters from one individual to another individual, all published in the same collection. I know I should have individual entries in my works cited list for each letter, but when I do in-text citations such as

"Our controversy has ended" (Malthus 25).

how do I indicate which letter it's from? Usually you're supposed to use an abbreviated title after the author name, but I can't figure out what an identifying title might be. Can I just leave out additional information since the page number will be enough to place it (all the letters are from the same book).

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Tagged as: Citations, collection, Intext, Letters, Multiple, preferably, Published, Same, Style Leave a comment

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Think4Yourself
November 20th, 2009 - 08:11

For each quotation, I believe you write the first in full the first time you use it and afterwards write:

” Op.Cit.” with the letter “name” and “page” thereafter
(as in “opere citato” (in the work cited))

You can verify what I just said by looking at Strunks Manual of Style, or calling the reference librarian at the main branch of your public library.

Good luck!
Click
November 20th, 2009 - 08:40

It seems as if there are two possibilities:

“Our controversy …” (Malthus, “Letter from Doe to Johnson in 2002″; 25).

alternately:

“Our controversy…” (Doe, “Letter to Johnson in 2002″)

In this second example the page number and Malthus (as the editor -I presume- of the published letter) would be listed separately in the citation list for each letter you quote from:

Citation List

Doe, John, “Letter to Peter Johnson on 2 April, 2002,” (Malthus 25) 2002.

Johnson, Peter, “Letter to John Doe on 1 January, 1999,” (Malthus 22) 1999.