Produced by the Modern Language Association of America, the MLA International Bibliography indexes critical scholarship on literature, language, linguistics and folklore. Coverage includes journal articles, series, monographs, dissertations, bibliographies, proceedings and other materials. The database includes all records indexed from 1963 to the present, approximately 1,200,000 records. The MLA Bibliography provides a thesaurus to help users broaden or refine searches. Ovid features include a menu-driven thesaurus tool, a permuted index, on-screen search tips and database specific limits.
The following alphabetical list provides the two-letter label, the relevant alias, and an example for each MLA Bibliography field.
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Label Name/Example
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AN Accession Number
example: 94097323.an.
The Accession Number (AN) field contains a unique eight-digit number
assigned to each document. The first two digits of the number refer
to the bibliography year.
AU Author
example: irving john.au.
The Author (AU) field contains the Author(s) as they appear in the
original document. The format for author names is last name
followed by first name and middle names and/or initials. Editors
are specified with (ED) following their name. Any other non-author
role, such as illustrator, is also indicated in this field.
BL Place of Publication
example: los angeles.bl.
The Place of Publication (BL) field contains the city and state for
US journals and city and country for foreign journals. It will
display as part of the Source (SO) field.
BK Book Citation
example: india.bk.
The Book Citation (BK) field contains the title of the work in which
the book article appears, the editors of the work and the pagination
of the book article.
BT Collection Title
example: elephant.bt.
The Collection Title (BT) field contains the title of the work in
which the book article appears.
DI Degree Granting Institution
example: columbia.di.
The Degree Granting Institution (DI) field contains the name of the
institution that granted the degree. This field is present for
dissertations.
DN Dissertation Information
example: 9331076.dn.
The Dissertation Information (DN) field contains the Dissertation
Abstract Number, the Degree Granting Institution and the date of
publication.
DP Date of Publication
example: 1993.dp.
The Date of Publication (DP) field contains the date of publication
for journal articles, the year of publication for books and book
articles and the degree granting year for institutions.
ED Collection Editors
example: snapper johan p.ed.
The Collection Editors (ED) field contains the name(s) of the
editor(s) of a collection of book articles.
HW Subject Heading Word
example: utopia$.hw.
Sometimes you may wish to retrieve every subject heading that
includes a particular word; this is done by searching the single
word in the Subject Heading Word (HW) field. You can also view
every subject heading which contains a particular word by using the
pull-down menu TOOLS/Permuted Index.
IB ISBN
example: 0-06-250901-2 pbk.ib.
The ISBN (IB) field contains the International Standard Book
B\Number (ISBN). The ISBN appears as a number separated by hyphens
(show hyphens in your search). The ISBN may be followed by the
designation hbk for hardcover books or pbk for paperback books.
IP Issue/Part
example: 25.ip.
The Issue/Part field (IP) contains the issue and/or part for a
particular volume of a journal. The IP field usually displays as
part of the Source (SO) field.
IS ISSN
example: 0012-4273.is.
The ISSN (IS) field contains the International Standard Serial
Number (ISSN) for the journal in which an article was published. It
appears as an eight-digit number, separated by a hyphen.
JA Journal Abbreviation Search
example: aarml.ja.
The Journal Abbreviation Search (JA) field contains the abbreviation
of the journal name that is used in the printed bibliography.
JN Journal Name
example: texto critico.jn.
The Journal Name (JN) field contains the full name of the journal in
which an article was published. This field displays as part of the
Source (SO) field. Journal names are indexed as phrases, so enter
enough letters of the journal name to locate the name in the index:
literature fi (for Literature Film Quarterly). Stopwords such as of
and the are included in the JN index.
JW Journal Word
example: bloomsbury.jw.
The Journal Word (JW) field contains individual words from every
journal name in MLA Bibliography. Stopwords such as the or of are
not included. This field is used to retrieve every occurrence of a
journal which includes a particular word, such as "poetry."
LG Language
example: spa.lg.
spanish.lg.
The Language (LG) field contains the language(s) of publication of
an article. The language name is searchable in full or as a
3-letter code (such as fre for French); the codes are usually, but
not always, the first three letters of the language name.
NT Notes
example: antipoemas.nt.
The Notes (NT) field contains an annotation or short abstract,
giving further information about the item. The notes index contains
all searchable words from the notes field. Stopwords such as the
and of are not searchable.
PB Publisher
example: norton.pb.
The Publisher (PB) field consists of the inclusive pagination of a
journal article. This field is usually displayed as part of the
Source (SO) field.
PG Pagination
example: 349.pg.
The Page (PG) field consists of the inclusive pagination of a
journal article. This field is usually displayed as part of the
Source (SO) field.
PT Publication Type
example: book article.pt.
The Publication Type (PT) field contains terms assigned to each
document to describe its publication type. Standard publication
types include Journal Article, Book Article, Book Collection, Book,
Dissertation Abstract, and Dissertation. In addition, information
on special document types may also appear in this field, for
example: Book Bibliography.
SA Series Abbreviation
example: canfs.sa.
The Series Abbreviation (SA) field contains the abbreviation of the
series name that is used in the printed bibliography.
SH Subject Headings
example: mock heroic poetry.sh.
The Subject Headings (SH) field contains the abbreviation of the
series name that is used in the printed bibliography.
SL Series Place of Publication
example: belgium.sl.
The Series Place of Publication (SL) field contains the place of
publication for books in series.
SN Series Number
example: 203.sn.
The Series Number (SN) field contains the series number.
SO Source
example: harpers.so.
The Source (SO) field contains all of the basic information needed
to locate a citation, including the full Journal Name or Monograph
Publisher, the Vol/Issue, pagination and year of publication.
SQ Sequence Number
example: 94-1-10003.sq.
The Sequence Number (SQ) field contains a number that shows the
position of the record in the printed bibliography. 94-4-2052 means
that the item appears in the MLA 1994 Bibliography, volume 4, item
2052.
ST Series Title
example: camera obscura.st.
The Series Title (ST) field contains the series title for books and
book articles. The word a, which is a stopword in other fields, can
be searched in the title.
TI Title
example: all that jazz.ti.
The Title (TI) field contains the Title of the document. Stopwords
such as of or the will display in documents but do not appear in the
Title index. The word a, which is a stopword in other fields, can
be searched in the title.
UP Update Code
example: 9500.up.
The Update Code (UP) field contains a four-digit number in the
format YYNN where YY is the bibliography year and NN is the number
of the update.
VO Volume
example: 54.vo
The Volume (VO) field contains the volume number of a serial
publication. This field displays as part of the Source (SO) field.
YR Year
example: 90.yr
1990.yr
The Year (YR) field contains the year in which a document was
published.
The following are the Ovid limits for the MLA Bibliography database.
Limit Name Example ========== ======= Notes ----- example: limit to antipoemas A limit to Notes restricts retrieval to documents that have a Notes field. The Notes (NT) field contains an annotation or short abstract, giving further information about the item. Languages --------- example: spanish A limit to Languages will restrict retrieval to any of the languages indexed by MLA. Descriptor Subfields -------------------- example: limit to genre A limit to Descriptor Subfields will restrict your retrieval to any of the Descriptor Subfields indexed by MLA such as Genre, Literary Theme/Motif or Time Period. Publication Year ---------------- example: limit to 1995 A limit to Publication Year will restrict retrieval to specified years covered in MLA. You may enter a year or year range in either the two-digit 92-96 or four-digit 1992-1996 format. Publication Type ---------------- example: limit to book A limit to Publication Type will restrict retrieval to any of the publication types indexed by MLA. Journal Article --------------- example: limit to journal article A limit to Journal Article will restrict retrieval to documents which are indexed from published journals. Monographs are eliminated by a limit to Journal Article. Change to MLA Bibliography from another database ================================================ use mlab or ..c/mlab