0

Please, how should I write an MLA in-text citation of a UNESCO document?

The document in question is the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. I am using the PDF version. The Document has no author. The MLA recommends using a shortened version of the title of references with no authors but I don't know if this applies also to UNESCO documents.

Thanks

1
  • Hi HifaMo! You'll have to add more detail or nobody will be able to help you. Try describing the document in question (what kind of document is it? is there a document name/numbers? does it have authors? how is it published? can you provide a link to it?) and also suggest how you think it should be cited.
    – ff524
    Commented May 7, 2014 at 22:46

1 Answer 1

1

The document you refer to is written by an organization or a corporate author (UNESCO). The general rule in such cases is, you treat this as an ordinary source written by an author named UNESCO.

From the Purdue Online Writing Lab, on listing work written by an organization in your works cited list:

A corporate author may include a commission, a committee, or a group that does not identify individual members on the title page. List the names of corporate authors in the place where an author’s name typically appears at the beginning of the entry.

The same general idea applies to in-text citations of sources written by an organization or corporate author:

When a source has a corporate author, it is acceptable to use the name of the corporation followed by the page number for the in-text citation. You should also use abbreviations (e.g., nat'l for national) where appropriate, so as to avoid interrupting the flow of reading with overly long parenthetical citations.

Here's an example, courtesy of Red Deer College Library:

Parenthetical Citation

(Natl. Research Council 55)

Works Cited

National Research Council. Beyond Six Billion: Forecasting the World's Population. Washington: Natl. Acad., 2000. Print.

2
  • What if different sources by the same organization are used? If I use the above recommendation, the reader won't be able to differentiate between the different sources, because the name of the organization used in the in-text citation is shared between all the sources. Commented May 8, 2014 at 8:06
  • You would treat this the same way as you would multiple sources by the same author (see the OWL on the subject) - that is, use the author name and a short version of the title in the citation.
    – ff524
    Commented May 8, 2014 at 8:09

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .