Overview
- This element ends with a comma.
- For more information, refer to pages 145-154 of the MLA Handbook, 9th ed.
- "You should always list the following contributors in your entry, generally in the Contributor element:
- translators
- editors responsible for scholarly editions...
- editors responsible for edited collections by works of various primary authors...(MLA Handbook, 9th ed., p.146)
- Other types of contributors include:
- organizations that host content (e.g. Youtube, Vimeo)
- creators of television shows
- singers or actors whose contribution is the focus of your discussion
- actors who are important for identifying the version of a work (MLA Handbook, 9th ed., p.148)
- Common descriptions of other contributors are:
- adapted by
- directed by
- edited by
- illustrated by
- introduction by
- narrated by
- performance by
- translated by (MLA Handbook, 9th ed. p. 151)
Examples
Paz, Octavio. In Light of India. Translated by Eliot Weinberger, Harcourt,
1997.
MLA allows the writer to emphasize the focus of particular people responsible for a work. If your discussion of such a work focuses on the contribution of a particular person - say, the performance of an actor or the ideas of the screenwriter - begin the entry with his or her name, followed by a descriptive label (MLA Handbook, 9th ed., pp. 146-148):
Othello. Directed by Stuart Burge, performances by Laurence Olivier et al.,
BHE Films, 1965.
