MLA Style Manual

Numbers and Dates

dates

enumerations

fractions and ratios

mathematical symbols

measurements and dimensions

money

n

numbers

percentages

statistics

tables

telephone numbers

time

dates

Dates in text should have a number rather than an ordinal.

April 6 (not April 6th)

Punctuate common forms of dates as follows:

April 1967 (no comma)
April 6, 1967 (comma after day of month; insert comma after year as well in running text)
1968–1972 (en dash)
May–June 1967 (en dash)
1965– (en dash for open-ended date)
fiscal year 1958/59 (eliminate century in the second year if it is the same)
school year 2004/05 (same as fiscal year)
association year 2004/05 (same as fiscal year)
1970s (no apostrophe)
the '70s (apostrophe before year)

For months, use the following forms in references in all publications; do not follow with a period.

Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

In MLA "Employment Opportunities," use ##/##/## (month/date/year) format.

Use numerals, unless the year is at the beginning of a sentence. When referring to a decade, never use an apostrophe before the "s."

1980s

enumerations

Numerical lists imply rank or temporal order (first 1, then 2, or 1 is more important than 2). Do not number if no such order is intended. In lists that are run together in the text and number more than three, use numbered phrases. Set numbers in parentheses without periods.

(1) etc., (2) etc., (3) etc., and (4) etc. then
(a) etc., (b) etc., (c) etc., and (d) etc.

When items are indented without numbers, begin each new entry with a bullet, set flush left. When they are indented with numbers, the list is laid out the same way, but the bullet is replaced with a numeral and period.

1. etc.;
2. etc.;
3. etc.; and
4. etc.

Double-check alphabetical lists for correct order.

fractions and ratios

Hyphenate fractions:

A one-third share is sufficient.
She filed one-third of the cards.

Ratios may be given with numerals and a colon:

a 1:2 ratio

mathematical symbols

Close up spaces around mathematical symbols such equal signs and less than or greater than symbols.

n=243
P<0.05

measurements and dimensions

Spelling out measurements is preferred; when abbreviations are necessary, set them without periods.

20 km
30 ft

Spell out whole numbers. Use numerals with a multiplication symbol (×) in fractions.

three-by-five cards
2½ × 6-inch cards

money

Always use the numeric form, except for sums greater than $1 million; then use mixed numeric and verbal forms.

For currencies other than the US dollar, use the following formats.

$36.50 (Canadian) for Canadian dollars
£37.50 for British pounds
€42.75 for euros

other well-known currencies: 37.50 Sw. fr. (figure followed by appropriate abbreviation)
lesser-known currencies: 95 Haitian gourdes (figure followed by full name of currency)

n

Use (n=) with the "n" lowercase.

numbers

Use a comma in numbers higher than 999, with the exception of page numbers and years. Abbreviate "number" as "no." when necessary or permitted. Always use the numeric form of numbers with decimal places. For numbers less than one, use a zero preceding the decimal point.

0.58

In the Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA), formerly the Bulletin of the Medical Library Association, text, spell out ordinal numbers less than 100:

third
tenth
forty-second
103rd
1,912th

In the text of MLA News articles, on MLANET, in monographs, and other publications, abbreviate ordinals greater than nine. Spell out whole numbers in all publications' text through ninety-nine:

one through 999,999
one million
101 million

In MLA News "Employment Opportunities" ads, all ordinal and cardinal numbers are represented in numeric form.

Spell out and hyphenate fractions.

If any number in a paragraph requires numerals rather than spelled out numbers, (higher than one hundred, decimal, percentage, money, etc., excepting dates), set all the numbers in numerals.

The library in Johnson City received 124 loan requests during a 1-year period. The library in Smithfield, however, received 19 loan requests, and the library in Morgantown only 12.

Do not begin a sentence with a numeral. Write out the number in full, or recast the sentence.

Provide both numbers (n) and percents where applicable when reporting data.

(n=74, 56%)

If the denominator changes frequently, it is useful to present numbers as n=74/258; 29% unless the denominator is noted in the text.

Of 258 respondents, 74 (29%) indicated...

See also "abbreviations: when to use them" in the Abbreviations section.

percentages

In text, use numerals and "%." Spell out the numeral and the word only if they begin the sentence. Where the percentage is less than 1%, add a decimal point and a zero.

89%
One hundred percent of the students were in attendance.
0.7%

statistics

The following are a few common statistical terms; set them as indicated. Text should be used rather than symbols, except for statistics or formulas.

2 test, = 4.321	set a Greek chi (); set the "2" superscript
t test	"t" is italicized
P value, P = 0.05	"P" is italicized and capitalized; report the exact P value when possible
df	indicates "degrees of freedom"; set in italics
SEM	indicates "standard error of the mean"; set in plain type
SD	indicates "standard deviation"; set in plain type

tables

Do not use ditto marks (") for repeated items; supply the numbers. Provide numbers (n), followed by percentages (where applicable) in parentheses. Use an em dash to indicate entries that are not supplied or are irrelevant; use a zero to indicate that a particular universe has none of the items in question. Do not use "0%"; that is mathematically impossible. If an entry in a particular column that lists both real numbers and percentages happens to be zero, give just the real number and no percentage.

In running text, refer to each table by Arabic numeral. Do not use "see":

Students preferred electronic reserves to print reserves (Table 1).

See also "figures (illustrations)" in the Miscellaneous section.