 |
Minimal Guidelines for Authors of Web Pages
These guidelines recommend the minimal reference information that should be provided on Web pages intended for use by students, teachers, and scholars in the modern languages. This information will help readers to use, evaluate, search for, and cite information found on the Web.
Information about responsible parties
Identify all individuals and groups responsible for the creation and maintenance of the site. Include individuals' institutional affiliations when relevant. Information to be given might include
- Authors(s)
- Editors(s)
- Designers(s)
- Institution or organization sponsoring the site
- Contact information
Copyright declaration
Include an explicit statement of appropriate uses for the site.
- Note whether users may copy and use graphic elements or quote the text.
- Note to whom applications should be made for appropriate copyright use and permissions.
Privacy statement
If you collect information from users of your Web site, you should include a statement of what information is collected and how it will be used. See the MLA privacy statement.
Security issues
Web pages containing sensitive or confidential information should be protected against unauthorized access.
Site information
- Purpose. Indicate the purpose(s) that informed the design of the site.
- Site-information tags. To aid Web searches, include adequate metadata using applicable standards.
- Site configuration. Indicate whether a table of contents, site map, index, bibliography, or other apparatus accompanies the site.
- Citations and permissions. List all credits, acknowledgments, and permissions.
- Software considerations. Note browser features or plug-ins supported or required by the Web site. Note any provision for readers with special needs (text-only versions, audio supplements, and so on).
- Update and revision notices. Provide the date of the original posting and the last update, the author of the last update, and (optionally) a revision history. It is particularly important to provide revision histories for scholarly resources after they are mounted on a Web site to alert readers of changes that may have been made to a cited version of the Web site.
- Archive notices. If archives of earlier versions of Web texts are maintained by the author(s), directions for accessing or requesting those archives should be included in the site information.
Style
- Authors of scholarly writing on the Web should number paragraphs or other sections in texts of significant length so exact locations may be cited.
- For this and other matters relating to the citation of information on the Web, see the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (fifth ed.).
- Web sites should comply with appropriate institutional and statutory guidelines on accessibility.
These guidelines were approved by the MLA Executive Council at its 21-22 May 1999 meeting and were last reviewed by the Committee on Information Technology in November 2002.
|
|
|
|
