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Topic : Is there a way to cite sources without the full name, for example by using an acronym, in MLA format? My teacher is making us do MLA and I don't like how intrusive to my writing it is - selfpublishingguru.com

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My teacher is making us do MLA and I don't like how intrusive to my writing it is to have to cite a long article title. For example, in my last essay, we were required to use The Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a source, so when quoting it, it looked like this:

"The quick brown fox..."(The Universal Declaration of Human Rights).

I see lots of research papers online cited with just a simple one character footnote. In my current essay, I need to cite an article called "Weird Negative Effects of Social Media on Your Brain" and I would greatly prefer not to write the whole article name when citing it. Is there any more convenient way to cite sources without having such a long title (like writing the first letter of each word to make an acronym) or is this required to be proper MLA formatting?

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As people said in the comments, double check with your teacher first - seeing as they're going to be the one grading you, I'd make sure whatever you do is okay with them.

Now, if you are citing an article, inline citations (for a book or multiple page-long article) only need to have the author and page number, like in (Smith 290). If it's something with an author but no page number, you can do (Smith). Now, finally, let's say your article has a really long title, like the one you mention. The purpose of inline citations is to provide a quick way to check your bibliography, find the source, and then check it for more information. In other words, I've always been able to abbreviate the source enough that it's shorter, but not so much you can't find it in the bibliography fairly easily.

For example, with your title, I might use ("Negative Effects of Social Media") for a fairly distinctive citation if there are other articles with a similar title. But if there aren't really any other articles with the phrase "Negative Effects" in the title, then you could do ("Negative Effects"). Just keep in mind the main point of these inline citations as you abbreviate: to make sure you can find the source in the bibliography fairly easily.

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