MLA 9th Edition Style Guide: Generic Section Labels

Generic labels of introduction, preface, foreword, afterword (Section 5.27)

• If the source has a generic title, use it without italics or quotation marks

Example: The preface is just titled Preface

Felstiner, John. Preface. Selected Poems and Prose of Paul Celan, translated by Felstiner, W. W. Norton,

2001, pp. xix-xxxvi.

• If the source has a unique title and generic title use unique title in quotation marks

Example:  The introduction is titled Introduction: Novel Moves

Seyhan, Azade. ''Novel Moves.' Tales of Crossed Destinies: The Modern Turkish Novel in a Comparative

Context, by Seyhan, Modern Language Association of America, 2008, pp. 1-22.