Descriptive Transcript of the “Meet MLA Handbook Plus” Video
The MLA Handbook Plus logo fades in as upbeat music plays.
The logo flies up and text begins to appear in front of cartoon clouds over the course of several screens: “With MLA Handbook Plus, students can access the ninth edition of the handbook and much more online, whether they’re on campus, at home, or anywhere.” As the last part of the sentence disappears, the screen moves down and shows a cartoon scene of a person in a sweater with the word “college” on the front of it walking on a grassy field. The field is surrounded by trees, and leaves are scatted on the grass. The front of a building with columns is in the background, and behind the building and trees is the outline of a city skyline.
The person walks for a few moments, and then the scene switches to a close-up of the person’s face. The sound of wind is heard, and a few leaves are blown across the screen as the person looks up.
The scene swipes to show the same person sitting in a classroom at a desk and writing in a notebook as a teacher points at a blackboard with the question “What is MLA style?” written on it. A bell is heard in the background.
The scene switches to show the person sitting up in bed in the dark with a closed laptop on their legs. On the wall are posters showing the covers of the following books: MLA Guide to Undergraduate Research in Literature, second edition, by Elizabeth Brookbank and H. Faye Christenberry; MLA Guide to Digital Literacy, second edition, by Ellen C. Carillo, and MLA Handbook, ninth edition. The person opens the laptop, a click is heard, and a spotlight illuminates the person sitting in bed.
The scene changes to show the perspective over the person’s shoulder as they are viewing the laptop. On the laptop screen is section 5.4 of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook, as it appears on the MLA Handbook Plus site. On the left-hand side of the screen is a partial view of the list of the chapter’s contents, and on the right is the text of section 5.4. That section is labeled “Author: Where to Find It,” and beneath the text of that section is a figure labeled 5.3, which is a screenshot of the title page of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer. After a moment, the person moves the laptop cursor on the screen and, with an audible click, they click the Split-Screen button that appears next to one labeled Search Site. The page changes to show the current chapter in the split-screen view: the chapter text is now on the left, and the right side of the screen shows figure 5.3 next to the text, rather than embedded in it.
The screen shifts to show the person standing on a subway platform labeled 14th Street. The person stands between two metal columns, and a bench is behind them to the left. On the wall to the right of the person is an ad with the text “The MLA Core Elements! Live and in concert!” On the right side of that text is the MLA template of core elements. The core elements presented in the MLA template are numbered from one to nine and are presented vertically as follows: Author, Title of Source, Title of Container, Contributor, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication Date, and Location. A star-shaped sticker with the word “Wow” in it is stuck on top of the bottom left of the template. The person looks over at the ad on the wall and raises their right hand to their chin, with only their thumb and index finger extended. The sound of a train passing is heard distantly, and then a subway train comes into frame.
The scene changes to show the person sitting at a table in a café typing on their laptop. On the table is a beverage container with the MLA’s logo on it. In the background is a counter with a coffee machine. Between two pictures of a mug with steam rising from it is a menu board that has the labels “Drinks” and “Food” at the top. Beneath the labels is the following text: “Hundreds of citation examples, many in languages other than English!” The person types on the laptop and keyboard clicking is heard as faint, inaudible conversations also play in the background.
The scene changes to show the person sitting at home in front of a TV that is on top of a shelving unit. In the background is a dining room that has a table with food on it. Behind the person, a picture hangs on the wall and shows three people—one of them being the person sitting in front of the TV. The TV screen shows the MLA Handbook Plus logo, and beneath it is the text “MLA Style 101” and beneath that is “Introduction.” Part of the audio of that video can be heard faintly and then fades out as the screen changes: “ . . . and I’m here to teach you MLA style. For the past twenty years, I’ve used MLA style on a near daily. . . .”
The scene shifts to show the person outside in a snow-covered landscape walking a dog. The person is walking on a sidewalk and is wearing earbuds. Musical notes appear in the air above their head. In the background is a line of trees covered in snow and the outline of a city skyline. Dog barking is heard as the person walks further along the sidewalk.
The scene shifts to show a close-up of the person raising their smartphone up to look at it.
The scene changes to be from the person’s perspective while looking down at their phone. The phone screen is tapped on with an audible dinging sound, and on the screen is a page showing the MLA Handbook Plus logo and two buttons labeled Learn More and Access the Handbook.
The scene switches to a close-up of the person’s face and upper body. The person lowers their smartphone and then raises their right hand to their chin with only their thumb and index finger extended as they look upward. A thought bubble appears next to the person with accompanying popping sound effects. The following question is in the bubble: “How do I cite song lyrics?”
The scene changes to show the person reading the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook while sitting on a beach in a folding chair beneath a large umbrella. The sky is clear except for a few clouds and three silhouettes of birds flying in the distance. The sound of waves crashing is heard along with bird cries. The person leans back in the chair and closes their eyes as the scene tilts up into sky and zooms past some clouds.
The screen fades in to show a close-up of the person smiling and sitting in a chair. A circular window is to their left in the background. A clear window pops up in front of the person, and the person lifts one hand to touch it. The sound of tapping glass is heard as the person touches the window. The person raises their other hand to touch the glass as well. As they look around, their mouth makes an O-shape, as if in surprise or awe.
The scene pulls back from the view of the person behind glass and shows that the person is sitting in a spaceship that is flying through space. Behind the ship are stars and a red planet. A beep is heard and there is the fiery rumble of a rocket as the scene zooms out more.
The scene of the spaceship fades out and, with another beep, the screen changes to show the MLA Handbook Plus logo. Beneath the logo the following text appears: “Take it with you.”
The logo and text disappear and is replaced with the following: “Learn more about how your library can subscribe at mlahandbookplus.org.”
