Spanish Resources: MLA for Spanish
Formatting
Personal Names
Spanish de is not used before the last name alone.
Rueda (Lope de Rueda)
Spanish del, formed from the fusion of the preposition de and the definite article el, is capitalized and used with the last name alone.
Del Río (Angel Del Rio)
A Spanish surname may include both the paternal name and the maternal name, with or without the conjugation y. The surname of a married woman usually includes her paternal surname and her husband's paternal surname, connected by de. Alphabetize Spanish names by the full surnames (consult your sources or a biographical dictionary for guidance in distinguishing surnames and given names).
Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de
Matute, Anna María
Even persons commonly known by the maternal portions of their surname, such as Galdos and Lorca, should be alphabetized by their full surnames.
García Lorca, Frederico
Capitalization
In prose and verse, Spanish capitalization is the same as English except that the following terms are not capitalized in Spanish unless they begin sentences, or, sometimes, lines of verse:
1. The subject pronoun yo 'I'
2. The names of months and days of the week
3. The names of languages and nationalities
4. Nouns and adjectives derived from proper nouns
5. Titles preceding personal names
6. The words meaning "street," "square," and so on, in most place-names
In a title or a subtitle, capitalize only the first words and words normally capitalized.
La gloria de don Ramiro
Some instructors follow other rules. In the titles of series and periodicals, they capitalize all major words
Revista de Filología Española.
Example
Citing a poem withing a larger work in text:
Al comienzo del poema Lorca dice "La rosa / no buscaba la aurora: / casi eternal en su ramo, / buscaba otra cosa” (Casida de la rosa 95).
Integrating Research
Original Quote in English:
The author states that Lorca “adds to the Arabic theme a heightened sense of sympathy with the mineral, botanical, and animal world which create the immortal conflict” (Honig 95).
Integrating it in Spanish:
Honig afirma que Lorca ‘agrega al tema árabe una mayor sensación de simpatía con el mundo mineral, botánico y animal que crea el conflicto inmortal’ (“adds to the Arabic theme a heightened sense of sympathy with the mineral, botanical, and animal world which create the immortal conflict”; my trans; 95)
Note the use of "my trans" for translated works
Instead of translating, put the material in your own words:
El autor afirma que Lorca usa un tema árabe para mostrar el conflicto entre la naturaleza (Honig 95).
How they would appear in your Works Cited (Obras citadas):
Honig, Edwin. García Lorca, New Directions, 1944.
Lorca, Garcia. “Casida de la rosa,” García Lorca, by Edwin Honig, New Directions, 1944, p. 95.
Original text:
Se refuerza el delirio de la transmutación propia con la imagen delirante del cambio del mundo exterior, que nuestro héroe expresaba así: “Las cosas no son lo que aparentan”, “no hay que fiarse de las apariencias”. Tamaño desdoblamiento de la realidad lo atribuía don Quijote a la obra implementada por magos enemigos suyos que le tenían envidia y actuaban movidos por la intención de hurtarle victorias o infligirle derrotas (Alonso-Fernandez 229).
A quote within a quote - Use quotation marks to start the quote; then change the quotation marks within the quote to apostrophes; and end with quotation mark:
El autor afirma “que nuestro héroe expresaba así: ‘Las cosas no son lo que aparentan’, ‘no hay que fiarse de las apariencias’” (Alonso-Fernandez 229).
Use elipses to shorten quotes:
“Se refuerza el delirio de la transmutación propia con la imagen delirante del cambio ... le tenían envidia y actuaban movidos por la intención de hurtarle victorias o infligirle derrotas” (Alonso-Fernandez 229)
Obras citadas
Alonso-Fernández, Francisco. “Don Quijote, un paciente mental glorioso y Kafkiano.” Salud Mental, vol. 39, no. 4, July 2016, pp. 229–234. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=117550248&site=eds-live&scope=site.