biblatex-mla -- Wrong hanging indent size

Question

I'm using biblatex-mla (based off the template in this answer).

It works perfectly except, the hanging indent in biblatex-mla is 1/2 the length it should be (which is 0.5in) according to the MLA spec.

How do I fix this?

MWE: test.tex

\documentclass[12pt,letterpaper]{article}
\usepackage[american]{babel}
\usepackage{csquotes}
\usepackage[style=mla]{biblatex}
\usepackage{ifpdf}% required by mla.sty
\usepackage{mla}
\defbibheading{bibliography}{\newpage\centering Works Cited}
\bibliography{main.bib}
\begin{document}
\begin{mla}{Stephen}{Searles}{Schultz}{Queering American History}{\today}{Week 7}

Test sentence. \autocite{Somerville:2005fk}.

\printbibliography
\end{mla}
\end{document}

main.bib

@Online{Somerville:2005fk,
  Title                    = {Dr. James Maas, Professor and Bestselling Author, and Consultant Rebecca Robbins on Sleep for Success},
  Author                   = {Ken Dawson and Sheryl Dawson},

  Year                     = {2010},
  Urldate                  = {2015-08-11},

  Maintitle                = {From Career Treadmill to Fast Track},
  Publisher                = {n.p.}

}

mla is not a very well coded package, IMNSHO. Certainly, it is using stuff which is long obsolete, such as the times package which shouldn't be used any longer. — cfr, Aug 20 '15 at 02:14
@cfr I haven't found a working alternative (mla13 has extra space after the title). What should be used in place of times package? — PTNobel, Aug 20 '15 at 02:36
I use \usepackage{mathptmx} \usepackage[scaled=.90]{helvet} \usepackage{courier} but there are alternatives to this, if preferred. But I think for standard 'We demand Times!' this is probably pretty safe. To be honest, mla.sty doesn't do anything you couldn't do better and more easily yourself in a few lines of preamble. At least half of it could be replaced by geometry and much of the rest by use of the setspace package. — cfr, Aug 20 '15 at 02:58

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 19 '15 at 00:02

3

I think I've found; simply add this to your preamble:

\bibhang=40pt

Is thtat what you want?

answered Aug 19 '15 at 00:02

Bernard

271,350

Why don't you use 0.5in?My professor is going to go at this with a ruler in hand and 40pt isn't 0.5in. – PTNobel Aug 19 '15 at 00:36
1

Because I read it in mla.sty. I didn't invent it. It's up to you to change this value to whatever you please. You're right 0.5in $\approx$ 36pt. (depending on the type of point. – Bernard Aug 19 '15 at 00:53

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 19 '15 at 00:17

You could \setlength{\bibhang}{2\bibhang} if you're absolutely positive it's only half the desired value (or set it to the value itself \setlength{\bibhang}{<value>}).

About your MWE: mla requires loading the ifpdf package and you should prefer addbibresource instead of bibliography with biblatex.

Heres your MWE:

\begin{filecontents}{\jobname.bib}
@Online{Somerville:2005fk,
  Title                    = {Dr. James Maas, Professor and Bestselling Author, and Consultant Rebecca Robbins on Sleep for Success},
  Author                   = {Ken Dawson and Sheryl Dawson},
  Year                     = {2010},
  Urldate                  = {2015-08-11},
  Maintitle                = {From Career Treadmill to Fast Track},
  Publisher                = {n.p.}  
}
\end{filecontents}
\documentclass[12pt,letterpaper]{article}
\usepackage[american]{babel}
\usepackage{csquotes}
\usepackage[style=mla]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{\jobname.bib}
\defbibheading{bibliography}{\newpage\centering Works Cited}
\usepackage{ifpdf}% required by mla.sty
\usepackage{mla}
\setlength{\bibhang}{2\bibhang}

\begin{document}
\begin{mla}{Stephen}{Searles}{Schultz}{Queering American History}{\today}{Week 7}

Test sentence. \autocite{Somerville:2005fk}.

\printbibliography
\end{mla}
\end{document}

And (an adapted) sample output:

biblatex-mla -- Wrong hanging indent size

2 Answers2