Maybe I am late to the party, but I just realized that there is a new 8th edition of MLA format. As an English Education major, this rocked my world and caused me about an hour of grief as I perused the new guidelines. Oh, beloved MLA 7th edition of my college years, you are missed! Here are the ten stages of realizing that MLA 7th edition is a thing of the past as told by none other than our favorite disoriented pirate, Jack Sparrow.

1. Confusion

Why is Purdue OWL suddenly different? Am I on the right page?

2. Questioning everything you've done in your past five research papers

Why didn't anyone tell me I was doing this wrong? Were we all doing this wrong?

3. Scrambling to see when Purdue OWL was last updated

Surely there is documentation on the exalted site about citing.

4. Realizing there is indeed a new version

Ahh... Yes... NO.

5. Freaking out! FREAKING OUT!

6. Wondering why people felt the need to change your constant, your dear MLA

7. Nervously assessing the changes to MLA

It's like a treasure box because just when you think a part hasn't changed...

8. Realizing you no longer have to search for city names when citing print sources (which never made sense to start with, but it became a part of you!)

Sure, the new rule only applies to works published after 1900, but most of what you use falls into that category anyway.

9. Deciding you can adjust yourself to this new way of life

It's been over four years, but, by golly, we can adjust.

10. Remembering you're a resilient user of the English language and that you can do anything

Go forth, and cite in MLA. Just be sure you're using the 8th edition.