span element

The span element is a cousin to the div element -- in that it is used primarily for styling purposes, except that it is geared towards "inline" content.

Example 2.7 - span element - Example 2.7 (Without Styles)

 <div class="citation">
   <span class="author">Berners‐Lee, Tim   </span>.
   <span class="title">We Need a Magna Carta for the Internet   </span>
   <span class="journal">New Perspectives Quarterly   </span>31.3 (2014): 39-41. Web.
   <br/>

   <a href="https://harvard.instructure.com/courses/8246/files/folder/readings?preview=1564950" title="We Need a Magna Carta for the Internet by Tim Berners-Lee">View PDF   </a>
 </div>

In style element (<style>) within head element: 

.citation .journal { font-style: italic; }
.citation span.title::before { content: '"';}
.citation span.title::after { content: '." ';}
Berners‐Lee, Tim. We Need a Magna Carta for the InternetNew Perspectives Quarterly 31.3 (2014): 39-41. Web.
View PDF
 

See: Inline elements and Block elements from MDN (Mozilla Developer Network)