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    Summary:: Publishing (3rd Edition) - The MLA Handbook Is Available in Most Writing Centers and Reference Libraries

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    akram ouk
    MLA (Modern Language Association) style is a commonly used format for writing papers and citing sources in the liberal arts and humanities. It provides guidelines for formatting papers, citing sources with parenthetical citations and reference pages, and building credibility through accountable source use to avoid plagiarism. The document reviews the general MLA paper format, in-text citations, reference pages, fonts, margins, headers, and title pages. It also discusses formatting section headings in MLA style papers and books.

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    Summary:: Publishing (3rd Edition) - The MLA Handbook Is Available in Most Writing Centers and Reference Libraries

    Uploaded by

    akram ouk
    67 views4 pages
    MLA (Modern Language Association) style is a commonly used format for writing papers and citing sources in the liberal arts and humanities. It provides guidelines for formatting papers, citing sources with parenthetical citations and reference pages, and building credibility through accountable source use to avoid plagiarism. The document reviews the general MLA paper format, in-text citations, reference pages, fonts, margins, headers, and title pages. It also discusses formatting section headings in MLA style papers and books.

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    MLA General Format (1)

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    MLA (Modern Language Association) style is a commonly used format for writing papers and citing sources in the liberal arts and humanities. It provides guidelines for formatting papers, citing sources with parenthetical citations and reference pages, and building credibility through accountable source use to avoid plagiarism. The document reviews the general MLA paper format, in-text citations, reference pages, fonts, margins, headers, and title pages. It also discusses formatting section headings in MLA style papers and books.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    67 views4 pages

    Summary:: Publishing (3rd Edition) - The MLA Handbook Is Available in Most Writing Centers and Reference Libraries

    Uploaded by

    akram ouk
    MLA (Modern Language Association) style is a commonly used format for writing papers and citing sources in the liberal arts and humanities. It provides guidelines for formatting papers, citing sources with parenthetical citations and reference pages, and building credibility through accountable source use to avoid plagiarism. The document reviews the general MLA paper format, in-text citations, reference pages, fonts, margins, headers, and title pages. It also discusses formatting section headings in MLA style papers and books.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 4

    MLA General Format

    Summary:

    MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources
    within the liberal arts and humanities. This resource, updated to reflect the MLA Handbook (8th ed.),
    offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes,
    and the Works Cited page.

    MLA style specifies guidelines for formatting manuscripts and using the English language in writing. MLA
    style also provides writers with a system for referencing their sources through parenthetical citation in
    their essays and Works Cited pages.

    Writers who properly use MLA also build their credibility by demonstrating accountability to their source
    material. Most importantly, the use of MLA style can protect writers from accusations of plagiarism,
    which is the purposeful or accidental uncredited use of source material by other writers.

    If you are asked to use MLA format, be sure to consult the MLA Handbook  (8th edition). Publishing
    scholars and graduate students should also consult the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly
    Publishing (3rd edition). The MLA Handbook is available in most writing centers and reference libraries;
    it is also widely available in bookstores, libraries, and at the MLA web site. See the Additional Resources
    section of this handout for a list of helpful books and sites about using MLA style.

    Paper Format

    The preparation of papers and manuscripts in MLA style is covered in chapter four of the MLA
    Handbook, and chapter four of the MLA Style Manual. Below are some basic guidelines for formatting a
    paper in MLA style.

    General Guidelines

     Type your paper on a computer and print it out on standard, white 8.5 x 11-inch paper.

     Double-space the text of your paper, and use a legible font (e.g. Times New Roman). Whatever
    font you choose, MLA recommends that the regular and italics type styles contrast enough that
    they are recognizable one from another. The font size should be 12 pt.

     Leave only one space after periods or other punctuation marks (unless otherwise instructed by
    your instructor).

     Set the margins of your document to 1 inch on all sides.

     Indent the first line of paragraphs one half-inch from the left margin. MLA recommends that you
    use the Tab key as opposed to pushing the Space Bar five times.
     Create a header that numbers all pages consecutively in the upper right-hand corner, one-half
    inch from the top and flush with the right margin. (Note: Your instructor may ask that you omit
    the number on your first page. Always follow your instructor's guidelines.)

     Use italics throughout your essay for the titles of longer works and, only when absolutely
    necessary, providing emphasis.

     If you have any endnotes, include them on a separate page before your Works Cited page.
    Entitle the section Notes (centered, unformatted).

    Formatting the First Page of Your Paper

     Do not make a title page for your paper unless specifically requested.

     In the upper left-hand corner of the first page, list your name, your instructor's name, the
    course, and the date. Again, be sure to use double-spaced text.

     Double space again and center the title. Do not underline, italicize, or place your title in
    quotation marks; write the title in Title Case (standard capitalization), not in all capital letters.

     Use quotation marks and/or italics when referring to other works in your title, just as you would
    in your text: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as Morality Play; Human Weariness in "After Apple
    Picking"

     Double space between the title and the first line of the text.

     Create a header in the upper right-hand corner that includes your last name, followed by a
    space with a page number; number all pages consecutively with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.),
    one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin. (Note: Your instructor or other
    readers may ask that you omit last name/page number header on your first page. Always follow
    instructor guidelines.)

    Here is a sample of the first page of a paper in MLA style:


    The First Page of an MLA Paper

    Section Headings

    Writers sometimes use Section Headings to improve a document’s readability. These sections may
    include individual chapters or other named parts of a book or essay.

    Essays

    MLA recommends that when you divide an essay into sections that you number those sections with an
    arabic number and a period followed by a space and the section name.

    1. Early Writings

    2. The London Years


    3. Traveling the Continent

    4. Final Years

    Books

    MLA does not have a prescribed system of headings for books (for more information on headings, please
    see page 146 in the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd edition). If you are only
    using one level of headings, meaning that all of the sections are distinct and parallel and have no
    additional sections that fit within them, MLA recommends that these sections resemble one another
    grammatically. For instance, if your headings are typically short phrases, make all of the headings short
    phrases (and not, for example, full sentences). Otherwise, the formatting is up to you. It should,
    however, be consistent throughout the document.

    If you employ multiple levels of headings (some of your sections have sections within sections), you may
    want to provide a key of your chosen level headings and their formatting to your instructor or editor.

    Sample Section Headings

    The following sample headings are meant to be used only as a reference. You may employ whatever
    system of formatting that works best for you so long as it remains consistent throughout the document.

    Numbered:

    1. Soil Conservation

    1.1 Erosion

    1.2 Terracing

    2. Water Conservation

    3. Energy Conservation

    Formatted, unnumbered:

    Level 1 Heading: bold, flush left

    Level 2 Heading: italics, flush left

    Level 3 Heading: centered, bold

    Level 4 Heading: centered, italics

    Level 5 Heading: underlined, flush left

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