MLA Format

Introduction

“MLA” stands for Modern Language Association. This is a professional organization for scholars of language and literature.

But why does this group of people have so much influence on the appearance of papers you write in college?

The MLA, like many other academic organizations, publishes a scholarly journal and has done so for decades. In years before computers were common, the editors of this journal required typed submissions for publication to follow a common formatting template.

Professors who were following this format to write their own work recognized the value of having some standard of uniform appearance. They started asking their students to follow the same format when they typed essays for class projects.

Fast forward to now, and we have a thick set of guidelines for how the first page of an essay should look, what margins and font are appropriate, and what a Works Cited entry for a blog post should look like.

The ultimate goal for MLA formatting and citation standards is so that everyone has a common template to draw from. While they may feel like unbreakable rules, it’s helpful to remember that they were created to serve a common need, with your interests in mind.

The Purpose of MLA Style

The MLA style guide aims to accomplish several goals:

• to ensure consistent use of the English language in academic writing;
• to ensure consistent formatting and presentation of information, for the sake of clarity and ease of navigation; and
• to ensure proper attribution of ideas to their original sources, for the sake of intellectual integrity.

MLA Formatting Rules

• All papers written in MLA should include a Body and Works Cited
• Font: Your paper should be written in 12-point text. Whichever font you choose, MLA requires that regular and italicized text be easily distinguishable from each other. Times and Times New Roman are often recommended.
• Line Spacing: All text in your paper should be double-spaced.
• Margins: All page margins (top, bottom, left, and right) should be 1 inch. All text should be left-justified.
• Indentation: The first line of every paragraph should be indented 0.5 inches.
• Page Numbers: Create a right-justified header 0.5 inches from the top edge of every page. This header should include your last name, followed by a space and the page number. Your pages should be numbered with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3…) and should start with the number 1 on your title page. Most word-processing programs have the ability to automatically add the correct page number to each page so you don’t have to do this by hand.
• Use of Italics: In MLA style, you should italicize (rather than underline) the titles of books, plays, or other standalone works. You should also italicize (rather than underline) words or phrases you want to lend particular emphasis—though you should do this rarely.
• Sentence Spacing: Include just one single space after a period before the next sentence: “Mary went to the store. She bought some milk. Then she went home.”
• The first page: Like the rest of your paper, everything on your first page, even the headers, should be double-spaced. The following information should be left-justified in regular font at the top of the first page (in the main part of the page, not the header):
• on the first line, your first and last name
• on the second line, your instructor’s name
• on the third line, the name of the class
• on the fourth line, the date
• The title: After the header, the next double-spaced line should include the title of your paper. This should be centered and in title case, and it should not be bolded, underlined, or italicized (unless it includes the name of a book, in which case just the book title should be italicized).
• The Oxford Comma: The Oxford comma (also called the serial comma) is the comma that comes after the second-to-last item in a series or list. For example: The UK includes the countries of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. In the previous sentence, the comma immediately after “Wales” is the Oxford comma. In general writing conventions, whether the Oxford comma should be used is actually a point of fervent debate among passionate grammarians. However, it’s a requirement in MLA style, so double-check all your lists and series to make sure you include it!

Summary

MLA style is one of the most common citation and formatting styles you will encounter in your academic career. Any piece of academic writing can use MLA style, from a one-page paper to a full-length book. It is widely used by in many high school and introductory college classes, as well as scholarly books and professional journals.

Sources:

“Why is MLA Documentation Important?” By Lumen Learning. Retrieved from: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/styleguide/chapter/why-is-mla-documentation-important/ Licensed under: CC-BY

“Introduction to MLA Documentation.” By Lumen Learning. Retrieved from: Licensed under: CC-BY-SA