MLA Style and Format Requirements

MLA Standards for Research Papers

MLA Instances Centering around Format and Style

Supposing, you were asked to format your term paper according to Modern Language Association (MLA) style. You feel you will manage to write this paper but the phrase MLA style scares you? Read this article to shed some light on MLA formatting style. We will provide you with the examples of MLA style and useful tips that our editors have discovered over the years. If you don't even have the slightest conception of what MLA style is and you are just hunting for proper examples of MLA quotations, we will lend you a hand too.

A Simplified Definition of MLA Formatting

MLA format is a general way to cite source material for most sorts of humanities documents. It is easier than style guides, including the APA Style Guide or the Chicago Manual Style,and has two principles:

1. Concise in-text citations.
2. References cited in an alphabetical order that accord with the in-text citations and are put at the end of the paper.

MLA style and MLA formatting is not just all the above and according to The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers 7^th Edition,there are other significant styles and formatting things you should be aware of.

Highlighting

Quite often you need to call attention to some points in your term paper but applying italics for emphasizing is not a commonplace in research works. Normally, according to MLA standards, foreign words that appear in English texts are to be written in italics.

MLA Formatting of Terms Papers

If your instructor set some instructions, stick to them. In another case, the information presented below will help you adjust your paper to MLA standards.

• Use legible font (Times New Roman or Arial) in a size that is not smaller than 11 point.
• Adjust the text to the left margin leaving more space at the right margin.
• Leave 1" margins on all sides of the paper.
• The first line of a paragraph needs to be indented by 0.5", whereas set-off quotations by 1".
• Apply double spacing.

• Put single spaces after commas, full stops, exclamation marks, etc.
• Title page is not obligatory. On the top of the initial page (1" margin, flush left), write your and your instructor's name, number of the course, and the date on separate, double-spaced lines.
• The headline of your research work should be placed on the first page. Also, it should not be highlighted it in bold, italicized, or capitalized.
• Page numbers are put in the top, right-hand corner with a 0.5" margin from the top and with a flush right margin.

Perfect grammar, punctuation, and spelling are part and parcel of your research work. Go through it from time to time and do not count on the word processor's spell checker. Doubt yourself? Our editors are here to ensure that MLA style is maintained in your paper.