Mastering MLA Formatting: A Comprehensive Guide for Academic Essays
This guide provides a thorough overview of MLA formatting essentials for academic essays, including title page setup, in-text citations, and the proper layout, ensuring your work adheres to MLA standards. Key focus areas include creating a title page with your name, title, and abstract; maintaining a double-spaced, 12-point font format; and the importance of a well-structured Works Cited page. Specific examples and tips are included to help you master the nuances of MLA writing style, so you can present your research clearly and professionally.
Mastering MLA Formatting: A Comprehensive Guide for Academic Essays
E N D
Presentation Transcript
Basic formatting • Title Page! (name, title, topic, abstract) • typed, 12-point font, double spaced w/ no extra spaces • 4-6 pages • Works Cited page (included in page limit)
MLA formatting, cont. • MLA format class heading, upper left of first page • Title, centered, first page only • From second page on: your last name and pg. # in upper right (set as header) • If written: Make sure you number the pages!! (your last name and the number)
Example first: Ms. Robson 8th per 2 Sept. 30, 2011 My Unique and Fitting Title My essay starts here. It is all double spaced, and my margins have been set to one inch. I always remember to introduce my quotes, just as I do here: “isn’t this a lovely quote?” (Weiler 7). I’m sure I will earn an A for my essay.
2nd page sample Weiler 2 This is the second page of my essay. I remembered to set my header to include my last name and the page number I’m currently on. I will do this for the rest of my essay, even if it’s twenty pages long! It’s all still twelve point font, double spaced (with no extra spaces!), and my margins are still set to one inch.
Step #1: find a good quote (that goes with your thesis!) Topic: Jim Crow Laws Quote: “In the 1930’s Jim Crow Laws existed throughout the South” (Robson, 3).
Figure out how to introduce the quote (no dropped quotes!) According to (author’s last name) the Great Depression was one of the worst economic times for the United States (37).
Acknowledges Admits Agrees Asserts Believes Comments Compares Declares Emphasizes Illustrates Implies Notes Observes Reports States Suggests Points out Good signal words to use with quotes:
Ellipsis: If a quote is too long: In the case Brown vs. Board of education […] it was discovered that segregation was a main factor in the case’s outcome” (Robson, 3). Ellipsis marks in brackets indicate that I didn’t use the entire quote. Three periods mean I deleted part of the sentence.
Another one: In his speech“Martin Luther King claims that [….] he has a dream for a world that does not define one by their race” (Robson, 3). Note: I used four periods because I left out an entire sentence; I capitalized the next word because it was the first word of the next sentence.
Quote within a quote • If the quote you are using contains a quote, use regular quotation marks where your quote begins, single quotations for the quote within the quote, and then regular quotation marks at the end of the sentence.
Example: Robson stresses that“ A colorblind world means, according to Brown ‘no differences exist amongst humans based on race.’ ” (3).
Really Things Stuff A lot Some About Informal English / slang Any words that make you sound uncertain Banned words list!These words don’t belong in formal writing…
