MLA Writing Style

Learning More about the MLA Writing Style

High school and college students are usually familiar with the MLA writing style because professors often assign essays and ask their students to follow this style of writing.

“The Modern Language Association Format (MSA writing style), specifies guidelines for formatting manuscripts and using the English language in writing and also provides a writers with a system for cross-referencing their sources - from their parenthetical references to their works cited page. This cross-referencing system allows readers to locate the publication information of source material. This is of great value for researchers who may want to locate your sources for their own research projects. The proper use of MLA style also shows the credibility of writers; such writers show accountability to their source material. Most importantly, the use of MLA style can protect writers from accusations of plagiarism - the purposeful or accidental use of source material by other writers without giving appropriate credit,” reports Purdue University Writing Lab.

How can I learn more about the MLA Writing Style?

There are two very good sources that teach the MLA writing style. One is called the MLA Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing and the other is the MLA Handbook for Writers and Research Papers. These books can usually be found in your high school library, university bookstores or any bookstore in your city, as well as online.

The MLA writing style is among one of the preferred styles for research papers. Following is an example of what you’ll find in one of these books. In chapter four of the MLA Handbook for Writers and Research Papers, it gives this information as a guideline: