Formatting a Paper for the Modern Language Association (MLA) Writing Style

Please note that italics should really only be used to signify foreign langauge usage and nowhere else in a properly formated MLA research paper.  Use of italics in this article is strictly meant to set off cerrtain passages, such as this one, from the rest of the text.

The Modern Language Association (MLA) guidelines for writing formal essays is the most commonly used among university students.  Most (probably 99%) Composition 101 and 102 professors will prefer (require) it, regardless of their students’ chosen disciplines and almost all humanities disciplines (save history, which uses the Chicago or Turabian style, and psychology and other social sciences, which use the American Psychological Association, APA, style) will use the MLA format for research paper writing and documentation.  This makes it important for the average college student to have, at the very least, a grasp on what MLA style is, for use in their general education courses, even if they are majoring in tropical plant biology.

The easiest way to set up a research paper in MLA style (in any discipline style, really, but MLA especially) is to follow the five paragraph essay format.  While middle school and high school language arts teachers will use this format as a strict rule, college writers should simply use it as a framework for structuring an essay especially if you find yourself within the sect of the population who only writes because some professor is forcing them to. 

With the five paragraph format, your essay will have, logically, five parts: introduction, claim, primary support, secondary support, and conclusion.  The description implies that each part should be one paragraph, and this is true when following it strictly.  However, most college level research papers will have a minimum word count and for longer papers, even papers three or four pages in length, five paragraphs simply would not be appropriate.  This five paragraph format is also helpful in organizing your research.

Sample of an MLA formatted Works Cited page

Credit: Desiree Jensen

Copyright: Desiree Jensen