Some students find it a very easy task to do the paper in MLA essay format because this type of formatting is one of the easiest ones. However, we should warn you that writing in such an essay format requires good writing and research skills, as well as the ability to organize your paper properly. Learn more about MLA wiring style and impress your lecturer with your professional approach to work.

Effective Tips on Creating a Paper in MLA Format

If you study in a college, you should know some useful tips and secrets for effective MLA essay writing. Along with APA (American Psychological Association), this style is the most popular one in the colleges and universities. However, APA and MLA styles are completely different. MLA style is widely used in the U.S. colleges and universities so you should be aware of all its peculiarities. The MLA format essay should easy to read, have clear thoughts and use the reliable sources.

Use the following guideline for the MLA writing format and you will easily improve your writing and formatting skills!

MLA essay should meet the general standards of Modern Language Association that are the following:

• The essay should be double-spaced;
• One-inch margins on every side are appropriate for MLA formatting;
• MLA essay should have only one space after periods;
• The first lines of each paragraph should be indented by one half-inch from the left margin.

More Useful Tips for Organizing Citations, Titles and Page Numbers

• unlike other writing formats, in MLA you should not make a title page, unless your professor requires it;
• your name, your professor’s name, the name of the course, as well as the date should be listed in the upper left corner;
• in the upper right corner you will point the pages number. Remember, your last name should be in the left side from the page number;
• the title of the essay should be in the center, below the date;
• It is necessary to italicize the titles for emphasis;
• If you want to divide your essay into the sections, you should do it accordingly. Feel free to number them so that your professor will find it easy to follow your key ideas;
• if you use endnotes, they should be listed directly before your works cited page.

In-Text Citations

In MLA, the student should use the parenthetical citations if he refers to the works of other people. This method is very convenient, since it allows tracking the usage of the reliable sources. Also, the in-text citation should correspond with the source in the works cited page. Usually, the in-text citation contains the author’s name, the quote itself and a page on which it can be found in the source. However, there are some exceptions for video sources, audio sources, and some other cases. Sometimes, there is no author or name of the source. In such case, feel free to refer to the more extended MLA manuals.

Works Cited Page

MLA formatting requires putting the references into the works cited page. Unlike APA that has the list of references; MLA style has its own rules for making the list of sources. Each source should be pointed separately. Significantly, MLA does not require the footnotes, as Chicago style does. All the articles, books, or internet sources should be listed in the works cited page. Moreover, the sources used for writing an essay should be listed in the alphabetical order only.

In general, MLA writing style has established the following standards of writing:

• citing the sources used;
• page layout and formatting;
• preparing a manuscript for the future publications;
• using the abbreviations, quotations, and footnotes.

Using a proper MLA formatting, you will make your paper easier to navigate, and focus on your ideas. It should be noted that Modern Language Association is widely used for the papers in arts and humanities. Undoubtedly, MLA style has many peculiarities and if you want to succeed in your college or university – feel free to learn all the points mentioned above. However, MLA peculiarities may change with every year, and you have read the most up-to-date guides and manuals for writing top-notch essays.