Formatting Using Mla Style

By Author: Anthony W Bills
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Formatting Using MLA Style
The Modern Language Association(MLA) is series of guidelines and directives for writers. It is mainly used in the discipline of humanities. The association has published its MLA style manual since 1985, and has issued updated editions that show the current changes in publishing and copyright laws. The manual is acknowledged as the standard for academic writing that scholars’ in English speaking countries use.
The MLA format of citing sources has some uses which are: it creates emphasizes on consistency in written style and documentation format, which enables the readers to access easily the sources cited by the authors. The MLA format also enables writers to cite sources fairly and accurately to avoid false charges of plagiarism. In addition, scholarly journals and magazines often require contributors to use the MLA documentation style because it creates a uniform appearance across all published works and makes it easier to reference specific source and to compare them.
The MLA writing style has a limitation in that it lacks accommodation for scientific and technical publication. ...
... Hence it is primarily intended for humanities subjects which include the arts, social sciences, literature, media studies and criticism.
The MLA style has some general guidelines which are as follow:
1. Type your paper and print it out on standard, white 8.5*11 inch paper.
2. Doable space the text of your page, and use a comprehensible font (like Times New Roman).Whatever font you choose,MLA recommends that the regular and italics types styles contrast enough that are recognizable from one another. The font size should be 12.
3. Leave only one space after periods or other punctuation marks
4. Set the margins of your document to 1 inch on all sides.
5. Indent the first line of the paragraphs one half inch from the left margin.MLA recommends that you use the tab key as opposed to pushing the space bar five times.
6. Create a header that numbers all pages consecutively in the upper right hand corner, one half inch from the top and flush with the right margin.
7. If you have any endnotes, include them on a separate page before your works cited page.
There are methods of formatting a paper written in MLA style, this are as follows:
1. Do not make a title page for your paper unless specifically requested.
2. In the upper left hand corner of the first page, list your name, your instructor’s name, the course and the date .Be sure to use double spaced text.
3. Double space again and centre the title. Do not underline, italicize, or place your title in quotation marks; write the title in title case (which is the standard capitalization), not in all capital letters.
4. Use quotation marks and /or italics when referring to other works in your title, just as you would in your text.
5. Double space between the title and the first line of the text.
6. Create a header in the upper right hand corner that includes your last name, followed by a space with a page number; number all the pages consecutively with Arabic numerals (like 1,2,3,4,), one half inch from the top and flush with right margin.

When citing sources using the MLA style, there are a few steps to be followed which are as follows:
1. References in your paper must clearly point to the specific sources in your list of works cited.
2. Within the parentheses, list the authors’ name and the page number of the specifically cited content (unless when you are referring to an entire article or a book).
3. If you have two authors with the same last name, also include the author’s first initial.
4. If you have several works by the same author, also include the title.
5. If no author is listed, use the title.
6. If using the title, remember to use correct punctuation: underline book titles, use quotation marks for journal articles, short stories, and book chapters.
7. The author’s name can be referred to within the sentence as follows
Faith and Jane have argued this point (24-25).Or the author’s name can be referred to within the parenthetical reference as below.
Some scholars have argued this point (Faith and Jane 24-25).
In conclusion MLA is the one of the best styles for citing the sources.

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