MLA Format
During the academic
years, students have to make many assignments, and essays is the most frequents
assignment that is assigned to the students. Most of the students are experts
in writing the essay, but at a higher level when the essay is assigned to them
in specific formatting and writing style so they become blank and do not know what
the rules of that formatting style are and how to form the essay according to
that formatting style.
There are many formatting
and citation styles, but in this article, we are only focusing on the MLA Format
and Citation, as this is used in most of the colleges, and MLA stands for
Modern Language Association that covers the subjects of language, literature
and humanities.
The MLA has set some
standers for essay writing, which you have to follow when you are asked to
write an essay following the MLA formatting and citation style. Here is a brief
guideline of the MLA formatting style that will make your essay writing process
easier.
General Formatting Tips
- Font – in MLA format
Times New Roman, size 12 is used
- Margins – set a 1-inch
margin on all sides
- Space – double-space the
text in your complete essay and use one space after punctuation marks and
periods. Use double spacing between the title and the first line of the
paragraph
- Indent – the first line
of each paragraph will be half-inch indented from the edge of the left side. The
Tab key is used for indenting rather than using the space button
Detailed Formatting Tips
Title – it is not
necessary to make the title page, but if your instructor asked you to do so,
then the first page will be called your title page. At the left corner of the page,
write your name, write the name of your professor, and blow that you have to
state the course name, and after the course, name writes the data on which you
have made in this essay. Your title page will be created in the above-mentioned
sequence and in the next line after the date, the title of your essay is mentioned
in the center.
Header – to number all
pages automatically, create a header on the right upper corner of the page one-half
inch from the top. Write your name before the page number that is followed by a
space. Avoid using abbreviations. Most of the professors do not prefer running
headers, so try to follow the instructions of your teacher.
Headings - to organize
the structure of your essay, the headings and subheadings are very important.
It improves the quality of the essay, but its formatting not compulsory. Again,
it depends on the demand of your instructor or professors if they gave you the
instructions about it you have to follow the pattern. To include the headings
in your paper divide the information into the parts and each part must contain
specific and relevant information. The headings are mostly used for a lengthy paper,
but if the essay is short, the headings are not included in such paper.
Moreover, if your essay is a very lengthy divide heading into the subheadings. Here
is a proper guide to make heading in your paper
Heading 1: first heading
is bolded, flush and aligned with the left margin
Heading 2: second heading
is written italic and also flush and aligned with the left margin
Heading 3: third heading
is in the center of the page with bold text
Heading 4: fourth heading
is also written at the center of the page and italicized
Heading 5: fifth heading
is aligned with the left margin and underlined
Note: If you want, add
sub-headings under the heading it sated as 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3 under the heading
number 1 and in the other headings according to the heading number.
Citation – When you are
including in-text citation use, italic and capitalize words for the long work
like book or movie. Along with this, use quotation marks when referring to some
of the sources. The citation includes the author name, title, page number,
publication date, publishers, etc.
Work Cited: at the end of
the paper, this list of used sources is cited on a separate page. This page has
all the sources you have included in the main body in alphabetical order. Every
entry begins with the flush with the left margin, and if an entry takes more
than one line, the second line will be indented half an inch from the left
margin. This format is known as hanging indention, and it can be a set program for
automatic formation.
This is the way MLA
format work. We know that formatting the citation is not easy to learn, and not
everyone can be an expert in it, so if you are one of those students so you can
ask Top Tutor Bay to write your essay in any formatting and citation style. Our
experts can help your essay in MLA format and assist you in learning the
formatting. If you have any writing and academic issue, do not worry as Top
Tutor Bay is always here for you.
The second part of the MLA
Format and Citation article is to know about MLA Citation.
MLA Citation
What is a Citation?
The citation is the proof
of the information, which you have used in your assignment, task, report,
research paper, or any work. The citation is done when you directly quote the
statement of authorized person in your work, and the citation is also included
even when you paraphrase the quote in your paper. The citation included right
after the quote in the body of the paper is called an in-text citation. In this
kind of citation, the name of the author and the page number form you take is
included. It is a brief way to tell the reader the authenticity of the
information you have given so the reader cannot get distracted from the actual
information.
What is MLA Citation?
The MLA citation is used
for the projects in literature, liberal art, language, and the subjects of
humanities. The MLA contracted from the Modern Language Association, and this
organization focuses on literature and language-based research.
The complete citation in
MLA is given on the page called MLA work cited page, which is also called a bibliography.
All the resources of information that are used in the complete project can be
found on the MLA works cited page. On this page, the complete information about
the quotes you have used in your project. In includes the author’s name,
publishing date, publisher, title, page number, URLs, and other information.
If you need help in any
type of citation than Top Tutor Bay can help you with perfection. We have the
writers who are experts in all types of citation and formatting styles, and
they cite your paper following all the rules of the citation style you request
them.
Why is Citation
important?
Citation is very
important in a research paper and tells the reader that the information in your
paper is authentic, and you are a responsible researcher who cares about the
quality of the paper. The citation eliminates the risk of plagiarism as you did
not copy the information from the other, but you have used the authentic
resources and you also have cited them without giving the reader the feeling
that it refers to you. Citation enhances the quality of your paper and makes it
authentic.
Simple Guide of MLA
Citation
Citation is a very
difficult thing to understand and include in your paper, and most of the
students are not familiar with its rules and importance. We know that it is a little
complicated, but the expert of Top Tutor Bays has put their all efforts to make
a simple guide for you so it could be easy for you to understand it. The
purpose of this article is not to confuse you, but to give you an understanding
of MLA citation in an essay way.
Before start writing, you
must have to read them a lot of articles and books to get the relevant material
on your topic, but when you start writing, you get confused that which
statement is related to which writer. In this situation, you might make
mistakes quite often. To avoid this type of situation, you must make the notes
and drafts about the information you have collected along with following things
so the MLA citation could be easy for you to include in your paper:
- Name of Author
- Title of publication
- Name of Publisher
- Name City of publication
- Date of Publication
- Volume and Issue Number
- Page Numbers
- Publication Medium
The notes of these headings will make citations easy for
you. You must consider this step as necessary because there is no way to ignore
it.
The difference between MLA In-text citation and MLA Work
Cited
MLA In-text Citation
The in-text citation is included in the main body when you
use any source in your project. The in-text citation includes the author’s name
and page number in parentheses.
For example: (Mark 2370).
If you want to give the reference of a larger work that is
already published like a movie, novel, or a book, this will be sited as Anderson, D Mark’s
Medical Marijuana Laws and Suicides by Gender and Age.
It will
be cited italic and capital letters.
If you refer
to a smaller piece of work such as a poem or short stories, it will be written
in the quotation marks without underline. See the example below
Raymond
Carver's "Cathedral.”
MLA
“Work Cited”
The
complete citation of all the references in alphabetical order is given in the
MLA work cited page at the end of the project. In this section, the reader can
find more detail about the sources that were used in the main body.
Example
Work Cited
Anderson, D Mark,
"Medical Marijuana Laws and Suicides by
Gender and Age." American Journal of
Public Health 104.12 (2014): 2369-2376.
As you
can see that in the work citation, the referred source carried more detail as
compared to the in-text citation that
we have included in the main body.
MLA
Citation of Electronic Publications
In this
era of computer and science, everything has digitized, and even for writing,
people use electronic publications. Therefore, the electronic content is always
changing, so you have to give extra details when you use electronic
publications. The following is the information you note and mention in your
citation.
- Author or Editor’ Name
- Title of the work
- Website Title, if distinct from the title of the work
- Edition/Version if applicable
- Sponsor or Publisher of
the website
- Publication Date (day, month, and year).
- Medium of publication (web)
- Access Date (day, month, and year)
Have a
look at the example:
Sarotte,
Mary Elise. “How the Fall of the Berlin Wall Really Happened.” New York
Times, 6 Nov 2019. Web. 30 Jan 2010.
The URL
is not a part of MLA 8th style now, but if the instructor asks you
about it or it is difficult to find the source without URL, so you have to give
it too for the essay access to your source.
This is how you can do MLA Format and Citation in your paper as Top Tutor Bay has made it
easy for you. However, if you still have any confusion, you can directly
contact us for help or if you want us to write your essay so our professional
writers can also do it for you. We have masters of citation in our company.
