MLA Research Papers

MLA papers are any form of academic, literary works documented as per the Modern Language Association’s stipulations in writing of academic and professional works. Therefore, this style of academic writing is used in the writing of various literary works such as MLA research papers and MLA essays. MLA papers are written according to rules and regulations of writing that are presented within the MLA style handbook. The MLA style handbook is occasionally revised to make new inclusions, clarifications and bring the writing style’s mode of writing professional and academic MLA papers up to date. MLA papers use both parenthetical in-text citations and a works cited list or bibliography to credit the works used within MLA papers. The parenthetical, in-text citations are used to point to full details of the sources used which are detailed within the works cited list in MLA papers. The biggest difference that differentiates these papers from other papers done in other styles is the fact that the in-text, parenthetical citation uses the author-page format, unlike many other styles that use the author-date style. This is advantageous for readers, because they can easily and quickly trace the materials’ source precisely. Additionally, these papers have no cover page, like many other papers styled in other writing styles such as Chicago writing styles and APA writing styles. The general format of MLA papers requires a one inch margin all round the paper and double spacing for all the sentences within the work. A 12 point, Times New Roman font is preferred for MLA papers. A running header and page numbers are also required in the formatting of all MLA papers. The in-text citations in these papers may be done through introductory sentences that introduce the name of the author within the work-in which case the name need not be included within the parenthetical in-text citation. If the name is not included in the sentence then, the author/s’ name/s should be presented within the parentheses as well as the page number. At times some sources may have no page numbers, such as the websites, and in such cases the writer ought to show that there were no page numbers available by including the abbreviation “n.pag” denoting “no page”. Additionally, some works may present no authors and in such instances the writer is allowed to use the term anonymous when noting the author in the works cited list and later use the abbreviation “Anon.” within the parentheses of the in-text citation to denote “Anonymous”. Two page locations cited from the same author should have all the pages included and separated by a comma-(Johnston 12-23, 45), and two works under one paraphrased section expressing the same idea should be put in a common parentheses and separated by a semi colon-(Johnston 23; James 78). References to a whole volume should state the volume instead of page numbers-(Jackson, vol. 4). The MLA papers should have a works cited list which is arranged in an alphabetical order just as required in many academic writing styles for easy traceability of sources. A typical reference within the works cited page of MLA papers should contain the full names of the author/producer/director separated by commas, followed by the title of the work in italics, place of publication or production, the year of production or publication and a denotation of the source type such as ‘print’ if the source is from a text material or ‘web’ is the material is from a web site. These are the basic features of MLA papers. If you would like to learn about the intricacies of writing MLA papers visit our online writing site and we will offer you great insight into how to document your MLA papers appropriately.