Writing academic papers is a skill that is not a cup of tea to many. However, it is interesting to learn how these different styles and formats culminate into a successful piece of writing. If you want to score a high grade in your paper, make sure you follow the required writing style. One of the styles you will be required to use for some, if not all of your papers is MLA. This is a style that is commonly used for language studies. However, your professor can request you use it in your research paper from time to time. Interestingly, you will be required to do this on your own way because there may be nothing much to be discuss in class. In that case, here are useful tips to learn about MLA writing guide.
- No title page is required: This is one of the aspects that define a paper written in MLA format. You obviously have seen quite a number of papers with a separate title page that lists the topic of study, the author’s name along with other details. However, the case is different for an MLA paper. These details will appear on the first page where you write the introduction of your paper.
- Your paper’s running head: In the header of your paper, write your surname to the left hand side and the page number to the right hand side. This should run through all the pages of your document.
- Paper citation and references: to give credibility to your paper, citations and references become very important. In that case, make sure that you have cited all the sources used in writing your paper. This is the format of doing so: throughout the text, quote author’s surname and the page number of the source in this format: (Austin, p.23).
To the left hand part of your first page, you will be required to state your name, name of the course, the course code and the date of submission. These are the details that precede the title of your research paper and the content that follows.
At the end of your writing, you need a works cited page. This is where you list all the sources used in writing your research paper. Write the full names of the authors without using any initials. The sources should also provide the title of the source, the place and name of publisher.