An essay outline is one of the main planning methods when it comes to writing academic papers, scholarly articles, informative guides, novels, and encyclopedias. The everyday paper outline contains the headings: Introduction, Body, and Conclusion. Every source is organized by relevance to strengthen the writing process. There are various formats when it comes to outlining, but the main formats required for a college essay outline is MLA and APA.
Regardless of whether you’re writing an MLA or APA outline, the organizational process remains the same with some minor differences. The main difference being APA uses abstracts, as it requires one or two sentences per line. APA is used for humanities, as MLA is used more for social studies. Other than that, the simple outline remains the same for any kind of academic paper structure.
The most common college essay is 5 paragraphs. Thus, an easy way to remember the general format of a writing plan is to think of it as planning a 5 paragraph essay outline where students would write an Introduction, Thesis, Body, and Conclusion. Then, fit a total of 5 paragraphs within the basic structure. The same practice can be done with planning, except rather than paragraphs, it’s notes. The exact same method would apply to an argumentative essay outline and any other kind of paper structure throughout and beyond college.
Outlining is a form of organization which is used among authors of all writing styles. The common organizational method allows writers to list all of their research and ideas in one place before the writing process starts. Understanding the general college essay outline can go a long way in getting your thoughts structured, as well as positive feedback from your professor. Take a look at this guide to learn how to write an outline.
What Is an Outline?
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MLA style references a bibliography as a works cited page. When typing up your works cited page there are a few things that you should do.
MLA 8 uses a new method to create citation entries. This container system allows flexibility by creating nine core elements within a container. Use this basic works cited format:
Let’s say that you used books only as your sources of information. You will want to list the sources in alphabetical order by the authors' last name. For example, if you had two sources you would list them as follows:
- Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date.
General Formatting
MLA style is commonly used in many colleges throughout the U.S., so learning the style and tips on writing in MLA style will serve you well throughout your college education.
If you are preparing an essay or research paper for college, the chances are high that you are going to need a few tips on writing an essay in MLA style. More often than not, when you get to the college level, there are two formatting styles that professors are looking for: APA (American Psychological Association) style or MLA (Modern Language Association) style. The differences are varied.
Don't forget to edit and proofread your essay carefully before submission and ensure it follows your professor's instructions exactly.
This is how to format your essay or other paper in MLA style. As you can see, it’s not as difficult as some would imagine, but it makes your paper look much more professional and coherent with paper writing service.
Essay is the most common type of work where MLA formatting is used, and here is what you need to remember when working on your essay in MLA style:
- Every source mentioned or cited in your work should be referenced on the list of citations. The easiest way to do it is to make a note after each reference you put in your text and then copying the information to the bibliography page.
- Parenthetical citation style is most commonly used for cite sources in MLA format. It means that information about the source should be provided directly after the citation itself inside parentheses – this citation style has proven to be so effective that it’s often used in scientific journals.
- The format of the citation can differ according to the type of source – it can depend on whether you’re using a book, an internet page, or a CD as your reference.
MLA is an abbreviation for Modern Language Association. This style is often found in works dealing with literature, language, and human studies, although the scope of using MLA format is obviously wider. Many say that MLA is the easiest formatting style out there, and why we can’t argue with the fact that MLA is significantly easier than Oxford, Chicago, or APA styles, it’s still not easy enough to master it without any effort at all.
MLA format has specific requirement for every aspect and part of the work, including:
MLA Format Paper: Essay Formatting
- There should be 1-inch margins on every side of the page: left, right, top, and bottom. Each paragraph should start half an inch further from the left edge of the text.
- Most commonly, MLA papers are double-spaced – that includes every part of your work, from the outline to the list of references. However, your instructor may require you to single-space your paper.
- As for the title and heading, MLA style doesn’t require you to dedicate a separate page for the title of your page. Use the top right corner to list your name, the professor’s name, and the course name complete with a number. Double-space these lines. Then write the title of your work in the centre of the page – in case it takes more than one line, double space it as well.
- Underlining or using a bold font in the title of your work. Capitalizing every word in the title is not a good idea either – capitalize only the first and principal words of the phrase.
- Every page needs to be numbered in the top right corner of the page. Include your name on every page before the page number. You can use the running head feature in Microsoft Word for automatic numbering of the pages.
- The page number needs to be located one inch from the right edge of the page. There is no need to put the word “page” or the “p.” abbreviation before the number.
- Each image, drawing, chart, or table used in your essay should be appropriately named. Write “figure” and Arabic number after every image or drawing and “table” after each table.
- Abbreviations
- Headings
- Manuscript elements
- Referencing
- Statistics
- Punctuation
There is also a way to reference the entire source without specifying the pages – it is commonly used when the subject of the citation is more general and refers to a large part of the source. In this case you can include the name of the author or the name of the book directly into the text. However, when mentioning a specific episode from the author’s text, a page citation is needed.
We’ve covered the basic principles of writing an MLA-style essay, but there are also specific guidelines for formatting the text and the pages, and here they are:
- All paper margins are set to one inch
- Times New Roman 12-point font
- Double-spaced
- Page numeration in the top right header
- Student’s name next to page numbers
- Student credentials in the top left corner of the first page
- Body text left-aligned
- Works Cited page after a page break
- New paragraphs are indented
- No section breaks in the body of the paper
Note: any articles, particles, or prepositions you may have in your title start with a lower case. For example:
Entire book
Collins, J. Modern History in Pictures. New York. 2015.
- Author’s name
- Work title
- Place of publication (could be an actual city or just the title of a magazine for periodicals)
- Year of publication
MLA style paper format: the basic essentials
Just in case you have never written MLA style paper before, let’s start with rules that apply to all editions — from the first to the latest one. They go as follows:
Even though the core principles of academic writing remain the same, minor changes are introduced to a variety of formats, and MLA is not an exception here. If you are assigned to write an MLA style research paper, a literature essay, or any other academic assignment, your professors will probably refer you to the 8th edition of MLA formatting guidelines.
If you were to quote a single chapter from the same book, the reference would look like this: Collins, J. “Shift from Renaissance to Baroque Style”. Modern History in Pictures. New York.
- All paper margins are set to one inch
- Times New Roman 12-point font
- Double-spaced
- Page numeration in the top right header
- Student’s name next to page numbers
- Student credentials in the top left corner of the first page
- Body text left-aligned
- Works Cited page after a page break
- New paragraphs are indented
- No section breaks in the body of the paper
Note: any articles, particles, or prepositions you may have in your title start with a lower case. For example:
Entire book
Collins, J. Modern History in Pictures. New York. 2015.
- Author’s name
- Work title
- Place of publication (could be an actual city or just the title of a magazine for periodicals)
- Year of publication
MLA style paper format: the basic essentials
Just in case you have never written MLA style paper before, let’s start with rules that apply to all editions — from the first to the latest one. They go as follows:
Even though the core principles of academic writing remain the same, minor changes are introduced to a variety of formats, and MLA is not an exception here. If you are assigned to write an MLA style research paper, a literature essay, or any other academic assignment, your professors will probably refer you to the 8th edition of MLA formatting guidelines.
If you were to quote a single chapter from the same book, the reference would look like this: Collins, J. “Shift from Renaissance to Baroque Style”. Modern History in Pictures. New York.