How to Write a Research Paper in MLA Format, how to write a mla research paper.

These are 2 different parts, but they are bound together. Experts in writing know that the combination of these parts in paperwork can provide a reader with the information about the process of doing research. It is highly recommended to write a list of statements such as facts, statistics, etc which you can describe and make results. Notice, that additional materials may be placed in appendix.

So MLA format has general recommendations which writers should use while doing their job. Such things will demonstrate your tutor how good you did your task and which mark you deserve (only highest, of course). In this case every student is highly interested in making the best paperwork with MLA requirements.

• References. The list of sources is highly important because it demonstrates which job did you do in your paperwork.
• Appendix. This part is not obvious but may include additional tables, graphics, images, and other data. Don’t forget to add this chapter to increase the value of your paperwork. Make sure that the references in main body and in appendix are the same.

As a result the writer should answer the question did his thesis become true or were failed. Besides, it is okay to reach the hypothesis wrong and doesn’t mean you do the bad job, but only that the statement is wrong.

1. Introduction which describes the basic information in your study

So be sure to find out more information about writing a paper in MLA format to achieve the best results in studying. This is the best way to get the reputation of a smart student with brilliant future!

• Pay attention to levels of outline. There are different options in office program you use (for instance, OpenOffice or Microsoft Word). In general your headline must be the same as h1 in traditional format. Thanks to using such headlines it is easy to navigate among all paperwork.
• Try to save all variations of outlines. Sometimes improvements are not the best option and the author may look for previous versions of paper. If you saved it before you will have much more benefits in proofreading and save your time.
• Always keep the original structure of the outline. This is the main part in writing paper because professors pay the most attention to this feature. According to MLA standards you should add to your work such parts as Introduction, main body, conclusions, references, and so on.
• Proper view. When it comes to creating your essay you must do it in the right manner. Start it with a title page that presents your project. Under this part there must be a writer’s name and his supervisor, members of the team (if the paper is the group task), date, etc. Another important part is an abstract which is called to collect the summary of introduction, results while writing, writer’s thoughts and conclusions. Usually it takes up to 200 worlds and must contain only useful information.

Here are some important advice on how to make your outlines better:

MLA standard is considered to be the simplest way to execute your academic essay. Usually students use this type of writing to create essays, research papers, and other types of work in humanitarian fields (such as history, language, literature, etc). This essay format was created by the Modern Language Association to improve the process of writing for both students and professors.

This establishes point that you have a particular understanding or authority in this subject area

By US Post Officew (US Post Office / Smithsonian Postal Museum) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

During your research process, you will want to figure out who is interested in this question and what the different sides believe. You might already know what you think, but you might also find that as you research the question you change your mind or at least come to appreciate some of the ideas of the other points of view. Here are some questions to help you think about the rhetorical situation:

Look over the list of questions you've written. Which of these questions is most interesting to you? Write it down.

Finding Research for Your Paper

Is training, equipment or recruiting making it possible for athletes to continue to break records? (fact). What events should be added to the Olympics? (policy).

1. What assumptions (bias, background, worldview, experiences) do I bring to this issue? How do these assumptions affect the way I feel about the issue?
2. Who is the audience I want to convince?
3. What does that audience believe about this issue? State their beliefs as clearly as you can.
4. What do I want that audience to do, feel , or believe after they read my paper? (try to say this in one sentence)
5. What assumptions does my audience have that might be different than mine?
6. Where do we have common ground? What values or beliefs do we have that are the same?
7. What might I need to prove to my audience to make them believe my ideas?

Address how the reader might be affected by the problem (example on health topic: finding weight going up, worried about blood pressure or cholesterol)

Say that you are willing to limit the proposal to certain circumstances (examples: we should encourage people do community gardens, or you can do a modified vegetarianism a few days a week or a few meals).

An MLA research paper must adhere to certain specifications and guidelines. The Modern Language Association includes members who deal with different languages. Understand how to create a research paper MLA style can make a huge difference.

1. Starting from the upper-left corner of the main page, indicate your name, the next line identifies the name of your instructor, the next with the course and the last with the date.
2. The next line introduces the title of the paper. Make it centred. The title doesn't need special font markings or quotation marks and is advised to use standard capitalization.
3. Marking with fonts or quotation is only acceptable when the title cites other texts.
4. Numbering starts with the first page, and you have to create a header, which identifies the number of the page itself and your last name before the page number. The header format coincides with pagination rules described above.

It is an abbreviation for The Modern Language Association. The activity of this organization concentrates on popularizing teaching and studying of modern languages such as English. As for the practical significance of this association, it publishes The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers – a special guide for properly editing texts academically.

The form of citation also differs from other writing styles. Quotes shouldn`t be marked with a quotation mark, but rather with parenthesis that includes the number of the page of the work the quote is derived from and the author`s last name.

What is MLA?

The works cited page, or bibliography is necessarily to present at the end of the work. It includes all external sources to which the writer refers. This list not only shows which literature the writer used while writing the paper but also confirms the credibility of the citation.

It also gives some well-known but unforgettable advice such as usage of grammar and spell checking, double copying the file, and looking through the printed version in your word processor.

1. The margins are placed at 1 inch all around.
2. The text is recommended to be typed using a common font such as Times New Roman. The font size is strictly 12 pt.
3. Spacing implies two rules: double-space the text and single-space separation marks.
4. The Indentation rule requires half-inch spacing from the left margin. A hint to use the Tab key to improve the time-management.
5. Pagination means placing numbers of the pages to the upper-right corner of a created header. Usually, numbers are set from the first page successively to the last and Arabic numerals are used.
6. If having endnotes in the text, they are to be written down separately from both the main body text, and works cited page.
7. The last rule, which usually is the opening one, but today it`s unconsciously clear that text should be typed on a computer and printed according to standard 8.5" x 11" white paper.

• The quotes used within the essay
• The Works Cited page at the end

The citation information in the body of the paper itself is called the "in-text citation.” The most obvious time to use it in the text is when you use a quote from a source directly or refer to it by title or author.

Generally, you need to list the writer’s last name and page number enclosed within parentheses straight after the quote. If the author's name is included as a feature of your sentence, then you only have to add the page number in the bracket.

Change the line spacing from single to double-spaced. That makes reading less crammed on the eye and allows the professor to make essential comments in a neat and organized manner. Also, make sure to indent the first line of a paragraph ВЅ inch from the left margin.

The Works Cited page

In-text citations are most times subordinate, which means that information is always added to the end of the sentence in parentheses. But if you include that necessary information in the language of the sentence itself, you should not include the parenthetical citation.

Enter the required course information on the top-left corner of the front page. The MLA format research paper title page should look like this:

Simply send us your paper requirements, choose a writer and we’ll get it done fast

Set the automatic page numbering in the top right-hand corner. That is done to keep track of the page order, and it also looks pleasant on the eye. Leave a margin of ВЅ inch from the top and flush with the right margin.

• Use an easily readable font like 12 pt Times New Roman
• Set 1 inch page margins
• Apply double line spacing
• Include a four-line MLA heading on the first page
• Center the paper’s title
• Indent every new paragraph ½ inch
• Use title case capitalization for headings
• Cite your sources with MLA in-text citations
• List all sources cited on a Works Cited page at the end

• Use an easily readable font like 12 pt Times New Roman.
• Set 1 inch page margins.
• Apply double line spacing.
• Indent every new paragraph ½ inch.
• Use title case capitalization for headings.

Note that the format of reference entries is different depending on the source type. You can easily create your citations and reference list using the free APA Citation Generator.

Watch the video below for a quick guide to setting up the format in Google Docs.

Bibliography or reference list

Chicago doesn’t require a title page, but if you want to include one, Turabian (based on Chicago) presents some guidelines. Lay out the title page as shown below.

APA provides guidelines for formatting up to five levels of heading within your paper. Level 1 headings are the most general, level 5 the most specific.

Check out the video below to see how to set up the format in Google Docs.

The formatting of a research paper is different depending on which style guide you’re following. In addition to citations, APA, MLA, and Chicago provide format guidelines for things like:

correctional facility firms has grown to 14 (Austin and Coventry 3). The privatization of prisons occurs in two ways. First, state government can contract out (or outsource) specific services in a correctional facility to a private company after a bidding process. Second, and more radically, private companies build their own privately-managed prisons and contract with state governments to house their inmates. This latter approach, giving private correctional facility firms wide latitude over inmates, is taken in the Texas criminal justice system. In fact, many of these privately operated facilities “have no relationship at all with the state governments in these states, other than an obligation to pay corporate income taxes” (McDonald and Patten Jr. v).

Pay special attention to the MLA format works cited. We only used one type of source (books), but both citations are correct according to the 8th edition of MLA, published in 2016. When you’re writing your own paper, you need to make sure you always use the most recent edition of the style manual.

Whether you need MLA, APA citations, or Chicago style notes, look up the latest edition before turning in a paper.

The example research paper below is one that was written in college for a course on the Inklings. The Inklings were a group of writers in England before WWII, including C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.

Visual Sample Paper

At the same time, the growth of privately operated correctional facilities has increased significantly in this country. Private prisons now hold 95,522 inmates in this country, which is 6.5 percent of total prisoners (Beck and Harrison 5). In Texas, 16,570 inmates (10 percent of its prison population) are held in private facilities, about 10,000 more than the next highest state. Furthermore, six states had at least 25 percent of their prison population housed in private prisons, led by New Mexico (44%), Alaska (31%), and Montana (29%). These current statistics show that while state governments have been forced to manage and operate overcrowded and over-capacity prisons at considerable costs, many have turned to the private sector to operate prisons (McDonald and Patten Jr.). According to the General Accounting Office, prison operating costs have grown steadily since 1980, increasing almost 550 percent since 1980 based on inflation-adjusted dollars (Austin and Coventry 1).

Since we’re here to learn how to format an essay, we’ve pointed out some important things about the paper to help you write a correctly formatted essay.

See below for an example paper or click below to download it as a Word Document.

Check out our second sample paper below. It is a helpful and clearly labeled visual aid to refer to.