Good Advice On How To Write An Online Essay In The MLA Style

The many styles of writing that a student may use throughout their academic career may leave them feeling confused when they approach a new style. Fortunately, this can be conquered by understanding the different guidelines necessary for your piece of writing. Here are some great tips that you can use to help ensure that your next MLA-format essay is written correctly.

Understand Formatting Requirements

The most basic portion of your MLA-style essay will be getting the format correct. Your entire paper should have 1-inch margins around it. Additionally, you should double space throughout. These guidelines will apply to every page, so be sure that you get them right!

Do Not Forget the Title Page

One mistake that students frequently make is leaving out the title page. The title page is necessary to identify your unique paper. The information that you should include is your own name, the name of the professor for whom you have written the paper for, the title of the course that the paper was written for, and the date that the paper is due. This will be the first page of your essay.

Header

You should include a header on each page of your essay. This will include your last name and the page number. Remember, however, that the title page does not need this header. You can set this up in Microsoft Word by selecting the “different first page” option.

In-Text Citations

The guidelines for in-text citations depend on the source that you are citing. Written texts often require that you provide the author and the page number of the source. Online sources, on the other hand, require that you note the first thing mentioned on the Works Cited page to identify the source.

Works Cited

Your works cited should identify all of your different sources. The words “Work Cited” should appear centered at the top of your page. Then, use a hanging indent for each of the sources. The format you use will depend on the individual source. If you choose, you may find citation generators for MLA-style on the Internet that can help you with proper formatting.

Take Advantage of Templates

If writing an essay in MLA-style still seems confusing to you, consider taking advantage of templates. These may be found in some copies of Microsoft Word or downloaded online for free. You may even be able to find a template on a student website.