Teaching MLA paper format?
Don't get yourself fixated on MLA style.

MLA paper format is a search term often used by students who need to know how to present a research paper in the style recommended by the Modern Language Association.

Two-part documentation system

MLA style is a documentation style. It explains how to document scholarly borrowings so that readers can find the information the writer used.

A scholarly borrowing is evidence that comes from a named source. Documentation identifies the person or organization whose information or opinions were borrowed for inclusion in the paper and where the writer found that information.

MLA uses a two-part documentation system that involves:

1. In-text parenthetical citations use the author-page system.

2. End-of-paper works cited list.

Several other style guides use a two-part system; MLA's use of author-page is distinctive.

Two MLA style references

The MLA explains its style in two books:

• The MLA Handbook for high school and college undergraduate students writing research papers

• The MLA Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishingfor graduate students, scholars, and professional writers.

When using any style guide, writers need to be sure they are using the most recent edition. Once a new edition comes out, the old edition is worthless.

7th edition MLA Handbook features

The most recent edition of the MLA Handbook is the 7th edition published in 2009. Some important formatting features in the 7th edition reflect changes in technology:

• The medium in which a cited work was found is always listed; a print source is no longer assumed.

• Italics rather than underlining is used for titles that would be italicized in print.

• Journal articles found online are listed with volume and issue numbers rather than URLs.

Teach citations as research skill

Writers doing research to be presented in MLA paper format should be taught to collect and record information they will need to document their borrowing at the time they do research. That means you need to teach them how to check what kind of information to record as they do their research.

If you teach students to research via the keywords in their working thesis statement, you will reduce the number of bibliography entries they need to record. Teaching them to use technology such as social bookmarking to create a bibliographic record will make them even more efficient.

Noteworthy MLA paper format details

MLA paper format has some specifications that are noticeably different from the APA format, namely:

• Single space after periods and other ending punctuation.

• No title page.

• Author-page citation system is used.

If you own a MLA 7th edition Handbook, you can use the accompanying website for resources. Students who don't own the Handbook don't have access to the site. For them, I suggest the Purdue OWL pages about MLA style.

MLA warning about "correct" format

The proliferation of services in which one enters information and gets a bibliography entry in "correct MLA format" tempts students and teachers to think there is a right way to prepare MLA works cited entries.

The MLA, however, warns against that kind of thinking. The organization says this:

While it is tempting to think that every source has only one complete and correct format for its entry in the list of works cited, in truth MLA style often provides several options for recording key features of a work.

If you are responsible for teaching MLA style, then, you must teach it in the context of problem-solving and critical thinking. You do students a disservice if you make them think there is one right answer to every style question.