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MLA Sample Paper
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Writing and Citation Guide - Indianapolis
- Understanding Academic Writing
- Types of Academic Writing
- Academic Style & Grammar
What is MLA?
Mla in-text citations, mla works cited page (bibliography).
- Citation Generation Tools
- Books (Print + Digital)
MLA Template & Example
Click to download and customize our MLA paper template.
- MLA (9th ed.) Essay Template
Click below to see an example MLA paper with tips for document formatting.
- Purdue OWL - Sample MLA Essay
MLA Video Tutorial
Relevant Writing Center Handouts
- MLA In-Text Citations & Works Cited - Handout
- Creating Hanging Indent - Handout
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The Modern Language Association (MLA) is a leading professional organization that promotes the scholarship and teaching of language and literature. MLA offers a variety of resources, publications, and standards for research and writing in the humanities.
Students often encounter MLA when asked to complete academic writing assignments in MLA style, which is frequently utilized in disciplines such as English and literature.
To learn more about MLA as an organization and as a style guide, visit the official MLA website:
- Modern Language Association The official MLA website, providing resources on relevant publications, writing style, career opportunities, and advocacy work.
Writers use in-text citations (sometimes called parenthetical citations) to give credit to quoted, paraphrased, or summarized source material. In MLA style, there are two required pieces of information to include in an in-text citation:
- Author's last name
- Page number of cited material (if applicable)
How these pieces of information are formatted in an essay depends on whether or not the writer uses a signal phrase to introduce the upcoming source, as shown in the examples below.
To learn more about formatting MLA in-text citations in your writing, visit these highly respected websites:
- Purdue OWL - MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics Provides explanations and examples for formatting MLA in-text citations
- Purdue OWL - MLA Formatting Quotations Provides guidelines and examples for formatting short and long quotations in MLA style
- MLA Style Center - In-Text Citations: An Overview Provides the Official MLA Style guidelines for in-text citations
A Works Cited page, which is an alphabetical list of all sources that are cited throughout your essay, will be the last page of your paper.
MLA style has specific guidelines for how to format each type of source on your Works Cited page. To learn how to format MLA Works Cited entries for different types of sources, visit these highly respected websites:
- Purdue OWL - MLA Works Cited: Basic Format Provides an overview for formatting and organizing a Works Cited page
- Purdue OWL - MLA Works Cited: Books Provides Works Cited formatting guidelines for books, an article in an anthology collection, and muti-edition and volume works
- Purdue OWL - MLA Works Cited: Periodicals Provides Works Cited formatting guidelines for articles in journals, magazines, newspapers, and reviews
- Purdue OWL - MLA WOrks Cited: Electronic Sources Provides Works Cited formatting guidelines for webpages; E-Books; articles in online journals, databases, magazines, and newspapers; social media posts, and YouTube videos
- Purdue OWL - MLA Works Cited: Other Common Sources Provides Works Cited formatting guidelines for an interview, speech or lecture, conference proceedings, art, song or music album, films or tv series, and podcasts
- MLA Style Center - Works Cited List Entries Provides the Official MLA Style guidelines for Works Cited entries
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