Professor White
English 102
Analyzing MLA for M.L.A
When writing in MLA style format, one is generally trying to write a research paper or other academic works. This format is effective for such works for its efficiency with in-text citations, essay structure, endnotes/footnotes, and a Works Cited page. As said on Purdue OWL, “MLA style specifies guidelines for formatting manuscripts and using the English language in writing” (Purdue). It provides writers with a system that allows them to demonstrate their ability to cite sources and avoid plagiarism through using parenthetical citations for example. This essay will be an analysis of the usage of MLA format of one student’s essay and will determine how well said student executed the format in her writing.
To start off, the first page of the essay will be analyzed. This will not be a title page because title pages are not needed and should not be made unless specifically requested by an instructor, usually for large research papers. The first page consists of a heading in the left-hand corner containing the student’s name, first and last. It will also contain the professor’s name, the class course number, and the date that the assignment would be turned in. The entire essay assignment, including the class/student information, must all be double spaced. There must also be a header in the upper right-hand corner that includes the last name of the student followed by a number indicating the page of the essay; this must be there on every page. So far so good, but next we have the title. The title must be centered in the page, must be in Title Case, and must not contain any underlines, italicize, or quotation marks unless it is referring to another work.
The student succeeds in executing this phase of the assignment, except for the title. Her title contains quotation marks even though there are no references of other works. After the title there is the first paragraph of the essay which is called the
Citations: in MLA | The Classroom | Synonym." The Classroom. Demand Media, n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2015. The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 2010. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.