MLA Format — How to Be Classy and Professional When Writing
This will be a quick read. I hope. Unless I ramble; I tend to do that.
As an English teacher, I have a fondness for a perfectly formatted paper written by a student.
It’s the first test of a truly good paper. When I collect a paper and I see the perfect formatting, I know that students have at the very least taken the time and effort necessary to give close attention to detail.
That gives me the same hope for their essays, and I smile on the inside a little bit.
The opposite also happens; if they haven’t taken the time to develop the format, well, they likely haven’t taken the time to develop the paper.
Call me judgmental, but this is generally an accurate judgement.
Anyway, as an English teacher, it’s my job to make sure students know how to properly format a paper in MLA Format.
Before I tell you how I teach this, here’s an easy example to follow and a goal for what it should look like:
That’s an easy reference for you. Print it. Use it. Project it. That’s all you really need. Kids are good at copying examples. Just be weary of kids who take the copying too seriously — and actually write “Your name.”
Here’s how I teach — more specifically what I say about — the process and reasoning behind the formatting. Because, as all of us teachers know, it’s best to explain why we do things — not just that we do them because we said so.
Not that we ever don’t just have that reason.
Anyway.
MLA Format as a whole
“MLA formatted papers look classy and professional. People will listen to us if we look classy. It gives us power. It’s always just best practice to be classy.”
“You will use MLA format for the rest of your career as a student, and, even if you move into other formats, the skills are transferrable.”
“It serves no purpose other than making sure people know where to look for the proper information you used, learned, and applied. It’s basically a way to organize your ideas. Nothing else.”
“It does whatever it wants, and we follow it blindly because, well, we are devoted to the professionalism of the English language.”
I’m kind of a big nerd. (No quotes; I don’t always say that to kids.)
Your Name
“If you don’t put your name on it, you can’t ever take credit for all your probably-fantastic ideas.”
Instructor’s (Teacher’s) Name
“If you don’t put my name (the teacher’s name) on it, one, I feel offended that I don’t matter enough to you, and, two, it’s kind of a way of saying: ‘Hey, thanks for teaching me these things.’ Gratitude is important.”
I also tell them they have to spell it right. Otherwise, I get extra offended.
Class Information
“Where did you learn this information?”
I also use this as another opportunity to tell kids that they should not abbreviate the class. I teach Literature and Composition; abbreviating isn’t classy, so Lit/Comp doesn’t fly.
The Date
“It’s a validation of when this was completed: for memories so you can look back fondly to this time and for the reliability of your ideas.”
“We put the date in this order: Day Month Year. It takes out the need for commas.”
The Title
“This is the best part, so it should be the center of attention. The title is the only part in this ENTIRE professionally written and super classy paper where you are allowed to be a little more creative. It can be a paper about comparing and contrasting two essential historical speeches, but your title is allowed to be as creative as possible — so long as it follows the concepts and ideas of the paper.”
“This doesn’t have to come first. Write your paper, title it later.” That’s sometimes hard for kids.
“Don’t title your paper ‘Compare and Contrast Essay.’ That’s boring.”
Spacing and Margins
“This makes it easier to read. It looks like you wrote more, when you didn’t. And, for the final time, it looks classy.”
MLA format in a nutshell.
I feel like all papers should be written like this.
I am definitely biased, though.
Happy Writing.
