Research Paper Format: MLA Basics

A research-level paper in colleges and universities require a lot of effort on the parts of their respective authors. Students cannot afford to relax their grip on any part of the paper as every part matters and together they result in a grade that makes or breaks his involvement in academia.

The formatting of a research paper is a very important task. There are 3 formats that are widely followed: MLA, APA, and Chicago. Here, we are going to discuss the style of the MLA format, and how it is used to format a paper.

Writing the citations

While writing a research paper, the student must remember to include the citations. It is generally recommended that this bit of the paper be done at the very end of the task because otherwise, every time an alteration is made to the paper, there is a chance that the citation will also change along with it.

When doing the citations as per the MLA format, the student must pay heed to the specific requirements that the style calls for. These need to be followed to the t because deviations from a particular style of formatting may result in deduction of valuable marks from the total score.

The MLA format

The MLA format has certain rules that need to be adhered to.

• Font: The font size should be 12 points. In order to highlight a particular area of text, the student can select that area and italicize it.
• Spacing: The spacing between two lines in the paper should be double. The spacing of the margins should be no more and no less than an inch on all sides.
• Numbering of the pages: The pages also need to be numbered on the right hand margin and at a distance of one and a half inches from the top.

These can clearly be studied from research paper samples available.

Taking the help of paid services

If you have thought of delegating your paper to a research paper writing service, then you need to your bit as well. The first step that you need to undertake is finding a good service. This can be a bit tricky as there are a few fraudulent ones out there. Once you have selected one and have talked to the manager or writer about your general requirement, you will need to go into the specifics.

You need to clearly state that the formatting of your paper needs to be done according to the MLA style. However, if your teacher has suggested any specific formatting rules, you need to mention them.

Study sample papers

There are plenty of examples of research papers on the Internet itself that can be of great help to students, who are looking for some help in understanding how to format their papers according to the MLA style. These are an excellent source of help, provided that the author of these samples is one who is genuine and has actually taken the time and effort to read through the MLA manual.

Look at them for the structure and the formatting techniques but be careful not to copy the content into your paper.