A beginner's look at why using MLA is important

1. Why MLA?
A Look at Research Styles
Mr. Proffitt
Hunters Lane High School

2. What Is MLA?
In every career, there is a special way
that research is written into a paper.
It can look like a jumbled code.
This format allows the writer to show
where he/she got help with their ideas.
In most colleges, the most often used
format is that belonging to the Modern
Language Association, or simply “MLA”
style.

3. MLA Vocabulary
 Citation: Using an outside source
in your paper
 Bibliography: A list of sources
read for a paper
 Works Cited: A list of sources
used in a paper
 Annotation: A note made about a
source for later use
 Library of Congress Page: A
place in a book to find most
MLA information, usually near
the front
 Plagiarism: Using another
person’s information but not
saying where it came from; it
can ruin your career

4. Why Use MLA?
MLA offers several benefits:
1.The author can show the difference between
his/her ideas and another’s ideas easily.
2.The author can show that he/she has
researched a topic well.
3.The research sources can be found easily by
a reader.
4.You don’t need to use complete sentences to
cite sources.

5. Why Use MLA?
MLA does have some downsides:
1.To people who don’t know it, it looks
like a foreign language.
2.You have to plan to use it in
advance.

6. Why Learn It In High School?
Colleges spend very little
time teaching MLA.
Most just give you a book
and expect you to learn it.

7. What is In MLA?
MLA shows where research is used in
two places in a paper:
1.In the paragraph where the source is
used, this is called an in-paragraph
citation.
2.At the end of the paper, this is called a
Works Cited Page.