MLA Sample Paper, how to write a mla essay.

How to write a mla essay

Prison privatization started in the early 1980s, ostensibly to ease the burden on taxpayers by offering financial relief to private companies to run state prisons. Thomas Beasley founded Corrections Corporation of America in 1983, “the nation’s leader in the construction and management of private prisons” (Darling). That year, Corrections Corporation of America set up the first privately-operated prison in Tennessee. Since then, the number of private

The abbreviated MLA paper below (linked here without annotations) is about J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and how the author used myth, story, and song to link all of his works together. Tolkien is famous for creating a fantasy universe called Middle-earth, which readers can’t truly understand until they read all of the books about Middle-earth (The Silmarillian, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings).

Whether you need MLA, APA citations, or Chicago style notes, look up the latest edition before turning in a paper.

For starters, the essay is in MLA format. That means it follows the style manual of the Modern Language Association, which tells you how to format the paper itself and every source you cite. You’ll also see notes like how long a paragraph should be, how to use commas properly, and how to correctly punctuate a title.

Visual Sample Paper

How to write a mla essay

Check out our second sample paper below. It is a helpful and clearly labeled visual aid to refer to.

Public policy concerning the criminal justice system has become more daunting and important in the last decade. The problems in the system are twofold: an overcrowding prison population, mainly due to “three strikes” legislation and reducing early parole

Surprisingly, there has been little objective and concrete analysis of the privatization of prisons in the United States. This is probably for two reasons: first, ideological arguments on the matter have pushed out substantive research, and second, because this trend has only recently accelerated in the U.S. and mainly on a state level. However, case studies and statistics at the state level are more accessible. With capacity for over 30,000 prisoners in 43 facilities, the state of Texas has privatized more of its prison system than any state in the nation (McDonald and Patten Jr. iv).

The MLA header should be one inch from the top and left margins. The heading and the entire paper should be double spaced.

How to write a mla essay

Don't forget to edit and proofread your essay carefully before submission and ensure it follows your professor's instructions exactly.

The MLA essay format meets the standard layout guidelines as set out by the Modern Language Association.

Depending on how many sources you have and the type of sources that you used (whether a book, article, or internet-based source), you will want to pay special attention to the author’s name, title of the book, publication date, publisher and place of publication.

MLA style references a bibliography as a works cited page. When typing up your works cited page there are a few things that you should do.

Works Cited

If you are preparing an essay or research paper for college, the chances are high that you are going to need a few tips on writing an essay in MLA style. More often than not, when you get to the college level, there are two formatting styles that professors are looking for: APA (American Psychological Association) style or MLA (Modern Language Association) style. The differences are varied.

  • Johnson, James. U.S. Trade Relations. Hummingbird Press, 1989.
  • Main, Jerry. Campside Sounds. Rice Press, 1992.

Let’s say that you used books only as your sources of information. You will want to list the sources in alphabetical order by the authors' last name. For example, if you had two sources you would list them as follows:

  • Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date.

How to write a mla essay

  • Thesis statement: The reflective essay thesis statement should include that вЂ˜past experience’ information

    • The hook: grab the reader's attention in a short preview of what you’ll be writing about.

    The reflective essay is probably an essay you can’t borrow a topic for, because it should be about your own thoughts and experiences. However, here are some ideas subjects you can write about to help you begin:

    Use transitional phrases to shift between arguments and introduce specific details. Using transitions will help your paper look professional.

    Conclusion

    How to write a mla essay

    This is your story, the focus should be on your reflections and experiences. There’s no need to go into detail about someone else in your custom essay. Even if this person had a big role in the experience you will talk about, you should remain professional and describe the actions the person took, not the person.

    A reflective paper is a very personal type of writing because it includes your feelings and opinions about something. Before adding something into your paper, ask yourself whether or not this information is appropriate to include.

    To start organizing your reflective essay, take a look at your brainstorming table. The вЂ˜past experience’ and вЂ˜description’ should constitute less than 10% of your essay.

    Example:We found Buffy head-to-toe covered in tar, starved and fur in patches, under an abandoned garbage truck.

    How to write a mla essay

    Hit us up with your assignment requirements, and we will write you an original paper.

    This is your story, the focus should be on your reflections and experiences. There’s no need to go into detail about someone else in your custom essay. Even if this person had a big role in the experience you will talk about, you should remain professional and describe the actions the person took, not the person.

    Reflective papers relate to some events or experiences. Writing one, you analyze the experience, its meaning, and lessons can be learned from it. That essay format requires you to open up about your thoughts and emotions to uncover your mindset, personality, traits of character, and background. Your reflective essay should include a description of the experience/literature piece as well as explanations of your thoughts, feelings, and reactions.

    • The hook: grab the reader's attention in a short preview of what you’ll be writing about.

    What Do I Write About?

    How to write a mla essay

    Here’s an example of what the body paragraph outline should look like:

    If you feel uncomfortable writing about something personal, avoid including it in your essay, or, write about the issue in more general terms.

    ‍Past Experience: Volunteering in an animal shelter.
    Description: The shelter is located near a vet clinic. I was there with three other volunteers and the shelter’s owner.
    Reflection: I was really surprised by the number of homeless animals and how tame they were. Working there was a very enriching experience.

    How to write a mla essay

    • preface
    • introduction
    • list of works cited
    • appendix
    • scene
    • stanza
    • chapter
    • bibliography
    • act
    • index

    If there is a unique title for the introduction, preface, foreword or afterword, include that title in quotation marks, directly before the descriptive term, when referencing the source in the Works Cited list.

    When you abbreviate a title, be sure to keep the formatting consistent. Even if the abbreviation consists only of letters, as in the MV example, it must be placed within quotation marks or italicized in the same way as you would if the source title were written in full.

    For titles within titles, in general, maintain the same formatting as you would if the title stood on its own.

    Receive feedback on language, structure and layout

    When a book’s chapters are written by different authors, you should cite the specific chapter you are referring to.

    For works in a language that does not use the Latin alphabet, such as Arabic, Chinese, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, or Russian, be consistent with how you mention the source titles and also quotations from within them.

    In the Works Cited list, if you are listing a work with a title in a language other than English, you can add the translated title in square brackets.

*

إرسال تعليق (0)
أحدث أقدم