What Is MLA Style Format? Its Definition MLA style format is the layout and source citation of an essay or article in Modern Language Association (MLA) format.
Formats are the layouts of research articles, the article designs, and there are many different formats for writing research papers.
When someone speaks of the format style, he or she is referring to the way the paper is designed (the margins, paragraph spacing, etc.
) as well as the source citations that accompany the research article.
MLA style refers to the specific format of the Modern Language Association that is designed for students of liberal arts, humanities, cultural studies, cinematic studies, comparative literature studies, English, and Art History classes, among others.
What Is MLA Style Format? Its Benefits One of the benefits of MLA style format is that MLA gives the research paper a certain professional appearance.
Think of what research papers would look like if there were no formatting designs at all! Without MLA (or any format for that matter), there would be no organization to the paper itself.
Research formats are to a research paper what paragraphs are to coherence and thought: without paragraphs, one cannot make logical connections and arrive at similar or different conclusions than what is written.
Without formats, papers would have many different appearances to them and professors would spend more time deciphering format than grading content.
MLA provides the professor with the opportunity to look beyond the format (the same no matter the student) and see the content (that which distinguishes one student from another).
Another benefit of MLA is that, as the format for liberal arts and humanities studies, it serves as the introductory format for students in colleges and universities around the world.
Liberal arts and humanities studies are the broadest undergraduate studies in colleges and universities.
Most state universities require students to complete at least two semesters of English, History, Philosophy, Language, and cultural classes.
What is MLA Style Format? Its Purpose While MLA style format is designed to provide organization to research content, it is first and foremost designed to fit the specific research of the arts and humanities.
There are other formats, such as the APA (American Psychological Association), CMS (Chicago Manual of Style), and Turabian, which are designed for other disciplines.
It is important that students learn these formats in academia and be able to distinguish them in research.
If writing a paper is anything like building a house, the format is the foundation thereof.
Without the foundation, a house cannot be built; and, without format, a research paper cannot be established.