Josephson 1

General Formatting
Laura N. Josephson  12 point Times New Roman
font; 1” Margins; double-
Professor Bennet spaced; ½“ indent.
 Last name and page number
Humanities 2710 in upper right corner.
8 May 2016

MLA Format for Research Papers: Sample Paper

The Modern Language Association (MLA) regularly publishes rules for writing papers

and citing sources. For general formatting rules, such as for font, margin size and line spacing,

visit the Formatting a Research Paper portion of the MLA Style Center website. For information

about documenting sources you can also refer to the print and e-book versions of the MLA

Handbook or another reputable source, such as Excelsior’s Online Writing Lab (OWL) website.

The MLA Handbook describes the components of documenting sources, such as how to

cite sources in text (227-252). In-text citations are important because they attribute specific

information in your paper (e.g. a direct quote) to the appropriate source and direct readers to the

correct citation in the works cited list at the end of the paper. One common method is to put the

author’s last name and page numbers in parenthesis at the end of the borrowed information, like

this: “[M]osquitoes have been called the ‘most dangerous animal’ on Earth” (Greenblatt 603).

Alternatively, an author’s name can be part of the sentence: Gifford explains how “[a]ging, at

least in part, is rooted in our appetites” (64). Quotes within quotes

There are numerous variations of in-text citations. For example, when a source has one or

two authors, include all of their last names: (Eberts and Gisler 82). But for three or more authors

you use the first author’s last name followed by et al.: (Plag et al. 50). In cases where there isn’t

an author, then the title – or a shorted version of the title – would take the place of the author’s

last name (MLA Handbook 237). Refer to the MLA Handbook or Excelsior’s OWL website for

more information about formatting your paper and citing sources.

 Josephson 2

Works Cited

Eberts, Marjorie, and Margaret Gisler. Careers for Good Samaritans & Other Humanitarian

Types. 3rd ed., McGraw-Hill, 2006.

Excelsior Online Writing Lab. Excelsior College, 2021, https://owl.excelsior.edu/.

“Formatting a Research Paper.” The MLA Style Center, Modern Language Association of

America, https://style.mla.org/formatting-papers/.

Gifford, Bill. “Will We Defeat Aging?” Scientific American, vol. 315, no. 3, Sept. 2016, pp. 63-

69.

Greenblatt, Alan. "Mosquito-Borne Disease." CQ Researcher, vol. 26, no. 26, 22 July 2016, pp.

601-624.

MLA Handbook. 9th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2021.

Plag, Ingo, et al. Introduction to English Linguistics. Mouton, 2007.

Works Cited Page

 List citations in alphabetical

order.
 Indent second and subsequent
lines of a citation.

For additional help, please make an appointment with a tutor or ask a librarian

Academic Achievement Center: (209) 588-5088

Columbia College Library: (209) 588-5179