MLA Modern Language Association (2nd period MUST read)

What Is MLA Style?

All fields of research agree on the need to document scholarly borrowings, but documentation conventions vary because of the different needs of scholarly disciplines. MLA style for documentation is widely used in the humanities, especially in writing on language and literature. Generally simpler and more concise than other styles, MLA style features brief parenthetical citations in the text keyed to an alphabetical list of works cited that appears at the end of the work.

MLA style has been widely adopted by schools, academic departments, and instructors for over half a century. The association's guidelines are also used by over 1,100 scholarly and literary journals, newsletters, and magazines and by many university and commercial presses. The MLA's guidelines are followed throughout North America and in Brazil, China, India, Japan, Taiwan, and other countries around the world. 

The MLA publishes two authoritative explanations of MLA style: the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers and the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing.


For more on this click the MLA link to the right of the posts. Be ready for your pre-test on Monday. Vocabulary tested- bibliography, works cited page, expository writing and types of informational texts ("How to" paragraphs, recipes, textbooks, articles, newspaper articles, magazine articles, some non-fiction books, biographies)
Do you know how to: find an appropriate topic for research? How to narrow your topic, brainstorm ideas, create a thesis statement (main topic) with supporting facts (at least 3)? Do you know how to write an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion? Do you know what a reliable source is? Primary source? Secondary source?
Can you summarize main points and give credit to your sources? (If not that is plagiarism- a BIG no no!)
What about finding books in the library...do you know how to use DESTINY? Do you know about call numbers? Do you know the difference between a source and a search engine? This and more- next week people. Oh yes, get ready to write. It is coming...and then we can all have pumpkin pie (or other goodies). Gobble Gobble.