MLA style is one of the most common citation and formatting styles you will encounter in your academic career. Any piece of academic writing can use MLA style, from a one-page paper to a full-length book. It is widely used by in many high school and introductory college English classes, as well as scholarly books and professional journals. If you are writing a paper for a literature or media studies class, it is likely your professor will ask you to write in MLA style.

The Two MLA Style Guides

MLA style, the house style of the Modern Language Association of America (MLA), has two official publications. The most recently published editions of both works have been updated in light of advancements in computer word-processing programs and electronic and digital publishing practices.

For Students

The first MLA style guide is the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, called the MLA Handbook for short. This publication targets high school and college students and teachers, explaining the style and formatting rules relevant to student writing; this is the publication of most interest to you. The most recent version of the MLA Handbook is the seventh edition, published in 2009.

For Academic Professionals

The second is the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, called the MLA Style Manual for short. This publication targets academic scholars and professors, explaining the style and formatting rules relevant to the publication of MLA-style books and journal articles in literature and media studies. The most recent version of the MLA Style Manual is the third edition, published in 2008.

The Purpose of MLA Style

The MLA style guide aims to accomplish several goals:

1. to ensure consistent use of the English language in academic writing;
2. to ensure consistent formatting and presentation of information, for the sake of clarity and ease of navigation; and
3. to ensure proper attribution of ideas to their original sources, for the sake of intellectual integrity.

Grammar and Formatting

MLA style includes many basic grammatical rules. For example, MLA style does use the Oxford comma, which some other citation styles (e.g., AP style) do not. MLA style also has rules about formatting, such as how to format page numbers and what size margins you should use.

Citations

MLA style also provides guidelines for citing your sources—in fact, this is why it is called a "citation style." For example, MLA style has specific rules for what information to include in your Works Cited section, how to cite quotations within a paragraph, and how to incorporate block quotations.