WHY USE MLA FORMAT?
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Allows Readers of Your
Research Paper to Cross-Reference Your Sources Easily.
Anyone reading your paper, including your instructor, will
be able to quickly locate the materials (books, articles,
websites) you used when writing your paper. Your Works Cited
will also help readers find materials related to your topic.
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Provides Consistent
Format Within a Discipline.
Using a consistent format allows you to keep track of your
sources. It helps your reader (and instructor) understand your
arguments and the sources you used to build those arguments.
It also helps readers evaluate the context from which you took
your quotations.
Documenting the sources you used when writing your research
paper shows accountability on your part. Submitting a 10 to
20 page paper without any citations or references to outside
sources indicates that you have not conducted any library research.
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Gives Credit to Those Who Helped Form
Your Ideas and Protects You From Plagiarism.
Proper citing of your sources in MLA style can
help you avoid plagiarism—the unknowing or purposeful use of another person’s
words or ideas—which is a serious offense. Plagiarism
may result in anything from failure of the assignment to expulsion
from school.
