What is MLA?
MLA stands for the Modern Language Association--an organization for scholars of language and literature. MLA style is a set of rules commonly used for formatting assignments and citing references in English literature, language, philosophy, and other courses in the humanities.
Right now, the MLA Handbook is on its 9th edition. This means that the formatting within MLA style has been updated 8 times and is now on its 9th version. Most citation styles update every few years, so make sure you are always using the most recent edition.
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This guide is based on the MLA handbook (9th ed),published 2021.
For an electronic or physical copy of the manual, go to www.mla.org |
Just like any other citation style, MLA style consists of 3 components:
Continue in this guide to learn about NLC's expectations for each component.
To view an example of what an entire MLA paper should look like, visit NLC's Writing Centre in Brightspace here.